Tag Archive for: accessibility

The Business of Accessibility: Content that is More Usable is More Valuable

/in /by

Delegates avidly watching the presentations

This article has been re-posted with the kind permission of the author, Abbie Headon and Bookmachine

I have to finally accept that it’s too late to say ‘Happy New Year’, but we’re right on time to say ‘Happy new Unplugged series!’ The 2019 series of BookMachine Unplugged events kicked off on Wednesday 20 February at a new venue, The Century Club, with a focus on the theme of accessibility. BookMachine Editorial Board member Ken Jones, our Production specialist, and his panel Huw Alexander, Stacy Rowe and Alicia Wise provided important insights into why accessibility matters and what we need to be doing about it.

Are You an Accessibility A11y?

Ken started by setting accessibility in context: between 10% and 20% of the world’s population live with some form of disability; 36 million people are registered blind worldwide; and 217 million people live with some form of visual impairment. But the audience requiring accessible content is even larger than this, when you take into account mobility issues, dyslexia and attentional disorders, to give just a few examples.

The concept of accessibility is not a new one: Braille was developed in the 1820s, the RNIB was founded in 1868, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly included people with disabilities 70 years ago. So, while it may be tempting to think of accessibility as a modern phenomenon, it really isn’t – and therefore we have even less excuse for not having it at the heart of our publishing. And it was sobering to hear from Ken that currently less than 8% of the world’s books ever make it into accessible formats.

But we’re not on our own if we want to start improving our publishing practices. As well as experts like this event’s panel, there are countless people out there on the internet who are ready to help. A Twitter search for #a11y and #eprdctn will open up a world of helpful discussion around the topics of accessibility and ebook production. (And if you’re wondering what ‘a11y’ means, it’s the word ‘accessibility’ with the 11 middle letters swapped for ‘11’.)

A Library Full of Blank Pages

Stacy Rowe (Reader Services Product Manager, RNIB Bookshare) asked us to think about what it means when content isn’t accessible. Imagine walking into a fantastic library, with shelves stretching for miles. You search until you find the book you want – but when you open it, you discover all the pages are blank. That’s what life is like when content is not accessible to you. And perhaps the pages you aren’t able to read contain the very information you need for your education and your future career: without this information, you won’t be able to start off your life on the right track.

If we stop to think about it, there’s no need for the world’s publishing to be divided into ‘normal’ and ‘accessible’ content. If all content is structured in an accessible way, then everyone can use it. An accessible book is one that can be read using text-to-speech, enlargeable text and text-to-braille conversion – this is what we need to be aiming for. As long as our content is set up in the right way, it’s ready for apps and other accessibility devices to transform it into a medium that’s right for each user.

As an example, Stacy demonstrated for us how an ebook can be read super-fast using text-to-speech app VoiceOver and transformed into Braille by an Orbit Reader device. Thanks to this technology, readers can access Braille content through a handy device small enough to fit in a coat pocket, instead of needing a five-foot-tall mountain of Braille printouts. This demonstration underlined the fact that, as publishers, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make our books accessible: all we have to do is present our content in a well-structured way that people can use in the way they need to.

Some of Us Need the Stick

There are lots of positive reasons for us to provide accessible content: we know it’s good to spread our books to as many readers as possible; it can give us an advantage over our competitors, and it can boost out corporate social responsibility profile. But it’s not all about the carrots: some of us respond better to the stick, and there are plenty of legal sticks out there that we need to be aware of. Alicia Wise (Director, Information Power and Founding Member, ABC) explained that the two key types of laws that affect us on issues of accessibility concern copyright and equality.

The international copyright regime is monitored by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Marrakesh Treaty, administered by WIPO, enshrines the right of people with disabilities to make accessible copies without reference to copyright restrictions. Recent signatories to this treaty include the EU and USA – so its terms apply to us. We’re also obliged to follow the legislation of our own countries, such as the UK Equality Act 2010, which protects people from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics, one of which is disability.

It’s vital that we’re aware of these laws, because the stick of legal action is real. Domino’s Pizza was recently sued in the UK for having a non-accessible ordering app, and other organisations have been held to account for accessibility failures too. If you’re presenting the case for accessible publishing to your senior management team, the potential for damaging legal action is a motivating factor they are sure to take seriously.

Do you have to be perfect straight away? No. If you’re honest, and signal your awareness of accessibility as an important issue, your willingness to engage with it and your desire for help, people will support you. So we shouldn’t be intimidated by the work involved – we just need to get started. Alicia pointed us to the free online accessibility checker, Ace by DAISY, and there are lots of people who are ready to help us live a stick-free future.

