DAISY News

This Webinar will provide an overview of present capabilities on both mobile and PC-based readers, cover e-text formats and future developments. With the emergence of the Kindle, the Nook, and other commercial products, the availability of electronic books and reading devices has exploded.

Date and time: February 9th at 11 AM Pacific, noon Mountain, 1 PM Central and 2 PM Eastern

Presenter: Ken Petri from Ohio State University

As we know, the accessibility of some e-reader devices has been poor, resulting in complaints and law suits. Seeing a large new market being closed to them, vendors and publishers have begun to make their products at least partially accessible. This Webinar will provide an overview of the current status of e-reader accessibility and point to some activities toward improving these technologies.

Follow the link to register for the February 9th Free Webinar.

ICCHP organizers invite you to participate in the International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP) Special Thematic Session (STS) on Creative Design for Inclusion to be held in July 2012 in Linz, Austria: http://www.icchp.org/node/360.

Presentation proposals are due Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.

Papers are encouraged on the following topics but please feel free to make other suggestions and contact the STS Chair david.crombie(at)kmt.hku.nl if you have any questions.

• Approaches to human-centered innovation
• Creative approaches to providing accessible information
• Encouraging Inclusive Design Processes
• Mainstreaming creative and inclusive solutions
• Creative partnerships between key stakeholders
• Shaping inclusion policy and framework conditions
• Establishing communities and centres of interest
• Motivating institutions to demand specific solutions (creative pull)
• Teaching students to start thinking from use cases to technological solutions
• Helping institutions to combine both creative and technological educational cultures (such as science & interactive design or applied art & computing).

For general conference information, see the ICCHP Conference website.

The open source validator tool EPUBCheck 3.0 Beta for validating EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 content is now available at validator.idpf.org. The EPUBCheck contributors and DAISY Consortium technical team members coordinated the hosted deployment. Users creating commercial EPUB files in volume must install EPUBCheck instead of using this site.

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has announced the 2012 winners of the Migel Medals, the highest honor in the blindness field. The 2012 recipients are George Kerscher, Ph.D. and Kathleen Mary Huebner, Ph.D.

"It is an honor to present these medals to George and Kathleen for their outstanding achievements in the blindness and low vision field," said Carl R. Augusto, AFB president and CEO. "In dedicating their professional lives to ensuring that people with vision loss can live healthy and independent lives, the 2012 Migel Medal awardees are truly worthy of this special recognition."

The AFB Migel Medal was established in 1937 by the late M.C. Migel, AFB's first chairman, to honor professionals and volunteers whose dedication and achievements improve the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired.

The Migel Medals will be presented to the recipients at the 2012 AFB National Leadership Conference at St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, in early May.

More information about the Awardees is provided in the AFB press release.

Accessibility conference and exhibition "Techshare India 2012 - Bridging the Barriers" will be held on February 6th and 7th, 2012 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India. Techshare India 2012 will build awareness, identify needs, and provide solutions and implementation strategies to create an inclusive environment for people with disabilities. To register, please fill in the Techshare India 2012 Conference Registration form.

Stephen King is the new President of the DAISY Consortium. He started his four year term on January 1st, 2012.

Stephen leads one of RNIB's three strategic priorities: preventing people from losing their sight unnecessarily. Stephen also heads RNIB's work with global business, government and non-governmental organisations (NGO's). Since joining RNIB in 1990, Stephen has been instrumental in helping RNIB to establish their reputation as a world leader in supporting blind and partially sighted people. He has played an important role in developing RNIB's customer service, products, publications and library, and their work of improving access to TV, ICT and books, magazines and newspapers.

Stephen King was one of the six founding members of the DAISY Consortium in 1996. He has demonstrated an exceptional, ongoing commitment to the DAISY Consortium. Stephen holds an MBA from the Scottish Business School at Glasgow University and is also a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. Stephen's story will be published in the January 2012 issue of the DAISY Planet newsletter.

