By Linda Roberts | Senior Member
Looking for an alternative to an old-school book? This column explores the different formats and platforms that are available for all readers. If you have feedback, contact Linda Roberts at lerober1@yahoo.com.
Most technical communicators develop a document that is designed for hard-copy printing and then publish it electronically. But is that electronic version usable by all of your users? Enter the world of accessible publishing.
What is accessible publishing? Accessible reading materials are usable by people with print access disabilities. For years, Large Print versions of select publications have been available to people with diminished visual acuity. But for people who are blind or who have cognitive challenges, such as dyslexia, more accessible publications are needed.
For some people, accessible books have allowed them to rediscover the joy of words. People who read accessible documents do so using items such as a Braille writer, an assistive technology such as a screen reader, a digital book reader, hardware to play an audiobook, or a Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) book. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages.
Audiobooks are available from publishers and booksellers. Books in the public domain that have been read aloud by volunteers are available for free download from sites such as LibriVox (http://librivox.org/). Audio “readers” can download digital files and listen to them on a digital player. Books in these formats can be read mainly linearly. They have play, fast forward, and rewind capabilities, but if you lose your place (like I sometimes do when I fall asleep), it can be hard to get back to where you were last paying attention.
DAISY books differ from audiobooks because these digital books offer navigation and searching capabilities. Users can move through a book by searching for words, paragraphs, or page numbers. As the DAISY Consortium says, “A traditional talking book is an analog representation of a print publication. A Digital Talking Book (DTB) is a multimedia representation of a print publication” (DAISY Consortium, 2010).
A variety of digital book readers are available to consumers, including the Sony Reader, Amazon Kindle, and Apple iPhone to name a few. Amazon's Kindle 2.0 (introduced in 2009) offers some accessibility features. The Kindle 2.0 allows the reader to choose from up to seven font sizes. It also has a read-aloud function, which might be enabled for the book. This function is only available, however, if a book publisher has given permission for it to be enabled.
Amazon has announced, however, that a future version of the Kindle will have a set of audible menus, plus an extra-large font for people with diminished visual acuity.
Even though the Kindle has these accessibility features, it is still missing a few key items. Universities that have tried to go completely bookless and adopt the Kindle as the delivery mechanism for all textbooks for their students have found this out the hard way. Even though many of the books can be read aloud, the navigation system to select a book can't be accessed by voice controls. This means that a person who is blind has no way of knowing which book to select, is unable to access any other menu options, and is unable to access the store. These people, therefore, would need assistance from another person to get the book selected and started.
Amazon has announced, however, that a future version of the Kindle will have a set of audible menus, plus an extra-large font for people with diminished visual acuity (Associated Press, 2009).
Strides have been made toward creating more accessible reading materials. I look forward to the day when everyone can rediscover the joy of reading!
Linda Roberts (lerober1@yahoo.com) is a senior technical writer for SAS Institute and a member of the AccessAbility SIG. She authored a paper on accessibility, “Using Access-Centered Design to Improve Accessibility,” published in Technical Communication 53, no. 1 (February 2006), and has spoken at three STC Summits on accessibility topics.
REFERENCES
Associated Press. “Kindle to Get Audible Menus, Bigger Font.” www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34317256/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/, 2009.
Daisy Consortium. “The Best Way to Read. The Best Way to Publish.” www.daisy.org/daisy-technology., 2010.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Blumenstein, L. “Organizations Allege Kindle Menus Aren't Blind-accessible.” www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6668651.html, 2009.
Weiss, T. C. “The Kindle 2.0 Book Reader — Facts and Accessibility.” www.disabled-world.com/assistivedevices/computer/kindle.php, 2009.