A Picture Painted in Words

Huw Alexander (COO and co-founder, textBOX) gave us a tour of one of the thorniest accessibility issues faced by publishers: how to deal with images. Publishers who have embraced the modern EPUB3 standard are able to deal with almost all aspects of accessibility, but describing images in a way that works for all users remains a tricky issue. And if you imagine using a textbook where all the images, graphs and infographics are blank or missing, you can see just how limited your access to the book’s information would become.

Huw gave us some examples of the power of good image descriptions. A key factor is appropriateness: if a book has a picture of a painting simply to illustrate the concept of ‘paintings’, then the description can be very brief. But if, on the other hand, an in-depth book on art contains a reproduction of an artwork, then the description needs to be much more thorough. Looking at The Arnolfini Portrait, a detailed description would mention not only the couple standing at the centre of the work but also other key elements, such as the oranges in the foreground, signifying the couple’s wealth, and the fact that the only character in the painting who makes eye contact with the viewer is the couple’s dog. The level of information required depends on the context the image appears in.

Adding image descriptions improves the user experience, and accessibility is a central plank of that user experience. Making your content accessible to more people makes your books better, leading to better sales as well as helping you fulfil your goal of sharing information – which is why we’re all in this business, surely.

The Time to Start is Now

Overall, our first Unplugged panel of 2019 showed that there are a host of reasons to start producing accessible content: knowing we’re doing the right thing; reaching more readers; having a marketing and sales advantage; future-proofing our content by making it machine-readable; and protecting ourselves from legal action. And there are lots of people out there who can help us get started. So really, we have no excuse: it’s 2019 and it’s time to make our content accessible to everyone.

ASPIRE Awards

The evening ended with the presentation of the ASPIRE Awards by Alistair McNaught, Subject Specialist (Accessibility and Inclusion) at Jisc. The awards were as follows:

Awards for Publishers:

Winner: Palgrave Macmillan

Highly commended: Red Globe Press; Policy Press

Sponsored by VitalSource

Awards for Platform Providers:

Winner: EBSCO

Highly commended: Kortext; VitalSource

Sponsored by textBOX

Abbie Headon is Commissioning Editor at Prelude Books, and also writes and edits books as Abbie Headon Publishing Services. She is a 2018 Bookseller Rising Star and sits on the BookMachine Editorial Board. 

Funding Boost for Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative

/in /by

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced that it has been successful in securing funds from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund for the production of two accessible publishing guides. Michael Gordon-Smith, Chief Executive of the APA has commented:

“This funding is a boon to two priority projects for the Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative. Important information will get to the right people sooner and that should make a difference to the level of inclusive publishing. Uncertainty is a brake on what gets done. This funding will mean we can create two key guides. A copyright guide will present the legal framework clearly and succinctly. A publishing guide will introduce inclusive publishing practices, and include practical information on workflow and content. It’s a valuable opportunity to help build the industry’s capability.”

Further details about this exciting news can be found at the Australian Publishers Association website. Our congratulations to all involved.

Finalists Announced for the 2019 ABC International Excellence Awards

/in /by

The short-list for the 2019 ABC International Excellence Awards for Accessible Publishing has now been published and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony  on March 12, 2019 at the London Book Fair. Our congratulations to all the finalists who are:

Publishers Award

  • Argentina—Ediciones Godot
  • Brazil—EDITORIAL 5 (ED5)
  • United Kingdom—Kogan Page Ltd.

Initiative Award

  • Botswana—Companies and Intellectual Property Authority
  • Canada—BC Libraries Cooperative, National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS)
  • Canada—Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA)
  • Italy—Fondazione LIA
  • Kenya—eKitabu

Full details of these awards can be found at the Accessible Books Consortium website 

Accessibility in EPUBs—Kobo Writing Life Podcast

/in , /by

Kobo Writing Life, Kobo’s self-publishing platform, produces a regular podcast for authors to learn more about the industry. In January’s episode they covered accessibility in an interview with QA Analyst Wendy Reid, discussing what accessibility means for ebooks and easy ways to implement it. Authors interested in making accessible EPUB files were advised to focus on creating EPUB 3 files with good semantic tagging and alt text. The episode includes recommendations for resources, including the popular #eprdctn group on Twitter. The discussion also covered the launch of audiobooks at Kobo, and Wendy’s work on an upcoming specification for audiobooks.

To access this excellent podcast visit the Kobo Writing Life website

Accessible Publishing Summit—A Triumph for NNELS

/in /by

Sign saying" Accessible Publishing=Good Publishing"Inclusive Publishing had the pleasure of attending the Accessible Publishing Summit on the 28th and 29th January in Toronto, possibly one of the snowiest cities to be in at the beginning of the week. Despite the hazardous weather the turn out was incredible and interested parties from all relevant stakeholder groups attended with buckets of enthusiasm, excitement and expertise.

