Breaking news on Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials: DIAGRAM

Breaking News for AIM!
This press release just in from Benetech...

"U.S. DOE, OSEP awarded Benetech, along with partners WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and the U.S. Fund for DAISY, a $5 million, five-year award to establish an R&D center to transform the production of accessible digital images. DIAGRAM stands for (Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials).

Who benefits: U.S. students with print disabilities

About the DIAGRAM partners:

. Benetech, NCAM and USFDAISY have led technology initiatives that
fundamentally changed how people with visual and print disabilities
experience and interact with all forms of media, from the DAISY standard to
the Bookshare library to NCAM's work on image descriptions.
. All 3 have strong track record of working productively with
technology developers and hardware and software manufacturers to design and
extend accessibility features for people with print disabilities.

DIAGRAM's mission:

. develop simple and cost-effective tools and best practices for
producers of accessible instructional materials, such as publishers and
state and local education agencies
. expand the field of image description and interactive exploration
of graphical content
. increase the understanding of accessible image production and
access strategies
. create open-source tools to make graphic content more accessible
and widely available
. make a broad range of general education curriculum accessible and
graphically understandable
. accelerate the development and inclusion of accessibility
specifications for high-quality images in electronic publishing standards to
support implementation by technology developers
. advance national efforts toward providing more equality of access
to benefit people with print disabilities.

Background:

. Fewer than 5% of books are available in accessible format.
. Burden of accessible image preparation typically falls on
educators who have limited time and tools to create useful descriptions or
accessible graphics.
. Barriers to accessing information pose fundamental challenges for
students with print disabilities.
. Students using text-based accessible instructional materials are
presented with only the words "image" or "graphic" when using software
devices that encounter illustrations, equations, graphics, photos or
diagrams in digital textbooks.
. Numerous studies cite how students with disabilities benefit from
digital resources that offer flexible, multi-modal methods of interacting
with content. "

All the best to you!
Lon





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Live Interview Today with DAISY Consortium - Sharing the Vision: Making Information Accessible to Everyone

Secretary General of DAISY Consortium will be my guest this afternoon at 2 PM Pacific on No Limits 2 Learning Live on Blog Talk Radio

Ever since I worked on several pieces concerning the process of converting text to the DAISY format using MS Word last spring, I have had some wonderful discourse with folks from the DAISY consortium. They proved their ability to be on top of the online discussion concerning their tools and public opinion when they left comments clarifying some technical issues I had with converting text.

I commended them for their involvement at this level and the team expressed their thanks for the positive input. You see, we forget that there are folks hard at work dedicating days and weeks and months of time to build software to make our lives easier. Many times their efforts go unnoticed and only the negative responses are all that get heard.

I want to share that the DAISY Consortium team has gone above and beyond in their supporting their tools and technology. In light of this, I am very honored to be able to present an interview with George Kerscher Ph.D. and Secretary General of DAISY Consortium and Lynn Leith, the editor of the DAISY Planet online newsletter and Head of Information Services. Lynn has a long background in Canada with the CNIB Library for the blind in audio master production. She has been great to correspond with me and work on setting up this interview.

We will be discussing the NIMAS standards, an update for the MS Word plug -in, strategies for using DAISY files for learning supports, as well as future goals and projects. We will also be talking about the WBU treaty proposal for WIPO -World Intellectual PropertyOrganization taking place on Nov 3 and their thoughts on its implications.

I hope you will join us today, Tuesday, October 29th at 2 PM Pacific time at No Limits 2 Learning Live for the interview.

As always, the archive will be up after the live stream for folks to access from the player on my sidebar or from the talk show archive at the link above. I am also starting to put all the archives on my No Limits 2 Learning.com site under the archives link along with many other resources.

Remember also that the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival "Mad Scientist" Edition will be up on Halloween day and there will be some fun surprises.

All the best to you!

