Published by
DAISY Consortium
Editor, and Co-ordinator of Production and Distribution
William Jolley
Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium
20 Wadham Parade Mount Waverley 3149 AUSTRALIA
Phone/Fax: 613 9807 5137
wjolley@bigpond.com
www.daisy.org
Copyright: DAISY News is the intellectual property of the DAISY Consortium. It is hereby placed in the public domain. DAISY News may be freely copied as an eText document or reproduced in accessible formats for people who are blind or print-disabled. Individual articles may be republished for non-profit purposes; but full attribution should be given to the DAISY Consortium, DAISY News and the article's author.
Our vision is that all published information is available to people with print disabilities,
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.
Welcome to a new issue of DAISY News.
We are happy to welcome new Associate Members, Flemish Library of the Blind in Belgium and Talking Book Library of the Austrian Blind Union. We look forward to reaching out to many more Members and Friends in the years ahead.
Many DAISY Consortium Members are just now, on various levels, dealing with implementation of the DAISY system in their daily lives. This includes producing new titles, transferring old titles from analogue to digital, and introducing the DAISY system to the library borrowers. Implementation of the DAISY system is a major undertaking for all organisations. It demands considerable effort: funding, revised production processes and staff training. Implementation of digital talking book library services based on the DAISY system is pioneering, and sometimes we might wonder if we are doing the right thing by action now, rather than waiting patiently for the commercial market to "fix it". The DAISY Consortium Vision statement gives one answer:
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.
We must fight hard for this reality. It will not come from the market without our hard work and togetherness. One of the good things for each of us as Members or Friends of the DAISY Consortium is that we are all working together, following our Mission:
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.
For countries in the European Community it is time to implement the Copyright Directive and related rights in the Information Society. The directive is clearly worded about accessibility. "It is in any case important for the Member States to adopt all necessary measures to facilitate access to works by persons suffering from a disability which constitutes an obstacle to the use of the works themselves, and to pay particular attention to accessible formats." Member States may provide for exceptions or limitations to the rights provided for in Articles 2 and 3 in "uses for the benefit of people with a disability, which are directly related to the disability and of a non-commercial nature, to the extent required by the specific disability." (Article 5.3(b))
It is not compulsory for Member States to implement this paragraph; but I really hope that libraries and associations for people who are Blind and Print Disabled, together with consumer organisations, will call on their Departments of Justice to encourage such 'exemptions and limitations' in the copyright law to benefit people with disabilities. The Directive will be implemented at the latest in December 2002.
It is also important to establish rules for easier interlending of talking books between countries and continents. As stated in one of the goals of the DAISY Consortium:
To encourage and foster the establishment and development of a global talking book library, which transcends geographic boundaries and linguistic differences, and which embraces cultural diversity.
The DAISY Consortium is a worldwide association where the Members work together to move DAISY forward. We have a Board of directors and we have a staff of four skilled persons. But the main forces are all of the Member organisations using their influence to put DAISY on the agenda in their country. Let's make DAISY fly around the world with the help of good examples! On the DAISY website you will find true stories in DAISY Around the World.
I wish you all a Happy New Year full of DAISY and Success!
[Editor's Note: News in Brief is a collage of news events since the previous edition of DAISY News. If you have a news item from your organisation, which you would like to have included in DAISY News or on the DAISY website, please email me as Secretary General at wjolley@bigpond.com.]
We are delighted to congratulate Hiroshi Kawamura who was recently honoured in Thailand. He was graciously presented with a Plaque of Honor from Her Royal Highness Mahachakri Sirindhorn (daughter of His Majesty the King of Thailand). The plaque was presented to Hiroshi Kawamura during the official inauguration ceremony of Ratchasuda College, Mahidol University, Thailand on December 24, 2001 in appreciation of his tireless efforts in the development and promotion of DAISY technology in the Kingdom of Thailand and throughout the world. For more information about the development of DAISY in Thailandgo to the article by Monthian Buntan.
Hiroshi Kawamura has been a champion of the DAISY system since its invention, and has master-minded the development of the Sigtuna tools for production and playback of DAISY books in both Japan and developing countries. He is Director of the International and Information Departments of the Japan Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, and is the representative of JSRPD on the Board of the DAISY Consortium.
During September and October there were three DAISY production training courses held in the United Kingdom, Thailand and Singapore. They were each very successful.
The international conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Section on Libraries for the Blind was held in Washington DC in August, where the DAISY presence was very strong.
Both George Kerscher and Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt have provided seminal leadership to the DAISY Consortium, bringing about the dawn of a new era for talking book users. In doing so, they have encouraged cooperation and alliances throughout the world; in fact, never in the history of libraries for the blind has so large an international community gathered to address so fundamental an issue. Moreover, their work has also affected the production of electronic text and braille by addressing the concept of the single source file. No single effort in the past ten years has so radically altered the reading experience of those unable to read print.
DAISY had an exhibit at the IFLA/SLB conference, and at the general IFLA conference the following week in Boston.
The proposed United States national Standard for the Digital Talking Book (Z39.86-200x) is out for ballot and review by Members of the National Information Standards Organisation (NISO), 1 November 17 December, 2001. This has commonly been referred to as the DAISY/NISO Standard, and is intended by the DAISY Consortium to be adopted as DAISY 3.0 early in 2002.
The Standard acknowledges the contribution of the DAISY Consortium and its Members: It is no exaggeration to state that without their groundbreaking efforts and their ongoing contributions to Committee work, this Standard would not exist in anything like its current level of sophistication.
For more information go to George Kerscher's article, Standards Update.
DTBD 1.0, a tool for diagnosing digital talking books, is now available for use by Members of the DAISY Consortium. The program is written by Per Sennels, responsible for the technical part of DAISY production at Huseby Resource Centre in Norway. DTBD tests Digital Talking Books for possible technical errors that can occur during the production phase. The books must conform to one of the DAISY 2.X specifications.
The program will test the technical state of the DTB in any stages of the production after the NCC-file is generated. It does so by reading the NCC-file, and checking it, and the associated SMIL-files, for errors. During this process, error-messages are displayed on the screen, and an error-log is generated, either as a normal text-file or as an XML-file. The XML can then be converted to an XHTML-file for viewing in your default browser. DTBD will take care of the conversion.
