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 e-text document or reproduced in accessible formats for people who are blind or print-disabled. Individual articles may be republished for nonprofit purposes, but full attribution should be given to the DAISY Consortium, DAISY News, and the article's author. For-profit organizations interested in reprints should send email to info@mail.daisy.org to discuss permission procedures.
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 articleDAISY News is bigger than ever this time and simply packed with information. As usual, I have been monitoring email lists, contacting many of you directly, and generally staying in touch with the community in order to bring you a mix of stories that range from the latest advancements in DAISY technology to human interest stories. Thanks to each of you who has made a contribution to this issue. Please remember that items for this newsletter, or for the Web site, are welcome.
As promised in the "news flashes" distributed in December, I am pleased to bring you a comprehensive report on the DAISY Consortium's participation in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). George Kerscher's Secretary General's Message highlights planned activities for 2004.
This issue also features an extensive collection of updates from Full and Associate Members; of special note is FNB's launch of DAISY in January with a total of 30,000 titles. Those of you who are preparing to convert to DAISY will find FNB's story especially valuable. As usual, we also bring you updates on DAISY-related tools and training & technical support.
Last, but certainly not least, Bruce Toews' article about his experiences as a narrator of DAISY Digital Talking Books deserves a moment of your time. I especially enjoyed Bruce's reflections from the perspective of a blind person who is doing this important job. Now that I have read his story, I can more clearly imagine how a narrator who is blind would be successful.
I hope you enjoy this edition of DAISY News. Your feedback is welcome.
During the next couple of months, I strongly encourage you to visit the front page of the DAISY Web site. There are quite a number of "Hot News" items on my radar screen including publicity for the activities of the DAISY Consortium, along with our Friends and Members, at the CSUN conference in California. We look forward to seeing many of you there in March.
On January 1 2004, Elsebeth Tank from DBB in Denmark took over as President of the DAISY Consortium. The transition from Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt TPB in Sweden was extremely smooth. Elsebeth and Ingar, along with the Board, worked marvelously together to effect this transition. All of us in the DAISY Consortium know that Ingar was a tremendous leader, and on behalf of all of the DAISY Consortium, I want to express our heartfelt thanks to her.
One of the tasks facing us is the revision of our Strategic Plan. We are all living in times when technology, publishing in transition, and the Internet create a complex environment for planning. The DAISY Consortium should be pleased to know that Elsebeth is leading the Board and staff through a careful process in the preparation of a draft Strategic Plan. Because the job is complex and we are taking great care, the Membership should expect several stages in the process of finalizing the plan. We will have some of the initial parts to share at our General Meeting in Zurich which is to be held on May 7, 2004. We expect that the review and development process will move forward from there. I hope you will be interested in reviewing and commenting and will contribute ideas to this fundamental work of the Board.
Acceptance of the DAISY standards continues to grow throughout the world. We see more organizations who are making the transition to DAISY, and we see more titles being added to our libraries' collections. A good example of this is what took place in the Netherlands. While some organizations choose to run their old tape service alongside the introduction of DAISY, the Netherlands decided to make a clean transition. On January 1, 2004, DAISY totally replaced the tape service. They have converted more than 30,000 leisure titles, and have more than 8,000 study books available right now. This issue of DAISY News contains an article describing the approach the organization has taken.
Needless to say, there are a lot of DAISY players that are rapidly becoming available to the Dutch people. We have been collecting some statistics about the number of titles available worldwide, and we will be updating this information on the DAISY Web site.
The work on DAISY 3, the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 standard continues. The maintenance committee has identified some minor changes that should be made very soon. A public announcement highlighting some of these changes was distributed on our technical lists, and a public draft is expected in the April or May time frame. These revisions will make the implementation easier. Once validation, production tools, and players support the revised standard, the DAISY Consortium will announce that we will recommend to our Members that they begin to migrate to DAISY3. Here, too, these steps are being taken to ensure a smooth transition from one version of the standard to the next. This is normal with any living, healthy standards activity.
Today and in the near future, we still recommend the use of DAISY 2.02 for your production. We have the validation and regeneration tools available from the DAISY Web site, and using these tools ensures that your collection is up-to-date. You can feel confident that these types of regeneration and migration tools will be available in the future. This means that any DAISY 2.02 titles can quickly and easily be moved forward in the future. This is one of the strategic decisions that the whole Board unanimously agrees on. So, keep making those valid DTBs and feel safe that your collection will be around for tens of years, hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of years.
On November 21, 2003, Touch Graphics submitted its Declaration of Friendship to the DAISY Consortium. The DAISY Consortium sent a letter in support of the grant that this company has received, and we thought you would be interested in reading about their project, the Talking Tactile Tablet Level 2 Authoring System.
Touch Graphics has begun work on a new product that will allow teachers and others to make their own interactive audio-tactile materials. With this authoring system, non-experts will create raised line and textured pictures on specially-prepared templates, and then "attach" audio recordings to parts of the pictures. Students will then press on various parts to hear these sound tags played back. By this means, it will become practical to prepare lessons that refer to maps, diagrams and other graphic imagery. The software and drawing templates will be designed to be used in conjunction with the Talking Tactile Tablet, a new high-resolution, reasonably-priced computer input device that is about to be introduced by American Thermoform Corporation (www.atcbrleqp.com).
The Level 2 Authoring System will include features that will allow teachers to easily develop rich audio-tactile materials. For example, the software will make it easy to add multiple layers of information to individual parts of a drawing. The student will access these layers by maintaining finger pressure on a single part of the drawing while the recorded layers are played back. In addition, as the author works on the drawing, the system will automatically build an index of all of the audio tags created. The student will be able to choose to listen to a listing of everything shown on a drawing sheet, and then to request that an "audio coach" guide his or her finger to one or another of these tagged regions or shapes.
In some cases, teachers may want to provide more general discussion to support or explain a graphic. For these occasions, special features will be provided to permit this material to be recorded or entered as text, in a hierarchical fashion, based on the emerging DAISY standards for the presentation of digital audio information. Students will be able to control the playback of this material, either via speech synthesis or as digitized human speech, using the familiar four arrow control interface used with many DAISY-compliant readers.
The project is being carried out in collaboration with a group of five teachers of blind and low-vision students from different regions of the USA. Funding for R&D is provided by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education. The finished product will be available for purchase in 2005.
