HOMENews Archive
2010-03-12
Title: Bookshare - VR Stream Download Training
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Time: 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM EDT
- Review of the Victor Reader Stream main features and benefits.
- How to download content from Bookshare and use Companion Software to transfer content to the VR Stream.
- Questions and Answers.
2010-03-11
The University of Colorado at Boulder invites speaker proposals for its 13th annual Accessing Higher Ground Conference that will take place November 15-19, 2010. Keynote Speaker: George Kerscher, Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium. The conference focuses on the implementation and benefits of Assistive Technology and Accessible Media in the university and college setting. Other topic areas cover legal and policy issues, including ADA and 508 compliance. The creation of accessible media and information resources, including web pages and library resources are a particular focus of the event. For the main conference, accepted out-of-town speakers will receive a 10% discount off conference registration fees. Local speakers will receive a 5% discount. Additional incentives are provided for accepted pre-conference proposals. For more information, please go to the 13th annual Accessing Higher Ground Conference website.
2009-12-31
Over 800 books have been requested by DAISY Member Bookshare's many members and volunteers that are not part of their student population. Your donation will help ensure that Bookshare's non-student community is served with the books they desire and wish for. Give the gift of accessibility! Details are available on the Bookshare website.
NISO's Monthly Teleconference Call on November 9, 2009 Focused on the Revision of the DAISY Standard
2009-11-09
NISO's monthly teleconference call was held on Monday, November 9, 2009 from 3-4 pm (EST). George Kerscher, Chair of the DAISY Working Group undertaking a revision of the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 standard (Specifications for the Digital Talking Book), provided an update on the status of the revision. More information about the 2010 revision is available on the DAISY Consortium website.
2009-11-04
As the eBook market unfolds, it seems to be getting more complex by the day. Publishers are trying to adapt as competitive and consumer pressures demand that their titles be compatible with the multitude of new eBook applications and eReaders coming to market.
To develop a successful eBook production strategy it is important to understand where the market is today and will be tomorrow. In this 60-minute webinar, Sarah Rotman Epps, Forrester's eBook Market Analyst, and Michael Smith, Director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), present their views on the future for eBook readers, formats and standards. Please fill out and submit the online registration form to attend.
2009-11-02
Webinar discussion will include information on services for new or returning postsecondary students as well as individual membership information. Details on how to register are available in the HumanWare newsletter.
2009-10-12
Last chance to save $40 with discounted registration! One-Day only passes also available! Register, if you have not already done so, for ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) 2009 Chicago (October 29-31, 2009) by Friday, October 16 and pay only $485 for full conference admission, a $40 discount from onsite admission. One-day only passes are available at $300. Details are available on the ATIA website.
2009-10-07
Accessibility conference and exhibition "Techshare India 2010 - Bridging the Barriers" invites submissions of papers for this conference to be held on February 15th and 16th, 2010 in New Delhi, India. The Organizing Committee will be reviewing the papers and will try to ensure that all disabilities are covered. Call for papers will close on October 30th, 2009. More information is available on the Barrier Break Technologies website.
2009-10-06
ITU TELECOM WORLD is an unrivaled event for the global telecommunication and information communication technology (ICT) sector. Hiroshi Kawamura, President of the DAISY Consortium will be a panel speaker of a special session “Assistive technologies: Accessibility and e-health", Thursday, Oct 8, 2009, 16:30 - 18:00. More information is available on the ITU Telecom website.
2009-09-22
Tobi, the open-source software developed by the DAISY Consortium, was demonstrated to the public for the first time at the DAISY 2009 conference in Leipzig, Germany. Tobi is an extensible authoring tool for production of full-text full-audio DAISY 3, and for creation of next-generation accessible multimedia. This early preview is not a production-ready release, but it already features existing functionality that will be of interest to early adopters and testers, as well as to developers wanting to explore customization and plug-in capabilities. The Tobi team would like to engage the community for feedback and contributions, and a dedicated forum will be available for users and developers to interact. The stable release of Tobi (v1.0) is planned for January 2010. More information about Tobi can be found on the Tobi development site.
