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Our vision is that all published information is available to people with print disabilities, at the same time and at no greater cost, in an accessible, feature-rich, navigable format.
Our mission is to develop the international standard and implementation strategies for the production, exchange and use of Digital Talking Books in both developed and developing countries, with special attention to integration with mainstream technology to ensure access to information for people with print disabilities.
Skip the Table of Contents and go to the first articleIn this issue, we bring you another in our series of articles about DAISY tools to help you to produce high-quality content. Please be sure to read Lynn Leith's article describing the benefits of using the Regenerator. Also note Markus Gylling's announcement about Zedval version 1 which will assure that content produced to the DAISY standard is valid.
As usual, we bring you announcements about products from a number of our DAISY Friends. The new tools that are regularly coming onto the market provide consumers with an impressive array of choices, and there are certainly many selections to consider to meet a variety of production needs.
One last highlight in this issue is a brief item pointing you to the Road Map to DAISY 3, ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002 standard. This short paper, first given in Amsterdam at the DAISY conference in May, presents a vision for the transition to this more robust standard.
As those of you who were at the DAISY Conference in Amsterdam will recall, there was a presentation given by George Kerscher and Markus Gylling that outlined plans for the transition from the DAISY 2.02 specification to the DAISY 3, ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002 standard. For your information, we have posted a slightly revised and updated version of this paper on the DAISY Web site at http://www.daisy.org/publications/docs/roadmap_daisy3/Road_Map_to_DAISY_3_v6.html.
As an excerpt from the paper stresses:
It is the Consortium's goal that all those involved in digital production can gradually move forward toward the DAISY 3 standard with confidence that they have an understanding of how to do so strategically. Remember that the DAISY staff and the Consortium's listservs are always available to respond to questions.
We hope you will find this paper to be a helpful reference as you begin to consider preparing your current content for the transition.
Since our last newsletter, the Consortium has had the pleasure of welcoming several new Associate Members from around the world. Below is a list of them; the links will take you to their descriptions on the DAISY Web site. We hope you will spend a few moments to read about your new colleagues. Again, we warmly welcome all of the organizations that have become affiliated with the DAISY Consortium in the last few months. We look forward to working with each of you.
Editor's Note: The information below was taken from a press release distributed by CNIB. For more information, please contact Barry Boyack at barry.boyack@cnib.ca.
Over the summer, Dads4Daughters Charity Bike Ride set out to raise funds in support of The digital library campaign being sponsored by the Canadian National Institute For The Blind (CNIB).
At their own expense, the Dads, Kevin Gibson, 44, and John Hearn, 53, took off from Vancouver on June 1, 2003. The duo planned to arrive in Toronto 50 days or 5,500 kms later.
Both Dads have teenage daughters who are visually impaired and both love to read. Until now, children who are visually impaired have relied on books in Braille and on audiocassette. The library conversion will mean access to the Internet and digital audiobooks for the girls and other visually impaired children, bringing them closer to greater independence in a sighted world.
Only about three percent of published materials are available to people who are visually impaired. CNIB's $33 million digital library campaign, "That all may read…" will convert the library collection to a digital format, creating access to twice as many items and to the world's first Internet portal for people who are blind.
"Kevin and John's cross-country ride shows the demand for this digitization project. Our clients deserve access to information that sighted people take for granted," says Barry Boyack, national director of CNIB national fund development.
John works for Dresser Flow Solutions in Burlington, Ontario, and his company is very supportive of this venture. Kevin is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in the Toronto-West detachment in Ontario, and the RCMP applauds their efforts.
The ride concluded in late August, by which time the dads had raised over $20,000 for the digitization project.
Editor's Note: The following is taken from a press release posted on the Web site of the American Library Association (ALA). To view the full release, please visit http://www.ala.org/Content/ContentGroups/Press_Releases2/Press_Releases_2003/
Fruchterman_wins_Francis_Joseph_Campbell_Award_.htm.
James R. Fruchterman, president, The Benetech Initiative, Palo Alto, Calif., is the recipient of the 2003 Francis Joseph Campbell Award given by the Library Service to People with Visual or Physical Disabilities Forum of the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA). The citation and medal is presented to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of library service for the blind and physically handicapped.
