Articles archive
Towards the end of 2021 we held a special DAISY Information Sharing Day webinar. This part of the webinar introduced some of the innovative activities involving DAISY Members.
This page contains:
Speakers
- Richard Orme, The DAISY Consortium
- Maarten Verboom, President of The DAISY Consortium
- Hiroshi Kawamura, ATDO
- John Brown, NLS
- Dave Williams, RNIB
- Paul Porter, RNIB
- Daniel Ainjasoja, Pratsam
- Georgine Auma, eKitabu
- Brad Turner, Bookshare
Session Overview
Maarten Verboom opened the day by welcoming the large audience and explaining that this second session focuses on the activities currently being undertaken by DAISY members.DAISY in Egypt
DAISY in Egypt transcript Hiroshi Kawamura spoke about the DAISY in Egypt project being run by the Accessible Technology Development Organization (ATDO), The Japan International Cooperation Agency, Egyptian Government partners and other Business partners to further the development of DAISY and accessible EPUB. Capacity building for multi-media trainers has gone well together with the development of an environment that can support this work. Next steps include: Internationalization of the EPUB Accessibility specification for use in Arabic together, making COVID 19 documentation accessible in Arabic, and the introduction of school text books with human narration that is synchronized with the full text. Next steps include exploring the possibility of a twinning program via an International Cooperation, for Egyptian EPUB and DAISY producers with libraries who are looking to outsource to companies for Arabic content. The ABC resource sharing system could be particularly beneficial in this scenario.Digital Braille Innovations
Digital Braille Innovations transcript This presentation explored the work of two major braille libraries who are expanding their braille options for readers. John Brown from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled in the US (NLS) presented work on the new electronic braille reader that NLS have developed which represents a huge shift in focus for the organization who can now offer electronic braille as a primary means of distribution. This small, compact device has been met with a terrific response from patrons and readers. Plans for the future include introducing compatibility with other formats (specifically EPUB), exploring the possibility of offering magazines to readers which would greatly boost the volume of content available. Dave Williams and Paul Porter, RNIB, impressed us with the word they have been focusing on during the pandemic which initially forced them to suspend their hard copy braille library service. In response to this challenge, RNIB accelerated the digital transformation work for members, offering them a free electronic braille display together with a memory card holding thousands of titles. The ORBIT display can also be used to access millions of commercial, mainstream books. Alongside this RNIB also brought their hard copy offering via a print on demand braille service, managing the needs of all their readers.Voice Assistants and DAISY Online
Voice Assistants and DAISY Online transcript The possibility of being able to leverage the new and exciting voice technology, such as Alexa or Google Assistant, is being explored by Pratsam in Finland in conjunction with DAISY members. Pratsam is a software developer, engaged in the development and delivery of systems for the production, distribution and playback of accessible books and newspapers. The Pratsam Reader Voice service supports the DAISY 2.02 specification and the DAISY online delivery protocol, enabling organizations to provide end-users with accessible content. Currently available on the Google Assistant platform, it is also being developed for Amazon Alexa. The following video explains how this works and features that are included, together with information on what has been learned along the way.Sign Language Video in Accessible Digital Content
Sign Language Video in Accessible Digital Content transcript Georgine Auma presented a technical note on guidance for including sign language videos in accessible digital publishing which was published by UNICEF in 2021. The video includes details of the 8 key accessibility features that should be included within a sign language video. After the production of quality sign language all of the content is packaged using the EPUB format. EPUB meets the required accessibility needs for deaf and hard of hearing users – an example of an accessible EPUB with embedded sign language video was shown. For further information and technical resources watch through to the end of the video!Leveraging Machine Learning with Page AI
Page AI transcript Brad Turner presented the Bookshare project, Page AI which focuses on transforming PDF to EPUB. The process of transforming PDF traditionally results in problems with image retention, math is not accessible, and it can be a very slow and costly process. Positive results in the development of Math Detective led the Bookshare team to consider automating the PDF transformation process. The Page AI project breaks down text book pages into segments and has trained the AI to interpret the elements – have a look at the video for a demo of this new technology, showing how this information is synthesized into XHTML files. Significantly faster and cheaper this new technology allows Bookshare to fulfill requests much more efficiently.Related resources:
DAISY Activities at the Information Sharing Day Accessible Publishing at the Information Sharing Day Discover the other webinars we’re running! Read More
Towards the end of 2021 we held a special DAISY Information Sharing Day webinar. This part of the webinar highlights some of the activities DAISY is engaged with. This overview below will direct you to individual videos detailing these projects and work.