DTBD will detect such errors as:
For more information, including to download the software, go to www.ks-huseby.no/daisy/dtbd or email Per Sennels at per.sennels@ks-huseby.no.
The DAISY Consortium, its Members and Friends, will again have a strong presence at the CSUN conference, Technology and Persons with Disabilities, Los Angeles, March 18-24 2002. In addition to the DAISY exhibit, which will give information about the DAISY Consortium, and both hardware and software playback tools, there will be five presentations featuring the development and implementation of digital talking book technology and services. These papers will be placed on the DAISY website www.daisy.org in January 2002. For conference information go to www.csun.edu/cod/conf2002.
Plextor is pleased to announce that it will begin conducting a feasibility study to develop a Secured Network Digital Talking Book (DTB) Distribution System for people who are blind or vision impaired. The study will be centered around distribution through a broadband network, and is funded in part by the Japanese Government.
The system consists of a Database Server for information retrieval, DTB Contents Server and Mail Server. The network infrastructure is CATV or ADSL with 1.5 MB connection or faster. End users find the book they want to read by using their Internet Browser, and then read and navigate the DTB using Plextor's playback software, Net PlexTalk.
After carefully looking into the development requirements for the Net PlexTalk, it became apparent that a number of software engineers would have to be assigned to this project to fulfill the contractual obligation of completing the study by the end of March, 2002. As a result, product development and the release schedule of the PlexTalk Portable Recorder, originally intended for the first quarter of 2002, has been delayed.
Plextor advises that the hardware development of the portable recorder is completed, but that it will take a longer time to complete the software development from its original estimate. Therefore, Plextor management has determined that the schedule for taking pre-release orders and completing field trials of the PlexTalk Portable Recorder must be revised as follows:
Plextor expects the PlexTalk Portable Recorder to be commercially available in July, 2002, and does not foresee any further delays in its development schedule.
Aurora Ministries www.auroraministries.org in cooperation with VisuAide, Inc., and Thomas Nelson Publishing, is pleased to offer the New King James Version of the New Testament as a DAISY CD. Included on the CD is DAISY compliant playback software from VisuAide.
The reader can go directly to a specific passage just by choosing the wanted New Testament Book, Chapter or Verse. It is also easy to move from chapter to chapter or verse to verse and insert bookmarks. Everything has been designed to make reading efficient and enjoyable.
In accordance with the policy of the Aurora Ministries this special release of the Scriptures on CD is provided Free of cost to people who are blind or print disabled. Simply needed is a written verification of the impairment.
Aurora Ministries may be contacted at:
PO Box 621
Bradenton, FL 34206
United States of America
Tel.: +1941 748-3031
Fax.: +1941 748-2625
E-mail: aurora@auroraministries.org
VisuAide has proudly launched a new product in its Victor Reader line of digital audio book players, Victor Reader Soft. Its release is a major milestone in enabling the access to digital audio talking books on any personal computer for blind and print disabled persons.
Victor Reader Soft is a computer application for reading digital talking books. It provides several unique features for fast and easy navigation through a book structure, as well as for saving information such as bookmarks and text annotation. It lets the user customise the display parameters. It combines the audio and text mode that lets the user read the text on the screen synchronised with the narrated audio. It is fully accessible to blind people.
"Victor Reader Soft is the first digital audio book software player to provide a full set of features and complete accessibility to other assistive solutions" said Gilles Pepin, President of VisuAide. "At VisuAide, we benefit from having several employees with a visual impairment who assist us in developing better products for the blind."
For more information go to the VisuAide website at www.visuaide.com.
As most DAISY Consortium Members know, the current DAISY recommendation is the 2.02 specification, which became a Standard in February 2001. The current production software and playback systems are undergoing upgrades to support this Standard.
In addition the DAISY Consortium in conjunction with the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) in the USA has been working on enhancements to the DAISY Standard. Lead by Michael Moodie of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), this committee has developed an advanced specification.
On November 1, 2001 NISO sent the specification, numbered 3986, out for a formal vote by its Members. The voting closed on December 17 and the results will be announced shortly thereafter.
To read more on this Standard, visit: www.niso.org.
NISO is placing the DTB Standard in "continuous maintenance status." This is done for standards in fast changing environments and where modifications and enhancements are expected.
This is good news, because as the NISO Standard starts to be implemented in production tools and playback hardware and software, it is expected that slight modifications and clarifications will be needed. Continuous maintenance status provides a clear mechanism to make changes that are needed. The NLS is the maintenance agency designated in the Standard. Of course, the DAISY Consortium's technical representatives will be working on these issues in concert with NLS.
It is important to point out that once a standard is passed, it takes many months before the standard is supported in products and services. It is comforting to know that the DAISY 2.02 Standard is solidly in place while the NISO Standard works its way into the playback and production tools.
Over the past several months the Consortium has held 2 DAISY Training Courses: Royal National Institute for the Blind, Peterborough England, September 17 to 19; Independent Society of the Blind, Singapore, October 8 to 12. Both courses were very successful, with positive feedback received from participants attending each session.
RNIB
The focus of the RNIB course was lpStudio/PRO. Staff members involved in production of DAISY books and/or in administration, particularly the RNIB "re-archiving" project, attended. In addition, a staff member from another organization producing DAISY books in England was present. Following the course, the course leaders met and consulted with the RNIB re-archiving staff regarding this critical RNIB project.
Course leaders were Markus Gylling, Niels Thogersen and Lynn Leith. Niels who works for IBOS in Denmark finalized his accreditation as a DAISY certified trainer with his participation as a leader for this course. Niels is now qualified to lead DAISY Training Courses.
Independent Society of the Blind
This full week course was a first for the Consortium. Both lpStudio/PRO and SigtunaDAR were covered, and in addition, more advanced functionality than is dealt with in the DAISY Basic Training Course was presented. One participant from Indonesia and one from Brunei were also in attendance.
Course leaders were Markus Gylling, Andrew Furlong and Lynn Leith. Andrew, who works for NILS (National Information and Library Service) in Australia finalized his accreditation as a DAISY certified trainer at this course. Andrew is now qualified to lead DAISY Training Courses.
Planning has begun for two courses requested for the first half of 2002, one in Columbia and the other in the United States. Accreditation of additional Training and Technical Support Core members is planned for both of these courses.
