Modern Multiple Format Production and the role of Daisy

Who needs alternate formats?

While a bit general in nature, here are some examples:

• Readers who are blind or have low vision, require one or more of the following formats depending on their needs & the usage of the material, may require: Braille, electronic text, audio or large print

• Readers with various types of reading based, language based, writing based or learning disabilities, require one or more of the following formats depending on their needs & the usage of the material, may require: Electronic text, audio or a dual text+audio synchronized presentation

• Readers with physical disabilities who cannot turn a page, require one or more of the following formats depending on their needs & the usage of the material, may require: Electronic text or audio

• Etc…

Current Multiple Format Production

Here is a look at how currently multiple format production is done in Canada with respect to textbooks (for the most part):

• an organization creates the content
• Prepare it for it’s printed form by prettying it up, adjusting layout and other details,
• The material is published, printed than sent off for sale
• A request for an alternative format occurs (likely by a student)
• If it’s a Braille request:
  • The binding is torn out, the pages are scanned, ran through an optical character recognition engine, a human then reads through the material correcting errors and fixes up errors and removes headers or footers from the material
  • A Braille transcriptionist runs it through Braille translation software and fixes it up
  • The Braille is printed and sent out
• . If it’s a large print request:
  • The binding is torn out, the pages are scanned, ran through an optical character recognition engine, a human then reads through the material correcting errors, fixes up errors, removes headers or footers from the material and adjusts the material so it fits on a page with the new font size.
  • The Large print material is printed and sent out
• If it’s an Audio request:
  • Option 1:
    • The binding is torn out, the pages are scanned, ran through an optical character recognition engine, a human then reads through the material correcting errors and fixes up errors and removes headers or footers from the material
    • The text is run through document reading software and passed through a text to speech engine to generate audio files
    • The files are burnt to an audio CD and sent out
  • Option 2:
    • A person with a microphone reads the material and records it
• If it’s a Synchronized Text+Audio request:
  • The binding is torn out, the pages are scanned, ran through an optical character recognition engine, a human then reads through the material correcting errors and fixes up errors and removes headers or footers from the material
    • The text is run through software and passed through a text to speech engine to generate synchronized Text+audio files
    • The files are burnt to a CD and sent out

There are a few important elements to observe in the above explanation:

1. A number of the very time consuming activities like scanning, ocr and text fix-up would not be present if the material was retained in electronic form or produced prior to publishing the source material
2. Many of the steps for generating the various formats are common or similar and could be done once at the time of any alternate format request
3. If the electronic form of the various formats are retained it would facilitate responding to another request for the same format or the creation of other formats

What is Daisy

Daisy is a set of standards that produce a digital book.

Daisy is not a device or medium but rather a format. Daisy can be burnt to a cd, copied to a media card, downloaded from the internet or delivered in other ways. A daisy book can be paired with other types of content or distributed with other material (i.e. a cd could contain software, a printable pdf manual, a printable Braille manual and a Daisy version of the manual). There are various versions of the daisy standard and these versions are designed to be compatible with any newer versions that come out. The descriptions below cover the Daisy 2.02 Standard for two reasons.

1) it is the most widely available and supported format at present.

2) other versions of the daisy specification aren’t quite as straight forward to explain in the way they are described in the standard but do follow the same general groupings as those of the 2.02 standard..

The Daisy 2.02 standard allows for the creation of 6 different types of digital book. These 6 types are:

• Type 1: Full audio with Title element only
  
• Type 2: Full audio with Navigation Center = w/two-dimensional structure
• providing both sequential and hierarchical navigation. In many cases, the structureresembles the table of contents of its print source. This is the format that the CNIB produces is audio books in. The CNIB books have a title and chapters
• Type 3: Full audio with Navigation Center and partial text: This is a DIGITAL BOOK with structure as described above, as well as some additional text. (Ie: index, glossary, table of terms) The audio and existing text components are synchronized.
• Type 4: Full audio and full text: This is a DIGITAL BOOK with structure and complete text and audio. The audio and full text are synchronized. This type of production may be used to generate Braille and other formats.
• Type 5: Full text and some audio: This is a DIGITAL BOOK with structure, complete text, and limited audio. This type of DIGITAL BOOK could be used for a dictionary where only pronunciations are provided in audio form.
• Type 6: Text and no audio: This is a DIGITAL BOOK containing a Navigation Center and marked up/structured electronic text only. This file may be used for the production of Braille and other formats.

