Archive for the ‘accessable ebooks for blind and visually impaired’ tag
Read2Go – a new accessible ebook reading app for iOS no comments
Benetech, the nonprofit behind Bookshare, today announced the release of Read2Go, a DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) accessible ebook app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Read2Go is designed to be used by people with vision disabilities or physical disabilities that prevent them from holding physical books or turning pages. The app can also be helpful to those with learning disabilities like dyslexia.
The Read2Go app connects with Bookshare, a membership site with a collection of over 120,000 accessible books. Books can be read using text-to-speech with synchronized word-by-word highlighting or in a VoiceOver mode. A wide selection of font sizes and font and background colors are also offered.
Read2Go is $19.99 at iTunes.
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CourseSmart Partners with AccessText and Alternative Media Access Center to Make Digital Textbooks More Accessible no comments
CourseSmart,which makes claim to being the world’s largest digital course materials provider, announced today that it has formed a partnership with AccessText Network (ATN) and Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) to improve the accessibility of its digital textbooks.
ATN is a national organization that facilitates and supports the delivery of alternative electronic textbooks to the Disabled Student Services offices of colleges and universities throughout the US. AMAC is an initiative of the Georgia University System and works to improve services for students with print-related disabilities in the US.
CourseSmart will work with ATN and AMAC to optimize the digital versions of approximately 80 percent of its most popular etextbooks to increase their functionality with accessible technologies.
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Books from RFB&D Now Available on Intel Reader no comments
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) is the largest provider of educational audio textbooks in the US and has more than 270,000 members. RFB&D has announced that members can now use the Intel Reader to access its entire collection of DAISY-formatted audiobooks. From the press release:
Getting started with the Intel Reader is easy for RFB&D members. They can simply log into their online accounts on the RFB&D website to obtain a free User Authorization Key (UAK), install it on the device, and download their DAISY audiobooks. The content can then be transferred to the Intel Reader and listened to anytime, anywhere. The device stores members’ third-party content access keys for their convenience. For more information on the RFB&D UAK process, visit http://www.rfbd.org/intelreader/.
Users will also need to download the Intel Reader 1.0.1 software upgrade to enable their device to access RFB&D content.
The Intel Reader scans printed text and
converts it to audio which can be listened to immediately or stored for later. It is designed for use by those with visual impairments with easy-to-use buttons and intuitive menus with both audio and video navigation.
This is all well and good, except that the Reader itself costs $1500, and may not therefore be accessible to some of those who need it.
Intel does seem to have formed alliances with some advocacy groups, and there are programs to help put assistive technology such as the Reader into the hands of those who are in need but cannot afford it.
For scanning large amounts of text there is the Portable Capture Station, which is a docking and scanning platform for the Intel Reader. The cost for this accessory is an additional $400.
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More Kindle 3 News no comments
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today released a press release commending Amazon on the accessibility features of the new Kindle 3 ereaders. The new Kindles come with a voice guide that reads all menu options aloud which will make it easier for those with vision impairments and print-disabilities to use.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We commend Amazon on the unveiling of a new Kindle that blind and print-disabled people can use. In order to compete in today’s digital society, blind and print-disabled people must be able to access the same reading technologies as the sighted. The National Federation of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased that our efforts have come to fruition."
In June 2009 the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. The Kindle DX featured text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device were not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.
Besides the new and improved font technology, the new Kindle 3 ereaders will also support Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, Korean and Cyrillic character sets.
This could be pretty big, as it could help Amazon to greatly expand the Kindle’s market share internationally. The ereader market is big in China, and I’m thinking that the build quality and feature set at the new prices will make the Kindle 3 competitive in the Chinese ereader market. There is the issue of ebook piracy (there have been estimates that over 90 percent of ebooks read there are pirated) in China, so I’m not sure how Amazon will fare at selling Kindle books there.
The Japanese ebook market is still nascent, but it could well take off there as well. Several companies are forming to digitize and distribute content. Korean language support should also be welcome in Korea. The iPad currently does not support Korean, though it does support Chinese and Japanese.
Amazon will also be selling the Kindle 3 ereaders in the UK directly from the Amazon UK website, so no longer will buyers there need to order from the US and pay with dollars. The 3G + Wi-Fi Kindle 3 UK will cost £149 and the Wi-Fi only version will be £109. As in the US the new Kindle 3 will be released on August 27, 2010. Shipping will be free in the UK via Super Saver Delivery.
The Bookseller reports that in the UK Kindle Store ebook prices will be set by Amazon, not by publishers. No agency pricing model there.
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Bookshare Achieves 100,000-Member Milestone; eBooks for the Visually Impaired 1 comment
Bookshare announced today that it now has 100,000 qualified members and has digital content contributed by more than 60 publishers and over 20 university partners.
Bookshare is the world’s largest online accessible library of copyrighted material for those with print disabilities. From the press release:
Through an exemption in the U.S. copyright law, (17 U.S.C. § 121) known as the Chafee Amendment, Bookshare serves a community of individuals with qualified print disabilities, such as visual impairments, physical disabilities or severe learning disabilities that affect reading. Proof of disability is required for membership. The library offers over 72,000 books, including K-12 textbooks, postsecondary textbooks, teacher-recommended reading, literature, children’s books, reference works, and newspapers and magazines. Members can download books in the latest DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) and BRF (Braille Ready Format) file formats.
Gayle Yarnall, Director of Adaptive Products for the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA joined Bookshare in February, 2008. “Bookshare has enabled me to pursue my favorite pastime – reading,” she said. “Imagine hearing about a new book and downloading it immediately. I can read exactly what my sighted friends are reading at the same time and take part in all those wonderful book conversations. My life and the lives of countless others are changed daily by Bookshare. I can’t thank you all enough.”
Qualified individuals can sign up to access the collection at the Bookshare Website, and publishers who wish to donate titles, universities who wish to join the Bookshare Partners program and persons or organizations who would be interested in donating their time are also invited to contact Bookshare.
£149.00
£109
