Overview
The forward-looking narrative Imaging my Green Neighbourhood Twenty Years From Now (Fourt, 2022) envisioned what changes might occur and the health and well-being benefits that might be derived if recent government climate actions are implemented and acted on. The recently approved (July 4, 2022) City of Nanaimo Plan intended to guide the city’s development for the next 24 years was the primary focus of the narrative. The plan’s vision is a resilient green Nanaimo wrapping around and encircling all four of the other goals in the plan (City of Nanaimo, 2022). Community health and well-being are one of the goals a green Nanaimo encircles (City of Nanaimo, 2022). The remaining three goals are equitable access and mobility, reconciliation and inclusion, and a thriving, resilient economy that contributes to health and well-being (Hunter et al., 2019). As a citizen, I wondered what those goals would mean for my neighbourhood. I used the forward-looking narrative to shift from abstract technical concepts outlined in the plan to explore how solutions might be applied and the benefits that would be achieved. Reading the narrative may help citizens envision how the plan could benefit them and their neighbourhood (Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007; Moezzi et al., 2017). Knowing how they will directly benefit may help generate continued support for the long-range plan (Maibach et al., 2011).
I developed the Nanaimo Citizens Climate Action Story Gallery as an alternative to the forward-looking narrative and a different means for people to understand some of the solutions available to them. The story gallery includes short narratives and photos of real people taking action to implement climate change solutions in the community. Research shows that images affect the viewer differently than a narrative and may help readers and viewers connect with the actions described in the narrative (Altinay, 2017). Using images to support the climate action stories is intended to elicit positive emotions, deepen knowledge and provide easy-to-understand pathways for action (Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007; Schroth et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2018). It also assists people with different cognitive abilities in understanding concepts (Altinay, 2017; Merkle, 2019; O’Neill, 2019). Calling this a story gallery means it can become a place to collect and share photo stories of other people’s actions on an ongoing basis.
Access to the narrative and solutions image gallery is enhanced for those with visual impairment and cognitive challenges. For example, images have alt-text for those that use assistive technology for reading. A Practical Handbook on Accessible Graphic Design recommends that “describing the communication intent” (Rallo et al. 2019, p. 38) rather than a literal description is more informative for those accessing alt-text. The handbook also recommends brevity for the alt-text. Readability is enhanced by using an optimal typeface and font size. Spacing, line length, alignment and formatting were also considered. Typefaces such as Calibri or Helvetica must be at a minimum point size of 12 points or larger to enhance legibility. For the visually impaired, the handbook recommends line spacing be “125 to 150% of the font size” (Rallo et al. 2019, p. 29). The space between paragraphs should be 50% greater than that between the lines without indenting. Keeping line length between 45 to 90 characters ensures readability. Too short of a line increases cognitive load, and too long of a line is difficult for those with neck mobility issues. Hyphenated words will be avoided as this can cause confusion for screen readers and increase cognitive load. Further, the text will be kept to smaller, manageable blocks to avoid overwhelming the reader. Headings and anchors will be used to facilitate easy navigation within the piece.
The following is a link to the Nanaimo Citizens Climate Action Story Gallery
References
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Merkle, B. G. (2019). Writing Science: Best Practices for the Images that Accompany Your Writing. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 100(2), e01536. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.1536
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