Touch Graphics
New York, NY USA
Contact: Steven Landau
+1 646-515-3492
sl@touchgraphics.com
www.touchgraphics.com or www.ttt-at.com.
Kjell Hansson has joined the Board as the representative for the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB). Kjell took his place on the Board after Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt completed her terms as President. As a longtime advocate of DAISY, and among those who realized its value in the early years, Kjell's perspective will no doubt be a welcome one. To learn about some recognition Kjell recently received, go to the article More Publicity for the "Fathers" of DAISY elsewhere in this issue.
Recently, Ellen Stroud left the Canadian National institute for the Blind to take a position as Manager of Children's Services for a public library system near Toronto. The Consortium thanks Ellen for her contributions during her years of service on the Board.
Elizabeth O'Brien has been chosen to represent the Canadian DAISY Consortium on the Board. We look forward to working with her.
At the CNIB Library, Elizabeth is the Manager, E-Delivery and Distribution Services, which focuses on the distribution of books in both digital and physical formats. She was highly involved in the design, development, and now implementation, of the library's two new Web portals, The CNIB Digital Library and the Children's Discovery Portal. Read more about them in the story in this issue Launch of CNIB Digital Library brings DAISY books closer to Canadians. Work on these projects has enhanced Elizabeth's interest in electronic information design, especially in Web usability and accessible design.
Elizabeth has a strong passion for learning and education. Her academic background includes a Master's Degree in Information Studies from the University of Toronto with emphasis in information systems and library science. Recently, she started her MBA at Toronto's York University which has a non-profit sector specialization. When she is not studying, she enjoys gardening and traveling.
From December 9-12, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva at Palexpo and hosted by the Swiss government. This global event brought together some eleven thousand people interested in maximizing the advantages and availability of information and communications technology (ict) in a variety of contexts in both industrialized and developing countries. Many nations sent high-level governmental representatives to the event. There were hundreds of exhibits and sessions. To have a sense of the magnitude of the event, please visit www.itu.int/wsis/ where you can read background documents and see the program. Of special note on this site is the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted at WSIS.
The DAISY specification received quite a bit of exposure. The Declaration of Principles, in each of the six official languages (English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic), was distributed on a DAISY CD to thousands of participants. DAISY documents were bundled with playback software, AMIS. The Declaration of Principles was presented as a DAISY full text and full audio book in each language. To produce all of this content in a timely fashion required considerable effort, and those involved in production and coordination are commended for completing the task under significant time constraints.
For many months prior to WSIS, several individuals affiliated with the DAISY Consortium worked tirelessly at high levels, with other representatives of the civil society. The Civil Society is commonly known as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The Civil Society's inclusion in the preparatory conferences was noteworthy. The ability of the civil society to participate alongside governments and business in these preparatory meetings provided a chance for new voices to be heard. DAISY representatives worked with other groups to craft language that would recognize and promote the information needs of people with disabilities with respect to Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
To review background documents and other preliminary materials related to the planning of this first phase of WSIS, see the comprehensive collection on the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (JSRPD) Web site. The set of documents was compiled by Misako Nomura, Deputy Director of the JSRPD Information Center, who attended the WSIS and the Global Forum. See www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/prompt/031215_3wsis.html.
Hiroshi Kawamura (member of the DAISY Consortium's Board and manager of the DAISY for All project) and Monthian Buntan, of the Executive Committee of the World Blind Union and the Executive Director of the Thai Blind People's Foundation (Associate Member of the DAISY Consortium), dedicated countless hours during the several WSIS preparatory conferences. Both were active spokespeople who consistently advocated for the information rights of people with disabilities.
Kicki Nordström, Chairperson of the International Disability Alliance and President of the World Blind Union, was invited (as the designated representative of the civil society sector) to deliver a keynote address during the opening session of WSIS on Wednesday, December 10. Speaking after United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan, Kicki eloquently made the case that equal access to information is critical. As she said, "people with disabilities are especially and directly affected by the way in which the information society cares about all its users."
As a result of DAISY representatives' involvement in the first phase of WSIS in Geneva, there was an entire day of presentations devoted to information technology for people with disabilities. The Global Forum on Disability in the Information Society was held on Friday, December 12 and was quite well attended. The day opened with several presentations by local dignitaries. Their opening remarks were followed by best-practice showcases, ICT design and development for all, and a final session during which the group adopted its own declaration of principles.
During the Global Forum sessions, a wide variety of disability groups participated. DAISY was among the innovative technologies showcased. George Kerscher, the Consortium's Secretary General, made a presentation about DAISY and met with the press to further discuss the value of the specification for people with print disabilities. Judy Brewer, domain leader for the Web Accessibility Initiative and many other noted speakers, such as Arnold Schneider, Access for All, Zurich, gave overviews of their activities and achievements.
Staff of the DAISY for All project highlighted their activities which are designed to bring DAISY to developing countries; you can read more about this presentation by reading the DFA article in this issue of DAISY News. To see the full program of the Global Forum, visit: www.forum-on-disability.sbszh.ch/program_en.htm.
The Swiss Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired was instrumental in making both DAISY technology and the Consortium's presence at WSIS a resounding success. Not only did SBS coordinate and support the production and distribution of the multi-lingual CD for the whole Summit, but they also were heavily involved in developing the Global Forum's program, sponsoring a banquet on Friday evening, and hosting the DAISY community members who were in attendance. The Consortium's Board and staff would like to express their most sincere appreciation to SBS and its staff for their contributions. Bernhard Heinser (who also serves as the consortium's Treasurer), Olaf Mittelstaedt, Peter Grand, Beatrice Marty, and Denis Fauconnet must be particularly recognized.
At the close of the Global Forum, the Geneva Declaration on Accessible Information Society was adopted by those present. This document may be found at www.forum-on-disability.sbszh.ch/geneva_declaration_on_accessible_information_society.htm. This declaration specifically outlines the needs of people with disabilities with respect to information access and calls for commitments in many sectors to realize the fulfillment of the vital technology and information needs of the community. At the plenary session of the Summit on Friday, Bernhard Heinser, serving as a delegate from the Global Forum, had the opportunity to make a brief presentation concerning the issues relevant to people with disabilities (as outlined in the Global Forum's declaration). Please visit www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/coverage/statements/global-forum-disability/s09- fr.html for text in French and www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/coverage/archive.php?lang=en&c_type=pl|&c_num=6 for video streaming with translation into the six official languages.
