Diversity and Inclusion in Your Online Space

Diversity and Inclusion in Your Online Space

In the age of COVID-19, organizations are moving to a mostly virtual presence in their communities. Organizations are pivoting and moving most of their programs, fundraising, training webinars, and meetings online. Organizations moved fast to go online, and they have transitioned well, but what I have seen missing from their online presence are diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion are just important in your online space as in your in-person presence.

There are three things to think about to make sure that diversity and inclusion are present in your organization, even in your virtual space; collaborators, content, and accessibility.

Collaborators

Organizations are now producing more online content and resources. Organizations should think about who is creating that content and resources. Organizations should collaborate with a diverse set of people to create those resources. Inside the organization, diverse staff should be able to create content, not just staff from one department. Organizations should also look for people outside of their organization to create content, such as volunteers, community members, donors, and guest collaborators from other organizations. One creative idea is to hire an artist-in-resident to create content and resources.

Content

Organizations should also think about diversity and inclusion when creating content and resources. Organizations should create diverse and inclusive visuals, audio, and text. It is important to think about the subject and what you want to portray in terms of visuals. It is important to think about pictures and videos. For example, if you are doing a video where you include families, make sure your video portrays a diverse representation of families. In terms of audio, you should also think about diversity and inclusion. Consider including different people in making the audio components. Text is important, as well. It is important to keep text simple, limit the use of acronyms and insider language. Also, it is helpful to include text with the visuals and use inclusive pronouns.

Accessibility

Accessibility is also important to think about in the virtual space. It is important to make your online space accessible to people that speak different languages, that have different abilities, and people with different learning and communication styles. Your organization can produce content in multiple languages and makes sure that translation or interpretation is available when possible. Some platforms have a simultaneous interpretation function available for webinars, where participants can choose the language they want. Videos can be done with subtitles. Organizations should think about producing content and resources for people with different abilities. It is important to create content and resources that are visual and have text to describe the visual components. Some of the computer programs that help people read text are not able to read pictures. You should make sure the audio is not too loud or jarring. Think about the length of your content and training webinars. Organizations should also think about different learning and communication styles. Think about how your organization can make your presentations and training webinars more inclusive by including storytelling, skits, games, small groups, or brainstorming.

While this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making your virtual space more inclusive and diverse, it is essential to think about these three factors when designing and creating your online presence.

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