DAISYThe results of early seeding
The Open University Digital Audio Project
Andrew Thomas - Project Manager
Douglas G Blane - Technical Co-ordinator
NADP Presentation 3rd July 2009 © The Open University 2009
Disabled Students at the OU
• Approximately 10,000 disabled students registered for study
• Declared disabilities or additional requirements (Dec ’08) – 19,695
Sight 993 Fatigue/Pain 4062
Dyslexia 1862 Mental Health 2772
Hearing 755 Mobility/Physical 3045
Speech 373 Manual 1972
Other 1869 Personal care 758
Unseen disability 1136 Autistic spectrum 98
Many students declare more than
one disability
Some have highly complex needs eg, paraplegic
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Disabled Students at the OU
• Approximately 10,000 disabled students registered for study
• Declared disabilities or additional requirements (Dec ’08) – 19,695
Sight 993 Fatigue/Pain 4062
Dyslexia 1862 Mental Health 2772
Hearing 755 Mobility/Physical 3045
Speech 373 Manual 1972
Other 1869 Personal care 758
Unseen disability 1136 Autistic spectrum 98
Many students declare more than
one disability
Some have highly complex needs eg, paraplegic
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Tapes, CDs and PDFsNow:• Audio recordings (1,454 students)
– 62% - Analogue (cassette tapes)– 38% - DREAM digital recording (Readout)
• Electronic documents (PDF) (783 students)
The future:• International standard DAISY
(Digital Accessible Information SYstem)
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Digital Audio Project• 3 year project – 2007 to 2010• Funded by OU Alumni (donations)• Updating, improving, and expanding audio services• For print-disabled students AND…• Mainstreaming beyond disability (integration) planned
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Project Plan• Year 1 = research, specification and set-up• Year 2 = pilots and trials, begin roll-out, experiment• Year 3 = complete roll-out, convert back-catalogue
NB Students involved throughout – specification and testing
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Current Production Process - DREAM/ReadOut
CourseMaterial
OUHandcraftedProcesses
OUReadOut
DTB
HumanVoice
OUDREAMProcess
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
DAISYDigital Talking Book Production Workflows
Douglas G BlaneTechnical Co-ordinator
Workflows
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
1. eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
2. Portable Document Format (PDF)
3. Legacy (various)
eXtensible Markup Language
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
InDesign
Word
OU XML PDF
Word
Other XML
Other
DAISY DTB
Structured
StructuredContent
DAISYDTD
Transform
DAISYXML
Save asDAISY
Save As DAISY
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
Microsoft Word 2007
Word 2007 is XML based, Word 2003 is not.I would recommend using Word 2007.
OU XML Production ProcessesCourse
materialDAISYDTBs
StructuredMP3
Otheroutputs
Synthesisedvoice
Mixedsynthesised
& humanvoices
Humanvoice
DAISYPipeline
EasyPublisher
EasyConverter
XML
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
Structure is the key• The Open University Structured Content system
• Provides structured outputs in XML, Word, HTML, PDF etc
• Allows automated transformation into DAISY Digital Talking Books, Large Print, Braille & other Alternative Formats
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
PDF Workflow
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
UnstructuredPDF files
StructuredXML Files
StructuredPDF files
OutsourcedRestructuring
InternalRestructuring
DAISY DTBs
Process
Workflow issues
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
1. Lexicon – Text To Speech (TTS) pronunciation
2. Pagination – Electronic page numbers not matching printed page numbers
3. Revising existing DAISY DTBs – XML Editor / DAISY Pipeline project / Dolphin Publisher project
Major benefitsFor students• Greater quantity of audio recordings• More timely delivery• More user-friendly and flexible products
For us• Large number of print-disabled students• Complex teaching and learning materials• International DAISY standard
Created by Andrew Thomas © The Open University 2009
Looking into the future• Further Integration of academic learning structures into
the DAISY DTB standard
• Integration of multimedia content (inc. OU & BBC co-produced TV programmes)
• Mobile content for mobile devices
• Mainstreaming beyond disability
Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2009
Andrew Thomas - Project ManagerDouglas G Blane - Technical Co-ordinator
Digital Audio ProjectDisabled Student ServicesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AA
Email: [email protected]: 01908 653745Web: www.open.ac.uk/digitalaudioproject
Contact details
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