Those who were so involved on behalf of information access for people with disabilities during this first phase of WSIS expect to continue to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities in this arena as plans are developed for the second phase of WSIS to be held in Tunis in 2005. There, the Consortium intends to have a presence again and actively spread the word about DAISY to the mainstream information and communications technology community – the group in the most influential position to support universal access, as exemplified by DAISY's implementation around the world.
DAISY for All (DFA for short) deploys DAISY technology and focuses on capacity building of groups in developing countries. A particular DFA goalis to work as a catalyst to generate broader alliances that will support the global sharing of human knowledge in the information society.
From October-December 2003, the DAISY for All (DFA) project expanded its activities in India, held two Open Source Workshops in Bangkok and Zurich, continued work on the AMIS player, and took part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva.
Under the DFA project, India has been developed as one of the two resource centers. Implementation of DAISY standards in a developing country is providing experience and insight into the issues and concerns that developing countries face. One of the key objectives of the DFA project is to develop resources within the developing countries for implementation of DAISY standards. The Indian experience is extremely encouraging in this regard.
Four persons from India attended the International Trainers' Training. They were involved as co-trainers in the focal point training for DTB production in November 2003 in New Delhi, India. A complete infrastructure to offer DTB production training has been installed at the National Association for the Blind, New Delhi. The focal point training was useful not only to provide training to 16 persons from 11 organizations of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, but also, the support from DFA permitted the establishment of a permanent DAISY resource center. This resource center has been providing support to any and everyone in India interested in DTB production and playback technology. An email group (DFAresource@yahoogroups.com) has also been started for this purpose.
India has a huge potential in the area of software development. The same potential was discovered in the two workshops for the open source software development conducted under the DFA project. 10 young programmers from India participated in these workshops. Out of these, seven are people who are visually impaired. The team has already adopted the current version of AMIS for Hindi Language. These programmers are now participating actively in the development of the next version of this open-source DTB playback software. The team has adopted an innovative way of holding weekly meetings using the MSN Web chat facility. These meetings are attended by programmers from the USA, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
India has been a favorite destination for outsourcing of processes due to its quality and high skill performance along with the lower costs. As a result of demand for DTBs in this country, the resources are being developed for content creation and A-to-D conversion. An excellent example of this is the capacity building of one of the BPO Company (Uniquest Technology) to produce source Document in accordance with the DAISY standards from hard copy documents. These source documents can be used for the production of full text and audio synchronized DAISY books. A facility that can provide content creation and A-to-D conversion services would not only provide a cost-effective content production opportunity in India but it would also open possibilities for other countries to outsource DTB production processes to India for low cost DTB production.
The goals of the DFA Open Source Workshops were: to introduce the participants to the open source software model, to train developers in the localization and adaptation of the AMIS software, to introduce AMIS-Next (the true Open Source AMIS), and to identify candidates to participate in AMIS-Next development or other aspects of the Open Source project.
The first DAISY for All Open Source Workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand from October 19-October 23. Twelve software developers, representing India and Thailand, participated for the five days of the workshop, as well as in a special half day seminar on designing accessible software, held on October 24.
The workshop consisted of daily lecture and hands-on sessions. Though actual software programming was not required of the participants during the workshop, many students undertook programming efforts to adapt or extend AMIS with new capabilities.
All workshop goals were met, and in many cases exceeded. The participants met each task with enthusiasm and demonstrated competence.
The second DAISY for All Open Source Workshop was held in Zurich, Switzerland, from December 15-19, 2003. The workshop was hosted by SBS at their facilities. Eight persons joined the main workshop, and represented India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Croatia. In addition, several observers from SBS participated for all or part of the five-day workshop. Members of the AMIS-Next Working Group, which met in parallel sessions, joined the workshop to report on their activities.
Expanding upon the success of the first workshop held in Bangkok last October, participants in this workshop were selected to represent the range of skills needed for successful open source development of accessible information technologies. Participants included a lawyer, a project manager, Linux experts, and engineers with hardware experience.
All workshop goals were met, and, as in Bangkok, students exceeded the instructor's expectations with creative and innovative ideas and actual working code! Participants also were given a full tour of the SBS facilities, including the studios, library, and production facilities. DFA thanks SBS for the expert support and generous hosting of the workshop.
At almost the same time as the Zurich open source software workshop, another important event took place in Switzerland: WSIS. Here, DFA gave a group presentation during the "Global Forum on Disability in the Information Society". Topics covered included: the fundamental principles of Access for All, the importance of open standards, highlights of DFA implementation at resource centers, overview of completed Open Source Workshops, and AMIS player development and localization efforts.
An enhanced version of the AMIS player was created for inclusion on the WSIS conference CD. After undergoing pre-conference enhancements, the currently available version of AMIS (release 1.3.18) has an installer, bug fixes, and navigational control enhancements. AMIS now has keyboard commands for linear and hierarchical movement through a publication's navigation system. This release has been translated into Hindi, Thai, and Japanese. These versions will be available for download within a short time.
Development of AMIS continues with the version-next project. AMIS-Next will be a cross-platform, open source DAISY 2.02 and DAISY 3 software playback system, featuring customizable interfaces. The development team comes from Thailand, India, Malaysia, and the United States. All non-U.S. team members were initially participants at the DFA Open Source Workshops. During both workshops, members of the AMIS-Next project held parallel working group sessions in order to have face-to-face development discussions. Development currently continues through online collaboration and weekly internet chats.
Individual components of AMIS-Next will be released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), and the whole playback system will be released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). This week there will be a beta release of the SMIL Engine component, which is a core library that simplifies the SMIL processing that is involved during DAISY playback. The full AMIS-Next player is expected to have its first beta release sometime this spring. The home page for the AMIS-Next project is at http://amis.sourceforge.net.
As mentioned in the DAISY "news flashes" distributed on email lists in December, the three "fathers" of DAISY each received an award from the Memorial for Märta and Nils Barthelsson Foundation in Sweden. The awards were made to Jan Lindholm (the founder of Labyrinten), Kjell Hansson, and Lars Sönnebo. Without the vision and commitment of these three, and many others, DAISY would not have been able to evolve into the flexible and stable production choice for digital talking books that it is today.
