Persondescribing

Persondescribing is the practice of producing a description of a person. It encompasses observable attributes such as height, clothing, facial features, and posture, as well as contextual details like occupation, role, and inferred personality or mood when relevant to the description.

Descriptions are used in journalism, fiction, documentation, and digital media. They may be objective, stating verifiable facts, or subjective, conveying impressions. The writer selects vocabulary to balance clarity with nuance and to minimize stereotypes. In some contexts, descriptions are time-bound (describing a scene) or identity-bound (describing a person’s role or appearance over time).

Applications include alt text for images, accessibility tools, forensic reporting, and character development in literature and game design. Advances in AI have led to automated persondescribing systems that generate descriptions from images or videos, raising questions about accuracy, bias, and consent.

Ethical considerations are central. Privacy and consent matter when describing private individuals; accuracy matters to avoid misidentification; language choices can perpetuate bias or marginalization.

The term is not widely standardized and is used mainly as a descriptive label for the practice. Related concepts include description, portraiture, character development, and image captioning. See also: description, portraiture, character development, image captioning.