Adobe® Digital Editions 1.8 preview 2 (Version 1.8.1) is an update to the Digital Editions electronic book reader that adds support for accessibility. It is designed to work with Windows and Mac operating system accessibility features, including high contrast, and voice reading software – JAWS or NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac.

This preview enables assistive technology users to read protected eBooks, including books offered via Overdrive and books purchased through online book sellers such as Barnes and Noble. Digital Editions 1.8 is not a full replacement for Digital Editions 1.7. Currently, the Digital Editions 1.8 preview does not support 1.7 features for printing and device support (the ability to load eBooks to USB-connected eReader hardware). The focus of this release is to add accessibility support. Future releases will incorporate more of the Digital Editions 1.7 features as well as maintain accessibility improvements introduced in Digital Editions 1.8. More information is provided on the Adobe Labs website.

Today’s unprecedented growth in the adoption of smart phones and tablets along with the ubiquity of high speed wireless connections have increased the possibilities for building more sophisticated and meaningful customer interactions. SpeechTEK 2012 Conference will take place in New York, August 13-15, 2012 and will expand its focus to include smart phone and tablet applications.

These applications now provide engaging and useful means of accessing information and performing transactions, which is available to individuals from any location. New connected devices in cars and homes give instant access to desired products and services. Multiple input and output modalities such as voice, touch, text, and graphics have the potential to provide convenient and intuitive multichannel interactions.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and smart phone applications should provide the customer easy access to live agents for extra help and allow the customer to interact across channels without starting from scratch each time. SpeechTEK 2012 [Meet New Customer Demands with Speech] addresses the challenges of building intelligent multichannel customer interactions and is asking individuals, companies and organizations to share their stories. The SpeechTEK 2012 call for participation is open - deadline is January 25, 2012. More information can be found on the SpeechTEK 2012 website.

e-Accessibility is gaining momentum, as demonstrated by the increase in governmental initiatives and commercial interest in the field. The domain of a few dedicated specialists until a few years ago, it is today a regular preoccupation in the ICT sector.

This achievement must not, however, be overstated. e-Accessibility is still often considered costly add-on to the development of information systems although integrating e-Accessibility at the core of information systems is a technological, economical and sociopolitical necessity.

It is in this context that the Institute of e-Accessibility (IAN) is organizing the 6th European Forum on e-Accessibility on March 26th, 2012 on the theme: “Putting e-Accessibility at the Core of Information Systems”. The first confirmed speakers have been announced. Markus Gylling, CTO of the DAISY Consortium and the IDPF will discuss the potential of the recently approved EPUB 3 standard and its role in accessible publishing. More information is provided on the 6th European Forum on e-Accessibility website.

Zurich, Switzerland and Missoula, MT, USA - Building on DAISY Consortium’s collaboration with Microsoft, Save as DAISY for Office 2010 helps Microsoft Word users convert Word Open XML files to the DAISY format. The latest version supports Office 2003, 2007 and 2010.

“We want to provide people with print disabilities equal access to the same information,” says George Kerscher, Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium. “The blind person needs a mechanism to navigate the page as quickly as a sighted person.”

With the validation tools incorporated into Save as DAISY for Office 2010, users can convert a well-structured Word file into a DAISY file set that automatically conforms to DAISY standards. DAISY files aid readers with print disabilities, as the text in DAISY XML is synchronized with synthetic-speech audio MP3 files that are generated by a speech application programming interface available in the Windows operating system.

Save as DAISY for Office 2010 incorporates a "Lite" version of the DAISY Pipeline. Users can select to generate the DAISY XML for further processing, or they can generate a fully conforming DAISY file set with full navigation and full text synchronized with audio. The audio is generated by the default text-to-speech (TTS) engine on users’ Windows computer.

Save as DAISY add-in is a tool that document creators can use to easily convert their documents into multimedia publications for people who are blind or have a print disability. The add-in is available at no cost to users, helping to meet the DAISY Consortium’s commitment to provide equal access to information for all members of society.