In Canada, many users assume that when referring to Daisy, that all that is available is an audio book with chapters because that is the only format the CNIB uses at this time. The true power of Daisy lies in the Type 4 format that contains the text, the audio and all of that information synchronized together.

Type 4 BOOK goes far beyond the limits imposed on analog audio books because it includes not just the audio rendition of the work, but the full textual content and images as well. Because the textual content file is synchronized with the audio file, a DIGITAL BOOK offers multiple sensory inputs to readers, a great benefit to, for example, a reader with a learning disability. Some low vision readers may choose to listen to most of the book, but find that inspecting the images provides information not available in the narrative flow. Others may opt to skip the audio presentation altogether and instead view the text file via screen-enlarging software. Braille readers may prefer to read some or all of the document via a refreshable Braille display device connected to their PC or their DIGITAL BOOK player and accessing the textual content file. DIGITAL BOOKs containing a textual content file but no audio material might be accessed via synthetic speech, screen-enlarging software, or a Braille device. The experience is much closer to that of the sighted reader using a print book.

What can you do when you have a daisy 4 book

Here is how the reader who receives a daisy type 4 CD might be able to use it in the medium of their choice:

A type 4 book can be read in braille:

• With a screen reader & braille display on a PC using the web browser with no additional software player
  
• Using a portable braille display & mobile phone or portable daisy reader (i.e. nokia n82 with talks and a braille connect 12)
  
• Using daisy hardware or software to read it with their braille display
  
• Converting it into printed braille using braille production software such as duxbury
  

A type 4 book can be read in large print:

• on a PC in the browser with no additional software required
  
• on a PC using screen magnification software
  
• printed out using daisy reading software
  

A type 4 book can be listened to:

• On a PC using the built in media player
  
• On a mobile device such as a cell phone using the built in media player
  
• On a portable daisy player, mp3 player or ipod
  
• On a portable DVD or CD player that supports mp3 or wma format files
  
• On a DVD player
  

A type 4 book can be read and listened to in synchronized audio and printed text::

• On a PC using free daisy software such as TPB Reader or commercial daisy software such as Kurzweil 3000 or eclipse reader
  
• On a portable Daisy player such as the classmate
  

In addition to this, if you use Daisy software or hardware players there are a whole host of additional tasks and features available for using, reading and interacting with a type 4 book. A reader can bookmark, comment (in both audio and written form), make notes, highlight segments of text and many other tasks. A reader can move around in the book by chapter, section, heading, page, sentence, or even spell out words.

How hard is it to create a Daisy 2.02 type 4 book:

The short answer is that it is extremely easy. You need the source material (i.e. the word document) and a piece of daisy production software such as IRTI’s eclipse writer.

• You open the source document in the daisy production software
  
• detect the headings and page breaks from the document
  
• fill in a little meta data associated with the books such as title, author, date of printing etc.
  
• Save your book as Daisy 2.02 type 4
  

If the source material is a well designed structured document than your output will be superior otherwise there may be a lot more you can do to enhance the document or there may be some additional steps related to properly marking up graphics or mathmatical equations, that is essentially it, once you’ve saved your type 4 book, you can save it, zip it, copy it, upload it or burn it to CD and send it out.

Conclusion

As you have seen in the above material, daisy type 4 offers a lot of extra features with relatively little extra production effort. It is easiest to produce as part of the initial publishing activity and doesn’t represent a huge burden on the part of the publisher. If you are producing an alternative format as part of a request for that material, consider adding daisy type 4 to your production process or as part of your contract for it’s creation. It can be added with little or no effort and will leave you ready to respond immediately or with a lot less delay when you get a request for a different alternative format or even the same format.

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