previous version of The Road Map to DAISY 3 was first delivered at the 2003 General Meeting of the DAISY Consortium. All the implementation recommendations we have made in the past hold true today. Follow this Road Map as it evolves and you can move forward with confidence.
This document outlines the benefits of and process for implementing a smooth transition from the DAISY 2.02 specification to the DAISY 3, ANSI/NISO Z39.86 standard. We will use DAISY 3 (for short) throughout this paper. DAISY 2.02 is a stable specification being implemented today in many countries around the world; however, the next generation of the standard offers benefits to implementers, hardware and software developers, and consumers alike. This document is designed to highlight where we are today and then outline where we are going in the future.
It is the Consortium's goal that all those involved in digital production can gradually move forward toward the DAISY 3 standard with confidence that they have an understanding of how to do so strategically. Remember that the DAISY Staff and the Consortium's listservs are always available to respond to questions.
When we begin to consider what is involved in the transition from the current specification, we realize that it is essential to keep the following general concepts in mind.
DAISY 2.02 is:
To be in the best position to migrate to the next generation of DAISY, it is important that the content you have developed already, as well as what you will develop from now until you make the transition is the best it can be. Working to upgrade DAISY 2.02 content now and continuing to maintain quality control as you move forward will serve you well in the long run. We strongly recommend that organizations:
Note that it is possible to extract audio from MP3 files, but the audio quality may suffer.
While DAISY 2.02 is a stable recommendation, it does not reflect advancements in the technology upon which it is based. DAISY is dependent upon recommendations established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). DAISY 2.02 is based upon the XHTML recommendation; whereas DAISY 3 is based on a book oriented XML element set.
What is important to remember is that a valid 2.02 DTB is future safe because it can be updated using tools under development that are based upon standards accepted worldwide.
At this time, a migration path is being established. A DAISY upgrade system requires that the content be examined by several pieces of software. The path would look something like this:
So, as you consider the migration process, keep in mind that there is training and technical support available to DAISY Members now. We are working to incorporate the migration path into the Membership benefits and training and support activities.
Currently, there are many different playback options for DAISY 2.02. A brief overview includes:
Skippability is an extremely valuable feature of DAISY 2.02, especially for students. When this feature is included in a DAISY production, and that production is played using a playback device that has implemented the feature, a user can skip elements in the document such as pages, sidebars, and notes. For a user of DAISY technology, skippability equates to visually selecting what you want to read in a book.
Unfortunately, there has been limited support for skippability in Players. We see that this functionality will be emphasized in player and production tool support for DAISY 3.
For more information, see the skippability recommendation for DAISY 2.02 at http://www.daisy.org/publications/specifications/d202skiprec/d202_skippability_rec.html.
This recommendation:
Today:
The Advisory Committee has produced a draft revision to DAISY 3. This was published in April 2004 and a public meeting of implementors was held to examine the revised specification. A final specification is expected to be submitted to NISO in the Summer of 2004 with approval before the end of the year.
The 2004 release of DAISY 3 is expected to be the version that attracts most support from implementors. It resolves some design flaws discovered in the 2002 version.
As we move forward, we expect that we will make progress in the following areas.
Projects targeted at adding features and functions will use DAISY 3.
Here is a list of some of the features and benefits of the DTBook XML grammar, used in the DAISY 3 standard.
DAISY 3 also:
Finally, perhaps one of the most important advantages of the richness of DAISY 3 is that it offers us the opportunity to begin to realistically explore how we can use DTBook as the source for publisher collaboration.
Today, with respect to the DAISY 3 standard, the following is in place:
As the Consortium plans for the future, we see that there is much work to be done, but the result of the DAISY community's efforts and cooperation will be to expand current DAISY productions so that each document can offer those with print disabilities an extremely flexible multimedia reading experience. Many of these activities are slated for our focus in 2004 (marked as planned); while others will be completed in the next few years. Projects include:
As you prepare for the future, you will want to take the following steps:
In short, everyone involved with DAISY development and implementation should begin to consider embracing DAISY 3 today. Some organizations will make the transition more slowly than others, but already, there are those who have experience and can offer guidance. Organizations and companies that recognize the need to stay current with evolving technology will include:
Editor: George Kerscher
Status: May 2004 version 2