NCAM's Beyond the Text project is studying ways to make multimedia (images, audio and video) used in e-books accessible to people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind or visually impaired.
Project staff have...
analyzed barriers to identification, navigation, display and manipulation of captions and audio descriptions within various e-book and digital talking book (DTB) formats, with particular attention to handheld devices;
researched and evaluated alternate solutions for access to multimedia;
At the end of the project period (January 2006), NCAM will publish free guidelines detailing the creation and use of accessible e-book multimedia.
Funding for Beyond the Text is provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Images and video clips are provided by The Concord Consortium and Educational Development Center, Inc.
Types of Multimedia
Images
can be made accessible via alt and longdesc
Audio
can be made accessible via captions
can be embedded or linked from e-book, depending on format
Video, animation
can be made accessible via captions and audio descriptions
can be embedded or linked from e-book, depending on format
Why is this important?
Portable computers are becoming just another school supply:
Many school districts now require or will require handheld devices:
Some school districts in Texas use Palm OS devices for curriculum and test preparation
A 2003 South Dakota study showed that handhelds and laptops used in a high-school program helped improve student performance
University of Louisville med schools require the use of handheld devices for all students
Some professors are jettisoning paper books: at Bentley College, at least one class uses handhelds exclusively
Maine is currently seeking funding to distribute laptops to high schools; already has distributed iBooks to 7th and 8th graders
Three Massachusetts state colleges (Bridgewater, Framingham, Worcester) are now requiring first-year students to own laptops, with a plan to mandate them in many schools by 2009
Curriculum, tests and professional-development materials are being developed exclusively for e-book formats, some specifically for handhelds.
Why create accessible e-books and multimedia?
Accessible e-books are a viable alternative for many students, and can provide same-time access to books as non-disabled peers
Multimedia is everywhere, and is becoming easier to create
Multimedia is becoming common in electronic textbooks; inaccessible multimedia can shut out people who can benefit the most
NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) covers print materials only
Publishers can supplement NIMAS with accessible e-book and multimedia
The technology already exists to create accessible multimedia; integrating it into e-books is possible today
Basic Findings
Depending on e-book format, laptop materials are currently more accessible than handheld:
Open-standards (OeBF) readers are the ideal
Current native-OeBF readers-- Mentoract Reader and eMonocle-- are inaccessible to screen readers, or offer limited accessibility
Both can link to accessible multimedia
Adobe Reader provides reasonable but not complete access to screen readers
TTS engine provides read-back only, no user control
Broad multimedia support, embedded and linked
DRM can impair access to screen readers and prevent TTS access
Microsoft Reader is somewhat accessible using internal text-to-speech engine
No screen reader access
Linked-multimedia access only
DRM can prevent TTS access
Mobipocket Reader provides marginal accessibility to screen readers
Linked-multimedia access only
Basic Findings
Handheld e-books are inaccessible to blind/visually impaired users:
No handheld device is completely accessible to users who rely on screen readers or TTS, although this may change with the introduction of new talking PDAs (such as HumanWare's Maestro).
For deaf or hard-of-hearing users, handheld e-books provide a viable alternative
Adobe Reader/PPC supports linked multimedia only.
Adobe Reader/Palm provides no multimedia support.
Microsoft Reader/PPC provides no multimedia support.
Mobipocket/Palm provides support for linked multimedia.
For more information, or to sign up to test accessible multimedia in e-books, contact:
Geoff Freed
Project Manager, Beyond the Text
WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
WGBH Educational Foundation
125 Western Ave.
Boston, MA 02134
geoff_freed@wgbh.org