At present the DAISY Consortium qualified trainers are:
Congratulations to both Niels and Andrew. We are proud of you and I'm sure that your organizations will greatly benefit from your expertise.
Two additional members of the Training and Technical Support Core Team will be joining this group in the first quarter of 2002.
The DAISY Basic Training Manual has undergone considerable revision this year. This work is not yet completed, in fact I have put forth a proposal for an extension of the Manual to formally include more advanced functions. Although it is still under revision, considerable improvements have been made, and very positive feedback on the changes has been received. As a result we have posted the updated version on the DAISY website in the Training and Technical Support download area. Note however, that as it is still under revision, it is strongly recommended that translation efforts of this version be postponed until it is finalized.
The DAISY Board met in November, in Birmingham England, and discussed a wide variety of technical and administrative matters. This article summarises the information shared and decisions made at this meeting. Under the astute and enthusiastic leadership of our President, Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt, and our Technical Director, George Kerscher, our Consortium comes to the end of another year of great achievement in the development of the worldwide Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY). The Board decided that the DAISY acronym should refer to "Digital Accessible Information System", rather than to "Digital Audio-Based Information System". This reflects the value of the DAISY system for multimedia electronic documents, beyond digital talking books.
The Board decided to establish five Board committees, to optimise the involvement of Board Members in the work of the DAISY Consortium. They will be made up of Board Members, DAISY staff and co-opted participants from Full and Associate Members. These committees will cover Administration, Management and Finance; Standards Development; Implementation; Developing Countries; and Marketing and Communication. They will carry out their work by email discussion and teleconferencing, with face-to-face meetings only when necessary. Four Board meetings have been scheduled for 2002: March 11-12 in Hamburg; Toronto in May, Glasgow in August and Seoul in November.
The General Meeting of the DAISY Consortium for 2002 will be held over May 14-15 in Toronto, hosted by the CNIB on behalf of The Canadian DAISY Consortium. We look forward to gathering in Toronto in the spring, to share information with each other about the worldwide implementation of DAISY-based talking book production and library services.
We are reviewing the system of Internet DAISY discussion lists used for work teams and information exchange. Some lists are very active, whereas others have become dormant. At the same time we are integrating the discussion lists and the website onto a server managed in Sweden by TPB. We will try to make these changes smoothly, with a minimum of disruption to list participants.
The change to the DAISY website is a major upgrade, with a new look and new areas of information. It will be pleasant to look at, full of useful information, and easy to navigate for people using screenreaders. We hope that the new website will be launched by the time of our General Meeting next May.
LpStudio/PRO:
We can report good news regarding the development of lpStudio/PRO. Our Core Testers are reviewing the latest candidate release, especially with regard to DAISY 2.02 compliance and accessibility for blind technicians. We are confident that there will be a general release of lpStudio/PRO early in 2002 which produces books conforming to the DAISY 2.02 specification and which may be used by blind technicians.
Accessibility of lpStudio/PRO has been a complex technical problem. Over the past six months Labyrinten has made many small changes to the architecture of lpStudio/PRO, with the help of members of our Technical Development work team led by Markus Gylling, which make accessibility feasible for normal operation, except for graphic-intensive operations such as waveform editing. Following these changes it has been feasible to write scripts for screenreaders. In particular, lpStudio/PRO is being made accessible through scripts for JAWS for Windows from Freedom Scientific and Supernova from Dolphin Systems.
I wish to acknowledge the help of Chaiya Intasoie from Ratchasuda College in Thailand in the writing of JAWS scripts for lpStudio/PRO. Chaiya, a graduate student from Bangkok, has also written JAWS scripts for SigtunaDAR 3.0. I also wish to thank Freedom Scientific, which donated two copies of JAWS for Windows 2000 to the DAISY Consortium to facilitate script writing.
SigtunaDAR 3.0:
The SigtunaDAR 3.0 software is almost ready for worldwide distribution by JSRPD. The software may be used for the production of DAISY books under licences issued by JSRPD. Full or Associate Members of the DAISY Consortium in both industrialised and developing countries, and non-profit organisations in developing countries, may be licensed to use the SigtunaDAR software free of charge. That is, organisations in industrialised countries which wish to use the SigtunaDAR software, must be DAISY Members; and in developing countries they must simply be non-profit organisations. From my experience of the SigtunaDAR training course in Bangkok last September, I can vouch for SigtunaDAR as an easy-to-learn and efficient tool for the production of DAISY books, including the transfer from analogue-based archives.
MyStudioPC:
This recording software for DAISY documents has been developed by Plextor for JSRPD. It is intended for use by blind technicians. A new version of MyStudioPC will be released in January 2002. It is functionally equivalent to SigtunaDAR (without the text synchronisation but with CD-ROM burning) and is fully accessible to blind technicians. MyStudioPC can record to PCM or directly to MP3: the former giving high audio quality and the latter giving compactness of audio files for student use. The major attribute of MyStudioPC is its accessibility for blind users. The voiced guidance can be switched off, making MyStudioPC convenient to use by sighted volunteer narrators. The licensing policy for MyStudioPC is almost identical to that of SigtunaDAR. There is a limit on the total number of licences that may be issued, which is 10,000. For audio-only books the MyStudioPC software is becoming the preferred tool in Japan over SigtunaDAR, although SigtunaDAR remains preferable for dual modality audio and text books.
Prospects are good for the release of two DAISY book readers in 2002, both developed by DAISY Members and both of which will be free of charge. These are TPB Reader from TPB in Sweden and the Sigtuna Browser from JSRPD in Japan.
TPB Reader:
TPB Reader is software which runs on a Windows-based PC that reads DAISY books from CD. It can handle DAISY 2.0 and 2.02 books, including full text and audio. It is fully accessible to people who are blind or vision impaired, including self-voicing menus. It has a very simple user interface, based on the space bar and the four arrow keys. The user can modify the visual appearance of the text with style sheets - five style sheets are supplied with the software and others can be added. Version 1 of TPB Reader is due for release in the first half of 2002. It will be released to Consortium Members which will be encouraged to make it available to their consumers, but there must be no charge. Distribution agencies may charge for customer support. It will be released with Swedish and English versions in the first instance; but a Language Translation Kit is being developed which will allow for the operation of TPB Reader in other languages.