This page contains:
Speaker Information
- Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium
- Maarten Verboom, President of the DAISY Consortium
- Avneesh Singh, DAISY Consortium
- Jostein Austvik Jacobsen, NLB
- Marisa DeMeglio, DAISY Consortium
- Dipendra Manocha, DAISY Consortium
- Thomas Kahlisch, Chair of the European Inclusive Publishing Forum
- Sarah Morley Wilkins, DAISY Consortium
Session Overview
Welcome video transcript
Maarten Verboom opened the session by welcoming the large audience and explaining that this first hour looks at the activities currently being undertaken by The DAISY Consortium via 6 presentations.
DAISY Project Highlights
DAISY Project Highlights transcript
Avneesh Singh gave us an overview of some of the core activities undertaken by The DAISY Consortium.
- Standards work where DAISY drives the inclusion of accessibility within mainstream publishing standards. Recent updates in this area include: EPUB Accessibility 1.1 which is approaching Candidate Recommendation stage, the launch of the User Experience Guide for Displaying Accessibility Metadata (more about this in the Publisher Information session) and continuing contributions to WCAG 3.0.
- DAISY Pipeline Case Study which is the backbone of many of the workflows of DAISY Members. Recent work includes the development of a new MS Word plug-in.
- DAISY Tools: WordToEPUB version 1.0.7, Obi version 4.7 and the continued maintenance of Tobi
- Transition to EPUB 3 and the work of the production processes group and the reading systems testing group (more about this in the Publisher Information session).
- Accessibility Baseline Project for establishing and driving inclusive publishing worldwide, originally a Google Impact funded project and still driving work on tools such as Ace by DAISY and Ace SMART alongside the Inclusive Publishing website.
DAISY Pipeline Case Study
DAISY Pipeline Case Study transcript
Jostein Ausvik Jacobsen gave us an overview of the production workflow at NLB and how files progress from source files, through pre-production, conversion, post-production and, finally, distribution. Workflows for braille, TTS narration, human narration (including a hybrid version) and ebooks were outlined. Jostein explained which Pipeline versions are used and why for each specific workflow.
Accessible Books on the Web
Accessible Books on the Web transcript
Marisa DeMeglio, DAISY software developer, described this project which aims to create a completely accessible reading experience within the web browser, leveraging native web technologies: the creation of browser-ready content which offers text and text + audio accessible reading experiences. This includes offering full navigation, playback of synchronized audio and the ability to make visual adjustments. A traditional DAISY book requires specialized software to open and read the content. By building the controls into the book itself, we can use the browser as the platform with the reassurance that web accessibility practices are already in place. Watch the video above for demos of all the features!
Capacity Building During Covid Times
Capacity Building During Covid Times transcript
Dipendra Manocha explained some of the challenges that The DAISY Consortium has had to overcome during the pandemic: onsite training could not continue, the ABC capacity building projects were put on hold and workshops, orientation sessions and awareness based work were postponed. The development of a bespoke LMS allowed DAISY to deliver a huge variety of content and training modules, enabling ABC to deliver on training commitments as part of their capacity building projects in 14 countries. The advantages for trainees of being able to learn at their own pace are huge, allowing them access to quality instructional materials for an extended period of time.
Preparing for the Revolution in Born Accessible Publishing in Europe
Preparing for the Revolution transcript
Thomas Kahlisch introduced the work of the European Inclusive Publishing Forum, set up to concentrate on the new landmark legislation The European Accessibility Act. The legislation dictates a minimum set of requirements for the production of accessible goods and services, including ereaders and ebooks. The forum has established a mechanism for stakeholders to work collaboratively both in Europe and internationally.
Information and resources surrounding the EAA and the work of this project group are available at inclusivepublishing.org/eu which Thomas presented in his session. A baseline survey and resulting case studies have been particularly welcomed.
Improving Access to Music Braille
DAISY Music Braille transcript
Dr Sarah Morley Wilkins is leading this project which focuses on securing the future of music braille production in the face of declining expertise, a lack of suitable conversion tools and file format standards. Activities include the development of a professional conversion tool for transcribers, an interactive end-user tool, influencing file format standards and inclusive publishing practices together with the maintenance of an international stakeholder group.
Sarah shared with us information on the development of 2 important tools: Firstly, MakeBraille (dzb lesen), the online professional automatic conversion tool for transcribers which takes well marked up scanned music files and well structured music XML files and converts them into music braille. With prioritized feature request from the project’s stakeholder group, this tool will be available via a license agreement in 2022.
Secondly SMB-MuseScore, a free interactive tool for end-users that offers a fully interactive, multi-media music notation editing tool for creating, reading and exploring music independently in speech, sound and braille.
