News Archive
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Publisher Award Winner: Bokförlaget Hegas AB
Swedish publisher Hegas was recognized for “its outstanding achievements in inclusiveness, thoroughness of its accessible production methodology and overall impact.” The Awards jury made special note of Hegas’ focus on inclusiveness, as evidenced by their collection of books in Arabic, as well as their commitment to producing their books in accessible formats for a wide variety of children with different reading abilities. Congratulations also go to the other finalists in this category:- Accessible Publishers Limited (Nigeria)
- Gerbera Ediciones (Argentina)
Initative Award Winner: The Accessible Reading Materials Library, Chetana Charitable Trust of India
This winner has done wonderful work in recent years to serve an online readership in more than 100 countries. The library started as a physical library for local children with print disabilities,but its reach grew rapidly during the pandemic period developing into a major online resource/ Founder, Namita Jacob, commented “We believe that in building accessible books, people of all ages learn to be more creative, sensitive and intuitive and in this way, we are building a better, more inclusive world.” Congratulations also go to the other finalists in this category:- Julie Ganner and Dr Agata Mrva-Montoya (Australia) for their contributions to “Books without barriers: a practical guide for inclusive publishing”
- Kalimat Foundation (United Arab Emirates) – who also received a special commendation award for their continued leadership in the field of accessibility across the Arab-speaking world.
- Oysters & Pearls (Uganda)
The short-list for the 2023 ABC International Excellence Awards in Accessible Publishing has been announced in advance of the awards ceremony to be held at the Sharjah Publishers Conference on October 39th, 2023. There are two categories of awards, publishers and initiatives, and the following shortlisted candidates were selected from nominations from around the globe:
Publishers
- Accessible Publishers Limited (Nigeria)
- Bokförlaget Hegas AB (Sweden)
- Gerbera Ediciones (Argentina)
Initiatives
- Accessible Reading Materials Library, Chetana Charitable Trust (India)
- Julie Ganner and Dr Agata Mrva-Montoya (Australia) for their contributions to “Books without barriers: a practical guide for inclusive publishing”
- Kalimat Foundation (United Arab Emirates)
- Oysters & Pearls (Uganda)
A jury made up of representatives from publishers, organizations working in the field of accessibility, and organizations representing persons who are visually impaired, is charged each year with the difficult task of choosing finalists and selecting winners. Congratulations to all those shortlisted!
Our congratulations to everyone who has worked on the Benetech Global Certified Accessible initiative since its launch 5 years ago. The DAISY Consortium are delighted to be so closely affiliated with the program, which has grown from a pilot project of a couple of conversion vendors to over 50 publishers and 10 conversion vendors now certified. Numbers continue to increase and the new Benetech Approved Tools Program makes sure that the EPUBs created from a partner’s tools are also accessible.
Read MoreNominations are now open for the WIPO Accessible Books Consortium International Excellence Award 2023. As in previous years, there are two categories for the awards, allowing both publishers and other initiatives to be celebrated for their work progressing accessibility in their respective fields.
Nominations are open until August 4th, and the winners will be announced during a ceremony in October at the Publishers Conference in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.
Visit the ABC International Awards page for the nomination form and details of the process.
Read MoreFollowing approval at the AGM in May, the Annual Report of DAISY Consortium activities conducted in 2022 has now been published. With messages from our President and Treasurer, brief summaries of tool development, project activity, and training, along with contributions of highlights from DAISY Members.
You can download the report in EPUB format, or read the report directly on our website.
Read MoreThe W3C have issued a press release to announce the publication of EPUB 3.3 as a W3C Recommendation. This is a significant development and this iteration of the EPUB format offers the greatest opportunity for accessible content to date.
Accessibility of EPUB publications was an essential part of the group’s activity. As a result, the EPUB Accessibility specification has been updated and, for the first time in the history of EPUB, is now an integral part of the EPUB Standard. Furthermore, the EPUB Accessibility specification is compatible with the European Accessibility Act whose influence will be significant on Digital Publishing in the years to come.
Wendy Reid, Joint Chair of the EPUB 3 Working Group at W3C discussed the new version in our article What’s Next for Digital Publishing? EPUB 3 offers the most accessible experience for print disabled readers and we are delighted with today’s news.Congratulations to the working group!
If you use Ace By DAISY to check the accessibility of your EPUB files we would love to hear from you. Our survey, which covers both the command line and app versions of the tool, is intended to help shape and prioritize our development plans.
Read MoreThe free DAISY WordToEPUB tool enables the creation of accessible EPUB files from Microsoft Word documents.
WordToEPUB version 1.0.10 was released in February 2023. This version includes support for definition lists and pull quotes; enhanced image support including conversion to the WebP format; the ability to specify image filenames for the HTML export; localization for Turkmen and updated translations for Finnish and Greek, and various bug fixes.
This update includes a tool to convert an EPUB ebook to a Word document. Some alt format organizations find it easier to edit in Word, performing such tasks as adding extended descriptions or extracting certain chapters, before using WordToEPUB to convert to EPUB, HTML, or using other tools to make braille or audio versions.
If you are already using WordToEPUB then you will be given the option to upgrade next time you run it.
Free online courses are available on the DAISY Learning site to help you get the most from this tool. Accessible Word Documents introduces how to make accessible Word documents, building accessibility into the foundation of your content. Accessible EPUB with WordToEPUB help you get started, from installing the tool to creating your first EPUB file, as well as introducing some of the more advanced features of the tool.
You can read more about WordToEPUB and download the latest at https://daisy.org/wordtoepub
Read MoreSeveral DAISY Members and Friends are leveraging smart speaker technologies to provide simplified access to their libraries of audio and accessible text titles. An easy-to-use smart speaker (such as Amazon Echo or Google Home) can be a convenient way to listen to a newspaper or favourite books. They can be especially helpful for people who are less confident with smartphones and computers.
However, some of the features in the Google Assistant platform are being withdrawn, and some of our members are concerned about how their smart speaker services will be affected. The DAISY Consortium has formally written to Google and the relevant team is now aware of the issue. We are promised a response soon. In the meantime, if you are concerned about the planned sunset of Conversational Actions then please write to rorme@daisy.org and we can keep you updated with our discussions with Google.
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We are sorry to share the passing of Scott LaBarre, DAISY board member representing the National Federation of the Blind, USA, who passed away surrounded by his family on Saturday, December 10th 2022.
Scott championed the cause of accessible books for many years and was a leader in the long and successful campaign securing the Marrakesh Treaty. Scott joined the DAISY board in 2018, and was also a willing volunteer for our board working groups and participated enthusiastically in the online meetings held during the limitations of the global pandemic.
We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Scott for his significant contribution to fulfilling DAISY’s mission to make information accessible to people with disabilities, wherever they live in the world.
Read the NFB Statement about Scott LaBarre.
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