Sigtuna Tools:
JSRPD is developing a new family of DAISY book reading and Internet access tools under its ongoing Sigtuna project. Their development is greatly assisted by the recruitment of Mark Hakkinen to work for JSRPD. Working for The Productivity Works he developed the pw-family of voice-based Internet access products several years ago: pwWebSpeak, pwTelephone and pwKiosk.
The Board approved the establishment of a DAISY Shared Code Bank, under the direction of Markus Gylling as International Technical Developments Co-ordinator; and approved a meeting of software specialists to plan the establishment and administration of the Code Bank, possibly for Los Angeles in March.
In modern computing the notion of "Open Source" has become very popular. A Shared Code Bank has great potential for mutual benefit among DAISY Members. Some DAISY Members have commenced software development, and in 2001 there has been a growth of players, markup tools, validation tools, accessibility scripts and more. Many of these tools are intended to be free of charge to DAISY Members.
The DAISY Shared Code Bank is a framework for DAISY Members to develop and share source code with each other. It is restricted to DAISY Full and Associate Members, and will be established in 2002. It will:
The Board endorsed the first of three phases of the DAISY OK project. This will form a major component of the workplan for 2002, to be led by George Kerscher. Inevitably issues will arise where products deviate from the DAISY Standard. Only through a well structured program of conformance testing is it possible to tell if problems reside with the DTB, one or more reading systems, or one or more of the production tools. The DAISY OK project is a key globalisation strategy of the DAISY Consortium, without which the complex interoperability problem between production and playback tools is likely to expand and could threaten the DAISY Standard.
The DAISY OK project has three phases:
Since August I have visited or met with the following organisations. I would like to thank them for their hospitality, generosity of spirit and interest in the DAISY Standard and DTB implementation.
[Editor's Note: Monthian Buntan is the driving force behind DAISY in Thailand. As Deputy Director of the Ratchasuda College and an Executive member of the WBU from the Asia Pacific region, he has combined his advocacy and networking skills for radically improved access to education and information by blind people in Asia.]
Blind People Have Moved Beyond Users' Status: a Report on a Recent DAISY Workshop in Thailand
It is becoming commonly believed that the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) is the undisputed worldwide Standard for digital talking books. Its premise of being able to bridge the information gap between the blind/print disabled and people at large is increasingly publicized. However, what has not been addressed or otherwise has received little attention is to what extent blind people, as consumers of such technology, are able to use DAISY production/playback software programs - SigtunaDAR, lpStudio/PRO, etc.
Ratchasuda College was founded in 1993, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn, as part of the Mahidol University system to serve as an academic institution which provides higher education, academic support and rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities. Among its key areas of great concern, Ratchasuda College for many years has given a considerable amount of time and resources to pursue the goal of making technology (especially information and communication technology, ICT) accessible to persons with disabilities. Therefore, in the year 2000 Ratchasuda College decided to join the DAISY Consortium, an international organization to promote the implementation of the DAISY system for digital talking books in Thailand.
Within Thailand, Ratchasuda College has been serving as the coordinator of the Thailand National Committee on DAISY Production and Services (TNCD), conducting staff training and technical support services concerning DAISY-related software and hardware to TNCD member organizations. With kind support from the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (JSRPD) Ratchasuda College has been able to develop a very unique approach to DAISY - the majority of trainees for DAISY book production in Thailand and all support staff at Ratchasuda College are individuals who are blind or with low vision.
In July 2001, while Thailand was preparing to host the first General Assembly of the World Blind Union-Asia Pacific (WBU-AP), TNCD, upon request by leaders of WBU-AP, agreed to jointly organize a DAISY workshop for both blind and sighted trainees from the Asia Pacific region in Bangkok from September 25-27, 2001. It was also decided that this workshop would be held in addition to an exhibition, demonstrations, a seminar presentation and hands on DAISY technology for participants of the General Assembly.
Objectives of the workshop were:
SigtunaDAR and MyStudioPC training was held on September 25-27, 2001 at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC).
The training was divided in to two sessions: MyStudioPC for those who would like to work on DAISY production using a simple, accessible but quite workable program. There were seven individuals in this session, one each from China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela, Japan and Thailand. Given the fact that MyStudioPC is rather easy to handle, these seven people were able to complete the training within a day or less depending on their individual backgrounds and familiarity with using computers.
The other session was SigtunaDAR version 3.0 for those who would like to work with a more sophisticated program which require more computer skills. There were ten individuals in this session: six from Thailand, one from India, one from Cambodia one from Fiji and one from Australia. The Australian course participant was the DAISY Secretary General. With lots of features/functions SigtunaDAR possesses, and in view of some accessibility challenges which had to be overcome, this session took three days to achieve the basic level of operation. However, with more accessibility being added to later versions of the SigtunaDAR software, and with continuous improvement in script writing to make the software more friendly to screenreaders such as JAWS or Supernova; this freely-available software, generously developed and distributed by JSRPD, could be a good tool for DAISY production which either blind or sighted technicians could comfortably handle. [The SigtunaDAR software will soon be licensed, free of charge, for use by Members of the DAISY Consortium and by non-profit organisations in developing countries.]
Note: All but three trainees in both sessions were blind or with low vision. Also four trainees from Thailand (two totally blind and two low vision persons), who have some experience with the SigtunaDAR software, were able to help as teaching assistants while JAWS script writing was done continuously by one of the trainees with low vision throughout the course as more access problems arose.
Other activities, which took place at Pathumwan Princess Hotel where the WBU-AP General Assembly was held, included:
Most of all, the success of this workshop has proven the fact that blind and disabled people could and should be encouraged to participate actively in the development, production and promotion of this technology.
As the DAISY system is becoming more recognized as a valuable tool for information access for persons with disabilities, more needs to be done to guarantee that people, who are being effected by the technology itself, will not be pushed aside as just the users/receivers of this kindly-given gift from outside. It is within my strong belief that the greatest strength to make positive changes for our human society comes from within. And this "within" means within all of us.
This DAISY workshop was generously supported by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, the DAISY Consortium and the ICT Project Initiative under the Patronage of HRH Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn. Also many thanks go to four dedicated hardworking trainers, demonstrators and exhibitors:
[Editor's Note: Meet DAISY Members and Friends is a new column in DAISY News. With 12 Full Members, 35 Associate Members, 10 Friends and the DAISY family growing, it will take about three years to cycle through all of our Members and Friends. You can get more information from each organisation's website, or from the DAISY website www.daisy.org.]
