Digital Accessibility in the Making : Introducing new component parts into the assemblage of user experience design

Abstract: This thesis aims to investigate digital accessibility in the making through the theoretical lens of the assemblage theory. Digital accessibility is a characteristic of digital products and services like websites that allows people with disabilities to access and use them. Although its relevance, digital accessibility is not present in many technological objects. This work intends to describe the adoption of accessibility practices in developing projects and products, focusing mainly on design activities. My leading field site was a tech company located in Stockholm, Sweden, where I observed the “accessibility project” for almost three months, from October to December 2021. During this period, I followed how the company, particularly one of its teams, reacted to new environmental factors, the challenges they faced, and how the process of incorporating these new elements was, from not having accessibility presented in the produced artefacts to incorporating accessibility as a routine. In addition, the study also counted on the participation of Brazilian design practitioners through interviews. The methods were observant participation, semi-structured interviews, and oral accounts.  The main theoretical frameworks were the assemblage theory developed by Manuel DeLanda (2016) and the theory of affordances by Jenny L. Davis (2020). I attempt to analyse the organisation and its nested structures as assemblages, and the processes of changes in their parameters, creating new territory and new code through the adoption of accessibility repertoire. I furthermore analysed the relations between the affordances of technological objects produced by the company’s assemblage, as well as the affordance of accessibility frameworks.