Dolphin Audio Publishing distributed a press release regarding these awards which may be found at www.dolphinse.com/news/daisy_award2.htm. The press release explains how "[f]rom the outset Jan, Kjell and Lars had a vision of a digital environment where the reader could access audio, text and graphics as intuitively as they might interact with a book." As some of you may recall, former DAISY President Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt told the organization's story in the June 2003 issue of DAISY News. Dolphin's press release recaps this history, highlighting the contributions of Jan, Kjell, and Lars.
According to Dolphin, "[s]ince the early days Lars has taken up a position with TPB and works alongside Kjell Hansson, continuing the development and implementation of the DAISY standard. Jan Lindholm now lives in semi-retirement in Falköping in Sweden. As a founder member of Labyrinten Data AB and the DAISY Consortium he continues to provide consultancy services to Dolphin as well as invaluable knowledge and support for DAISY members."
DAISY technology is often mentioned in the news as a result of the publicity initiatives of DAISY Members and Friends, as well as through the Consortium's own promotional activities. I frequently receive and circulate English clippings. Often, I am alerted to items that should be included in DAISY News due to press coverage.
In October 2003, Library Journal published an article about ebooks. See "E-Books: It's About Evolution, Not Revolution" at www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA323334. Toward the end, the article describes the benefits of DAISY Digital Talking Books to people with print disabilities and mentions their value to mainstream readers of digital content, as well.
Karen Coyle, the author, is a Consultant in the area of Digital Libraries. She was one of the pioneers in transforming library card catalogs to their current electronic format, and she has worked on numerous standards of interest to information professionals including those relating to electronic books. You can find more of her work at www.kcoyle.net.
Since the last issue of the newsletter, there has been considerable activity in the DAISY community. We hope you are inspired and educated by reading about the experiences of your colleagues.
From January 1, 2004, FNB has launched a full-scale DAISY book service. The service includes leisure books, periodicals, educational materials, and talking music scores. From January on, no talking materials on cassette are being distributed. By this remarkable feat, FNB becomes the first talking book provider in the world to shift all of the talking services to DAISY.
Serving about 25,000 customers, FNB uses an on-demand lending service, that is prompted in many cases by the return of the read books. All CDs are personalized by name and address of the customer. A bar code uniquely identifies title and reader. Scanning a book when it is returned prompts the burning and sending of a new title to the customer.
A wish list with customers' direct requests is kept in the central distribution server. Updates of these lists and direct title requests from customers are being handled through our customer services located at five call centers in the Netherlands. These call centers have access to a newly created database system that stores all the available DAISY (and braille) titles and all personal data that are required to make a successful loan. In this way, updates of wish list and direct request are handled and being sent several times a day to the central distribution server located in Grave.
In mid-February, customers will be able to get access to the database on the Internet. Those who can manage will then be able to browse the online catalog and make an order for a title without any human intervention from the library. An order being made before 11:00 AM will result in a copying process that same day. In most cases this means that a patron will have his/her ordered DAISY CD the next day (unless, of course, the order is placed on a weekend).
Newspapers and magazines are being sent out according to subscriptions. Four hundred different talking periodicals are sent serving approximately 17,000 customers.
Some 20,000 customers are now in possession of a DAISY book player. Through social and health services, the cost for the player is refundable. A national network of volunteers helps people to get acquainted with the player. Many requests for this at-home service are being met. FNB's telephone helpdesk service has been expanded with one employee to handle growing DAISY questions.
A temporary toll-free call center is provided by the ministry to help answer questions relating to the reimbursement of the DAISY book players. During the preceding year they provided at three specific points in time a talking newsletter (on cassette!) alerting our customers to the coming changes. FNB announced the change many times in her own communiques, and in the last 2 months of 2003, each talking newspaper or magazine contained a little spoken reminder and encouragement to get a DAISY book player.
Last year, in less than eight months' time, around 30,000 titles were successfully converted to DAISY 2.02 format. Using 16x copying speed and many analog to digital workstations, the conversion occurred in two steps, and these will continue to be followed. First, a digital MP3 file is created from the tapes. Then an editing process tweaks the cassette announcements after which the DAISY book can be built. Before entering the database of the distribution server, each title is automatically validated using the Consortium's validator. This helps enormously to get a grip on the quality of the stored DAISY books, and it offers the assurance that we are sending out true DAISY titles.
In the first half of 2004, a remaining 22,000 titles will be transferred to a digital archive (MP3). These remaining titles that will be archived are on the whole older titles that are less in demand. Based on customer demands, a system will be created to convert requested titles from the MP3 archive to the DAISY book distribution server. In this way, several thousands of titles will be added to the already existing collection of 30,000. How many titles will be converted will depend on customers' requests for these older titles.
Of course, newly created DAISY titles are being made every day in more than 40 studios throughout the country. There is the capacity to create 1,800 new leisure books and 1,200 educational titles in a year. Also 400 newspapers and magazines are produced in DAISY, yearly, amounting to 9,045 unique editions with an average playtime of 80 minutes.
In the first three weeks, around 80,000 CDs have been sent out. When the service is complete and running full bloom, a daily capacity of 7000 CDs will be reached. If necessary, after office hours, a reserve capacity can be created of some 4,800 CDs. We estimate sending out 1.2 million CDs on a yearly basis. All this is accomplished through the use of six burning stations, each with eight burners and one printer. There is no manual intervention to shift the CD from burning shelf to print shelf. Six robotic arms take care of that quite neatly. The whole operation takes place in a small-sized room of around 30 square meters.
CDs are sent in a specially designed yellow box with a spare opening in the front lid. Through this opening the address is readable. The CD is fixed in the carrier and cannot rotate. People use the same box to send CDs back. All they need to do is to flip a little lid inside that will cover the opening and that carries our return address. When returned, each box needs to be opened by a human, and the CD needs to be scanned so that it is noted in the system as being returned. Boxes are unmarked and are re-used, CDs are destroyed in an environmentally safe manner. No copies are being stored on the shelves.
After many years of preparing and working diligently together with the DAISY consortium, FNB is proud to be able to present the DAISY service on such a wide scale to so many people. FNB wishes to share its experiences with the migration and welcomes everybody who would like to visit the premises in Grave, Netherlands where the CD-distribution takes place.