Other project activities include: work on music file standards, work on a music braille network, exploring the possibility of inclusive music publishing for the creation of born accessible music scores, access to online collections and the promotion of teaching and learning resources.
Related Resources
Member Activities at the Information Sharing Day
Accessible Publishing at the Information Sharing Day
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In our series of free weekly webinars December 1st saw a session focused on the European Accessibility Act giving us a chance to check-in and find out the latest updates as we prepare for the act.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium—host and chair
- Antoine Fobe, European Blind Union
- Cristina Mussinellim, The LIA Foundation
- Thomas Kahlisch, dzb lesen
with contributions from:
- Louis Marle, Albin Michel, France
- Oscar Heslinga, Inginitas Learning, Netherlands
- Jonas Lillqvist, Svenska Litteratursällskapet, Finland
Session Overview
This webinar discussed the implementation progress and latest developments in EAA legislation which is already shaping practices in Europe and around the world. Many organizations that sell into Europe are having to adapt their practices to comply with the new accessibility requirements.
The European Accessibility Act: Why, What and When?
Antoine Forbe began the webinar by giving us an essential refresher to the EAA, reminding us that it is essential for approx 80 million people in Europe who rely on accessible content. It became necessary to develop a single, coherent set of accessibility rules and in 2015 the European Commission proposed a wide-reaching accessibility act. After long periods of negotiation, the EAA was adopted in 2019, creating an obligation for member states to ensure that selected products and services placed in the EU market comply with accessibility requirements. There are many benefits, including:
For Businesses
- A reduction in costs for the production of accessible goods
- Easier cross border trading
- Marketing opportunities for accessible products and services
For Citizens
- More accessible products in the market
- Competitively priced products
- Fewer barriers to access
- More jobs where accessibility expertise is needed
The act is not truly horizontal in that it applies to only a select list of products and services, with specific emphasis on digital. It does, however, bring a comprehensive set of minimum accessibility requirements that all businesses must respect and this is a wonderful step in the right direction. The act will have a wide impact on the publishing industry throughout the supply chain.
Requiring national transposition by June 2022, the EAA is in fact a directive, the entry into force date is 2025.
Update on Technical Developments
Cristina Mussinelli spoke to us about digital publishing standards that are important in meeting the requirements of the EAA directive.
EPUB offers the greatest opportunity for the econtent itself and a new version, EPUB 3.3, is due to be published soon. Accessibility requirements are one of the main areas of focus within the standard and it is accompanied by EPUB Accessibility 1.1, an accessibility specification together with the Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.1.
Metadata standards are vital for the end-user in order to inform the reader about accessible content. The following standards need to be adhered to: schema.org within the EPUB package, ONIX to directly inform the retailer and coming soon, a standardized method of describing content accessibility from W3C.
Work and research have been completed to make sure that these standards are robust enough to meet the requirements of the EAA.
For retailers and libraries, the W3C has recently published the User Experience Guide for Displaying Accessibility Metadata 1.0
Work continues in this area to look at other ebook formats, all the various departments in the publishing supply chain and a focus on end user awareness.
DAISY’s EU Inclusive Publishing Initiative
Thomas Kahlisch explained the work of The DAISY Consortium and its efforts to improve collaboration between the organizations involved in the EAA and the publishing industry via a community network.
Areas of focus include: guidance, survey, case studies and signposting of resources. The survey was sent out to all EU countries and we have heard back from 14 (74% of the market). The complete findings will be published in January 2022 but results already show that countries are at very different stages in their preparation for the EAA. Some countries have steering groups which help to connect and collaborate both nationally and internationally.
Case studies from Finland, The Netherlands, Germany and Italy look more closely at some of the preparatory details and materials that are already being used and we look forward to publishing more of these country-specific studies as part of the EU Inclusive Publishing Initiative.
Thomas finished by drawing attention to the variety of resources available on this good work at Inclusive Publishing’s EAA Resource page which includes details of how to collaborate with the EU Inclusive Publishing Initiative.
Publisher Voices
Previous webinars about the EAA have emphasized the importance of starting to prepare now for 2025 and many publishers have begun their journey towards accessible publishing already. We heard from Luis Marle, Albin Michel, France; Oscar Heslinga, Inginitas Learning, Netherlands; Jonas Lillqvist, Svenska Litteratursällskapet, Finland on the progress they have been making, informing us of some of the lessons they learned on the way. Please take the time to listen to their extremely useful advice.
Related Resources
- PowerPoint slide deck (2MB)
- Full transcript Word document (34KB)
Legislation Resources
- EU Directive 2019/882 on the Accessibility Requirements for Products and Services – Legislation that came into force in 2019 defining the various elements of the European Accessibility Act and their implementation schedule. Available in 24 languages.