2009-09-17
Members of the DAISY Consortium, RNIB and Dolphin Computer Access, will offer an exclusive sneak preview of the world's first instant DAISY talking book player to all Techshare 2009 conference attendees. Dolphin Computer Access will present every delegate with a free USB thumb drive, complete with all conference and exhibition materials in the DAISY format. These recipients will also be the first to experience Dolphin's EasyReader Express, a software DAISY book player that runs instantly from the USB drive and without the need for installation. More information is available on the Dolphin Computer Access website.
2009-06-17
As announced previously, Lyris was down due to temporary network problems, that have now been fixed.
2009-06-16
DAISY email lists are down due to a problem with the firewall. Please do not send messages to the lists until further notice.
2009-03-11
The new iPod shuffle is tiny, with newly added feature called VoiceOver. With the press of a button, VoiceOver announces the titles of the songs as well as the artists. It also tells the names of your playlists and lets users know when battery needs charging.
2009-01-14
WORLDCOMP'09 is the largest annual gathering of researchers in the fields of computer science, computer engineering and applied computing. Particpants can attend a variety of affiliated research conferences, workshops, and symposiums.
2008-10-08
The Call for Papers for the 2009 CSUN (California State University, Northridge) Conference will close November 3, 2008. Please visit the CSUN website to submit a proposal or request additional information.
2008-09-29
The September issue of the DAISY Planet is now available on the DAISY Web site: September DAISY Planet. Please share the Planet with your associates and friends.
2008-09-10
Two new releases of the Microsoft Word translator add-in are planned for the next four months. The first software release will be fixing reported problems, supply improved documentation, and add new features, including support for MathML generation. The second release will add audio (mp3) generation using TTS engines and will deliver a fully conforming DAISY file set (DAISY DTB). The add-in works with Word XP, Word 2003, and Word 2007.
The DAISY Consortium is recruiting people interested in beta testing the candidate releases before they are made generally available to the public through SourceForge. We are looking for 50 to 100 people from all language groups to ensure that the add-in is working for everybody throughout the world.
To sign up for beta testing, please use the Contact Us form on the DAISY Web site and select the category "Project Microsoft Save as DAISY Beta Testing".
Additional information about the Save as DAISY project with Microsoft is available in the Projects area of the DAISY Web site.
2008-08-13
The American Foundation for the Blind Migel Medal was established in 1937 by the late M.C. Migel, the first chairperson of AFB, to honor professionals and volunteers whose dedication and achievements have significantly improved the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired.
The 2009 award ceremony will take place during AFB's Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute (JLTLI) meeting in Washington, D.C. March 5-7, 2009.
Nominations for AFB's Migel Medals must be submitted by Friday, September 26, 2008. Information about nomination submissions (to be submitted by email) and complete details about the Migel Medal are provided on the AFB Web site.
2008-08-12
This is an advance notice that the Call for Papers for the 2009 CSUN (California State University, Northridge) Conference will be announced shortly. The Call for Papers will open August 25 and will close October 17. Please check the CSUN Web site for the announcement and further details.
2008-08-05
Competition organizers, AltFormat.org, were deluged by creative, inspiring and heartfelt stories written by primary and secondary school students who have a print disability.
The awards event, held at the House of Commons in London UK, was hosted by Mike Foster MP and David Blunkett MP. Sir Steve Redgrave, five time Olympic rowing gold medalist who gave out the award commented, "This AltFormat story competition has clearly allowed the children's writing skills to flourish, safe in the comfort of their spelling and grammar are not being judged...I'd have quite liked to have had that opportunity available to me whilst I was at school." Sir Steve also has dyslexia.
The nine finalists, along with their parents, couldn't contain their delight as their imaginative stories were brought to life and played as multi sensory DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) digital talking books.
David Blunkett announced a pilot that will take place later in 2008 to transfer electronic books from publishers to schools to help deliver altformats in a speedier manner to young students, adding that the availability of electronic files that can be transformed into digital talking books, large print or braille will create a more level learning environment for everyone with a visual or print disability.