In Germany, there are 6 major talking book libraries situated in Hamburg, Muenster, Marburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, and Munich. This is due to the federal system, which dictates that the individual provinces are responsible for their own libraries. In addition, there are 4 other, smaller talking book libraries, some of which retain the church as their supporting organisation. Most of the 6 major talking book libraries have a private-law non-profit organisation status and receive a voluntary government grant. The talking book archives in these 6 libraries each comprise between 7000 and 15,000 talking book titles of which 3 copies are stocked in most cases. Work is co-ordinated within the association so that after each library produces a talking book, copies of the title are supplied to the others upon request, charges amount to the materials used in production only. The SBS in Switzerland also participates in this system. The resulting situation is a decentralised system with several archives and a staff of 11 to 15 in each library.
There will be an intensive exchange of information about the procedure of DAISY implementation within the association, as there are many different paths which lead to the digital world and ultimately, each library must discover which path is suitable and whether the direction taken can be realised. The Association will start producing Daisy-books (NCC plus Audio) immediately, and has established the following work teams: training and support, distribution, production and user needs. The ultimate goal is to coordinate the production and distribution of daisy-books effectively to library borrowers throughout Germany.
Contact persons:
Elke Dittmer
Jürgen Hertlein
E-mail: dittmer@blindenbuecherei.de
hetlein@blista.de
Internet: www.blindenbuecherei.de
CAST is a non-profit research and development organization that explores technologies to improve educational opportunities for all people, including those with disabilities.
CAST is exploring ways to incorporate Digital Talking Book (DTB) technologies into several initiatives, including two - a digital repository and a supported reading tool - in the coming year, 2002.
Contact persons:
Sheela Sethuraman, M.A. Senior Instructional Technology
Specialist
Robert Dolan, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist
E-mail: ssethuraman@cast.org
rdolan@cast.org
Internet: www.cast.org
Celia Library for the Visually Impaired is a government-financed organisation, whose services are utilised throughout Finland. The Library acts as a central resource which produces Library material in formats suitable for vision impaired people. It also offers specialist services in communications. The Library's objectives are centred on ensuring that people with disabilities have equality in terms of access to information. Celia Library manufactures and lends braille books, talking books, electronic books in the areas of textbooks, fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, lecture notes for students and provides other tools deemed appropriate for persons of all ages with print disabilities.
Last year Celia Library began to make digital recordings and produced 130 new titles. The recordings are made with the help of a program called Saw. All the digital titles have been transferred to analogue format, so that they can be distributed on cassettes. Some of the digital recordings have also been made into DAISY books. Celia Library produces approximately 1000 new talking book titles every year, either at its in-house recording studio or in out sourced studios. At the moment only 15 % of annual production is digital, the remainder is analogue recordings.
This current production model will not necessarily be followed in the future, but it is a situation dictated by practise, as the Library's clients do not have access to DAISY players at this time. This is largely due to the fact that the financing and distribution network for the players does not currently exist. Consequently production of DAISY books has ceased temporarily. However, the Library confirms that the positives gained from having commenced digital recordings along with the knowledge acquired in relation to DAISY technology has been invaluable.
Contact person:
Marketta Ryömä-Reittu
E-mail: marketta.ryoma@celialib.fi
Internet: www.celialib.fi
The Communication Center of State Services for the Blind is a special library and transcription service providing reading material in alternate formats to citizens of Minnesota who have difficulty reading standard print. It produces a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books on tape or in braille for individuals, schools, colleges, universities, businesses, government agencies and non-profit organisations.
In addition, the Center is host to the Radio Talking Book Network, the first Radio Reading Service in the world which presents readings from newspapers, magazines, current best-selling books, radio shows on blindness, technology, and independent living accessed by special closed-circuit radios, 24 hours a day. Further, the Communication Center is a 'Machine Lending Agency,' in Minnesota, in the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program, lending cassette and phonograph talking book machines to eligible customers. It also offers a Dial-In News service which enables users to access three newspapers using a touchtone phone. This access will soon be extended to the World Wide Web.
The Center has embarked on a multi-year upgrade and expansion program called the '21st Century Plan'. Among other things, this 2.8 million dollar project will replace the Center's analogue recording and distribution systems, along with its closed-circuit radio reading service and dial-up telephone newspaper reading service, with a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure. This infrastructure includes a high-speed internal network, 6 terabytes of on-line book storage, backup of all books to CD-ROM, digital workstations in 20 recording booths, 100 digital home recording workstations, a duplication system which can produce either analogue cassette tapes or DAISY-Compatible CD's, downloadable and/or streaming audio via the Internet, and more. The recording software the Center will use is being developed in-house, and by early 2002 the organisation expects to be recording books and other materials in the DAISY/NISO 3.0 Standard. The Center records approximately 1000 textbooks per year for Minnesota students, as well as approximately 250 leisure-reading books per year, which are originally produced for the closed-circuit radio reading service, the Radio Talking Book Network.
Contact person:
David Andrews
E-mail: dandrews@ssb.state.mn.us
Internet: www.des.state.mn.us
Over the last three years the FORCE Foundation has been active in combating inequality for vision impaired people in many different regions of the world. Its efforts are focused on dealing with the information gap, which greatly affects not only people with vision impairments in developed countries, but those people with vision impairments or blindness in developing countries. FORCE, which is situated in The Hague, The Netherlands, is intended to be a resource centre for libraries for print disabled people in developing countries in Africa, South East Asia, Latin America and the former Soviet Union.
Although FORCE does not implement DAISY technology within the organisation itself, it does organise workshops on behalf of other organisations in developing countries with DAISY digital talking book technologies at the core of the training programs. FORCE event-manages and handles the administration of the training seminars, but requests that the DAISY Consortium provides trainers for the workshops. In 2002 the FORCE foundation anticipates organising workshops in Vietnam and Colombia.