- Introduction to the European Accessibility Act – Video introduction to the Act from the European Commission, English with captions.
- The European Accessibility Act—Consideration for the Publishing Industry and Benefits to Consumers Globally Previous DAISY webinar recording and write-up focused on the European Accessibility Act and implications for publishing and reading.
- European Disability Forum Video: Advocating for strong national adoption of the European Accessibility Act
- European Disability Forum Toolkit for the Transposition of the EAA
- European Commission Factsheet on the EAA (PDF)
Standards and Technical Developments
- EPUB 3.3 specification
- EPUB Accessibility 1.1
- Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.1
- Accessibility Discoverability Vocabulary for Schema.org
- ONIX for Books metadata
- Schema.org Metadata
- European Accessibility Act requirements: are publishing standards as EPUB, ONIX and Schema.org fully compliant? – Fondazione LIA
- EPUB Accessibility – EU Accessibility Act Mapping
- User Experience Guide for Displaying Accessibility Metadata 1.0
Communication Activities
- DAISY European Inclusive Publishing Forum
- Inclusive Publishing EU Resources page
- EAA Adoption Case Studies:
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In our series of free weekly webinars November 17th saw a session focused on “Creating and Editing Accessible EPUB”. This webinar follows our previous session on Validating and Conformance Checking EPUBs.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Dawn Evans, AccessText Network—host and chair
- Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium
- Amit Verma, InDesign Trainer
- Marianne Gulstad, Publizon
Session Overview
Dawn Evans introduced today’s session by explaining how the panel of experts would guide us through a journey from content creation in mainstream tools and conversion processes, to how the resulting EPUB can be edited and amended to deliver accessible content for use by anyone.
Workflow Options for Accessible EPUB
InDesign
Amit discussed how to produce accessible content using InDesign:
- Why and When to Use InDesign. InDesign is used by content creators to produce both print and digital publications. Once you have converted your InDesign file to EPUB there are a number of modifications that can be made to improve the overall accessibility of the content.
- How to Use Accessible EPUBs with InDesign. Very often we hear that InDesign does not produce good EPUB files but if certain steps are followed, much of this can be avoided: use well-defined styles, anchor the images at the correct places, add ALT text to images and define the layout order using the story or articles panel, generate a well-defined TOC, insert chapter breaks and last but not least, making sure that the content structure is well defined with the correct HTML mapping headings. Watch the webinar recording to see examples of these.
- InDesign + Circular Software. At this point in the webinar, Richard Orme conducted a brief interview with Ken Jones, Founder and Director of Circular Software to hear what he has been working on to make this process easier. The “no code accessibility” tools that Circular software has developed assist with the export of InDesign to accessible EPUB, making this a much easier process for users.
PressBooks, Hederis: Web-Based Services
Richard talked us through both of these platforms, with consideration given to the accessibility support offered and how he found the experience. Both platforms fared well in his assessments and it’s worth checking out both in the recording or transcript for details.
Google Docs, Apple Pages, Word: Word Processing Options
Richard discussed these options and the accessibility support they offer, emphasizing that in all cases it is vital to start with a well-structured document. Google Docs offers a “nearly valid” EPUB with some limitations which were outlined. Sadly an EPUB generated from Google Docs is not really fit for purpose in terms of accessibility.
Using Apple Pages resulted in “valid” EPUB. There are some missing elements but overall it is fairly clean.
And finally, Microsoft Word using WordToEPUB which also produces “valid” EPUB with the option to include many other accessibility features on top of the basic set including being able to integrate quality assurance tools to check accessibility (such as Ace by DAISY).
Editing EPUB to Improve Accessibility
Marianne Gulstad described the two ways to edit EPUBs:
- you can unzip the EPUB container and use any editing tool to change the text before using a specialist tool to rezip the EPUB archive.
- or you make life easier and use an EPUB editor. There are a number of EPUB editors that can open, edit and save edits such as Sigil, Calibre, Oxygen, Scrivener, Jutoh and Blue Griffon. Marianne took a close look at Sigil giving lots of examples and demos and showing how this editor can be used to check the EPUB using EPUBCheck.
Related Resources
- PowerPoint slide deck (56 MB)
- Full transcript Word document (34 KB)
EPUB testing
- EPUBCheck free EPUB validation tool
- Ace by DAISY free EPUB accessibility conformance checking tool
InDesign Resources
- EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign – LinkedIn Learning course from Laura Brady
- Leveraging InDesign for Accessible EPUB Creation previous DAISY Webinar
- Circular Software free no-code accessibility for InDesign tool
- InDesign EPUB Support and Features Adobe help page
- Useful EPUB InDesign Scripts resource from Epubsecrets
Web-based EPUB Production Services
Note: many other web-based EPUB conversion and production tools exist, this is not a comprehensive list or an endorsement of these services over others.