Lon

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Doing the Right Thing: "GH" CEO Shares on No Limits 2 Learning Live

It is my privilege to introduce Dave Schleppenbach as my latest guest tomorrow on Blog Talk Radio. Dave's company, "GH" (website: gh-accessibility)is a leader in the conversion of documents into digital talking book, DAISY and NIMAS formats, as well as producing the "gh Player"and quality closed testing support for standardized testing. GH has partnered with Purdue University to do research on talking calculators and Dave is starting up a new company for hearing disabilities as well. Doing over 3 million dollars this past year, GH has set itself as a leader in this field. We are honored to have the opportunity to hear from the founder and director.
Dave will share his story of meeting his wife in college who was blind from birth, how she inspired ideas that birthed "GH" and about his life running a company and raising 10 children. I am looking forward to finding out his secret to success, his philosophy on picking priorities and his work with NIMAS. We will be sure to explore where technology is headed in the future for accessibility to the written word.
This interview will be packed full of terrific information, ideas and some great lessons on following your heart. I hope you will join us.

GH Accessibility CEO Dave Schleppenbach will be on No Limits 2 Learning Live, Thursday, August 7 at 12:30 PM Pacific. Listen to the live stream and call in with questions and comments, or wait for the archive of the show, which will be on the sidebar shortly after.

All the best to you!
Lon

New and Exciting Topics Update No Limits to Learning During Summer Months

I am happy to say that I have FINALLY set up wireless Internet on the mountain here in Oregon where my family spends most of the summer and fall. I have been writing posts at my office and doing 2 or 3 days at a time to post automatically so I could save a little gas expense of driving to town everyday (30 miles) to do a post (since I am supposed to be in summer vacation mode). Because of having to work that way the past 2 weeks or so, I feel like I have kind of lost some continuity and relevancy in my daily posts, but now that I am sitting in my easy chair up on this beautiful mountain enjoying writing to you from my favorite setting, I can breathe a sigh of relief, relax and enjoy sharing with you on a more personal and daily level again. I can work a short amount of the day and play the rest!

New Projects, News and Interviews Coming...
Dynavox: I have had some very exciting highlights this past month, and getting to share with Ellen Witham on the AAC strategies she used with her son was one. Since she works for Dynavox, I am coordinating a Blog Talk Radio interview through them with the SLP that designed the InterACCT software for Dynavox. We will discuss the levels of communication you can graduate through and how to get the most use out of each level, as well as some of the foundational principles around the InterACCT system. Ellen will join us as well, so it should be a dynamic session for anyone using the Dynavox system or anyone considering it. I will give you more on a date as the session pulls together.

Kidthing: I have received breaking news from kidthing that is very exciting. The news was just released yesterday (July 8) and it will be my post for tomorrow. Since kidthing posts have been top-read posts and my interview with Larry a top-downloaded interview for me on Blog Talk Radio, I have wanted to keep everyone up on what is happening there - so check in tomorrow for all the details on what is going on with them.

gh Accessibility: I have been working on an interview with the CEO of gh Accessibility. We have just have to nail down a date for the interview and it should be coming up the end of July or first of August. ghAccessibility provides a player for digital talking book files that are compatible with DAISY and NIMAS formats.

DAISY Consortium: The interaction between the DAISY team and this blog has been a jumping off point for some nice correspondence via email and an invitation for the DAISY Consortium to share in an interview on No Limits 2 Learning Live. It is a go, and the plan is to have George Kerscher, the Secretary General, on to share, but again, we are coordinating schedules to get the date set and layout our topics. You can look forward to this interview sometime before summer is over - hopefully in August.

AT Summer Institute from Seaside, Oregon:
August 11, 12, & 13 I will be at our state-wide AT workshops. I will be doing a day workshop on designing interactive activities and using switch accessibility with them. While there, I will have the unique opportunity to get some folks on live for some interview sessions, so I will be planning a couple of those either as live podcasts or live interviews on Blog Talk Radio. More specifics will be coming. If you are in Oregon or Washington state and want to attend a session or all three days at Seaside, the sessions are open to anyone. Go to the summer institute page on the OTAP website for more information.