"As an innovator of useful adaptive technology products for more than twenty years, James Fruchterman has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to providing reading tools that allow individuals with visual and other print disabilities access to a wide variety of educational and recreational materials," said Chair Ruth Nussbaum.
The award was presented on June 22, 2003, during the ASCLA President's Program and Award Ceremony during the ALA Annual Conference in Toronto.
One of the articles in the last issue of DAISY News provided an introduction to and explanation of the DAISY 2.02 Validator. Yes, it really is a wonderful, wonderful tool, but you might ask what can be done with a book that is not completely valid to the 2.02 specification; in other words, how can it be fixed? Excellent question, and part of the solution is, of course, the DAISY Regenerator. The Regenerator will take a DAISY 2.0 book and upgrade it to valid DAISY 2.02. It will also correct some problems in 2.02 books, producing valid output. In short, the DAISY Regenerator is a software tool that enables organizations to upgrade and repair some problems in existing DAISY 2.0 and 2.02 DTBs. Like the Validator, the Regenerator is available to everyone at no charge, to DAISY Consortium members and non-members alike. The logic behind this is identical to the logic behind making the Validator available to anyone or any organization; it will ensure that the content they produce is valid DAISY 2.02. Everyone who uses or produces DTBs benefits.
The DAISY Regenerator is available for download from the DAISY Web site now. Go to http://www.daisy.org/download/download.php?Cat=tools. No password is required. If your organization has produced DAISY 2.0 books or is currently producing 2.0 or 2.02 books, this URL is important; this tool is important.
The Regenerator takes a selected DAISY 2.0 or 2.02 DTB and performs a series of operations on the book creating valid DAISY 2.02 DTB output. Where possible, it refreshes, fixes and updates the content of the DTB files so that they comply with the 2.02 specification. It identifies existing problems and corrects them. A new and valid version of the DTB is created during this process. This regenerated DTB is contained within a separate folder within the DTB project folder.
The DAISY Validator is a component part of the Regenerator. When the regeneration is complete, there is an option within the Regenerator to automatically initiate the Validator to validate the new DTB. The default setting is for the Validator to automatically begin the validation process.
Please note that in some cases the Regenerator may be unable to correct a problem/s in a DTB. When this occurs, and the Regenerator fails, either no new files are created or the files are output with partial fixes included. Note also that errors introduced during production that result from human error, for example audio 'linked' incorrectly to a page number, cannot be detected by the Validator or corrected by the Regenerator. A QA procedure that looks specifically for errors of this nature cannot be replaced by the use of the Regenerator. Production workflow should ensure accuracy and validity through a combination of QA procedures, validation and regeneration. It is a wonderful tool, but some problems even it cannot repair. Using the Regenerator does not necessarily guarantee that the regenerated DTB is perfect.
During regeneration, HTML and SMIL files are converted to valid XHTML. Errors and inconsistencies that are present in DTBs produced with early versions of the production tools are corrected. It is also possible to set the Regenerator to rename files sequentially so that they can be played back in an mp3 player in the correct order. An extensive list of the modifications performed during the regeneration process is provided in the manual which accompanies the Regenerator. A few of these modifications are, for example:
Note that the regenerated version of the DTB will not include any files from the original DTB folder that are not part of the DTB fileset. This includes files such as *.tmp, *.bak, etc., and also includes production tool specific files such as .lpp and .lpo.
If you are a " techie", and you really want to know all of the details about what the Regenerator corrects, install the software and go to the technical list of corrections and fixes in the manual.
Everyone and anyone who is producing and/or distributing DAISY DTBs should use the Regenerator. Production and playback tool developers can also use it to ensure that the sample books with which they are testing their tools are actually valid DTBs. Conformance testing agencies would certainly want to ensure that the DTBs were indeed valid.
DAISY staff member Miki Azuma has been testing the Regenerator with DTBs created in languages such as Chinese, Korean and Thai. Many organizations have used Sigtuna DAR 2 to create content, and Miki firmly believes that it is important for those organizations to use the Regenerator with the DTBs in their collections.