GrackleDocs – Google Docs accessibility plugin
Desktop EPUB Production Tools
- WordToEPUB free Windows tool for converting documents to EPUB and HTML
- Sigil EPUB Editor free EPUB editor
- PageEdit visual XHTML Editor free WYSIWYG editor
- Calibre ebook free ebook management, conversion and editing suite
- Oxygen XML Editor commercial editing environment used by some large publishers
- Scrivener paid book planning, authoring and editing environment popular with self-publishing authors
- Jutoh ebook editor paid ebook editing environment
- BlueGriffon HTML and EPUB Editor paid editing environment
Useful Sigil Tutorials
- Basic Sigil Tutorial aimed at novice users
- Creating an ebook with Sigil video tutorial series
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In our series of free weekly webinars November 3rd saw a session focused on the validation and conformance of EPUB content. When using the EPUB format a few simple steps can help highlight any issues and guide you on the path to creating more usable and accessible content.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium—host and chair
- George Kerscher, DAISY Consortium
- James Yanchak, Taylor and Francis
- Charles La Pierre, Benetech
Session Overview
Richard Orme introduced this session explaining that it’s not enough to create content in any format and simply hope it works on reading systems and that it can deliver accessibility. The three experts presenting this webinar looked at validating EPUB from their perspective angles.
What Is An Accessible EPUB?
Many publishers have switched to EPUB as their format of choice for their digital content workflow but, despite it being the format which offers the greatest opportunity for accessibility, some have missed the mark. By failing to include a table of contents, for example, or by not having a clear reading order, EPUB content was often disappointingly lacking in accessibility support. For an EPUB file to be accessible, the publisher must make the most of the features that the format offers.
An understanding of this together with knowledge of the legal requirements in your market are a good place to start an accessibility journey. Add to this an alignment with publishing and web standards and some technical research to provide a base of knowledge and publishers should be in a position to make the most of their EPUB workflow.
3rd Party Certification
Having a 3rd party certify your accessible content helps the publisher to navigate the standards and specifications and Charles La Pierre talked us through the Benetech Scheme, Global Certified Accessible (GCA), outlining the process required for a publisher to be certified. A score is attached and for content to be certified as Born Accessible, 80% is needed.
Developing Internal Standards
Internal standards help the publisher to narrow the technical landscape and make it relevant to their specific workflow. James Yanchak described how this is achieved at Taylor and Francis and explained how this has helped them to reach their accessibility goals. Any internal standard must adhere to the industry standard and it’s vital that training is offered to both in-house colleagues and external vendors.
Validating the EPUB
There are a number of tools which our panel recommended:
- EPUBCheck – should be one of the first checks and if this is integrated into the workflow using the command line version then it becomes very straightforward.
- Ace by DAISY – checks conformance of the EPUB to WCAG and offers a command-line version and a desktop version for one-off title checks
- Ace SMART – to be used in conjunction with Ace and helps the user perform the manual checks that Ace identifies.
- The DAISY Knowledge Base has been developed to help resolve accessibility issues and is constantly maintained.
All of these stages and checks are important to establish accessibility and “trust” in the end product. A reader needs to be able to trust the accessibility summary and metadata so that they can make the correct purchasing decisions.
Related Resources
Standards
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.1
- EPUB Accessibility 1.0 – Conformance and Discovery
- Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0
- EPUB 3.3
- HTML
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2
- Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) Version 3.0 2nd Edition
Accessibility Criteria
Tools and Resources
- EPUBCheck (Currently 4.2.6)
- DAISY Accessible Checker for EPUB (Ace)
- DAISY SMART Tool
- DAISY Knowledge Base
- GCA™ Website
- GCA™ Certified Publishers
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In our series of free weekly webinars October 20th saw a session focused on accessible math and some of the complexities surrounding the creation and reading of math for students.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Stacy Scott, RNIB, host and chair
- Richard Orme, The DAISY Consortium
- Joseph Polizzotto, Wake Technical Community College
- Neil Soiffer, Talking Cat Software
- Homiyar Mobedji, Benetech
Session Overview
Stacy Scott introduced this week’s session explaining that the presentation would remove some of the complexities surrounding the creation of accessible math by talking us through the workflow required and showing us via demos and examples that accessible math is achievable and relatively straightforward. Support for accessible math has improved greatly over recent years and it’s exciting to be able to show our audience some of the new methods, tools and solutions in this area.
