In this 90 minute workshop, BISG’s workflow committee will lead a discussion of best practice that make books accessible for print-disabled audiences. Those attending will learn tips and tricks for publishing workflows that reliable deliver accessible formats.
June 15th, 2021
Online
Register for this event at the BISG event page.
In our series of free weekly webinars June 24th saw a session focused on metadata and accessibility, which plays a vital role in the accessibility ecosystem. Enabling the discovery accessible features within digital content is an essential element to the success of born accessible material.
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Madeleine Rothberg’s opening call to action:
If you’ve made a publication accessible, shout about it!
set the tone for this webinar which showed us the various ways that we can utilize metadata systems to help discovery, inform readers and assist procurement of accessible content.
To conform with the Accessibility 1.0 EPUB Specification every EPUB must include various schema.org accessibility metadata points. There are also optional additional metadata elements which publishers are encouraged to make use of. Madeleine described the various types of metadata that publishers need to be aware of: discoverable, accessibility and optimized and the requirements for each.
See the resources section below for the crosswalk documentation on ONIX and EPUB (schema.org & Dublin core) metadata, to sit within the EPUB package and alongside it. It’s advisable to have both available for consumers and retailers.
Chris Saynor maintains the ONIX for Books metadata standard which can be used to accompany the EPUB or as a separate feed into the trade. The development of codelist 196 treats accessibility metadata features as granular enabling prospective readers to understand which features in particular are available within content. It is vital that consumers have access to this information before they purchase and the ONIX metadata enables this discoverability. In addition, if distributed within the standard ONIX metadata feed, data aggregators, libraries and retailers can be aware of the level of accessibility of a particular ebook before the book itself is available, and can present this information to potential purchasers and readers within their catalogue.
Luc Maumet talked to us about library metadata and the work of the Accessible Books Consortium and authorised entities who are producing metadata for their ABC catalogue in Marc 21. The two accessibility fields within this system: fields 341 & 532, identify whether a title has accessible content and allows for an accompanying note.
The DAISY Consortium has announced the launch of a series of free weekly webinars on accessible publishing and reading in response to the multiple challenges being faced by conferences around the world due to Coronavirus, as well as feedback from the wider DAISY community expressing interest in online training resources.
Metadata is an important ingredient in all publications, and accessibility metadata plays an essential role in identifying the properties of content which determine if it is suitable for consumers with accessibility related requirements.
This webinar will highlight the latest developments and practices in accessibility metadata both within and external to digital publications including:
June 24, 2020
Online via Zoom or via the DAISY YouTube channel afterwards
Sign up for the June 24th webinar
For information on the whole DAISY webinar series on offer you can register your interest on the Webinar Information Page
VitalSource has announced details regarding their new initiative to encourage greater accessibility transparency in the digital marketplace. Publishers will be able to identify accessible content and highlight specific features to make selection a lot more straightforward for print disabled students. The full press release about this exciting venture is available at the VitalSource website.
George Kerscher, Chief Information Officer for the DAISY Consortium welcomed the developments:
VitalSource is leading a very meaningful initiative, and we applaud the time and energy the company has invested in supporting transparency, inclusivity, and accessibility in the digital marketplace.
Following up on the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) May 2018 metadata summit for data providers, this meeting will focus on the requirements and priorities for metadata recipients. Attendees include representative of distributors, retailers, data aggregators, and systems providers who are active in the transmission of book industry metadata which is essential for the discovery of accessibility features within ebooks. This is the second of three metadata summits scheduled in 2018.
July 25, 2018
Nashville, TN, USA
For full details on how you can take part in this summit which is open to members and non members of BISG visit their website