On November 12, 2003, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) launched The CNIB Digital Library for more than 105,000 Canadians who are blind or visually impaired. Through the new, bilingual (English-French) service, CNIB clients can go online to search and order from the Library's collection of 60,000 titles including more than 2,500 DAISY books. While DAISY books cannot be directly downloaded from the site, in the spirit of the single source file concept, the audio component of each title has been made available in MP3 format through a service dubbed "online digital audio." Clients simply select the chapter or section of the title they would like to hear, and it begins to play instantly through Windows Media Player.
The site also provides the current editions of more than 40 daily, national, and community newspapers; full-text versions of thousands of magazines; databases such as the Encyclopedia Britannica Online; and electronic text and braille titles for immediate use. Young CNIB clients have their own special corner of The CNIB Digital Library, called The Children's Discovery Portal. The Portal allows them to play online games, get homework help, and use a moderated chat room to connect with other children who are blind.
To try out The CNIB Digital Library, visit www.cnib.ca/library or www.inca.ca/bibliotheque, select the digital library, and then select the "guest" option on the login screen. Once in the site, you can browse DAISY and online digital library titles through "Advanced Search." Just choose these options in the "Formats" list, and then select "Submit." Please note that some functions (such as actually playing online audio books) are not available to guests.
In January of 2003, The National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at Boston public broadcaster WGBH announced the launch of the Beyond the Text project, an initiative to study the creation and inclusion of accessible multimedia in e-books. Supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of the project is to enable deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, visually impaired or deaf-blind users to easily locate, activate and utilize accessible multimedia content within various e-book formats and devices. Activities in support of this goal include researching and producing demonstration models, developing recommended practices and contributing to specifications that enable the creation of accessible images, audio and multimedia.
Building upon NCAM's ongoing research into Web-based multimedia accessibility, the Beyond the Text project is helping developers learn how to create captions and audio descriptions for video and audio presentations, improve e-book multimedia navigation and implement accessible multimedia within various e-book formats. The project also extends existing NCAM research initiatives such as the Access to Rich Media Project and Specifications for Accessible Learning Technologies/SALT, as well as the work now underway in publishing and educational consortiums and standards organizations such as the DAISY Consortium, the Open eBook Forum, the World Wide Web Consortium and the American Foundation for the Blind Textbooks and Instructional Materials Solutions Forum.
Project activities include:
Project staff have begun developing a prototype e-book in three formats (PDF, LIT and OeB) that contains captioned and described multimedia. See the accessible e-books prototypes page for more information and instructions on how to download and view the prototype.
The project also maintains a comparison chart of e-book and DTB hardware and software. This chart is updated regularly, and staff are particularly interested in receiving information from manufacturers and developers about hardware and software players, those that are available commercially as well as open-source players and other devices under development. Please send all information or corrections to the project manager, Geoff Freed, at geoff_freed@wgbh.org.
In addition, there will be a presentation about the Beyond the Text project at the upcoming Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference in Los Angeles, CA, on Thursday, March 18, at 10:40am. Staff will describe the project's activities and findings to date, as well as demonstrate e-books containing accessible multimedia on a variety of platforms, including hand-held devices.
For more information, contact:
Geoff Freed
Project Manager
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
WGBH Educational Foundation
125 Western Ave.
Boston, MA 02134
617 300-4223 voice and fax
geoff_freed@wgbh.org.
Editor's Note: For the convenience of some readers, below is a summary of the links cited in this article:
Taiwan Digital Talking Books Association held its first meeting on January 10, 2004. The Association was formed in May 2003 and was registered with the Ministry of Interior as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to introducing DAISY technology to Taiwan. The association will concentrate on developing Chinese tools for the producers and users of DAISY books, including adding Chinese interface to DAISY-provided software tools and playback devices. The aim for Taiwan is to produce all new talking books, particularly textbooks, and convert old analog books into DAISY format, and put them on the Internet for easy access.
Contact: Ming S. Hung, c00hms00@nchc.org.tw. Our Web site is under construction.
Fast Company named Benetech as one of its twenty "Social Capitalists," and it is the only technology group in this inaugural list of top social entrepreneurs. See Benetech and the other company profiles in Issue 78 | January 2004, on page 50. Visit the Web page, www.fastcompany.com/magazine/78/social_profiles.html for the full story.
For an update on Benetech's activities and goals for 2004, see a recent President's Letter at www.benetech.org/about/presupdate.shtml. As mentioned in this update from President Jim Fruchterman, Benetech's project, Bookshare.org, now has more than 15,000 books in its online library. Also, one exciting activity on tap for 2004 is expected to build upon the technology at the heart of Bookshare.org. The Bookaccess initiative "intends to use this same technology to benefit students without disabilities in the developing world."
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) presents scholarships to students who are blind or visually impaired or who have learning disabilities. Winners are United States citizens who demonstrate excellence both in their academic work and in their extracurricular activities. Below, we introduce you to the 2003 winners, some of whom have used DAISY books to assist them with their studies.
Applications for 2004 are now available on RFB&D's Web site, and the deadline for applying is February 20, 2004. For eligibility criteria and more information, visit www.rfbd.org/applications_awards.htm.
RFB&D has announced the six top winners of its 2003 Mary P. Oenslager Scholastic Achievement Award (SAA). The SAA awards were created in 1959 to honor college seniors who are blind or visually impaired and who have demonstrated exceptional scholarship, leadership, enterprise and service to others.
The winners are:
Helaine D. Blumenthal of Brooklyn, New York. Legally blind since eighth grade, she continued her educational success at Swarthmore College, graduating this past June with a 3.64 GPA. In the fall of 2001, she studied in Prague, Czech Republic, exploring Central/Eastern European politics, art, history, literature and the Czech language. While there, she also engaged in cross-cultural dialog regarding the treatment of people with visual impairments. Outside of school, she has worked for Hillels of New York/Center for Jewish Studies, where she assisted in research on American Jewish communities, gathered census data and facilitated seminar discussions. She has also worked at the Museum of the City of New York as a tour guide, mentor to high school interns and project coordinator. Helaine hopes to attend graduate school and earn a PhD, things she says she "could not even think of doing without the knowledge and confidence that RFB&D will be there."
