Inclusive Publishing Partner LIA Celebrates 10th Anniversary

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A large neon sign on top of a building at night which reads Happy Birthday

The DAISY Consortium is very proud to have collaborated with The LIA Foundation for many years and we’d like to wish them a very Happy Birthday on this their 10th anniversary! To help everyone get to know them a little better, we asked the LIA team a few questions. Who knew….

Cristina Mussinelli – Secretary General

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? In reality, I didn’t officially join as I was involved from the very beginning. I had previously managed the LIA project and oversaw the creation of the foundation on behalf of AIE.
  • What’s the bit of the job you like the most? We address a wide range of issues, from institutional and legal matters to editorial and technical aspects. This includes ongoing innovation and the opportunity to engage with and manage relationships among diverse international organizations, all with the goal of defining and achieving common objectives.
  • Favourite memory of your job at LIA? The first time we tested accessible ebooks with a group of print-disabled persons, I had the chance to truly understand their needs. This experience allowed me to see the opportunities that digital publications and new technologies offer to transform access to reading and everything it entails in terms of social life, work, and leisure opportunities.
  • Favourite book? Peter Pan forever.
  • Ebooks or paper books? Both depending on the kind of book and the situation: more ebooks when I’m on vacation and more paper at home, very few audiobooks while a lot of podcasts.
  • What do you look forward the most for the next 10 years? To retire in a beautiful seaside location in Southern Italy, perhaps even sooner.

Elisa Molinari – Project Manager

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? I was lucky enough to be around when LIA became a foundation back in 2014, and even slightly before that. Wow, I’m old!
  • What’s the bit of the job you like the most? One of the most important things I learned is that accessibility is a team effort, not a solo act. What I cherish most from the past 10 years are the relationships I’ve built along the way and the opportunities to interact with so many different persons: publishers, authors, readers and accessibility experts around the world.
  • Favourite memory of your job at LIA? I’ll go with the first Reading in the dark with kids. I was worried they wouldn’t be interested in it, but I’m glad I was so wrong!
  • If accessibility weren’t your focus, what career would you have pursued? For a while I had dreams of becoming a basketball player.
  • Favourite book? If you ask me next week I’ll tell you something else. This time I’ll go with It by Stephen King and anything by Richard Scarry.
  • Ebooks or paper books? I read both equally and listen to lot of audiobooks too.

Gregorio Pellegrino – Chief Accessibility Officer

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? 2015
  • How did you get into the accessibility world? I was working in the world of digital publishing, combining two important elements of my history: my studies in software engineering and the publishing company founded by my parents in 1995. At the beginning of the mainstream diffusion of ebooks, I became interested in accessibility, attending several conferences around the world. That’s how I met Cristina and she introduced me to the world of digital accessibility, and the rest is history.
  • What’s the bit of the job you like the most? The work of defining technical standards on one side and research and development on the other side are what I am most passionate about. But most of all, thinking that by doing my job well I can improve the reading experience for many people who have difficulty reading drives me to always try my best.
  • Favourite memory of your job at LIA? In my work I rarely have I direct contact with end users who enjoy accessible digital products. Every now and then we get some enthusiastic feedback about having experienced an accessible ebook or software. These moments are priceless and give me the charge to continue with the technical and “hidden” work to most.
  • Ebooks or paper books? Ebooks: I find them irreplaceable, especially because of their adaptability to my reading modes (very wide line spacing, large fonts) and very low weight
  • If you could magically fix an accessibility problem for good, what would it be? I find that the job of semantic tagging of content is always one of the most complex to tackle, so if there was a magic tool to semantically structure content that would be great.

Denise Nobili – Communications Manager

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? January 2018.
  • How did you get into the accessibility world? I started working for the Italian Publishing Association and then I was scouted by LIA. I was thrilled by the idea of learning more about a field I didn’t know so well. And here I am, six years later.
  • What’s the bit of the job you like the most? I like to be a part of a bigger wave of change. (But also writing newsletters!)
  • Favourite book? One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. And also my favourite Italian one: The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino.
  • Ebooks or paper books? I read both formats equally, with no preference. I have a hording problem with both, but ebooks are in the cloud, while the books lining my home’s walls betray me.
  • If you could magically fix an accessibility problem for good, what would it be? I grew up in a rural area with a grandfather in a wheelchair, so I know how unfriendly our world is to disability. If I could change just one thing, it would be the way everyone looks at disability, finally making it visible.

Chiara De Martin – Web Accessibility Expert

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? I started collaborating with Fondazione LIA in early 2021.
  • How did you get into the accessibility world? Thanks to Fondazione LIA! I worked with them for my master’s thesis. The topic: alternative description for images, which is one of the fundamental aspects of digital accessibility. It was the springboard, and now digital accessibility has become my bread and butter.
  • Ebooks or paper books? You’ll forgive me but … paper books, although I also read ebooks
  • If you could magically fix an accessibility problem for good, what would it be? Alternative texts for images (I know, it was predictable)
  • What do you look forward the most for the next 10 years? I am very curious to see what contribution Artificial Intelligence will be able to make to the accessibility of the digital world.

Caterina Morelli – PhD student at the University of Rome – Tor Vergata and Fondazione LIA

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA? I joined Fondazione LIA in November 2023, when I started my PhD
  • How did you get into the accessibility world? I became interested in accessibility while doing my Master’s degree in Digital Humanities and Digital Knowledge at the University of Bologna in 2017.
  • If accessibility weren’t your focus, what career would you have pursued? Although I love doing research, training dogs is also one of my passions. I worked as a dog trainer for four years before deciding to focus my studies on accessibility.
  • Favourite book? Rayuela by Julio Cortázar
  • Ebooks or paper books? Paper books, I can’t help the smell of a new book
  • If you could magically fix an accessibility problem for good, what would it be? it would be the difficulty of dealing with mathematical formulas. This would allow numerous persons who are currently excluded from STEM fields to gain access to these critical concepts.

Martine Chamonin – Communication Intern

  • When did you join Fondazione LIA: March 2024
  • How did you get into the accessibility world: I got into the accessibility world when I took part in a European Solidarity Corps project in 2022. But only now that I work in LIA I have a deep understanding of what accessibility really is and means.
  • Ebooks or paper books: paper books
  • What do you look forward the most for the next 10 years: I hope that people will read more. I really think that a world with more readers would be a better world, with more imagination, more tolerance and more critical thinking.