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p>The winning students and their schools received laptops, ipods and alternative format software worth
2008-08-05
Register for this and other EASI Webinars which are open to the public.
Webinar: Microsoft's free Word-to-DAISY XML Add-in
Tuesday August 7, 2:00 p.m. (14:00) Eastern Standard Time
Presenter: George Kerscher Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium
"The new "Save As DAISY XML" add-in, designed for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP, will allow users to save Open XML-based text files into DAISY XML navigable books. It was created through an open source project with Microsoft, Sonata Software Ltd. and the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium...Together these technologies [Microsoft's "Save As DAISY XML" and the DAISY Pipeline] provide a comprehensive solution for converting text documents into accessible formats for people with print disabilities.
You can register for these and other EASI Webinars which are open to the public.
(Those who register will have a seat reserved in the Webinar room, will get login information and also be able to get a link to the recording following the Webinar).
2008-07-31
The document, "Cross-border transfer of VIP-accessible electronic files" is the collated response to the IPA (International Publishers Association) Framework. Comments received from earlier circulations of this document have been incorporated. The DAISY Community and others concerned with the availability and dissemination of accessible content are being asked to provide input on the collated document. Responses are needed as soon as possible.
To receive a copy of this document for review and comment please use the DAISY Contact Us form (select the "general" category) indicating "IPA Framework document" in the first line of the message. The document will be sent to you for review and comment. NOTE: Input must be received by August 10 or earlier.
2008-07-30
"The JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee JISC) TechDis Service has joined forces with the Publishers Association to provide resources which have the potential to transform the delivery of learning materials to disabled students and staff...Publisher Lookup UK - will enable education providers and publishers to source electronic formats of textbooks for students with disabilities more quickly and efficiently than existing processes allow...'Guide to Obtaining Textbooks in Alternative Formats' is designed to provide guidance to teaching, learner support and library staff or anyone who needs to provide text books in alternative formats for reading-impaired learners."
Complete details about this exemplary work are provided on the JISC Web site.
2008-07-30
The July issue of the DAISY Planet is now available on the DAISY Web site: July DAISY Planet. Please share the Planet with your associates and friends.
2008-07-28
AMIS 3 is rapidly approaching stable Release Candidate stage, just now reaching its third beta release. The DAISY Consortium is looking for testers to help find the last few bugs. In particular we encourage organizations that plan to recommend AMIS 3 to their users to participate in the beta testing. More DAISY Members are needed on the team. If you are already on the beta testing team, please give it another thorough going over.
Everything you need to know about beta testing AMIS and the link to the beta download are on the AMIS Wiki.
Only a small number of bug reports have been submitted - perhaps there are not many to find. That is the challenge - find the bugs and send in the bug reports!
2008-07-18
The Taiwan Digital Talking Books Association promotes technology and DAISY for visually impaired and print disabled people in Taiwan. Additional information is available in the Taiwan Digital Talking Books Association entry in the list of DAISY Members and Friends.
2008-07-15
The minutes of the 2008 DAISY General Meeting are available on the DAISY Web site in "About Us". Select the link for "General Meeting Minutes" or go directly to the 2008 DAISY General Meeting Minutes. There is information in the minutes which may be of interest to Members and Friends who were not able to attend.
2008-07-09
Dick Banks was an Adaptive Technologist and the Chief Technology Officer for EASI. He was a 'regular' at conferences such as AHEAD, Accessing Higher Ground, and CSUN.
Norm Coombs, his close friend and work associate wrote that "working and helping others were the things that filled his life with joy".
Dick will be sorely missed and his passing "leaves a giant hole in the life of EASI". An announcement about Dick's passing has been posted on the EASI Web site.
(EASI - Equal Access to Software and Information - provides online training on accessible information technology for persons with disabilities.)
2008-07-07
You can register for these and other EASI Webinars which are open to the public.
