ebooks

From strategy to practice

The long view

o Publisher accessibility awareness influences reading lists (eg Oxford) or library procurement (Dundee).

o Librarians and disability support staff offer wider PDF service, increasing demand for accessible pdfs.

o Publishers seek to save money on PDF provision so invest in accessible ebooks.

o Publishers put pressure on rest of supply chain to maintain their accessibility investments.

o Most textbooks become available on accessible ebook platforms or devices.

Research & guidance - 1

o JISC TechDis research and summary on accessible ebook platforms

o Towards Accessible e-Book Platforms Researcho Towards Accessible e-Book Platforms - guidance for publish

erso Moving Towards Accessible e-Book Platforms - guidance for

library and information professionals

Research & guidance - 2

o RNIB publisher advice centreo RNIB ebook advice and guidance -

formats, comparisons etc.o Practical guides for publishers and

userso Can everyone read your books? (doc, 91)oCan everyone use your eBook reader? (doc, 48

kb)

Achievements – 1Buy-in

o Joint statement on TTS 2010/11 (with significant impact on top 100 booksales).

o Joint statement on ebook accessibility 2012o “Publishers are committed to working with the

advocacy organisations working for people with print impairment to ensure that our common ambition is achieved – making mainstream ebooks accessible to those with print impairments.”

Achievements – 2Ownership

We are therefore looking to work together:o with the developers of ebook devices and platforms to ensure that

these provide the accessibility features which serve the needs of the widest possible market;

o with the actors in the supply chain for ebooks – digital asset distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and library services – to ensure that they are aware of the needs of print impaired readers, and that the supply chain itself is accessible to them;

o with people with print impairment to ensure that they know which assistive technologies are most appropriate to their needs and to help them to identify ebooks that are accessible to them;

o with learning providers and libraries to support them in their

obligations to provide learning resources in accessible formats.

Achievements – 3Standards

o National occupational standards for Publishing redrafted early 2012.

o Previous standards had no mention of accessibility.

o Current standards explicitly reference it in over 40 different contexts across a wide range of industry roles.

Achievements – 4Training

Free training modules being developed with JISC TechDis and EDitEUR – see online training module and accessible version

Achievements – 5Self awareness

Achievements – 6Metadata

ONIX code list 196o Full list here o No reading system accessibility options disabled (except)o Table of contents navigationo Index navigationo Reading ordero Short / Full alternative descriptionso Visualised data also available as non-graphical datao  Accessible math contento Print-equivalent page numbering

Down to earth..

Procurement - what to ask . Were disabled people involved in the testing? What disabilities? What results? What improvements resulted? How does your accessibility compare with your rivals? Which aspects of the RNIB guidance on ebooks or ebook readers do you fulfil?

Indicators – ebook platforms.

o Text to speech? o Keyboard accessible skip-links?o Maximum zoom size? o Reflow of zoomed text?o Contrast / colour change?o Meaningful accessibility statement?

Indicators - hardware readers.

o Text to speech? Content or menus?o Maximum zoom size? o Contrast / colour change?o Dexterity needed to work the device.o Accessibility of support software /

webpages?

Play time

o Try some readers and recommend which you’d use for oDyslexic usero Partially sighted useroBlind user