For many years, there have been substitutes available allowing readers who are unable to read traditional books to access the content within these books. These substitutes usually come in the form of audio recordings. Over the past few decades, however, efforts toward providing more sophisticated accessibility have amplified, beginning with DAISY standards, and more recently through a set of specifications called EPUB. Read below to learn about DAISY and EPUB—how these systems work, how they have revolutionized accessibility, and how they’re evolving to meet current needs.
What is DAISY?
DAISY, short for Digital Accessible Information SYstem, originated as a proprietary standard for digital recording and document structuring in Sweden in the early 1990s. The DAISY Consortium, formed in 1996 by organizations selected by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), serves as the agency to maintain the DAISY standards. The DAISY standards enable the creation of audio substitutes for print materials to provide users with print disabilities the means to read books as other users would. These audio substitutes based on the DAISY standards contain features including bookmarking, line by line navigation, and accessible tables and references that are unavailable in traditional audio books.
How does DAISY work?
A DAISY book, or Digital Talking Book (DTB), uses an encoding language called XML for the navigable elements and metadata included in a book. A navigation file developed using XML contains positions for the main elements of the book—such as chapters, sections, or pages—providing a roadmap for text positions or time positions (for audio recordings). The granular position points are marked using a timing-specific encoding language called SMIL. In addition to the XML and SMIL, a DTB contains image files, audio files, text files, and mapping files (to map SMIL/XML to different media units).
A DTB requires specialized hardware/software for the material to be played as the publisher intended. In turn, printed books are republished using DAISY specifications for use on DAISY players (either specialized hardware or software). DAISY content can be produced using Microsoft Word with the help of a “Save as DAISY” add-in. Other tools can be used to produce DAISY content, as well, such as DAISY Pipeline.
Drawbacks of DAISY
While DAISY is a boon to users with print disabilities, only a fraction of books (or e-books) get republished to conform to DAISY specifications, primarily because the DAISY publishing houses and mainstream publishers publish their e-books using different standards. The lack of integration between DAISY publishing and mainstream publishing is a major drawback of the DAISY specifications. This increases the cost for all parties involved and limits the volume of content that is accessible via the DAISY standards.
Enter EPUB 3
The EPUB (short for electronic publication) specification is a set of publishing standards for producing digital publications. The first version, EPUB 2.0, was published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) in 2007, with EPUB 3.0 taking effect in 2011. The specification allows the packaging of content including HTML, audio, text, and images in a single file format that can be played on a wide range of devices. Text and PDF excluded, EPUB is the most popular format across book readers. As such, a major portion of the e-book market is dominated by EPUBs. The latest release, EPUB 3, furthers the dominance of the EPUB specification on the e-book market.
EPUB 3 books can be produced from scratch using a simple text or code editor as one would do with a basic website. Alternatively, they can be produced using an open source e-book creation tool such as Sigil or Calibre. QuarkXpress and Adobe’s InDesign, both used for print publication, can export content to EPUB.
Accessibility in EPUB 3
Accessibility is a major focus area for EPUBs. A plethora of features included in EPUB 3—such as navigation, semantic markup, dynamic layouts, content descriptions, aural renditions and media overlays, alternate rendition fallbacks, and scripting—positions EPUB 3 as an ideal choice for developing accessible digital content.
The switch from DAISY 3.0 to EPUB 3
By 2014, the DAISY specifications were one of the primary drivers in accessible content consumption; however, the gap between mainstream publishing and DAISY publishing continued to widen. Around the same time, EPUB specifications embedded with accessibility features opened the door to inclusive publishing. With these advancements, content could now be created as accessible and distributed in the same package without the need for republishing. The DAISY Consortium created the TIES (Transition to Inclusive EPUB 3 Ecosystem) project with the goal of transitioning accessible publishing from the DAISY standards to the EPUB 3 specifications.
Challenges in switching from DAISY to EPUB 3
However, the switch from DAISY to EPUB 3 is not an easy one. While no one debates the utility of EPUB 3, DAISY experts, publishers, and users have spent years in the DAISY ecosystem. There are a number of challenges including migration of production systems (DAISY to EPUB), retraining of experts, and switching costs for users and publishers.
Conclusion
The DAISY Consortium is working with DAISY publishers, mainstream publishers, and users to address these challenges and ensure an inclusive publishing system in which books are “born accessible.” In addition, the DAISY Consortium has released tools for conversion from DAISY to EPUB 3 (TOBI and scripts). The consortium also offers publishers a tool called Ace by DAISY that allows publishers to check if their EPUB 3 packages are accessible. While a significant number of accessible books continue to exist in the DAISY format, most new books are “born accessible,” and publishers, in significantly higher numbers, are publishing accessible content in EPUB 3.0.