The summit was organized by NNELS, the National Network for Equitable Library Service in Canada and representatives from the ebook production and distribution chain (authors, editors, designers, publishers, distributors, librarians, and alternate-format producers) were invited to help develop a set of best practices and techniques for accessible publishing relevant to their community.

Flip chart page listing the challenges and solutions that the NNELS testers identified in their sessionThe agenda was jam packed and we were treated to a fabulous demonstration session on the first morning from the group of print impaired testers who work for NNELS—what an insight! Each table of delegates experienced a different set of reading choices made by their demonstrator using the DAISY Fundamental Accessibility Tests for Reading Systems. With a huge variety of results which depend on every part of the supply chain we were able to see, first hand, just how frustrating the process can be for readers and how amazing it can be when everything goes well.

The chart shown above identifies the following challenges and solutions which were highlighted in this session:

Challenges

  • Lack of semantic tags e.g. headings for navigation
  • Lack of page numbers
  • Broken or incomplete table of contents
  • Images without a useful description in alt
  • EPUB 2 format still used
  • Fixed Layout
  • Discoverability

Solutions

  • Use Valid HTML tage
  • Reflowable text can change the font
  • Accessible Metadata to enable discovery
  • Universal design

Interested stakeholders then took to the floor in the afternoon to tell the crowd a little bit about their side of the story and Inclusive Publishing was pleased to be invited to take part in this session, highlighting the good work that is happening internationally and how we’ve created a resource and information sharing hub.

In stakeholder groups we discussed the assets, challenges and opportunities for accessible ebooks culminating in our top choices which we shared with all delegates. This gave a framework for the beginning of day two where we started to work on recommendations for the industry. The rest of the day was spent refining these action points, discussing exhilarating new ideas and identifying immediate next steps for all involved. Lots of interesting ideas are on the table and this group is going to be looking at the challenges that still face us from all angles—from involving accessibility testers much earlier in the content creation process to creating guidance templates for publishers to customize for their own organization. From discussions regarding internships for accessibility to how we might establish a certification process for accessible publishing in Canada, it was broad ranging and all-encompassing.

"What does accessibility mean to us"- list of ideas from delegatesEnthusiasm remained key throughout the whole process and I think if we had had the option to remain at the Toronto Public Library for another day we would have done despite the risk of being snowed in! It is rare to experience such a powerful surge of commitment to a project and our thanks must go to the organizing team from NNELS and to Laura Brady for putting so many dynamic and proactive people together. It was a triumph and we are very excited to see how we progress.

 

 

For further information on the summit, it’s agenda and how you can get involved please visit accessiblepublishing.ca and join in the good work!

Accessible Publishing and the Marrakesh Treaty – Are You Ready?

March 14th, 2019
/in /by

The Marrakesh Treaty allows for copyright exceptions to facilitate the creation of accessible versions of books and other copyrighted works for visually impaired persons. It sets a norm for countries ratifying the treaty to have a domestic copyright exception covering these activities, and allowing for the import and export of such materials. The treaty has now entered into force in the UK and changes to the UK’s Copyright Law have been made which publishers will need to comply with. 

This session will briefly explain these legal changes and the obligations to publishers alongside showcasing best practice from publishers and other organisations on how to ensure your publishing processes are compliant with the new law.  We will also hear from a representative from “Inclusive Publishing” announcing the results of their recent survey on the progress we have made as a global industry in our work towards publications that can be enjoyed by all readers. 

This session is aimed at publishers and distributors of content. Whilst the session will focus on the UK law, the principles of the Marrakesh Treaty will be applicable to WIPO member countries and therefore the case studies will be relevant to all publishers worldwide. 

The annual Accessibility Action Group Seminar at the London Book Fair is suitable for everyone in the book industry who is involved in producing good quality ebooks and bringing them to their readers. No registration is required and the AAG welcomes everyone at the fair.

Date

March 14, 2019, 2.30-3.30pm

Venue

The Faculty at The London BookFair 

 

Accessible Publishing Summit

January 28th to 29th, 2019
/in /by

The Accessible Publishing Summit invites stakeholders in the ebook production and distribution chain (authors, editors, designers, publishers, distributors, librarians, and alternate-format producers) to help develop, compile, and distribute a set of best practices and techniques for accessible publishing relevant to their community. This event is being organized by NNELS, the National Network for Equitable Library Service, a digital public library of books for Canadians with print disabilities

Date

January 28-29, 2019

Venue

Toronto, Canada

Learn More

All documentation created will be made publicly available on the summit website.