Daniel J. Furton of Lansing, Michigan. Having been diagnosed in his teenage years with retinitis pigmentosa, Daniel was largely unaware of adaptive tools that could help him with his education until he met an adult professional with the same eye condition who educated and inspired him. Soon, Daniel went from working a low-skilled manual labor job, while sporadically attending community college, to becoming an award-winning political advocate and student leader at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing. Majoring in political science, Daniel participated in MSU's student government and helped to revive its Council of Students with Disabilities, serving as vice president for three semesters. He also joined the National Federation of the Blind, which recently elected him to the Lansing, MI, chapter's board of directors.
Sarah M. Swords of Atlanta, Georgia. Having lost her sight due to a serious illness when she was in the sixth grade, Sarah appreciates the fact that she had "excellent teachers" who immediately introduced her to assistive technology, such as computers, braille and RFB&D's recorded books. In 1999, Sarah graduated first in a high school class of 637 and, with a nearly perfect SAT score, entered Princeton University. She flourished at Princeton, graduating with honors in history and a GPA of 3.64. A lover of history, Sarah has studied at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland and is pursuing a PhD in history at The College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she is also a teaching assistant.
These awards are presented to high school seniors with learning disabilities who demonstrate leadership, scholarship, enterprise and service to others.
Emily Kalah Gade of Denver, Colorado. Although her severe dyslexia makes words look like "broken lines and black squiggles," Emily Kalah Gade says she "decided a long time ago that I would prove to the world that I could do anything anyone asked of me."
With incredible energy and determination, Emily thrived both academically and athletically at Denver's East High School. A National Merit Scholarship Program finalist, she graduated seventh in a class of 331, while participating on the school debate, field hockey, swimming, soccer and rugby teams. In June 2000, she joined 15 other students on a three-week tour of Russia, Mongolia and China; and, two months later, headed to Canada's Bay of Fundy to study marine biology. Additional educational tours have taken her to Bermuda and Venice, Italy. Outside of school, she enjoys mountain climbing, river rafting, scuba diving, music, photography and poetry.
Now a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Emily says her goals are to "travel as much as possible and fill my head until it overflows with knowledge." She contemplates a career as a marine biologist, a physician or a member of the Peace Corps. She states that recorded books were the "single most important factor" in her high school success, "...giving me a measure of independence I'd never experienced before." She still cringes when she recalls teachers and students laughing at her spelling or pronunciation mistakes in class. "I know the stigma around a special education student is nothing in comparison to the prejudice against sexual, racial or religious minorities," she explains. "But it is real."
Taegan McMahon of Noank, Connecticut. Taegan McMahon says she learned about the importance of tolerance and acceptance "by default."
When Taegan was a child, surgery to remove a large birthmark resulted in a scar that spanned her forehead. Children teased her about the scar, as well as her dyslexia, which caused her to fumble over words as she read. Instead of seeing herself as a victim, Taegan boldly used the situation to become an educator. She counseled patients undergoing the same surgery and lectured to classes about the challenges of dyslexia. "I choose to take an active role in helping the people around me - and that has made a difference in their lives and mine," she says.
RFB&D has also made a big difference in Taegan's life, allowing her to balance a strong academic life with a busy social one. In high school, Taegan was the co-founder and president of the fencing club, ranking as the 37th female in the state of Connecticut. She was also very involved with theater, dance and sailing, as well as agricultural science projects in which she bred guinea pigs, leopard geckos and veiled chameleons. She also lectured in local schools about poison dart frogs. Additional activities included volunteering for Alliance for Living, an inner city AIDS clinic; working with a young boy with autism; rock climbing; mountain biking; backpacking; designing clothing and mountaineering. Realizing a "lifelong goal," Taegan recently reached the summit of 19,344 foot-high Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa.
Despite her learning disability and busy schedule, Taegan earned many awards and recognitions in high school, graduating 15th in her class of 230. She is now studying at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and hopes to become a rainforest conservationist. She says, "My advice to other students with learning disabilities is to stand tall because, if you are proud of yourself, then others will understand."
Justin Sirico Stroup of Orange, Connecticut. When Justin Sirico Stroup was in third grade, he says he was "completely frustrated and terribly angry." He felt separated from his peers due to his dyslexia, which caused him to be sent to a resource room outside of class for hours each day.
Encouraged by his parents to try RFB&D's recorded books, Justin first listened to them for pleasure, but soon realized that they were of tremendous help in school as well, allowing him to finally be on the same level with his peers. "RFB&D transformed my life," says Justin. "It is a necessity, a friend, and provides me with worlds in which to escape and learn."
Justin graduated from Amity Regional High School with a 3.74 GPA and numerous academic awards. He served as the yearbook editor, a member of student Council and choral groups, and became a second degree black belt in karate. A church youth leader, Justin is also certified in wilderness training, mountaineering and has a great love for the outdoors.
"Years of karate and wilderness training have helped me to reach an inner peace in the face of my learning disabilities," he says.
Justin has also learned to be an advocate, providing testimony before the Connecticut State Legislature in support of additional funding for RFB&D and making presentations at our Connecticut Unit and the Connecticut Association for Children with Learning Disabilities.
He now attends Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he is studying environmental science and geology.
Several DAISY-related training courses took place in the last few months of 2003. Already, courses are being planned for 2004, and requests are welcome.
Editor's Note: This item was not available for the September 2003 newsletter, but we thought readers would like to be aware of ONCE's efforts to work with organizations in Latin America last summer.
From June 30 to July 11, a training course was carried out at ONCE - Centro Bibliográfico y Cultural located in Madrid, Spain. This was a DAISY learning course, sponsored by ONCE Foundation for Latin America (FOAL), and addressed to representatives from different organizations for the blind as well as producers of material for the blind from Latin America.
Seven people coming from the following countries attended this course:
The course was organized in two different modules.
This first module dealt with production tools of Digital Talking Books in DAISY format (DTBs).
In this module the following tools were described and used: LpStudio/Pro, Sigtuna and MyStudio PC. Besides these production tools, we dealt with some other topics such as projects management, storage, safety copies and the creation of full text projects.
In this second part of the course, we analysed different methods to carry out the following processes:
The training course was delivered by Rafael Pérez and Angel Sierra, with the support of Eulalia Contreras and José Juan Anguita.
