Accessible Digitally Published Materials Using the DAISY Standard

by George Kerscher

Read more: daisy.org

DAISY Standards Designed for Fully Accessible Digital Publishing

• DAISY Standards are open, royalty free, non-proprietary, and have a proven track record of accessibility. They are based on W3C Standards.

• In Cairo, Egypt, May 15, 2008 -- The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, awarded its World Telecommunications and Information Society Award 2008 to the DAISY Consortium at a ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, the site of ITU TELECOM AFRICA. The DAISY Consortium was selected for its ongoing efforts to implement the principles of the World Summit on the Information Society.

DAISY is the Most Successful and Advanced Technology for Reading

• Comprehensive adoption around the world in libraries serving persons with disabilities

• DAISY Consortium has more than 100 Members and Friends from 35 countries

• More than 20 hardware and cell phone players and approximately a dozen software reading systems that support the DAISY standard

• Can be played on ordinary MP3 players, but the DAISY navigation and functionality are lost

• Add-ins for Firefox and Internet Explorer

The Vision and Mission We Share

"The DAISY Consortium envisions a world where people with print disabilities have equal access to information and knowledge, without delay or additional expense."

"The DAISY Consortium's mission is to develop and promote international standards and technologies which enable equal access to information and knowledge by all people with print disabilities and which also benefit the wider community."

DAISY Defines and Exemplifies Accessibility of Published Materials

1. It has been noted that there is no definition of what an accessible published document is.

2. If a 10 story building has only the first floor accessible to wheel chairs, is the building considered accessible?

3. It is all to common for digitally published documents to be only partially accessible.

4. The DAISY standard sets the publishing criteria for fully accessible documents.

DAISY Standards are fully internationalized supporting all character sets and reading

conventions

Based on W3C standards and developed with a diverse international community, the requirements of all languages were considered in the developments.

The internationalization ensures that it can be used in Europe, Asia, and even with languages that have no written script.

Embracing all disability groups who need an accessible, alternative reading experience

• People who are blind or have low vision

• People who have dyslexia

• People with learning disabilities

• People who cannot turn pages or hold books

• People with cognitive disabilities

• People who are illiterate

• Ideally designed for aging adults who require help with reading

DAISY Everywhere

• In schools

• In leisure and recreation

• in business

• in health

• in government

• In emergency preparedness

• In museums, national parks, city tours, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

"Save as DAISY XML" In Every Authoring Application

• Microsoft free, downloadable add-in for Word XP, Word 2003, and Word 2007

• Microsoft making available under open source

• "Save As DAISY XML" from Open Office with MathML support is open source and is now available

• Adobe InDesign's high-end publishing package now has Save as DAISY XML

• We want every authoring application producer to join the "Save As DAISY" movement!

DAISY Playback and Presentation Everywhere

• In dedicated reading systems

• In wireless reading systems that connect to libraries

• In PDAs such as braille note takers, talking PDAs

• in Cell phones

• On every desktop

• In every browser

DAISY for All, our Developing Countries Strategy

80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, and DAISY can have an astounding impact on the lives of people in the developing world.

Adoption of Business Friendly Open Source Software to Reduce the Cost of Commercial Tools and Ensure Reference Implementations and Baseline Tools for

Developing Countries

DAISY Consortium tool developments are:

1. Licensed under business friendly terms that encourage reuse and enhancements

2. Fully functional baseline tools

3. Reference implementations that implement best practices of the Standard

4. Available in developing countries where commercial tools may be prohibitively expensive

5. Local language support enabled

Information Age

Access to information is a fundamental human right.

The Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities ensures our rights, and the DAISY Standard defines the way to making publishing accessible.