Page Image
Neil Soiffer gave us a quick run through of the various math formats that are in existence and Joseph Polizzotto then explained where to start if the math in question isn’t available in one of these specific math formats and is appearing as an inaccessible image. OCR can help in this situation and there are various options here depending on your role and the scale of work involved eg. EquatIO, MathPix and Infty Reader. OCR can either be used on the fly for individual math expressions or it can be used to convert an entire document and Joseph talked us through the pros and cons of each tool in these scenarios, ending with an example of EquatIO in action.
Editing Math Equations in Word
Richard Orme discussed the next stage in a math workflow now that the math expression is in a word document but may require some editing. Currently there are 2 options here: the Microsoft Equation Editor, a built-in method with various options available for editing math expressions, and MathType, a powerful equation editor with lots of different integrations (and relatively affordable).
From Word to the Web
There are three routes to publishing your word document on the web:
- Word-Save as web page
- MathType-Publish as math page
- WordToEPUB-creates an HTML version
Reading Math on the Web and with a Screen Reader
Joseph explained that in an educational environment, the Learning Management System provides a way to share contents with students. All institutions are different but it has become recommended best practice to use MathJax to render math in all types of browsers and LMS. MathJax provides consistent display and ensures that the math remains accessible. Joseph’s top tips are worth noting alongside the demo of math being rendered in the LMS, Blackboard. Neil talked the audience through the finer details of how to read math using a screen reader showing us examples and demos that highlighted some of the options and choices that the reader has available to them.
Related Resources
- PowerPoint slide deck (154 MB)
- Full transcript Word document (30 KB)
- Samples used in the demos (194 KB zip)
Tools mentioned in the webinar:
- Access8Math NVDA Addon
- EquatIO
- GrindEQ Math Utilities
- Infty Reader
- Mathjax
- MathPix Snip
- MathPlayer support
- Mathtype for Office Tools
- Mathtype
- TeX4ht
- WordToEPUB
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In our series of free weekly webinars October 6th saw a session focused on EPUB Accessibility. Our speakers showed everyone what happens under the hood of an EPUB file to support accessibility and managed to demystify some of the technicalities surrounding EPUB.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Richard Orme, The DAISY Consortium—host and chair
- Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning
- Tzviya Siegman, J. Wiley and Sons
Session Overview
What is EPUB? The Basics
Rachel Comerford took us through some of the “acronym soup” that makes up an EPUB file, namely:
- Mimetype – which tells the reading system being used that this is an EPUB file
- META-INF – which points to the file and allows the reading system to find it
- OEPS-OPS – containing the content and everything needed to display that content (including the CSS which describes how the book should look)
What is EPUB? Focus on HTML
The text of an EPUB publication is written in HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML) and Tzviya Siegman explained to us the importance for accessibility of the native semantic elements that can be conveyed within the HTML. Every element in the HTML mark-up contains a meaning and greatly assists with content navigation and order of reading layout.
What is EPUB? Focus on DPUB-ARIA and epub:type
Sometimes content is more complex than the available HTML elements can cope with and Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) provide another way of applying semantic meaning to content i.e. it describes a content component to the reader. DPUB-ARIA specifically maps to the epub:type vocabulary for EPUB content.
Navigating EPUBS
Rachel explained that all EPUB packages contain a navigation document (within the OPF file) from which the Table of Contents (TOC) is generated. The TOC is crucial for accessibility and together with headings, it generally echoes the familiar structure of printed content.
Links are also valuable for accessibility and it’s important to choose a reading system that exposes internal and external links to the reader.
The Value of EPUB Metadata
Also found in the OPF file, EPUB metadata provides information about the accessibility features and potential limitations of the content. Rachel urged us all to make as much use of metadata features as possible, not least via The Accessibility Summary section where the publisher can provide specific information for readers in a non-technical way. See the slide deck attached to this overview for a terrific example of this type of summary provided by Macmillan Learning.
Related Resources
- PowerPoint slide deck (1.2 MB)
- Full transcript Word document (38 KB)
- DAISY Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base
- EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign LinkedIn Course
- EPUB 3.3 specification
- EPUB Accessibility 1.1 specification
- BISG Guide to Accessibility
- Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.1
- WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices 1.1
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On Thursday October 14th we will be hosting a free information sharing day via Zoom, bringing you updates on a broad range of projects and activities from DAISY and our member organizations. We’ve divided the session into 3 parts to enable easy access to the topics you find of most interest.
You only need to register once for free to attend any part of the webinar.
Part A: Update on DAISY Projects
Starting at 1200 Universal Time (500 PDT, 800 EDT, 1300 BST, 1400 CEST)
Welcome
Maarten Verboom, President of the DAISY Consortium
DAISY Projects highlights
Update on various projects driven by the DAISY Consortium.