Much of what was stated in relation to the need for the use of the DAISY 2.02 Validator in the last issue of DAISY News applies to the use of the Regenerator. This tool allows organizations not only to determine if their DTBs are valid, but also to transform invalid DTBs into valid DTBs. What better reason could there be to use the Regenerator? Accurate playback in DAISY players (hardware and software players) is assured with valid DTBs. At some point we will all migrate to DAISY 3 content for our collections, and only valid DAISY 2.02 content can be guaranteed to correctly migrate to DAISY 3. The upgrade to valid 2.02 ensures that your collection is secure and that migration to DAISY 3 is possible. The longevity of your organization's archives is ensured.
This is the first public beta release of the Daisy 2.02 Regenerator. Although it is still classed as a beta release, it has been extensively used by many DAISY members. It has been praised by many, and so it should. A new release of the Regenerator which includes bug fixes and a set of additional features is scheduled for public release in October.
Prior to installing the Regenerator, Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) 4.0 SP1 or higher must be installed. The URL for downloading this XML parser has changed recently. It can now be downloaded from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/index.php?url=/downloads/list/xmlgeneral.php. Full details about configuring the Regenerator and running batch jobs (yes, this can be done in a batch process; multiple titles can be regenerated in sequence, reducing time required to set up regeneration jobs) are also outlined in the Regenerator manual, as are details about importing metadata from another source into the regenerated DTB. This software can be used at a stand-alone workstation or in a networked environment.
Very simply, if you have a collection of DAISY books that your organization has produced, you should be using the Regenerator. Earlier versions of the production tools did not necessarily produce fully valid content, and current versions, although very, very close, may still introduce problems that prevent the DTBs' output from being completely valid to the 2.02 specification.
Yes, I am also a DAISY Regenerator fan. During June and July the CNIB Library reprocessed its existing DAISY collection with the Regenerator. All newly completed titles are run through the tool as required. Once again thank you Markus (Gylling) and TPB for creating and making this wonderful tool available to any organization creating DAISY content.
During July and August, several trainings affiliated with the DAISY For All Project were conducted. Markus Gylling and Miki Azuma were the primary trainers for these sessions.
From July 24 - July30, Miki held a DAISY training in the Central Women's Correctional Institution. This training session included 19 people.
The training covered Sigtuna DAR 3 including NCC-only production and full text production. The training was conducted in English and translated to Thai. Thai text was used for the practice productions. At the end of the course, most of the trainees could create full text projects by themselves.
From August 2 - August 8, a DAISY For All International Trainers Training course was conducted by Markus and Miki. Eleven trainees and two semi-trainees participated, from India, Thailand, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan.
The course was designed to be a preparatory course for potential DAISY For All International Trainers. The aim was that potential trainers should be identified and asked to participate as assistants/trainee trainers during forthcoming training sessions.
For this reason, the training course practically became an Advanced DAISY production training course, focusing mainly on full text production, with only brief repetition of NCC-Only production. Topics included XML, XHTML markup, CSS, MDF, XML workflow design, user group expansion themes, and DTB fileset logic.
From August 11 - August 15, a DAISY For All Focal Point Training session was conducted with the Thailand Association for the Blind. Miki and Markus also held this training. One of the identified potential trainers from the International Trainers Training session participated as assistant, doing some lectures as practice.
This training session also focused on full text production using Thai text and language. Real-time translation was used throughout the course.
Although also focusing on full text, this course outline differed from the International Trainers Training course in that a simplified approach was taken when teaching full text markup practice. XHTML templates were used, and MDF was not explicitly addressed. Sigtuna DAR 3 was used with the default MDF and CSS files from the current LpStudio/Pro.
Throughout the period, modular training materials were in development. These materials will gradually be incorporated into future DAISY-related trainings.
In addition to the DAISY For All training sessions, the Consortium itself has supported two courses in recent months. Staff are making plans to hold two more trainings this fall, and there is already one request pending for 2004.
There are two approved and confirmed DAISY courses planned for the remainder of the year.
During the week of October 20th a course will be given for Canadian DAISY Consortium members at Langara College in Vancouver. Eight people will be attending, and DAISY trainer Sean Brooks will have an opportunity to present his first official DAISY course. Plans are well underway, and a draft agenda has been sent.