Inclusive Publishing Readers Discount Code for ebookcraft 2019

/in /by

Inclusive Publishing readers can get 10% off tickets to ebookcraft and Tech Forum 2019, March 18-19 in Toronto, by using the promo code DAISY10. Take a look at the schedule to see the lineup so far and watch out for DAISY sessions which will be announced soon. The last day for early-bird pricing is Jan. 25 and registration closes on March 12.

See the ebookcraft events page for further details and book your place now!

BookMachine Unplugged. The Business of Accessibility: Content that is More Usable is More Valuable

February 20th, 2019
/in /by

As well as the obvious ethical and now legal requirements to make sure our books, ebooks and content is accessible there are also sound business reasons. Yet why are so many publishers still not achieving fully accessible products? The panel will examine the standards, legislation and technical issues that companies of all size face. They will provide straightforward answers to what you need to do to be accessible as well as why and how you can make it happen. Speakers include:

  • Ken Jones—Circular Software
  • Huw Alexander—textBOX
  • Stacy Rowe—RNIB
  • Alicia Wise—Elsevier
  • Alistair McNaught—JISC

Following a Q&A session with the panel, the talks will close with a short awards ceremony. The ASPIRE awards are given in recognition of the work being done in the industry on accessibility by top publishers and vendors.

Date

February 20, 2019

Venue

The Century Club, London

Learn More

For program and registration information visit the event page on the bookmachine website

Inclusive Publishing—End of Year Review

/in /by

Head shot of Richard Orme, CEO of the DAISY ConsortiumIt’s been a busy year for Inclusive Publishing and, as we look forward to 2019, Richard Orme, CEO of the DAISY Consortium, reflects on some of this year’s successes for accessible publishing and our industry.

As an industry hub and news portal, InclusivePublishing.org has seen and reported on some major advancements in 2018. Our own Ace by DAISY tool launched in January giving the industry, for the first time, an EPUB accessibility checking tool which has now become invaluable to many in-house workflows. Open source and free, Ace by DAISY can be integrated at any point in the creative process and has immediately become one of the essential EPUB building blocks for publishers and vendors. We are thrilled to report that a version of the Ace tool with a graphical user interface will be available early next year and we will, of course, keep you posted!

We’ve been pleased to report on some terrific events this year as accessibility becomes a major focus for publishers worldwide. In March we presented the Ace tool at ebookcraft in Toronto. The London Book Fair in April saw the 10th Annual Accessibility Action Group seminar focus on Strategies for Success and we were proud to stand alongside other industry stalwarts on the podium. June saw our DAISY Symposium entitled Building Bridges for Better Access, which focused on the accessible study materials.

In October we covered the new-look Digital Book World  and we were delighted to play a major role at this exciting event. We are already looking forward to next year! And the Accessing Higher Ground conference in November was a huge opportunity to hear from a wide variety of publishers about the strides towards inclusive publishing practices.

The DAISY Consortium now maintains and develops EPUBCheck, the conformance validator for the EPUB format. We rounded off the year by reporting on the release of version 4.1. EPUBCheck is overseen by the W3C and funded by generous contributions from across the digital publishing landscape.

We’ve been very lucky to work with some top-quality authors this year and our thanks go to all of them for their contributions and news updates. From event reports to opinion pieces, we’ve been fortunate to be able to publish some terrific pieces of extremely high quality.  In addition, we have been delighted with the response to our new interview pieces: Inspiring Words from Industry Leaders. Our interviewees are indeed an inspiration and we will be adding to this stellar line-up in 2019.

Accessibility has been a common thread in conversations across the publishingindustry for quite a few years now, but from anecdotal evidence 2018 appears to mark the start of something special—widespread mainstream adoption of accessibility. This reflects the changes we have seen and supported in accessible content creation and validation, but also throughout the supply chain, with a positive impact on education services, reading systems and the metadata which makes the whole process function.

It’s very important to us that we continue to support the wider industry on this journey towards inclusive publishing, and with this in mind, we have created a short end of year survey so that we may take a snapshot of our community.  We’d be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete the survey (now closed) and to help us gauge where we are, and also to report to you all on how we are progressing as an industry. Our thanks to all those who have completed this already—we look forward to sharing the anonymous results with you all soon.

We look towards 2019 with perhaps more optimism and enthusiasm than previous years. It has been wonderful to see how the industry has responded to our InclusivePublishing website and newsletter, and we hope that you will all continue to support us—we rely on your input and are very grateful for it. There are some exciting developments we look forward to sharing with you next year, and we will continue to publish both technical and non-technical information to cater for all our readers in this way.

We wish you all a very peaceful holiday and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.