Contact person:
Matthijs Balfoort
E-mail: mbalfoort@f-force.nl
Internet: www.f-force.nl
VisuAide is a world leader in digital audio book solutions for the print disabled based on the DAISY Standard. It develops and manufactures the Victor Reader line of hardware and software audio players. VisuAide is a leading innovation firm in providing high-tech solutions for the print disabled and people with a learning disability. VisuAide is also the leader in the adaptation of software products for French-speaking countries. VisuAide offers a client solution in helping blind and other disabled people to better integrate within our society as a major distributor in Canada.
Victor Reader products developed by VisuAide allow reading of talking books recorded in DAISY format, meaning fast, easy navigation through the structure of a book. Unlike talking books on cassette, Victor Reader allows the user to jump straight to a specific section or passage in a snap, skip from page to page, consult the table of contents, even insert bookmarks, and more. No more rewinding and fast-forwarding through a cassette to find a specific passage - not to mention that just one CD can contain a whole book !
Victor Reader Classic: Simple and friendly, Victor Reader Classic is ideal for leisure reading, best-sellers, novels, magazines etc. It offers basic navigation features like browsing the table of contents, skipping from section to section or from page to page. What's more, you can take and operate Victor Reader Classic anywhere, using its optional rechargeable batteries and built-in handle.
Victor Reader Pro: Designed to navigate complexly organized works, Victor Reader Pro allows reading of highly structured books as well as simpler leisure books. Users can navigate much faster and far more efficiently through reference works and scholastic texts. In addition to basic navigation features, Victor Reader Pro lets you skip straight to a specific page, insert bookmarks to return to a spot or mark important passages, etc. Victor Reader Pro's compact size and rechargeable batteries allow you to take and use it anywhere.
Victor Reader Soft: Victor Reader Soft is a computer application for reading digital audio books. It allows for: fast and easy navigation through a book structure, the use of bookmarks, text annotations and customisation of the display parameters. It combines the audio and text modes, text displayed on the screen and synchronised with the audio narration. Victor Reader Soft is fully accessible to people who are blind, and includes self-voicing menus.
E-mail: info@visuaide.com
Internet: www.visuaide.com
Contact person:
Gilles Pepin
GillesP@visuaide.com
The DAISY Consortium was formed in 1996 from among the world's leading talking book library services. Its 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.
Much has already been done to establish the DAISY Standard and to achieve DAISY implementation around the world.
To realize this Vision the DAISY Consortium needs Friends.
To learn more about becoming a DAISY Friend or for further information about DAISY please contact our Secretary General, William Jolley, wjolley@bigpond.com
[Editor's Note: Clive Lansink, from New Zealand, is totally blind and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1976. For the next few years, he developed software for various industrial projects, and then moved into the blindness field where he managed the IT systems for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. In that capacity he has closely watched the development of the DAISY system. But in 2001, he left his professional career to study fulltime for a law degree. This article shows the benefits to blind and partially sighted students of well developed eStudy skills, and highlights the DAISY system as the framework for information management. The MyStudioPC software developed in Japan has blind students using eStudy as one of its primary user groups.]
In this article, I will briefly explore the significance of DAISY, from the perspective of a blind student. Easy access to information in multiple formats is one area of significance which is possibly already well-known, but another significant area which I will touch on here is personal note taking and managing personal information, and it occurs to me that DAISY offers great potential in this area which may yet be unexplored.
During this last year of fulltime study, I have been fortunate to get virtually all my textbooks electronically from the publishers by working through our local blindness agency, the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. I have also had access to a number of online legal databases which provide full texts of significant judgments, and full texts of articles from some key law journals. I use a laptop computer with speech and a braille display. Armed with this technology, I have had very much the same full access to information as my sighted fellow students. This is a wonderful improvement over the situation that prevailed when I did my first degree. At that time virtually none of the textbooks I needed were available in braille, and any reading I wanted to do had to be done through an army of volunteer readers using tape recorders. Though I did manage to pass, I genuinely felt that I had been considerably hindered by not having the same freedom to access and deal with information that my sighted colleagues obviously had. One reason for deciding to give up my job and study fulltime again was that after having worked with computer technology from the perspective of a developer throughout the whole history of the personal computer as we know it today, I wanted to prove, even if just to myself, what a difference technology can make from a user's perspective, provided the user is fully able to utilize that technology.
Most tertiary level study nowadays involves a lot of reading, and certainly this is true for a law degree. You need to be able to read information, take notes, and look things up quickly. I know the importance of structure and being able to efficiently move around the structural elements of a document in its electronic format. Most of the textbooks I have received electronically have been marked up by the RNZFB to indicate the key structural elements, so it is a relatively simple process to find elements such as headings and section numbers using a good text editor. The text editor I use also allows smart searching over multiple files to help find something if it is not obvious where to find it. I also find it helpful to hyper-link my personal notes to specific paragraphs in these textbooks, and directly to judgment decisions and journal articles I have downloaded from the databases I use.
I use my laptop to quickly take notes at lectures and study meetings, but I also find it useful to still have a sound recording in case I miss something and need to come back to it later. But time is precious, and I have found it really efficient to actually use my laptop also to make these sound recordings. I record lectures on my laptop using a simple and readily available sound recording program called TotalRecorder, and then compress the files using a readily available MP3 compressor. During the lecture as I am taking notes, I have a simple macro that periodically puts a time stamp into these notes. Then later, when I am going through my notes, or even if I need to revisit something when studying for an exam, it is a simple matter to call up the recording that corresponds to the notes of a given lecture and jump straight to the relevant point in that lecture to hear it in full.
Now suddenly the whole concept of note taking has changed. Whereas before I would be keen to spend a lot of time making sure my notes from any given lecture are as complete as possible, now I can afford to take more brief notes and spend more time on real study. If I ever need to, I can get back to the relevant section of the original recording within a few seconds, because it is essentially hiper-linked right to my personal notes. This is much more efficient than taking notes from recordings on cassette. As a matter of interest, a full year's worth of recordings of lectures and study meetings for me has consumed roughly 5 gigabytes of disk storage, well within the limits of today's typical laptop computer.
My approach then has been to integrate all the information I am using into a single environment. At the centre are my own personal notes, which link to relevant points of the textbooks, cases and articles I need. All this is in text form, but these same notes also link to relevant points in the sound recordings I have of lectures and meetings.
