The case of LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili Cristina Mussinelli, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General of Fondazione LIA cristina.mussinelii@fondazionelia.org

The case of LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili

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LIA was established as a project funded by the Ministry of Cultury, the implementation of which has prompted Italian Publishers Association three years of works ( 2011-2013). From May 2014 LIA has assumed the status of a non-profit foundation, aims to engage in activities to promote books and reading, in all its forms, both traditionale and digital, through education, information, awareness and research in this area. The Foundation intends to, in particular:

• promote reading among all vulnerable groups through initiatives to expand

their access to publishing products through reasearch and technological innovation;

• spread a culture of accessibility in the interests of network, awareness of

publishers and other companies in the digital publishing industry (distributors, booksellers, manufacturers of hardware and software, etc..);

• training for users weak, with reference to both visually impaired and other

types of disabilities both uncomfortable conditions that make it difficult social or cultural relationship with reading. LIA: project, service, foundation

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The approach adopted by LIA is characterized by three keywords:

• digital = reading technology and e-books
• interoperability = standards for both formats and description. Standard

also means international

• user involvement = strong collaboration with Italian Blind Union and

Istituto Cavazza in defining users requirements and in testing The LIA approach

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The state of the art before 2013 Accessible versions were created, on demand by individual users, by dedicated structures that, starting from printed books, make publications in specific formats: Accessibile reading: the Italian contest

Braille Enlarged characters Audiobook

The role of the Italian Government The ad hoc creation is very expensive. Many public fundings for many micro- results. The reader Long time, long delay before obtaining the desired text

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The state of the art Accessible versions, thanks to the LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili service, are created by publishers distributed in mainstream channels in ebook format (EPUB) that can be read: Accessibile reading: the Italian contest

with Braille displays

The role of the Italian Government The Ministry of Culture has financed LIA service in compliance with a special fund addressed to blind e visually impaired people (Law 296/2006) The reader To be able to access accessible versions in the same way and at the same time as any

• ther reader

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1 Key aspect: Accessibility: traditional vs digital

1 books=10 braille books 1 book=10 enlarged characters 1 book=1 audiobook (Cd, mp3) 1 book= 1 file with low editorial quality 1 ebook=1 ebook readable 1 ebook= 1 ebook readable 1 ebook=1 ebook readable with Braille displays 1 ebook=1 is a file with high editorial quality

DIFFERENT WORKFLOWS FOR 1 EACH USER 1 WORKFLOW FOR MANY USERS

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The driving concept of LIA is its breakthrough approach to accessibility:

• same books
• same channels
• same information
• same reading system

for an inclusive digital reading experience 2° Key aspect: full inclusion approach

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LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili is a service managed by Fondazione LIA that provides more of 6.000 titles in Italian in accessible format, with a wide variety of offer: classics, best sellers, literary prizes and children books. The service is on line from June 2013 at www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it The service is in progress (400 new titles each month):

• June 2013: 3.000 titles of 44 publishers
• June 2014: + 6.500 titles of 65 publishers

The result: The LIA service

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LIA in the Value Chain of Digital Publishing

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A shared effort is necessary, involving all the actors:

• Publishers
• Reading software developers
• Producers of e-readers and tablets
• Online stores and e-commerce platforms
• Electronic payment system

Lesson learned: collaboration and pro-active approach

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ALREADY ACHIEVED RESULTS

• Blind and visually impaired readers will no longer have to find out the

desired text: they have same books at the same time and price

• Accessibility has become part of the production workflow for all EPUBs of

LIA publishers

• Growing number of titles representing the variety of the editorial market
• Accessible EPUB are better EPUBs for everybody
• Online bookshop awareness of accessibility requirements;
• Accessibility requirements implemented by online payment services.

benefit for all purchases, not only for LIA ebook RESULTS TO BE ACHIEVED

• There is not yet a generalized fully accessible reading system for e-books
• Inclusion of metadata on accessibility in global online bookstore which use

proprietary schemas is still missing Results vs missing point

The LIA Model and infrastructure

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LIA Model

Back office

• LIA best practice guide for accessible ebooks: publishers produce

ebooks taking in consideration the LIA’s guidelines

• VCC service: verifies, converts and certifies the ebooks that

publishers joining LIA provide for the catalogue of accessible ebooks

• LIA catalogue DB: stores complete bibliographic and

accessibility information on LIA certified accessible ebooks and makes them available to other players in the supply chain

