Hermeneutics of unequal access: a study on the interaction of visually impaired internet users with cyberjournalism from a citizenship perspective

Author(s)

Matheus Ferreira

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Artes. 2021-01-06.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Arquitetura. Artes. Comunicação e Design. Bauru
• Defense date: 2020-12-07
• Advisor: Maximiliano Martin Vicente

Abstract

This study analyzes blind and low-vision persons' access to travel cyberjournalism from a citizenship perspective. People with vision impairments want to participate in society by accessing digital media (ELLIS; KENT, 2010), including those related to travel, mediated by barriers. This research has interpreted the meanings resulting from this access and their possible impacts on the group's social participation. The Depth Hermeneutics (THOMPSOM, 2011) is the methodology. It has three stages: sociohistorical analysis, structural analysis, and reinterpretation. In the first stage, through documentary research, literature review, and a research internship abroad, we contextualized the power relations in travel cyberjournalism's reception and production. In the second stage, by using 19 semi-structured interviews with visually impaired people, we mapped the receptors' informative travel diet and the formats' materiality (ELLCESSOR, 2016). In the last stage, based on the two previous analyses, we reflected on the meanings of oppression produced in this interaction and the impacts on the group's citizenship (JAMBEIRO, 2017). An unfavorable context for web accessibility was observed, marked by the lethargy of journalism companies and the State in the face of the receptors' right to information. Despite facing inaccessible formats, including images without description, unlabeled links, and disorganized content, people with visual impairments access travel cyberjournalism for news and entertainment. However, this interaction produces meanings that affect the group's citizenship by diminishing the quality of access, its informational possibilities, and its motility, evidencing a situation of asymmetry of power in the Networked Society (CASTELLS, 2015) (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/19396-5 - Accessibility and citizenship: relationships between travel journalism and the internet user with visual impairment
• Grantee: Matheus Ferreira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master