“Our work with the DAISY Consortium and Save as DAISY for Office 2010 are key elements of Microsoft’s ongoing investment in accessibility” said Rob Sinclair, chief accessibility officer, Microsoft. “Talking documents open up a world of words for people with print disabilities at home, work and in the classroom.”

E-Learning Consultant Norm Coombs (EASI) shared: "In 1972 I published a history book, "Black Experience in America". I wrote it on a typewriter, and being blind, made lots of typos. I had it edited and exchanged emails with the editor till she was happy with the manuscript. But, being in print, I couldn't read it myself!

In the late 1980s, I used a scanner and got an electronic version as a plain text file. But 200 pages with no chapters or headers was long and tedious. Eventually, I gave it away to Project Gutenberg which eventually had someone put out a Web version including some chapters and headers.

With the arrival of the Save as DAISY add-in for Word, I had an inspiration. I used the 'cut and save' feature in Internet Explorer and pasted it into Word, now I had a document with paragraphs, headers, and chapters providing basic navigation. The add-in let me save a DAISY version which I now have on my pocket-sized DAISY reader. The document may not be 'publisher perfect', but I now can read my book in a format with chapters, headers and the ability to both skim and move around as easily as if it were a print book!"

By being able to navigate content in the same way a sighted reader can, people with print disabilities can consume information at the same speed as other people, making them more competitive in school and in business.

Download the Save as DAISY add-in from the DAISY Consortium website: http://www.daisy.org/project/save-as-daisy-microsoft-word-add-in

Download AMIS, a free software program that you can use to read DAISY books: http://www.daisy.org/amis.

Post your comments and feedback to the Save as DAISY add-in forum: http://www.daisy.org/forums/save-as-daisy-microsoft.

The Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) in Post-secondary Education for Students with Disabilities has released a report providing Congress with vital recommendations for improving the ability of post-secondary students with disabilities to obtain accessible instructional materials in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The AIM Commission's report sheds light on the hurdles students with disabilities too often face in accessing and completing higher education courses,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Their recommendations will help our colleges and universities offer more effective resources that meet the needs of all students and provide students with disabilities the 21st century learning tools they need to be successful.”

Over the course of 14 months, commission members studied the current state of accessible materials for students with disabilities in post-secondary education. Comprised of various stakeholders, including students with disabilities, members of the publishing community, higher education personnel, and content experts in the fields of disability and technology, the commission offered diverse perspectives on the state of accessible instructional materials across post-secondary campuses nationwide.

Accessible versions of the AIM Commission's report are available for download from the Bookshare website.

The CSUN 2012 Conference in San Diego will host Knowbility's AccessU as a "conference within a conference" on Monday, February 27th and Tuesday, February 28th, 2012. Knowbility's renowned program will now be presented on-site at the conference so participants can attend both AccessU and the CSUN Conference! Learn more on the Knowbility's AccessU at CSUN website.

Conference registration for attendees opened on Monday, December 5th, 2011. Register early to receive your early bird discounted rate! Visit the Registration Information page for details about registration, fees and deadlines.

Accessibility conference and exhibition "Techshare India 2012 - Bridging the Barriers" will be held on February 6th & 7th, 2012 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India. Techshare India 2012 will build awareness, identify needs, and provide solutions and implementation strategies to create an inclusive environment for people with disabilities.

For almost a decade, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) UK, has been organizing Techshare. In India, BarrierBreak Technologies, a subsidiary of Net Systems Informatics has been organizing Techshare India since 2008. Register for Techshare India 2012 by December 12th, 2011 and receive a 10% Early Bird Discount.

AMIS is a self-voicing software program for reading DAISY books. Thanks to the efforts of Dávid Németh and the IT Foundation for the Visually Impaired in Hungary, a translation of AMIS in Hungarian is now available and can be downloaded from the AMIS translations page.