Everyone would like to be able to predict the future and guarantee success. While we can’t do that, we can gain insights by assessing the current state and use that information to make calculated assumptions about future behaviors and growth. In this webinar we will help you do just that. We will delve into the most significant scholarly communication trends that have shaped 2023, and look ahead to some of what anticipate will most impact our industry in 2024. The webinar will lead attendees through an exploration of the latest innovations, disruptors, and transformative advances shaping the way we work and interact with our community.

Everyone would like to be able to predict the future and guarantee success. While we can’t do that, we can gain insights by assessing the current state and use that information to make calculated assumptions about future behaviors and growth. In this webinar we will help you do just that. We will delve into the most significant scholarly communication trends that have shaped 2023, and look ahead to some of what anticipate will most impact our industry in 2024. The webinar will lead attendees through an exploration of the latest innovations, disruptors, and transformative advances shaping the way we work and interact with our community. Whether you are an innovator, seeking to stay ahead of the curve, or simply curious about what new challenges and opportunities 2024 have in store, this webinar will provide valuable insights to help you stay current and plan for the year ahead. Join us if you’re ready to be inspired, informed, and equipped with the knowledge you need to successfully navigate our changing scholarly landscape.

Digital accessibility is mission-critical for scholarly publishing. While publishers have made progress with born-accessible workflows, many still struggle with adding alternative text (alt text) for images--a fundamental requirement of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for over 20 years. We continue to add undescribed images to digital publications and online libraries, widening the visual gap for blind and visually impaired people and for search engines that cannot "see" images. Missing alt text is also a critical fault for digital cataloging, creating a massive database of disorganized, visually inaccessible content. How do we operationalize this in a sustainable way? With a growing number of vendor solutions, what should publishers outsource, and what should they develop in-house? What is reasonable to expect from authors, and what should be handled by publishers? What is needed to integrate authoritative, descriptive metadata into content production lifecycles so that visual media are fully contextualized and explained to visually impaired people? || Learning Level: Mixed-Learning || Speakers: Caroline Desrosiers; Hannah Heckner; Michelle Urberg; Lettie Conrad