HOMELatest News
Current DAISY News items are posted below. A list of Archived News items is also available.
Hiroshi Kawamura, President of the DAISY Consortium, was honored to accept the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award on behalf of the DAISY Consortium today in Cairo Egypt.
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.
Publishing 'Sneak Peeks' Online
Note: This is an NPR (National Public Radio) Flash-enabled audio, with links to related stories.
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An older related story from another source: Random House Audio abandons audiobook DRM
Accessibility format gets boost from maker of world's biggest text-authoring tool
Excerpt: Good structural metadata lets a blind user nimbly navigate, browse and search a document. Word and PDF weren't built from the ground up to support that. DAISY was.
DAISY users talk about the personal benefits of the Save as DAISY XML add-in for Microsoft Office Word.
- Watch the video in English (.wmv, 4 min 10 sec)
- Watch the video in Chinese (Mandarin) (.wmv, 4 min 10 sec)
- Watch the video in Dutch (.wmv, 4 min 10 sec)
- Watch the video in French (.wmv, 4 min 10 sec)
- Watch the video in Spanish (.wmv, 4 min 10 sec)
Today at 12:01 PDT the first official release of Microsoft's "Save As DAISY XML" translator for Microsoft Office Word and the simultaneous release of the newest version of the DAISY Pipeline were announced. Both are open source developments which support the creation of accessible content for people worldwide with print disabilities.
Full details and links to downloads, press release and related information, and support documentation for the Microsoft "Save As DAISY XML" add-in are available in the "Save As DAISY" area of the DAISY Web site. "We know that much of the information in documents today is created with Microsoft Word; this new add-in provides an unprecedented leap forward in the worldwide effort to make information available to all." (George Kerscher, Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium).
Information, links to the press release, and downloads for the Pipeline are on the DAISY Pipeline project page. This suite of migration tools supports the transformation of files from one format into other required formats. The release announced today offers compatibility with Microsoft Office Word. "This is a huge step toward achieving the DAISY Consortium's vision of a world where everyone has equal access to information and knowledge." (Markus Gylling, Technical Development Director for the DAISY Consortium).
Press documentation for Microsoft's "Save As DAISY XML" translator is also provided in DAISY 2.02 format. This DAISY DTB with synthetic speech was created using the "Save As DAISY XML" translator and the DAISY Pipeline. It is available for download from the Microsoft "Save As DAISY" project page.
The first official release of Microsoft's "Save As DAISY XML" translator for Microsoft Office Word was announced today. This is an open source collaborative project.
The DAISY Consortium announces a new release of the DAISY Pipeline, a free, downloadable transformation suite that transforms documents into accessible multimedia formats.
On Tuesday June 10, 2008, the Norwegian DAISY Consortium (NDK) is also hosting the conference, "DAISY - the Best Way to Read: Conference on Accessible Literature" in Oslo Norway. Conference registration also includes a reception which will be held at the Norwegian Library for the Blind on Monday evening. Please note that the deadline for registration for the Conference is May 10. Details about the Conference including the program, an online registration form and contact information are available on the DAISY Conference on Accessible Literature Web page. Exhibit tables in the area outside the conference room can be arranged.
The Conference is preceded on June 8 and 9 by the DAISY Board Meeting, and immediately followed by the DAISY General Meeting. The Conference will be held at the Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel (Sonja Henies Plass 3, Box 9206, N-0134 Oslo, Norway). A link to the Radisson SAS in Oslo providing online and phone registration options is also provided on the DAISY Conference Web page. The General and Board Meetings will be held at the Norwegian Library for the Blind (Norsk Lyd- og blindeskriftsbibliotek, Observatoriegaten 1B, 0206 Oslo.
For those planning to attend and perhaps stay an extra day or two, information about Oslo and Norway is available at the Official Travel and Visitor's Guide to Oslo and on the same Web site, Oslo on a Budget. See also Norway In a Nutshell.
At the Joint ITU and G3ict Forum 2008 on "The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Challenges and Opportunities for ICT Standards", held in Geneva on April 21, Hiroshi Kawamura, President of the DAISY Consortium, gave a thought-provoking presentation. "DAISY for Everyone: Development of Accessible Multimedia Standards" was delivered in Session 2 of the Forum, which was entitled "Accessible contents and services: addressing information deprivation". The abstract of Mr. Kawamura's presentation is available on the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Web site.
Errata to the current DAISY Standard, officially, the ANSI/NISO Z39.86, Specifications for the Digital Talking Book, are posted and will be maintained with highlighting and screen reader compatible track changes in the Errata document at http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/errataDaisy_2005.html.
Award-winner Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille shares the spotlight with the DAISY Consortium supporting the fundamental human right for access to printed materials.
NISO, the National Information Standards Organization, a non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in today's changing and ever-more digital environment.
NISO recognizes that standards must reflect global needs and is designated by ANSI to represent U.S. interests as the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Technical Committee 46 on Information and Documentation.
Read the NISO Press Release announcing this DAISY Consortium/Microsoft collaboration: "NISO Standard at the Heart of Microsoft Translator for Open XML to DAISY XML".
In a new collaborative initiative, Microsoft and the DAISY Consortium will work together to develop an Open XML to DAISY XML Converter: "Save As DAISY XML". DTBook, the DAISY XML file which will be generated from the free downloadable plug-in for Microsoft Word, is the foundation of the DAISY/NISO Standard for reading and publishing navigable, multimedia content.
Geneva, 2 July 2007 - For Immediate Release
Visually Impaired Persons and Publishers Join IPA in Geneva for Dialogue on International Access
The International Publishers Association invited VIP (Visually Impaired Persons) experts and publishing industry stakeholders to discuss the issues of access of visually impaired persons across borders to works in accessible formats.
IPA invited experts to informal talks in Geneva. The invitees came from the World Blind Union, the DAISY Consortium, and IFLA/Libraries for the Blind Section to join publishing industry specialists from the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), the Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) and the Dorina Nowill Foundation (Brazil). All were invited in their personal capacity, not as spokespersons of their respective organisations.
For Immediate Release
Mathematics Now Added to the DAISY Standard
The DAISY Consortium approves MathML - the first modular extension to DAISY
ZURICH, Switzerland - March 22, 2007 - The DAISY Consortium announced today the formal adoption of the specification for the DAISY/NISO Standard Modular Extension for Mathematics. The publication of the Mathematics Modular Extension is crucial to integrating accessible mathematics into DAISY and NIMAS-compliant books. The path to accessible mathematics is now clear.
