RNZFB

Standards and Future Directions

DAISY

• Open standard for digital books• Digital Accessible Information System• http://www.daisy.org• International consortium of print

disability organisations• Working with International Digital

Publishing Forum to align standards, http://www.openebook.org/

DAISY

• Open standard for digital books

• Based on web standards

• Structured audio, full text, multimedia

• Designed for many ways of access

• Flexibility of reading experience

DAISY at RNZFB

• Recorded talking books as DAISY since 2002

• DAISY Textbook Pilot• Collaboration with NZETC

• Neil Jarvis on DAISY Board• Standards development, software

testing, Global Library, copyright reform, publisher collaboration

Round Table

• Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities

• http://e-bility.com/roundtable/• Australia/ New Zealand• Annual conference• Standards for accessible formats –

braille, e-text, large print, audio, describing visual material, exam guidelines

• E-text and large print guidelines being revised, due early 2009

Round Table e-text

• General principles for digital accessibility

• Guidance for plain text, word processing formats (RTF, Word, OpenDocument)

• Appendices of production tips

Round Table e-text

• Equivalence to print:– Linearisation – Structure and Semantics – Text equivalents for visual elements– Include all meaningful elements of print

document – Accuracy – Metadata – Use correct character sets – Producer's Notes

Round Table e-text

• Clear visual design:– simple and clear typeface – adequately large default text size – good spacing – adequate colour contrast – left-align – avoid italics, underline and block capitals – do not convey information solely through images or

colours – allow user to change defaults– consistent appearance

Round Table e-text

• Follow existing standards:– Semantic HTML– WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines):

http://www.w3.org/WAI/ – DAISY: http://daisy.org/– Unicode: http://unicode.org/

• Customise for an individual:– adaptive technology limitations – software availability – varying levels of computer literacy – reading preferences

Web standards

• HTML designed for universal access

• “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” -Tim Berners-Lee

Web standards: HTML

• Structure separated from presentation

• CSS stylesheets for visual appearance

Accessible websites

• Can be designed for all

• Encourage web developers, lecturers, libraries to use accessible electronic systems

Other e-text formats

• Word processing formats: Word, OpenDocument, RTF

• Plain text

• Maths formats: MathML, LaTeX• Can be read electronically or converted

to braille, large print, audio• DAISY incorporates MathML• http://www.daisy.org/projects/mathml/

Accessible PDF

• Electronic text, not scanned images

• “Tagged” for reading order

• Text equivalents available for all images

• Only works with recent adaptive technology

• Not optimal for viewing on screen