Special Education Pioneer Interviews:
I have the great fortune to have an amazing pioneer in my own family. My uncle, Hubert Thornburg, is a retired special education teacher in Oregon, now in his late seventies and living outside of Portland. While visiting he and my aunt last fall, I began to ask him questions about his past experiences in teaching. What he began to tell me was amazing. I realized that I was talking to a man who started teaching special education in the late 1950's when no one knew what it should really look like or what was best for kids. He was starting into a new field of study where special needs kids were still puzzles to be figured out. There were no protocols in place and certainly no assistive technology.
I will be going down to spend several days with family in Portland, mid-July and will be taking the time to interview him, so there is an archive of his recorded history. My plan is to release these interviews as a series of podcasts this fall so we can enjoy hearing his reflections on an era most of us can't relate to. I know I was floored to hear about things we take for granted daily in our work with special needs in education that didn't even exist at that time.
You will not want to miss these interviews. I think they will give us a huge reference point to see where we have been and what we have accomplished over the past 60 years or so. Something to look forward to - I am excited about doing that series of interviews!

Also...The Assistive Technology Blog Carnival Edition 5 will be up Monday, July 28. If you would like to submit a blog post on AT - we will just keep it open on what you would like to share - please send the link to me by Friday, July 25 at: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

There is much more, but...
There are more projects, more posts, interviews and reviews planned, but I won't write anymore about them right now. I do want you all to know though, how grateful I am that you read this blog. I don't take for granted that you have a choice of many online blogs and podcasts to read and listen to, and that out of them all, you choose to spend some time here at No Limits to Learning.
I think of many of you as family more and more as I hear from you through comments, emails and even some Mp3 voice files! My hope is to provide you with a fresh perspective on AT, special education and news about the folks that are providing us with so many great tools and services.

All the best to you!
Lon

How to Use the MS Word to DAISY Add-in: More information and Answers from DAISY

I posted this past week on my latest discoveries and thoughts on the MS Word add-in, converting Word files to digital talking book files and using them with free and pay players. I had this wonderful response as a comment from Romain Deltour from the DAISY Consortium and wanted to make this a post because I believe it summarizes much of what I have been trying to discover and makes things a little easier for those of us that are trying to sort all of this out. I promise, that when this is all said and done, I will make a tutorial available and share it with everyone.
I hope Romain's comment below helps you out as much as it helped me...
Thanks again Romain!


"Let me clarify a few points regarding DAISY standards, the Pipeline and MS Add-in:

1. DAISY Standards
There are two main versions of the DAISY standard: the DAISY 2.02, and DAISY 3 (officially ANSI/NISO Z39.86). Each of these specifications specify what is a Digital Talking Book (DTB), which is in both case composed by a set of different files.

To make it simple, a DAISY 2.02 full-audio, full-text book is composed of:
- the navigation control center document (ncc.html)
- the text content document (.html)
- a set of audio files (wav, mp3)
- a set of SMIL files (to synchronize the different media, text and audio)

A DAISY 3 full-audio, full-text book is composed of:
- a DTB package file (.opf), which contains metadata and the list of the other files
- a navigation control file (.ncx), basically the table of content
- a DTBook file (.xml) which contains the textual content
- a set of audio files (wav, mp3)
- a set of SMIL files (to synchronize the different media, text and audio)

As you've seen, some players accept a mere DTBook xml file: they use advanced conversion technique and speech synthesis to make a full DTB out of this xml textual content. Others require a fully built DTB though.
DAISY 2.02 players usually expect the ncc.html, while DAISY 3 players will usually expect the .opf file.

2. MS Add-In
The MS DAISY Translator, aka MS "Save as DAISY XML" converts a Word document in a DTBook file. It doesn't produce a full Digital Talking Book yet. That's why this output is only readable in some of the players out there.(the bold emphasis added by Lon)
The solution, as you found out, is either to use a player that will play a DTBook XML directly using speech synthesis, or to use a conversion tool to make a full DTB out of the DTBook XML file. For your information, the ability to create a full DTB is planned for a next version of the Word Add-In.

