The AccessText Information Network

An Association of American Publishers Digital Text Portal

Christopher Lee, Ph.D., Director, AMAC

Robert Martinengo, AccessText Publisher Services

A discussion and demonstration of the AccessText portal, a one-stop-shop for disability services providers to place requests for electronic

files from multiple publishers.

– ATN Overview– ATN Lead Organizations– ATN Timeline– ATN Application Demonstration– Disability Service Providers ATN Web Resources

• The AccessText Network facilitates and supports the national delivery of alternative electronic textbooks to higher education institutions for students with documented disabilities.

• The 2009 AccessText beta project is funded by donations from the Association of American Publishers and its members.

• AccessText is a national initiative that will be directed and supported through its memberships, with the purpose of insuring that students with print-related disabilities have access to textbook content.

• AccessText is a conduit between the publishing world and post-secondary disability programs.

• Memberships include publishers and post-secondary disability programs.

• Publisher members have allocated funds for a two year term.

• A goal of AccessText is to become self-supporting through a membership model.

• AccessText Lead Organizations:

– The Publishers Development Board will work with AMAC to develop the AccessText permissions agreements, Website architecture, and other components.  Furthermore, members of the Development Board shall participate in tests of the file request and file transfer functions of the service during its development.

– Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia/ Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) will develop, implement, maintain, and manage the day to day operations of the AccessText Network (ATN) along with direction from the Development Board and Advisory Committee.

• Charter Publishers

– Bedford, Freeman, & Worth– Cengage Learning – CQ Press – McGraw-Hill Education – Pearson Education – Reed Elsevier Inc. – John Wiley & Sons – W.W. Norton

• TimeLine Overview– 2006 -2008 Alternative Formats Solutions Initiative

(AFSI) and AHEAD’s E-Text Solution Work.

– November 19, 2008 agreement signed between The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia/ Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC).

– November 20, 2008 ATN Website (www.accesstext.org) and 1-866 technical support phone line went live.

– December 3, 2009 ATN press release.

TimeLine Overview– December 3rd to present over 362 institutions from 42

states have requested membership information.• Top states represented: New York, California,

Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee and Minnesota.

– December 8, 2008 to present ATN has had eight publisher site visits.

– January 15, 2009 ATN Team Introductory meeting

• Phase I: Target Date Spring 2009– ATN website and technical support line implemented.– ATN institutional membership verification process implemented.– Enhanced Look-Up Service beta application with reliable historic

data on textbook titles, formats, and a fulfillment time frame implemented.

• Phase II: Target Date Fall 2009– ATN application post-production rating scale and training

implemented. – Selected DSS to DSS post-production file exchange

implemented. – ATN website resources and social network expansion

implemented.

• ATN Advisory Committee Overview– 12 committee members which includes 7 DSS

and 5 Publisher members– 2 alternate DSS advisory committee members

will participate for full representation. – Two year term for DSS members starting

March 1, 2009– April 16, 2009 was the 1st official committee

meeting

Our Targeted Audience

• Disability Service Providers• Alternative Media Specialists• Educational IT Coordinators• Curriculum and Instruction Specialists• Publishers and Curriculum Developers

Our Tangential Audience

• People with Print Related Disabilities• Technology Developers and Vendors• Faculty, Teachers and Educators• Educational Researchers• Public and Private Agencies• Parents and Advocates

Disability Services Providers

• High Level of Professional Turnover

• Low Level of Technology Knowledge

• High Level of Technology Knowledge

• Alt Media Early Adopters

• Alt Media Neophytes

• Technology Haves and Have Not's

• Overburdened, Overwhelmed, Reactive

Meeting Divergent Needs• Learning activities that will be realistic activities and

which will allow the user to interact with the content in pragmatic and authentic contexts.

 • Provide users with multiple ways in which to interact with

the information and the activities contained in the resources.

 • Provide interactivity between users through multimodal

learning so that issues and challenges can be explored from multiple perspectives and orientations.

The Alt Media Toolkit• Sequential learning activities that allow users to structure their

information acquisition to develop further learning activities, tools and resources to meet their unique needs and challenges.

 • A database driven resource of existing learning exemplars and

examples of good practice which then can be adapted and repurposed.

 • A knowledge base that can be used for extracting good

practices and identifying areas that require further development and refinement.

Targeted Learning Outcomes

Foundational Topics• Introduction to Alt Media Accommodations

• Administration and Management of Alt Media

• Legal Perspectives

• The Publishers Perspective

• Source File Acquisition

• Alternate Media Production

• Accommodating Student Specific Needs

• Special Issues