News & Events
Here you will find the latest news as well as upcoming and previous events.
In May 2023 the board of the DAISY Consortium was generously hosted by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS), Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The occasion also allowed for a visit to the library’s studios to meet with some of their team, learn about some of the latest technical developments and view the recording facilities.
For the first time since 2019 the Annual General Meeting was in person and online, featuring presentations to showcase some of the achievements of the DAISY team and DAISY members. A video of the 2023 showcase is available.
The DAISY meetings coincided with the Spring meetings of the Braille Authority of North America. After we had concluded our separate business we had an interesting morning sharing information of joint interest, including the DAISY Music Braille Project, product developments, ebraille specification, tactile graphics and the braille production activities of DAISY members.
The time in Washington concluded with a touch tour of the U.S. Capitol building, including a visit to the room originally used as the Supreme Court, a tactile map of the area and wonderful audio-described tour of the building’s main areas. The US Capitol is well known for its many statues and blind tourists had special permission to explore by touch the pieces portraying Helen Keller, Jeanette Rankin, Ronald Reagan, and more. Read More
A component of the 2023 DAISY AGM was a showcase presentation highlighting some of the work being conducted by DAISY and our member organizations around the world.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Showcase
Linked Resources
We have lots more information about the activities mentioned in the Showcase throughout the DAISY website. You can find further details about the content Links to DAISY activities mentioned in the recording:
Microsoft Low-Cost Assitive Techbnology Project
Nordic Inclusive Publishing Initiative
London 2023 Accessible Publishing Conference and DAISY Technical Meetings
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The London Book Fair was a vibrant and well-attended event this year and the publishing world was out in force. As ever, there were a number of sessions dedicated to accessibility and it was great to see so much interest in these focused seminars. Publishers had sent staff specifically to find out more about accessible publishing and it was encouraging to be able to welcome new faces to the discussions.
It’s true to say that the main focus of the fair still remains around print and this is likely to remain the case for the forseeable future – this is a rights fair and publishers are looking to sell and buy rights in both print and digital product but traditionally they are not there to talk about accessibility. Any in-roads that we can make are therefore significant and it was exciting to be able to attend back to back meetings to talk about inclusive publishing.
The Publishers Accessibility Action Group’s annual seminar, now in its 15th year ran a session entitled: Accessibility, Charting the Waters, focusing on the new PAAG Charter which asks publishers and other industry players to commit to accessible publishing via a set of 10 clear points on accessibility. The speakers spoke to a number of the points each, showing how they approach these areas within their own organizations and proving that the charter is an easy commitment for everyone. Attendance was high and questions lively.
Amnet systems also ran a seminar: Accessibility, Are We Nearly There Yet and DAISY were pleased to take part in this and the PAAG event.
In March we reported on the renewed focus on accessibility at publishing events and LBF was no exception. Whilst it is always hard to divert attention from rights and acquisitions, there was no lack of enthusiasm for these events and the conversations that took place throughout the fair.
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