Avneesh Singh, DAISY Consortium
DAISY Pipeline case study
How NLB is leveraging the DAISY Pipeline for production of accessible content.
Jostein Austvik Jacobsen, NLB
DAISY reading experience in your Browser!
What if your favorite DAISY full text full audio or EPUB Media Overlays titles start working on your favorite browser? This will be a game changer not only for making reading more convenient but will also empower the reach of accessible reading to parts of the world which cannot invest in reading solutions due to resource constraints. This presentation will provide a glimpse of the research being done in this direction.
Marisa DeMeglio, DAISY Consortium
Responding to COVID with DAISY Online Training
Dipendra Manocha, DAISY Consortium
Preparing for the revolution in born accessible publishing in Europe
Reporting on the first year of the DAISY European Inclusive Publishing initiative.
Thomas Kahlisch, dzb
Improving access to music braille
Update on the achievements of the DAISY Braille Music project in 2021, and next steps.
Sarah Morley Wilkins, Project Manager, DAISY Consortium
Part B: Updates from DAISY Members
Starting at 1300 Universal Time (600 PDT, 900 EDT, 1400 BST, 1500 CEST)
DAISY in Egypt
This cooperation initiative raises awareness of the challenges encountered by persons with print disabilities in the COVID-19 Pandemic situation, promotes the provision of accessible publications such as DAISY as well as encourage the acceleration of Egyptian Ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty.
Hiroshi Kawamura, ATDO, Japan
Digital braille innovations
Two major braille libraries share will experiences and plans as they expand digital braille reading options for their users.
John Brown, NLS, USA, Dave Williams and Paul Porter, RNIB, UK
Voice Assistants and DAISY Online
Connecting Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to DAISY Online.
Daniel Ainasoja, Pratsam, Finland
Sign language video in digital publications
How Kenyan education content organization eKitabu is creating early grade reading materials for deaf readers.
Georgine Auma, Digital Literacy Trust, Kenya
Leveraging Machine Learning with Page AI
Bookshare’s latest developments in advanced artificial intelligence for better book conversion.
Brad Turner, Benetech, USA
Part C: Accessible Mainstream Publishing
Starting at 1400 Universal Time (700 PDT, 1000 EDT, 1500 BST, 1600 CEST)
The born accessible movement has been gaining momentum in different parts of the world. We will share information how the DAISY Consortium, members and partners are accelerating the global movement towards publish, discover, buy and borrow accessible publications.
We will highlight the new standards and guidelines raising the bar for accessibility that are aligned with the EU Accessibility Directive, facilitating search and discovery, and will also provide a glimpse of the near future plans. And we will share how a DAISY led initiative helps developers improve their eBook reading systems for people with print disabilities, and guides consumers and institutional purchasers to select the solutions that meet their accessibility requirements.
Avneesh Singh, George Kerscher, Richard Orme, DAISY Consortium; Charles LaPierre, Benetech, USA; Erin Kirchner-Lucas, RedShelf, USA; Gregorio Pellegrino, Fondazione LIA; Stacy Ray, VitalSource, USA
Register now to attend any part of this webinar.
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The Publishing Community Group at W3C has announced the release of the report, A User Experience Guide for Accessibility Metadata this week and we welcome this additional resource for the publishing industry. Written and designed to be used by all areas of the publishing workflow at any technical level, this guide neatly explains the absolute need for accessibility metadata and why it is so important for readers who may have accessibility requirements. Gregorio Pellegrino (The LIA Foundation) , co-editor of the guide makes the point:
On one hand more and more digital publications are published natively accessible, on the other hand more and more local legislations require to inform the user about the accessibility features of publishing products (before buying or borrowing an ebook). For this reason it becomes more and more strategic to show the accessibility metadata: the risk is that each platform displays the information in a different way. These documents are meant to be a starting point to offer the end user the information in a user-friendly and consistent way across different vendors.
Carefully differentiating between the metadata that you might find within an EPUB package and the metadata that accompanies the book, the ONIX, the guide gives clear examples and technical instructions for both, helping the metadata provider standardize their approach.
Metadata found either inside a digital publication or in the corresponding external record may have important accessibility information that will help end users find and determine if this publication can meet their specific accessibility needs.
The report has 2 parts: Principles and Techniques which will be of enormous help to distributors and libraries alike as they endeavour to make accessible content discoverable as well as readers themselves as they search for content that suits their requirements. We are excited to see how accessibility metadata within the industry improves as these guidelines are adopted.
