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Re: EPUB 3 and accessibility for ebooks

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From: John E Brandt
Date: Nov 23, 2011 2:54PM

Thank you, Kevin for your response and thank you Karen for your question.

Just to contribute a little more to the conversation...I am sharing these
observations. But let me be clear, I am far from being an expert. I have
been working on the conundrum of accessible instructional materials (AIM)
for several years now and I've done a fair amount of reading on publishing
and digital text.

- There are many types and standards of digital text or as Wikipedia calls
them, e-book formats. Some are old, many are new. There is a good
explanation of the many types here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats

- Reading an e-book or digital text does not require a handheld device. You
can read most, if not all e-book formats on any computer if you have the
right software or plugin for your browser. There are several free e-reader
software programs that will read multiple types.

- When Apple, Inc. and Barnes & Noble chose EPUB as a standard for the
iPad/iPod/iPhone and Nook it was a big boost to that format. Given their
clout in the marketplace, many book publishers chose that format. But there
are conversion software packages that will make the conversions for you
relatively easily meaning you can read just about any book with the e-reader
built into iOS. Just about every handheld e-book device will read EPUB.

- For obvious reason, Amazon wants their Kindle device to lead the pack.
They chose to develop their own proprietary Kindle format. I am assuming
they have some kind of licensing arrangement with Apple since iOS will read
Kindle books. But the early Kindles cannot read EPUB, or many other formats
(apparently their new Kindle Fire does).

- The DAISY standard/format was developed specifically with accessibility in
mind and pre-dates the handheld technology boom. It is interesting that it
is excluded from the comparison table of e-book formats on Wikipedia. But
there are lots of DAISY readers out there including an increasing number
that will work on handheld devices. Many of these specialized e-readers do
more than simply portray the content visually. Many provide enhanced reading
tools for individuals with print disabilities. Any many of these DAISY
readers will read other e-book formats. See list of DAISY players:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAISY_Digital_Talking_Book

- Unfortunately, the market forces are pushed by the majority. Hopefully,
some of the developers will recognize - like Apple, Inc. does - the value of
universal design and will build accessibility into both the hardware and
software.

So, to get back to Karen's original questions, I think there is a lot of
cross compatibility out there now so the format is not all that important to
the mass public. If you are concerned about accessibility for people with
disabilities, it is more a matter of how the digital text format works with
various AT. As Kevin suggests, Apple's iOS does have a leg up on the
hardware side since they built accessibility/universal design into the core
of operating system.

If you are looking for a handheld device that is less expensive that the
iPad, you may want to consider the iPod Touch which has all of the iOS
features and e-reader built in. On sale for $199. Such a deal!

~j

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA