access server

There are three structures consisting of an illustration and some text each with doodly arrows connecting them that represent the flow of the ACCESS SERVER. The three structures are labeled 'Website Form', 'Access Server' and 'Institution', and a fourth headline is titled 'Private Email'. The illustration of the website form shows the rounded outlines of this form opened in an internet browser with the browser menu being represented by three little dots and one field of the form contains the words 'do you have captions'. The illustration displaying Access Server consists of three rounded forms representing a server rack with three green LED illuminated lights. This illustration has circuit-like arms pointing outwards. Extending from one arm an email with a heart on it moves outwards towards the next illustration that displays an institution. The institution is drawn as a rectangular building with large windows and two stairs in front, and a ramp-like rectangle is drawn over them. Another email is placed so that it looks as though it is leaving the institution and moving towards the Access Server illustration by following a blue arrow. The last blue arrow connects Access Server to the headline 'Private Email'. In the text that follows this image description we discuss the steps connecting these structures and the processes they each enact.

Design for an email server supporting disabled people in requesting access, Het Nieuwe Fellowship 2022, with Ren Loren Britton as MELT

ACCESS SERVER is an email server that anonymizes, collects and financially compensates access requests that disabled people send towards cultural institutions. Access requests explain what a disabled person needs to attend spaces, be they online or physical. The project is currently in the conceptual and prototyping stage.

As a digital arts tool, ACCESS SERVER disrupts systematically ableist cultural institutions in Europe. The project is threefold: For disabled people, it offers email templates and 20€ per email to account for the labor of asking for access such as closed captions, alt texts, sign language and scent-free spaces. All emails routed through the server will link to the website in the footer, and automatically cite previous access requests to the same institution. For institutions, it provides information on how to make spaces, events and websites more accessible and how to respond to access requests. In events called ACCESS SPARKS nondisabled and disabled people can share and learn about access.

Learn more about the project on MELT's website, and in our paper 'ACCESS SERVER: Dreaming, practicing and making access' published in the academic journal First Monday titled ‘This feature has been disabled: Critical intersections of disability and information studies’ co-edited by Gracen Brilmyer and Crystal Lee.