From October 20 to 24, 2003, a DAISY training course was presented at Langara College, a member of the Canadian DAISY Consortium.
This DAISY training course was presented by Lynn Leith and Sean Brooks for seven participants. As a result of this course, Sean has completed his qualification as a DAISY Consortium trainer.
Participants' areas of expertise and involvement in DAISY production varied widely from source document preparation to digital recording of the DAISY books, to post-production functions. A wide range of topics ranging from markup, XHTML source file creation, working with all three of the DAISY Consortium production tools, to validation and regeneration were covered in depth.
Strengths of each of the tools and how these strengths can benefit a producing organization were stressed throughout the course. Both the Validator and Regenerator were received very positively. File management, the essentials of proper project management and work flow were discussed in detail as input prior to the course made it clear that this was an area that needed to be carefully addressed and the course was customized accordingly. A "problem" book that had been produced by the organization was used as an example of how the Regenerator can correct many of the problems that can be introduced into DAISY DTBs. The course materials were distributed on CD to all participants.
From December 9th to 11th, 2003, a DAISY training course was held at RNIB Cymru in Cardiff, South Wales.
Carol Crookes and David Gordon presented the DAISY training course. They both work for RNIB's Divisional Training department and have presented six similar internal sessions throughout the United Kingdom. These have included:
The course in Wales was for three members of RNIB Cymru staff who had only low to minimal experience of the DAISY format. The training concentrated on the production of type 2 (audio with structure) DAISY titles in the Welsh language.
All three trainees were taken through the stages needed for production of valid DAISY 2.02 titles to be delivered on CD.
The stages of training included:
Methods of archiving and file management were also covered.
To consolidate their learning at the end of the course, the trainees were tasked with creating a short Welsh DAISY title on CD. This gave each trainee the chance to try out all of the stages of DAISY production.
Editor's Note: This article was adapted from the full report submitted by Johan Roos to The DAISY Board.
The South African Library for the Blind, which produces both braille and cassette talking books, has been an Associate Member of the DAISY Consortium since the latter half of the 1990s. Notwithstanding its long-standing Associate membership with the Consortium, it had not yet begun to produce original or converted (A-to-D) DAISY books. In the spring of 2003 a Developing Countries Grant request made by The South African Library for the Blind in late 2002 was approved by the DAISY Board. The originally submitted application for the grant was for funding to enable the SA Library to purchase equipment required to begin the transition to digital production. But sometimes, more than equipment is required to move forward.
The Board recommended that the grant be used to enable one or two employees of the SA Library to spend time consulting in person with a DAISY member organization, allowing them to learn and gather the information and expertise required to move forward. Mr. Johan Roos, Director of the South African Library for the Blind wrote in his report to the DAISY Board: "I would like to thank the Board for steering us in that direction. I would also like to thank, in particular, Ms Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt who, after a discussion regarding the Library's needs, suggested that we seek assistance from the CNIB Library and George Kerscher who, both when the grant application had been processed and once we had decided to visit the CNIB in Toronto, provided frequent and valuable assistance which contributed to the visit in ways too numerous and diverse to catalog here with precision."
Mr. Johan Roos, Director of the SA Library, was accompanied by Mr Godfrey Wessels, a senior technician from the SA Library audio book production department.
Lynn Leith, the Consortium's International Training & Technical Support Coordinator and the CNIB Library's Manager of Audio Publishing was the primary consultant, but Mr. Roos and Mr. Vessels were also scheduled to consult with other CNIB staff members with expertise in related areas and operations.
The formal consultation focused on:
Mr. Roos continued in his report to the DAISY Board:
As I stated earlier, the purpose of the consultation was to provide us with direction regarding digital studio recordings, analog to digital conversion of our existing audio collection and the DAISY standard more generally. Time will tell the actual extent to which the consultation has been successful. But in some way I am already in a position to state that we have been provided with very real assistance. At the level of providing us with a measure of confidence to begin experimenting with the different production tools, and to the extent that we have been enabled to understand at least the concepts involved, the consultation has been a huge success. Moreover, having met people who are knowledgeable regarding DAISY production will turn out to be of great value to us. At the very least, we have been provided with a vocabulary that would enable us to articulate our problems and with a means to formulate questions..
Mr. Roos wrote in his evaluation:
The presentations were clear and very lucid. Questions were encouraged and answered with remarkable ease. Being able to witness an actual studio recording in a professional setting has, to my mind, been a bonus that we would have missed during a training session. The opportunity to discuss electronic file management issues at a leading audio publishing concern was also valuable. The presentations of staff other than Lynn Leith herself were strikingly good as well. I must mention very particularly, the name of Danny Waugh who has remarkable talent as an instructor. Lynn Leith fully lived up to her designation as international training manager, and no doubt her staff have learnt much from her, even as far as the ability to instruct others is concerned...I would like to thank the Board of the DAISY Consortium, George Kerscher and Ingar Beckman Hirschfeld, the CNIB Library, Margret Mcgrory and Lynn Leith. I am confident that their efforts will be rewarded by the South African Library for the Blind.
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.
As announced on the DAISY Web site on October 20, 2003, a third Release Candidate of TPB Reader has been made available for download. TPB Reader is Windows-based software for playback of DAISY 2.0 and 2.02 DTBs.
This release includes the following highlights:
TPB Reader is made available free of charge. Note however that TPB does not provide any end-user support to users outside Sweden.
The TPB Reader Web pages can be found at the following Web address: www.daisy.org/tpbreader.
Note: TPB Reader is not a DAISY Consortium project. The consortium is currently hosting the site for technical reasons only.
The download page contains:
Finally, a bug reporting system is also available at the site. TPB encourages potential users of the software to make use of this to report any bugs they may encounter.
During the last several months, there have been new releases of some of the DAISY tools. These include the 2.02 DAISY Validator, the DAISY Regenerator, and Sigtuna DAR 3. Releases of new versions have been announced on the DAISY lists, but if you have not yet had a chance to update your tools, why not log into the DAISY Web site's "download" area and grab them today? Remember your Member login and password are required to download Sigtuna DAR 3. Please contact the DAISY Webmaster if you need this information. The release notes that accompany each tool provide highlights about its new features and functionality.