3. Pipeline
To create a DTB from Word with the Pipeline, you have two options:
- Use the built in Word 2003 XML to DTBook converter to produce the DTBook, then use Pipeline Narrator to produce DTBs from the DTBook.
- Use the MS "Save as DAISY XML" Add-In to produce the DTBook xml, then use the Pipeline Narrator to produce DTBs from the DTBook.
Note that the Narrator will create 3 books: a DAISY 2.02 book, a DAISY 3 book with wav-encoded audio, and a DAISY 3 book with mp3-encoded audio. You should be able to read at least one of these DTB in any DAISY player you have, and as far as I know AMIS 3 (currently in beta version) supports both DAISY 2.02 and DAISY 3 full-text full-audio books.
Wow. That was a longer comment that I initially thought. I'll cross-post to the DAISY forums to keep track of it! (by the way, I invite you to post questions / request for help in these forums)"

I don't know about you, but I am flat-out impressed that Romain took the time to share here. I am going to print this out and keep it as a reference. I am excited that the next MS add-in is intended to support a ful DTB format. Check out the forum he linked, and stay connected because we are working on a Blog Talk Radio segment to discuss the tools being created and future of DAISY formats. This is still to be announced as we get the dates and schedules together.

All the best to you!

Lon

Timely and Positive Response from DAISY Consortium

I had a wonderful experience with the DAISY Pipeline Development Team yesterday. If you read my post on my adventures using the new MS Word add-in tool and converting DAISY XML files to full DAISY files, you will know that there were some glitches in getting all the pieces downloaded and working. I was happily surprised to see a pleasant comment on my post yesterday from Romain Deltour, a member of the DAISY Pipeline Development Team. He shared that they will work on making it easier (more user friendly) and gave some ideas on how to work around the issues I had. Thank you Romain!
I am aware that companies and software groups are picking up on my tags and titles and that they are reading my blog posts. They share emails and comments with me concerning reviews on their products, so I try to be positive. I figure if something isn't working right for me, I don't need to ram it in the ground, so I try to be constructive and give folks an idea of what struggles I have or what I like to help in making decisions about what tools to use and how to make the best of them.
I am impressed with any company that seeks bloggers out after a post to share or give feedback. I think that is good marketing and smart policy. The folks out there doing that are to be commended. I wonder sometimes about those I never hear from after I share about their tools - maybe they haven't picked up on the trend to network and jump in to the blog and social bookmarking thing yet. I heard a new country star on TV from Nashville yesterday morning sharing her blog and My Space links on the air for fans to contact her - yep, she's part of the trend and it probably is working for her.
So, DAISY, I commend you for your great response time and want everyone to know about it. With that kind of response, I feel we are in good hands as you continue to develop these great print disability tools.

All the best to you!
Lon

Adventures in Using Free Tools to Convert DAISY Files from MS Word

One goal this morning was to present you with a free DAISY player I found called AMIS that will allow you to open DAISY books. The player has a newer Beta test that is not available yet, so I downloaded the older stable player. It works fine and I would suggest it as a free reader tool. My second goal was to show you how to use the new MS Word add-in to convert text from Word into a DAISY file and play on this free reader. What looked to be an easy voyage into modern technological advancement, turned into a maze of frustration and a dead end (kind of), but I am not giving up. You might enjoy reading my little story and it could save you some of my grief...and add humor to your day!

I spent 2 and a half hours this morning fiddling with software to use the new tools to convert Word documents to DAISY format. I had a little glitch getting the Save as DAISY to show up in my Word 07 program, but when I went to options/add-ins and selected the DAISY add-in then it was on my File menu. It converted the Word document into an XML format, which is basically a document that opens in a web browser. From there, I can use a Natural Reader or Click Speak to read it, but I could have done that without transferring to a DAISY XML format. The AMIS reader couldn't find or open the DAISY XML file, so I realized I would have to convert the file further to get the player to recognize my converted Word document.
I went on the DAISY Consortium website and found under the MS Word Add-in link, that DAISY Consortium has "DAISY Pipeline" which further converts DAISY XML to a full DAISY dtb (digital talking book) file and/or a full DAISY formatted file. Here is what they say on their Daisy Pipeline main page:
"A new release of the DAISY Pipeline is available as of May 7, 2007. This new release features support for the Microsoft "Save As DAISY XML" transformer, several usability improvements including a new Windows installer, partial Hindi localization, as well as performance enhancements and the inclusion of a validator for OPS/EPUB files, the file format based on the open standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). This release of the Pipeline also includes beta versions of several new, pivotal transformers which support the migration of content from one DAISY Standard to another."