But I am fortunate to have a lot of technical skill. This is very much my own personal working environment, but I can make this work because I fully understand all the components that I have put together. I have very much benefited from the ability to organize and access information quickly and easily in multiple formats and I would like to see other blind students enjoy this same level of freedom to deal with information.
This is where DAISY becomes important. We tend to think of the DAISY Standard as the new underlying standard for publishing material in accessible formats for blind and partially sighted consumers. I applaud this, but I am now convinced that there is also real potential here for new software, based on the DAISY Standard, to radically change the way blind people actually manage personal information, and to do this in a way that directly integrates with material to be published in the DAISY format.
The key to successful study is not just to access a lot of information but also to manage it. Sighted people can visually scan books and pages, but we need equivalent computer-based techniques to do the same thing. My challenge then is that DAISY should not just be thought of as a Standard for making information available, but we must remember to think of it also as a Standard to support efficient management and integration of information in different formats where the needs of the blind individual are paramount.
The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) features members of the organization each month. On November 14, 2001, the DAISY Consortium was placed in the featured spot for member organizations. The next featured organization will be put up in mid December. The OeBF has embraced accessibility issues and incorporates accessibility into all aspects of organizational matters. Visit www.openebook.org for more information.
A promotional campaign "Open an eBook" is under development and will be launched in January 2002. The focus of the campaign is literacy, accessibility, and education. Participation by DAISY Consortium Members is welcome. To see the developments, visit: www.openanebook.org.
The National Institute on Standards and Technology (NIST) in the USA hosted the third annual conference from November 5-7, 2001. A well-attended presentation by James Pritchett and George Kerscher focused on the DAISY/NISO specifications for Digital Talking Books (DTB). Attendees acclaimed the presentation that demonstrated using the DAISY/NISO XML specification to simultaneously produce a DAISY DTB, Braille, the OeB 1.01 Publication Structure and subsequently a Microsoft Reader "lit" format and the ION Systems eMonical Reader format. The goal was to show publishers that providing XML files to help to make their printed books accessible also opened new markets in the electronic publishing field.
Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies:
Contact person:
Jane Evans, jane.evans@nils.org.au
Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Blindenhörbüchereien e.V.
Association of Talking Book Libraries (Germany)
Contact persons:
Elke Dittmer dittmer@blindenbuecherei.de
Jürgen Hertlein hetlein@blista.de
Internet: www.blindenbuecherei.de
Canadian DAISY Consortium
Contact person:
Ellen Stroud stroude@lib.cnib.ca
DBB - Danmarks Blindebibliotek - Danish National Library for the Blind
Contact person:
Inge Padkaer Nielsen ipn@dbb.dk
Internet: www.dbb.dk
Federatie van Nederlandse Blindenbibliotheken (FNB)
Dutch Federation of Libraries for the Blind
Contact persons:
Maarten Verboom mverboom@fnbb.nl
Edmar Schut eschut@fnbb.nl
Internet: www.fnbb.nl
Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, JSRPD
Contact person:
Hiroshi Kawamura hkawa@attglobal.net
Internet: www.jsrd.or.jp
Korean DAISY Consortium
Contact person:
Keun Hae Youk youk@kbll.or.kr
Internet: www.kbll.or.kr
Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles, O.N.C.E.
Spanish National Organization of the Blind
Contact persons:
Ignacio Escanero Martínez - Head of Culture and Sport iema@once.es
Francisco Martinez Calvo FMC@once.es
Internet: www.once.es
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, RFB&D (USA)
Contact person:
John Churchill jchurchill@rfbd.org
Internet: www.rfbd.org
Royal National Institute for the Blind, RNIB (UK)
Contact persons:
Stephen King jenny.clark@rnib.org.uk
Peter Osborne osbo224@attglobal.net
Internet: www.rnib.org.uk
Schweizerische Bibliothek für Blinde und Sehbehinderte, SBS
Swiss Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Contact persons:
bernhard.heinser@sbszh.ch[Managing Director]
heinz.zysset@sbszh.ch[Head of the Library Department]
daniel.reinhard@sbszh.ch[Head of the Audio Production Department]
manuel.elgorriaga@sbszh.ch[Head of the IT Department]
Internet www.sbs-online.ch
Talboks - och Punktskriftsbiblioteket, TPB
Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille
Contact persons:
Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt ingar.beckman@tpb.se
Kjell Hansson kjell.hansson@tpb.se
Internet: www.tpb.se
Together with
Synskadades Riksförbund, SRF
Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired
Contact person:
Eva Björk eva.bjork@srfriks.org
Internet: www.srfriks.org
American Foundation for the Blind
Contact person:
Janina Sajka janina@afb.net
Internet: www.afb.org
American Printing House for the Blind
Contact person:
Larry Skutchan lskutchan@aph.org
Internet: www.aph.org
Association pour le Bien des Aveugles et Malvoyants, ABA (Switzerland)
Association for the Blind or Visually Impaired People
Contact person:
Denis Fauconnet aba@abage.ch
Together with:
Bibliothèque Braille Romande et Livre Parlé
Contact person:
Anne Pillet bbr@abage.ch
Internet: www.abage.ch
Association Valentin Haüy AVH (France)
Contact:
bibliotheque@avh.asso.fr
Internet: www.avh.asso.fr
Atelier Helen Keller (Belgium)
Production Centre Braille, Magna Print and Talking Books