To quickly locate recent announcements about these tools, please visit the following news items which repeat information distributed on DAISY lists in recent weeks:
During the last few months, Phoneticom has been busy demonstrating the power of its DAISY Generator. The company exhibited at "ID-Dagarna," a Nordic conference/tradeshow about Information Technology for the disabled. Together with Sweden's largest daily newspaper Dangens Nyheter, Phoneticom made the whole paper into a text-to-speech (TTS) generated DAISY 2.02 Audio full text production. It contained some 14 hours of speech, and the process was totally automated. Using, for example, one of the high-quality English TTS engines Phoneticom has licensed, producing a document of this size would take approximately 20 minutes.
To date, The DAISY Generator has been sold to several customers, and they are very satisfied with the results. Some organizations affiliated with the DAISY Consortium are currently exploring the possibilities of this automated system.
The input format can be e-text such as DAISY 3/DTBook, HTML, XHTML (DAISY 2.02 text only), or custom-definable XML. It can produce DAISY 2.02 audio only, audio NCC, audio full text, and DTBook from any of the input formats. The Output file set can be delivered by the system as an uncompressed file set, ISO image or ZIP archive in any valid audio file format including mp3 and wav.
Phoneticom is working with the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology to develop some interesting software. This software would take an audio file (containing recorded speech) and a Text (in XHTML, HTML, or raw Text) as input and automatically produce a DAISY 2.02 audio full text production with full synchronization and navigation.
For more information about the DAISY Generator or other Phoneticom products, please contact:
Phoneticom AB
Bredgrand 6
753 20 Uppsala
Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)18 13 68 00
Fax: +46 (0)18 60 44 97
info@phoneticom.com
www.phoneticom.com.
Note that the full production of this edition of DAISY News is brought to you by Phoneticom. The full production will be available for download from the DAISY FTP site shortly. Please contact the DAISY Webmaster for more information about downloading it.
Dolphin Audio Publishing (previously Labyrinten Data AB), is pleased to announce a closer cooperation with Telex Communications Inc. The worldwide distribution of the audio conversion solutions is now through Telex Communications as part of their N2TAPE and N2DAISY products.
New customers will no longer be able to purchase TOPS, TIPS or WIPS from Dolphin Audio Publishing. TOPS now forms an integral part of N2TAPE, and WIPS and TIPS now form an integrated part of N2DAISY, which are the conversion tools from Telex. New customers requiring conversion tools should therefore refer to Telex Communications Inc, for their range of conversion tools N2TAPE and N2DAISY.
All existing TIPS, TOPS and WIPS customers will continue to be supported by Dolphin Audio Publishing. Existing customers will be able to renew their licences in line with their current agreements, however, a new annual Support Agreement will replace the existing annual Maintenance Agreement. The new annual support agreement will cover technical and customer support.
All existing customers have already been informed of the changes to the distribution rights. Details of the new Support Agreement will be issued to all existing customers prior to their agreement renewal deadlines.
For further information about N2TAPE or N2DAISY, please visit www.telex.com/Duplication.
Editor's Note: This item is slightly adapted from Bruce Toews' Web site found at www.ogts.net/. Bruce, a CNIB employee, provides us with a valuable perspective related to DAISY production. This is "one guy's" experience of working as a blind narrator of DAISY books. Thanks to CNIB staff for bringing Bruce's story to my attention.
As a blind person, I have often used talking books. If you don't know, a talking book is a book on tape or, more recently, on CD. While more and more of these are available, for a small fortune, commercially, the ones I'm referring to were recorded by organizations like the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and other charities for the blind. Being a book worm of sorts as a kid, I went through rather a lot of these. I loved them ... but I must say, I took them for granted. I had no idea how much time, energy, heart and soul went into the production of these talking books.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to become a talking book narrator at the CNIB as a half-day-a-week part of my job. Instead of getting the book and listening, I would now be doing the recording. This is significant in that, in the history of the CNIB, there has never been a blind narrator reading a talking book from braille copy before. This is a great honor and, as I would soon discover, a great responsibility.
A lot goes into these suckers, let me tell you. You sit in this isolation booth reminiscent of those game shows where you're not supposed to hear the other guy answering the questions. Your only two connections with the outside world are the recording computer, which is sitting on a desk on the other side of the glass, and the monitor, who does the recording and editing, and who is accessible via this cheesy intercom system. You know those radio shows where the producer will cut in every now and then through what sounds like a tin can filled with champagne? Well, we probably got their old intercoms because that's exactly what it sounds like.
Once they've got you isolated with the door hermetically (it seems) sealed from friends and loved ones, you start reading. Seems straightforward, doesn't it? But you've no idea how easy it is to slur a word, get tripped up on a syllable, stumble over some name that sounds like it originated on Mars, or suddenly discover your mouth is filled with saliva and you have to swallow. Suddenly the simplest word becomes a nightmare. Then you run across instances where you're lucky to be from the place about which the book speaks. How else would you know that Sam Katz's last name is pronounced "kates"?
With start and stop upon start and stop, retake after retake, it's amazing just how little one gets done in the three hours alotted.
Now, I'm getting paid to do this. And I love it, don't get me wrong. It's something I've wanted to do for many years. But the majority of the work is done by tireless volunteers, people who give freely of their time for a cause they believe in, to make a difference for which they will receive So very little concrete thanks (other than the staff people walking around with these ridiculous "our volunteers are the best" pins on for a week). The term "unsung heroes" is appropriate: they are very much unsung, and very heroic. This applies for all the volunteers I work with, either in audio or in braille, which can be equally stressful from their standpoint. These people are simply the best. I came away from my first experience in "solitary" thinking, "I think every blind person who has used audiobooks and taken them for granted should go through this at least once."
I grew up feeling that these books, these charitable efforts by people wanting to make a difference, were my entitlement. And the beautiful thing is, the people giving of their time also believe the books to be the entitlement of me and others like me. But now, having been on the other end, experienced things from the other side, the next time I read a book on CD, I will be far, far more grateful to the people who did this for me and others in my position.
Next time you see a volunteer somewhere trying to make a difference for someone else, don't wear a silly pin. Give them a sincere word of thanks.
Well, anyway, those are one guy's thoughts.
Here is a handy list of DAISY Consortium Web site links and email addresses: