What makes DAISY/EPUB effective: DAISY reading

experience.

What is new in the EPUB revision?

PEARSON Accessibility Conference

Varju Luceno - DAISY Consortium - September 27, 2010

Quote of the Day

• In your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information.  ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

What is DAISY?• Open standard for structured, accessible digital

books – DAISY 2.02 most widely adopted, DAISY 3 (formally DAISY/NISOZ39.86 2005), DAISY 4 under development

• Synchronized text, audio and image files

• Portable - well received internationally

• Navigable and feature-rich

• 3 types of DAISY books: audio and full text,audio with navigation and text-only

DAISY Playback Systems• Desktop DAISY Players (Victor Reader ClassicX etc.)

• Portable DAISY Players (BookSense, Milestone [demo], PlexTalk Pocket, BookPort Plus, ClassMate Reader, Victor Reader Stream etc.)

• Software Players (EasyReader, ReadHear for Mac [demo], gh Player, AMIS [demo] etc.)

• Mobile DAISY applications (Symbian phones, iPhone)

• DAISY Books in Browsers (Firefox Add-on AnyDAISY)

Tools for Authoring DAISYContent

•Open Source Tools (Obi, Tobi, odt2daisy etc.)

• Save as DAISY add-in for Microsoft Office Word

•Commercial tools (Dolphin Publisher, Book Wizard Producer etc.)

DAISY Consortium’s Mission

• To develop and promote international standards and technologies which enable equal access to information and knowledge by all people with print disabilities and which also benefit the wider community.

• Growing number of organizations support DC’s mission and open source projects.

Current Situation•Accessibility to be elevated in all sectors, and most importantly in education.

It has been made clear by the US DOJ and the Department of Education that reading systems must be accessible if they are going to be used in schools and universities.

Students increasingly expect content on-demand, everywhere, immediately.

Reality

For print impaired readers electronic books are not a fad,they represent a necessity since printed publications are simply not accessible.

EPUB - .epub

Open XML format for reflowable digital books and publications - becoming increasingly popular.

The addition of EPUB support in accessible eBook readers provides visually impaired readers immediate access to the growing eBook market.

Need for Improvements

• EPUB is well-aligned with the DAISY Standard but does not presently incorporate all DAISY features; in particular, there is no explicit support for full synchronization of multiple media types, such as audio and text.

• Emerging technologies include new ways of using existing technologies.

Current Developments

• Both DAISY and EPUB Standards are currently under revision, DAISY Consortium is leading the effort.

• Accessibility will be woven into the fabric of the revised EPUB Standard, benefitting both mainstream readers and those who require accessible reading materials.

Thank You! Please go to daisy.org and idpf.org for more

information