Contact persons:
Maarten Ooms maarten.ooms.ahk-pgb@belcom.be
Dries Nys dries.nys.ahk-pgb@belcom.be
Audioteca Sal & Luz (Brazil)
Salt & Light Library
Contact person:
Philip Glass, Executive Secretary philgee@urbi.com.br
Internet: www.audioteca.com.br
Benetech (USA)
Contact person:
James R. Fruchterman jim@benetech.org
Internet: www.benetech.org
Blindlib South African Library for the Blind
Contact person:
Nic Snyman nicjs@blindlib.org.za
Blindrabokasafn Islands
Icelandic Library for the Blind
Contact persons:
Helga Olafsdottir helgao@ismennt.is
Einar Hrafnsson einarhra@ismennt.is
Hilmar Skarphedinsson hilmars@ismennt.is
CAST Inc. (USA)
Center on Applied Special Technologies
Contact persons:
Sheela Sethuraman, M.A. ssethuraman@cast.org
Robert Dolan, Ph.D. rdolan@cast.org
Internet: www.cast.org
Celia Näkövammaisten kirjasto/Celia Biblioteket för Synskadade
Celia Library for the Visually Impaired (Finland)
Contact person:
Marketta Ryömä-Reittu marketta.ryoma@celialib.fi
Internet: www.celialib.fi
Clearing-House (USA)
House for Specialised Media & Technology
Contact persons:
Dennis Kelleher, Ed.D dkellehe@cde.ca.gov
Rod Brawley, Director rbrawley@cde.ca.gov
Internet: www.cde.ca.gov/csmt
Communication Centre of Minnesota
State Services for the Blind (USA)
Contact person:
David Andrews dandrews@ssb.state.mn.us
Internet: www.des.state.mn.us
CRC, Career Resources Centre
Danish Institute for the Blind (IBOS DK)
Contact person:
Rinze van der Goot (Head of Department) rin@ibos.dk
Digital Henshu Kyogikai HINAGIKU (Japan)
Institute of DAISY Editing
Contact persons:
Kaori Nakamura kao@daisy.gr.jp
Internet: www.daisy.gr.jp
Employment Equity Career Development Office
Public Service Commission Government of Canada
Contact person:
Mary Brodhead mary.brodhead@psc-cfp.gc.ca
Internet: www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/eepmp-pmpee
FORCE Foundation
Resource Centre (Netherlands)
Contact person:
Matthijs Balfoort mbalfoort@f-force.nl
Internet: www.f-force.nl
Hadley School for the Blind (USA)
Contact person:
Dr. Michael Bina, President bina@hadley-school.org
Internet: www.hadley.com
Hjälpmedelsinstitutet HI
Swedish Handicap Institute
Contact person:
Hans Hammarlund hans.hammarlund@hi.se
Internet: www..comwww.hi.se
The Hong Kong Society for the Blind
Contact person:
Fred Leung dhrehab@hksb.org.hk
Internet: www.hksb.org.hk
Huseby Kompetansesenter (Norway)
National Resource Centre for Special Education of the Visually Impaired
Contact persons:
Ståle Bekkelien stb@ks-huseby.no
Per Sennels per.sennels@ks-huseby.no
Internet: www.ks-huseby.no
Hörbücherei des Österreichischen Blinden und Sehbehindertenverbandes
Talking Book Library of the Austrian Blind Union
Contact person:
Klaus Guggenberger oebsv.zentrale@aon.at
Internet: www.oebsv.at
Independent Society of the Blind (Singapore)
Contact person:
Kua Cheng Hock adaptive@singnet.com.sg
Instituto Nacional Para Ciegos, INCI
National Institute for the Blind Colombia
Contact persons:
Dean Lermen inci@andinet.com
Mabel Cardenas
Internet: www.inci.gov.co
Japan Braille Library
Contact person:
Mr Tanaka Tetsuji tanakat@nittento.or.jp
Internet: www.nittento.or.jp
Nippon Lighthouse Mojin Jyoho Bunnka Center (Japan)
Nippon Lighthouse Information and Culture Center for the Blind
Contact person:
Kazuhiko Iway HBD00035@nifty.ne.jp
Internet: www.lighthouse.or.jp
Norges Blindeforbund
Landsforbund av Blinde og Svaksynte
Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted
Contact person:
Åge Nigardsøy aage.nigardsoy@blindeforbundet.no
Internet: www.blindeforbundet.no
Näkövammaisten Keskusliitto / Synskadades Centralförbund
Finnish Federation of Visually Impaired
Contact persons:
Jaakko Räisänen jaakko.raisanen@kt.nkl.fi
Juha Sylberg juha.sylberg@kt.nkl.fi
Internet: www.nkl.fi
Norsk Lyd- og Blindeskriftbibliotek NLB
Norwegian Library of Talking books and Braille
Contact person:
Astrid Skjaerseth Astrid.Skjaerseth@nlb.no
Internet: www.nlb.no
Ratchasuda College Mahidol University (Thailand)
Contact person:
Monthian Buntan ormbt@mahidol.ac.th
Internet: www.rs.mahidol.ac.th
Sight Savers International (UK)
Contact person:
Chris Friend cfriend@sightsavers.org
Internet: www.sightsavers.org
Statens Institut för Handikappfrågor i Skolan, SIH
Swedish National Agency for Special Needs Education
Contact person:
Birgitta Erman birgitta.erman@sih.se
Internet: www.sih.se
Talking Tapes/Textbooks on Tape (USA)
Contact person:
Diane Schuch diane@talkingtapes.org
Internet: www.talkingtapes.org
Unione Italiana Ciechi
Italian Union of the Blind
Contact person:
Tommaso Daniele lp@uiciechi.it
Internet: www.uiciechi.it
Vlaamse Luister-en Braillebibliotheek
Flemish Library for the Blind
Contact person:
Ingrid Vandekelder vlbb@bibliotheek.be
Albert Keersmaekers albert.keersmaekers@pandora.be
Internet: vlbb.bib.vlaanderen.be
Bibliotekstjänst AB
BTJ (Swedish Library Service)
Contact person:
Roland Esaiasson roland.esaiasson@btj.se
Internet: www.btj.com
Brilliance Audio Inc. (USA)
Contact person:
R. Michael Snodgrass MSNODGRASS@BrillianceAudio.com
Internet:www.brillianceaudio.com
Graff Electronic Machines, Ltd. (UK)
Contact person:
Alan Leonard alan@graffelectronics.co.uk
Internet: www.graffelectronics.co.uk
Labyrinten Data AB (Sweden)
Contact person:
Diana Hiorth diana.hiorth@labyrinten.se
Internet: www.labyrinten.se
MicroBoards Technology Inc. (USA)
Contact person:
Mitch Ackmann, E Vice President mitch@microboards.com
Internet: www.microboards.com
Microsoft Co. (USA)
Contact person:
Dick Brown dickb@microsoft.com
Internet: www.microsoft.com
Plextor Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Contact person:
Toshio Koike koike@plextor.co.jp
Internet: www.plextor.co.jp/english/index.html
Telex Communications, Inc. (USA)
Contact person:
Sue Arrington sue.arrington@telex.com
Internet: www..com
VisuAide, Inc. (Canada)
Contact person:
Gilles Pepin GillesP@visuaide.com
Internet:www.visuaide.com