Webinar Snapshot: AMIS a Free Software DAISY Player
Wednesday July 23, 2:00 p.m. (14:00) Eastern Standard Time
Presenter: Norm Coombs
"The DAISY format will increasingly become the format for e-books in the near future because of its greatly enhanced document navigation...AMIS, (Adaptive Multimedia Information System), is a free software DAISY player which can be downloaded from (http://amis.sourceforge.net/) This snapshot will provide a very brief introduction to AMIS and will discuss installing it and describe its settings and functions."
Webinar: Microsoft's free Word-to-DAISY XML Add-in
Tuesday August 7, 2:00 p.m. (14:00) Eastern Standard Time
Presenter: George Kerscher from the DAISY Consortium
"The new "Save As DAISY XML" add-in, designed for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP, will allow users to save Open XML-based text files into DAISY XML navigable books. It was created through an open source project with Microsoft, Sonata Software Ltd. and the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium...Together these technologies [Microsoft's "Save As DAISY XML" and the DAISY Pipeline] provide a comprehensive solution for converting text documents into accessible formats for people with print disabilities.
You can register for these and other EASI Webinars which are open to the public.
(Those who register will get a link later to its archive).
2008-07-03
The Adaptive Content Processing Conference (ACP 08) is being jointly hosted by the EUAIN Network, the ProAccess Project and the Federation of Dutch Publishers and will be held as part of the Amsterdam World Book Capital celebrations.
This conference, which will be an excellent platform for network building and knowledge sharing, will be held November 6 and 7, 2008, in Amsterdam. Registration is now open. The draft program, registration details and detailed information about the conference are available on the ACP 08 Web site.
With a diverse focus, the conference will be for publishers and content holders, technicians and policy makers. Demonstrations and discussions regarding the structuring and reuse of content in support of new products and services are planned. This is of course also a central issue for many accessibility organisations and will be of great interest to DAISY Members and Friends.
DAISY Members and Friends are invited to submit and present a thematic session (1 hour) or give a presentation or demonstration. The provisional programme is available on the programme page of the ACP 08 Web site. A conference flyer is available: ACP 08 Flyer in Word and ACP 08 Flyer in PDF.
Please read the ACP 08 Invitation and Call for Papers for further information.
The important dates for this event are:
- 30 July 2008: Deadline for proposals for thematic sessions
- 15 August 2008: Deadline for papers and presentation submissions
- 30 August 2008: Notification of acceptance for papers and presentations
- 01 November: Final date for registration and payment
- 06-07 November ACP08 Conference
The venue will be the Beurs van Berlage which is in the centre of Amsterdam.
2008-06-25
At the recent DAISY Consortium Board meeting held in Oslo Norway, the Finnish DAISY Consortium application for Full Membership in the DC was approved. Three organizations in Finland have joined together to form this new Full Member. Two of these three organizations have been Associate Members of the DC for many years. It is with pleasure that the DAISY welcomes the Finnish DAISY Consortium as a Full Member. Please read the Finnish DAISY Consortium record in the list of DAISY Members and Friends for additional information.
2008-06-25
Please forward this link to your list of contacts: June DAISY Planet.
2008-06-23
Details are available on the ATIA Web site.
2008-06-23
Located in Denmark, ScanDis A/S is a developer of assistive software primarily for those who have a learning disability. Please read the ScanDis A/S record in the list of DAISY Members and Friends for additional information.
2008-06-11
The call for papers for ATIA 2009 Orlando, closes June 23, 2008 (this has been extended to June 30). ATIA's 10th anniversary will be celebrated by two ATIA conferences in 2009, the first in Orlando Florida, USA, January 28 - 31, 2009. Details are available on the ATIA Web site.
2008-05-22
The decision is a victory for the American Council of the Blind, which has been fighting the case in court for nearly 6 years.
2008-05-22
Please forward this link to your list of contacts: May DAISY Planet.
2008-05-12
The Kentucky Department of Education has announced that the state will grant preferential procurement status to math textbook titles submitted by publishers who use Mathematical Markup Language (MathML). Publishers who create digital math content using MathML will be given preference over publishers making textbooks produced with graphic images representing the mathematical content. The reason, of course, is accessibility. Details are available on Design Science's Accessibility News page.