So I downloaded the Daisy Pipeline as a run/install. When it went to open it said it needed Java Runtime Environment (jre) or a Java Development Kit (jdk) to run. I went to Sun Systems and found that the Java apps couldn't download without the Sun System Dowload manager. So before I could download a Java tool to run the DAISY Pipeline so I can explore converting the DAISY XML that I converted with the download of the MS Word add-in I downloaded at 7 a.m. (It was now 8:30 a.m.) I have to download the Sun Systems Download Manger. Are you getting the picture?
I downloaded the download manager, then went to the Java application I could use, and they said that it is experiencing the end of life (eol) support at Sun Systems. There is a new Java 6 that can be downloaded (but it looked like you had to buy it.) With some more hunting, I did find the JRE to download. Success!
Okay, now BACK to trying to open DAISY Pipeline. I opened Pipeline and got a configuration error - it tried to open but couldn't quite get there. There was a update bugs and fixes on the DAISY Consortium for the Pipeline, but when it downloaded, it was in a zip file with TONS of read me files, Web docs and extensions, etc. I went BACK to DAISY and read the accompanying installer instructions and found that you need to have the Pipeline application OPEN, search for the updates from inside and the program actually installs them for you. That didn't help me because I couldn't open it in the first place.
I went to send a note to the consortium asking their help. That is where I was when I decided I had better put this off for another day and write up something different for you. Then I thought, why not share? If you are a techno-geek you might find some humor here. You also might have an idea how to get around my mistakes. So...there you go.
My summary of the experience? We are getting there - but it is NOT a simple task to just get all these tools to work together. I am confident We will have this figured out and in an easy to follow tutorial soon. Until then, if you have any pieces to the puzzle that are FREE...let us know.
There are some great tools that are for purchase that would save this grief, but it is always a fun challenge trying to make the free stuff work together.
All the best to you!
Lon

"Browse Inside" Gives Readers Free Access to Harper Collins Books

Harper Collins now gives limited-time access to full versions of books in electronic text through their "Browse Inside" beta application.

DAISY.org linked to a post on National Public Radio (NPR) where they presented a short blurb on Sneak Peeks by Publishers online:
"As an experiment, HarperCollins has posted complete electronic editions of a few books for free on its Web site, including titles by some of its well known authors. The publisher plans to post a fraction of new titles online before their publishing date as a "sneak peek.""

I decided to visit Harper Collins and look into the electronic books they were sharing. I found a link from their home page to "Browse Inside - Try Before You buy", which I linked above. I found a nice graphic/banner that shows how to access the full text, search through the book for keywords and phrases, see search results as highlighted text within the book and a linked table of contents to access the chapters and contents.

I counted 21 titles on the "Browse Inside" page that could be read. They were divided into featured books that are new releases, recent releases and most viewed. I randomly checked titles and found that they appeared to have the full book on all of them. I was impressed. Of course you can't use text to speech with them and you are literally having to read them online from the site, but what a great idea. They live up to the message "full access" that they have put in the graphic for this resource.

I am glad to see that some companies are getting the concept that in order to get something you need to give something. The dynamic of this plays out naturally in the blogging and web 2.0 world of viral growth. As we share blogs and posts by others, the word gets passed and our blogs get shared as well as the ones we share about. By giving first we build credibility, return readers, etc. In a recent Wired Magazine, the cover read "Free Stuff" in large letters. The magazine addressed the trend where the corporate web world is adding the blog to their sites, looking for web 2.0 interactivity and beginning to give free material and limited free releases of product.

I am glad to see the publishing industry jump on board with some free online books to browse and read - just as itunes gives out their songs of the week. Whoever is spearheading the marketing with this project at Harper Collins should be applauded for allowing their books to be shared in this way. For those of you looking for free text to read - this will be a great site to add to your favorites.

Don't forget to check out the kidthing today with Larry Hitchcock on No Limits to Learning Live where we will have to talk about the free giving concept to marketing as it applies to their give away of "Horton Hears A Who" by Dr. Seuss on their kidthing site. We will discuss the birth of the site, the concept, what is has and how it can be used for AT applications in education. Check them out and the interview on my sidebar on the Blog Talk Radio Player Thursday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time.
All the best to you!

Lon