Public interfac

• LIA shelf: where users can search, find and “shop”

for accessible ebooks

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Validation

• LIA checklist is the tool to assess in detail the accessibility features

related to the internal structure of the ePUB file

• 38 accessibility parameters in the assessment that can assume 4

different values (not checked|not appliable|positive|negative)

• ONIX 3.0 accessibility features values (list 196) are algorithmically

generated according to LIA business rules

• high level of granularity and configurability according to templates

The VCC Service: Validation, Conversion, Certification

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Conversion

• LIA conversion services connected to the infrastructure can be used by

publishers to convert their ePUB file according to LIA assessment and recommendations

• Publishers who have inhouse expertise or an established business relation

with their own conversion service can convert on their own their ePUB file according to LIA assessment and recommendations The VCC Service: Validation, Conversion, Certification

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Certification

• Ebooks that pass LIA validation according to the parameters assessed

through the LIA checklist are assigned with an accessibility certification (LIA label)

• The VCC conveys the LIA label to the LIA catalogue along with the

accessibility metadata of the certified file

• The label is a visual certificate that the title is LIA compliant
• When LIA label is clicked, the user is re-directed to LIA controlled web

page displaying accessibility information on the title, using ISBN-A technology The VCC Service: Validation, Conversion, Certification

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Metadata management

In LIA catalogue DB accessibility metadata in ONIX 3.0 format from the VCC are merged with title information from E-Kitab (the BIP of Italian ebooks)

• LIA Catalogue conveys information on ebook accessibility all along the

publishing chain, namely:

• to the site of Italian accessible books

(www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it), where the ebook becomes immediately available.

• to E-Kitab (the BIP of Italian ebooks)
• E-Kitab conveys the LIA label to all the Italian platforms and stores

The LIA label will be displayed by all the stores participating in the project and in perspective also by all other stores The LIA catalogue DB: metadata management

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The distribution: online bookstore and lending platform

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A LIA ebook can be read using personal computers, smartphones, tablets and in different ways (Braille display, Enlarged characters, TTS vocal synthesis)

BUT

to date there is neither a device nor a reading software/application totally accessible to blind and partially sighted LIA has carried out a steady monitoring of the accessibility level of the most popular ereaders, smartphones, tablets and of the main reading software and applications that have progressively been marketed in Italy during the life span of the project. This activity has allowed to

• identify which are, to date, the devices and reading software/applications

that offer a reading experience accessible and usable also for blind and partially sighted readers

• select a limited number of devices and reading software/applications that

best suit the accessibility and usability needs of users with visual impairments How to read LIA e-books?

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In order to offer an accessibile reading solution for blind and VI users, in collaboration with the Institute for the Blind «F . Cavazza» and the Italian software house MDV, LIA has developed soloEPUB, an accessible reading app for iOS and an accessible reading software for Windows (in Italian) soloEPUB is accessible and interoperable with the main assistive software used by blind and VI users. soloEPUB manages ebooks with social DRM

• The app is downloadable from the App Store for free
• The software is downloadable from www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it for free.

soloEPUB: accessibile reading solution

TISP is the European thematic network aiming to foster the dialogue betweenpublishers and ICT companies. By involving stakeholders from two different worlds, TISP offers a real room for exchange about innovation, where supply and demand match to support the creation of new products and services. TISP organizes a rich calendar of professional meetings and workshops held in major ICT and publishing fairs and international conferences throughout Europe. TISP publishes the Smart Book, a hub for updated contents and in-depth analysis on hot topics for technological innovation in publishing, surveys, studies and business cases. TISP – Technology Innovation for Smart Publishing

Accessibility on the TISP Smart Book

www.smartbook-tisp.eu

editorial@smartbook-tisp.eu network@smartbook-tisp.eu Twitter @tispnetwork Linkedin Group: TISP – Technlogy Innovation for Smart Publishing

Fondazione LIA Sede: Corso di Porta Romana, 108 - 20122 Milano

• Tel. 0289280800 - Fax 0289280860

e-mail: segreteria@progettolia.it www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it