Charles La Pierre (Benetech), co-editor of this report comments:
Over four years ago the EPUB Accessibility 1.0 Conformance and Discovery Requirements for EPUB Publications specification was created, and now we close the loop on the ability to “discover” these conformant EPUBs. The release of this guide marks an important milestone in the discovery of certified accessible books, and I am thrilled be a part of this effort to aid libraries and bookstores on how to display this very technical information in a user-friendly way.
Staff at The DAISY Consortium were integral to the development of these guidelines with Avneesh Singh, DAISY COO, leading the accessibility task force. Congratulations to everyone involved in the development of the guidelines!
Links
The following links will take you to the report and other resources which we recommend:
- User Experience Guide for Accessibility Metadata
- DAISY Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base Metadata pages
- EPUB Accessibility 1.0
- Accessibility Metadata Project
- ONIX for Books
- Metadata in Publishing: The Hidden Information Essential for Accessibility (DAISY webinar)
- Inclusive Publishing Metadata Overview
- The Magic of Metadata (DAISY blog post)
In our series of free weekly webinars September 22nd saw a session focused on user experience and how people with print disabilities read and the common challenges people encounter.
This page contains:
Full Video of the Webinar
Speakers
- Richard Orme, The DAISY Consortium—host and chair
- Joseph Polizzotto, Wake Technical Community College
- Robin Spinks, RNIB
- Amy Salmon, Accessibility Expert
Session Overview
Richard Orme introduced the session and explained that today we would be concentrating on 3 types of print disability: learning difficulties, low vision and blindness.
Reading with Learning Disabilities
Joseph Polizzotto is an accessibility technologist with many years of experience assisting learners and staff in education. This has given him a unique insight into what it is like to read with a print disability, with the following comments typical of students with learning disabilities:
- “I spend over 6 hours to read one chapter.”
- “I don’t remember anything that I have read.”
- “I totally missed the word *not* and inferred the opposite meaning of the author.”
- “I have to work much harder than others.”
- “I know a lot more than I can demonstrate.”
A learning disability is a neuro-developmental condition that interferes with learning basic skills such as reading, writing or math and it is key for students to be able to develop reading strategies to cope with the challenges of learning.
Reading strategies are at the core of coping
Strategies such as question asking (SQ3R method), note taking, colour coding and creating patterns within the text all serve to simplify the task.
In addition to these Joseph highlighted some other techniques which encourage learning and retention of information for students:
- Memorization to help with long term storage of information (apps like Quizlet have flashcard tools)
- Mind Mapping also help with retention and breaks information down into well organized chunks
- Screen Masking helps to avoid the distraction that surrounding text can create
- Text Adjustments help provide the optimum environment (font, text size, line spacing)
- Read Aloud helps learners stay focused and this is particularly useful with complex content
- Audio using human narration
Reading with Low Vision
Robin Spinks is an accessibility expert and reader with low vision. Common challenges that people with low vision encounter include:
- Focusing on text (acuity)
- Reduced contrast sensitivity
- Glare (photo sensitivity/photophobia)
- Reduced field of vision
- Sensitivity to movement
- Perceptual differences
- Visual fatigue and changing vision
- Contextual factors
He presented a very revealing set of images giving us a glimpse which emulate what is like to read with a variety of conditions (cataracts, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration).
Readers with low vision may wish to take advantage of the following features to improve the reading experience:
- Adjust font size
- Choice of fonts
- Color modifications
- Line spacing adjustments
- Read aloud or Speak Screen
- Combining strategies for low vision reading
combining these with some of the more specific usability features available with particular platforms
Reading without Vision
Amy Salmon is an accessibility expert and legally blind. She began her presentation by explaining that many readers who are legally blind are not necessarily completely without all vision.
Many readers without functional vision choose to read with a screen reader. These are software applications that convert information typically conveyed on screen into audio using text to speech, and many screen readers also support braille displays.
In a recorded video George Kerscher gave us a demo of the NVDA screen reader on the Thorium ebook reader, showing some of the basic controls which allow access to content and navigation within the document.
Refreshable braille displays can be used in conjunction with a screen reader to show braille characters typically using an electro-mechanical device to raise pins creating braille cells creating letters and words.
In order to make sure that content can be properly navigated by a screen reader and refreshable braille display its essential that digital content is correctly structured and includes:
- Table of Contents
- Headings
- Descriptive images and links
- Tables which are correctly formatted
- Lists
- Video with audio descriptive/transcript
- Metadata including document language
Inclusion of these elements vastly improves the reading experience for people without vision.
Related Resources
- PowerPoint slide deck (16 MB)
- Full transcript Word document (40 KB)
- Demo of the NVDA screen reader using a Thorium
Discover the other webinars we’re running!
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