Alternative Description

When planning visual open data practices, researchers should also decide whether textual descriptions may be used as substitutes for visual data. This can be useful when images cannot be shared because of privacy, ethical, data protection, or copyright restrictions. 

However, textual descriptions are partial representations of visual data and may still reveal sensitive or identifiable information. For this reason, consent procedures should explicitly address whether participants agree to the use and possible publication of textual descriptions derived from visual materials. 

Researchers should also clarify this choice in the Data Management Plan, including how descriptions will be produced, how much detail they will include, and under which degrees of openness they may be shared.