Our Belgian members are eager to have a DAISY course, and for them it is important that the course be given in Dutch. The request has been approved for the course to be held before the end of this year. Our biggest challenge now is to coordinate course leaders, with language specifically in mind.
From September 8- September 11, the DAISY Consortium conducted a training course at the National Information Library Service (NILS) in Melbourne, Australia.
Six audio production and transcription staff from NILS took part in the course, which covered a range of DAISY recording and production tools and processes, analog to DAISY conversion, and topics such as book preparation, work flows and file management.
In-depth theory lessons were enhanced by hands-on exercises, enabling each participant to confidently use the same DAISY production tools they would use on a daily basis. Following the exercises, each participant created several small DAISY books.
This course was tailored to suit the needs of NILS. Practical solutions were demonstrated that would enable NILS to start DAISY book production immediately following the training.
The training course was delivered by DAISY Consortium Trainer Andrew Furlong.
Additional follow-up note: Two weeks following the course NILS had already instigated a working group to implement DAISY production, with 20 books planned for completion before Christmas.
If you would like to explore the possibility of having a DAISY training session for your organization, please send email to Lynn Leith, International Training and Technical Support Coordinator, at Lynn.Leith@cnib.ca.
The DAISY Consortium provides this "Tools Update" column as a benefit to its Members and Friends. We provide information about new tools for you to explore. Inclusion of a Member or Friend's product or service in DAISY News does not necessarily imply quality assurance or endorsement of that product or service by the Consortium itself.
Zedval, the DAISY 3, ANSI/NISO Z39.86 DTB Validator, has been released in version 1.0.0.
You can find compiled downloads, source downloads, user and API documentation at the project site: http://zedval.sourceforge.net.
We encourage all users to submit bug reports and feature requests to the Zedval tracker. The address is https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=73271.
Zedval is an open source project. Zedval is distributed under LGPL (Lesser Gnu Public License). This means that it can be included as a component in free-of-charge as well as commercial applications. The only requirement for an agency including Zedval in a commercial application is that any enhancement done to the application is offered back for inclusion in the open source library.
The DAISY Consortium and the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 maintenance committee are currently planning for a second phase of development on Zedval. This second phase includes:
We look forward to your support and feedback with this project as we work together to produce high quality DAISY content.
The DAISY For All Project has recently made available a software tool (called the "Localization Tool") that lets you edit text strings and record audio clips for the Adaptive Multimedia Information System (AMIS). This way you can customize the text and audio for all software prompts. It is really easy to use, and it's the fastest way to translate AMIS into other languages.
Thanks to our Thai colleagues, we should have a Thai translation available soon. This was produced using the localization tool.
If you are interested in working on a translation, the best way to do it is to use this tool. Entering new text and recording audio for the entire application takes about one hour (not counting the actual translation work).
All you need are a simple computer microphone attached to your PC, and a computing environment that supports your language's script and input mode.
Please visit http://www.amisproject.org/software/localize.html for downloads and more information.
Phoneticom is pleased to release their product, Phoneticom DAISY Generator, a publication system that makes it possible to automatically produce fully synchronized Audio-Full-Text, or other types of DAISY 2.02 productions, using Text-To-Speech technology. Skippability is supported. Further, Phoneticom's DAISY Generator supports DTBook XML as an input format, and it can generate DAISY 3 (Text-only) as an output format.
The only requirement is that the text to produce is in a structured format such as HTML or XML in order to produce a talking book with comprehensive navigation. Built-in XSL processing lets the publishing organization implement support for any XML format they like. Many tools are available to produce XML or HTML, such as Microsoft Word®.
Phoneticom DAISY Generator is server-based and controlled by a Web-based user interface. Publishers may use their existing Web browser; no installation of extra software on their desktop PC is required. They simply log in to a server running Phoneticom DAISY Generator and manage their productions.
The Web interface is, of course, totally accessible to people using technical aids such as screen readers. The advanced user can control many details about the production, and these configurations may be saved so that publishing a new text only consists of uploading the files and pressing a button. Publishers may customise layout using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
When production is completed, the publisher can be notified by E-mail. During production, a Web-based status report is continuously updated. The production may be delivered as a standard uncompressed file set, a zipped file set, or even an ISO image ready to burn on CD.
New Text-To-Speech engines are supported by providing server modules that Phoneticom DAISY Generator can communicate with. SAPI is not required, and the Text-To-Speech engine may reside on any computer on the network. Use of multiple dictionaries improves speech quality.
Phoneticom is also happy to offer customers high-quality English Text-To-Speech synthesis that can be purchased together with our DAISY Generator. The license makes it possible to distribute DAISY publications for non-commercial use without further restrictions. Pricing is very moderate. Inquiries about support for other languages are welcome.
Please feel free to contact Phoneticom with questions and to obtain pricing information for English Text-To-Speech and Phoneticom DAISY Generator. Again, the product can support other languages besides English, and the company does welcome inquiries about that.
To contact Phoneticom, see:
www.phoneticom.com/english/
Email:daisy@phoneticom.com
Phone: +46 18 136800.
VisuAide recently distributed a press release regarding the Victor Reader Classic +. We offer a few excerpts from it.
VisuAide is proud to officially launch the latest Digital Talking Book Player in its growing product line of DAISY playback devices: the Victor Reader Classic +.
The Victor Reader Pro was the first major international sales success for VisuAide and has been distributed in over 20 countries in 13 languages. For the next generation of DAISY players for students and professionals, VisuAide's customers requested a sturdier solution with a CD slot drive, carrying handle, high-quality speaker, better button contrast and longer battery life. The Victor Reader Classic + delivers all those benefits at a lower price.
The Victor Reader Classic + offers the full functionality of Victor Reader Pro with the robust ergonomic design of the market-leading Victor Reader Classic. The Classic + offers a slot drive mechanism for the CD drive as well as a full numeric keypad to rapidly and accurately navigate throughout books. Like Victor Reader Pro, the Classic + is easy to carry. The player sports a built-in handle and rechargeable batteries.
The award-winning Victor Reader Pro, the first DAISY player that was introduced back in 1999, will now cede its place to a worthy successor that will carry the same seal of success and quality. VisuAide has put in place a comprehensive technical support plan to allow the maintenance and repair of the thousands of Victor Reader Pro units in use in the world today.
To read the full press release, please see: http://www.visuaide.com/news_classic_plus.html.
Editor's Note: The following are excerpts from an announcement distributed by CAST.
CAST Inc recently announced the release of eReader 3.0 for the Windows® platform.
Now CAST's eReader supports DAISY 2.02 digital talking books which use human voice on MP3 files. The program will be the first tool that will use both synthetic speech and natural voice to navigate a range of digital educational content and provide critically needed reading supports for young readers with disabilities as they begin to read independently.
CAST eReader is a text-to-speech software tool designed to support users who have difficulty reading. The flexible user interface enables users to read digitized text, HTML, and DAISY 2.02 documents, choose between limited or fully equipped toolbars as well as customize the software's general look and feel for ease of use. New voices (SAPI 4, SAPI 5 and ATT Natural Voices™ included) give the user more options than ever before.
To get pricing, see screen shots, and learn more about eReader 3.0 for Windows® go to www.cast.org/ereader.
To download a 30-day trial version go to: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=211&option=Demo.
To download a Pricing and Feature Sheet, visit http://www.cast.org/udl/ereader/eReader3FeaturesPricing.pdf.
Features Include:
For higher volume please call Gabrielle King at 888-858-9994 X 260. More information about upgrades and their pricing may be obtained by contacting CAST.
The CAST eReader was originally developed in 1995 and is presently used by over 80,000 students and adults to support reading as well as assist in research done over the Internet. eReader 3.0 for Windows® was supported in part by: John W. Alden Trust, NEC Foundation of America, and the Nord Family Foundation.
If you have any questions please email us at eReader@cast.org.
Telex has designed an innovative, durable and very easy-to-use digital talking book player. The EZDaisy talking book player offers primary controls such as volume, variable speed, play, rewind, fast forward, pause, stop and undo - redo. These features are intended for the light user who wants some but not all of the functionality of digital talking book players. EZDaisy will play DAISY-formatted discs as well as standard CDs, and MP3s on CDs. For more information on where to purchase, call tollfree in the United States: 1-800-828-6107 extension 7498 or +1 952-887-5586.
Here is a handy list of DAISY Consortium Web site links and email addresses: