Implementing the Legislative Strategy: Accessible Digital Publishing within and beyond the legal threshold Baseline for Born Accessible EPUB George Kerscher 9 th European e-accessibility Forum
Inclusive Publishing Industry trade and educational publishers journal and magazine publishers comics and Manga industry disability-focused organizations educational institutions governmental organizations tech companies standards organizations
Publishers ask: What do I need to do to make my publications accessible to persons with disabilities? Agreement needs to be reached on the baseline features. It is not easy We must push the bar higher We must be practical
Requirements Publication must provide accessible content in EPUB 3 (or future version) Reading system used must support EPUB 3 content Publication, in the context of the reading system, must be useable with Assistive Technology (AT) Consensus: All three components must be working or it is impractical to include a given feature as a requirement for accessibility in published documents. EPUB 3 Designed for Everybody
Today Using EPUB 3 publishers can deliver the text of their publication in a well-structured, logical reading order, even if images are used for title or headings as long as ALT text is there. EPUB reading systems can present the full text of an EPUB 3 publication on every platform. Assistive Technology (AT) can integrate with reading systems and speak the text using synthetic speech (TTS), as refreshable braille using a Bluetooth device, or enlarge the text on the screen. Consensus: Well-structured text in a logical reading order is a baseline requirement for a Born Accessible publication. Authoring and reading system tools may go beyond the baseline for Born Accessible EPUB 3.
HTML 5 Content Structure To benefit all readers, publishers must make use of the native semantics of HTML 5 starting point of accessible content, foundation for digital publishing This will enable: logical reading order effective navigation skipping and escaping content Consensus: Native HTML 5 elements will be used to correctly identify content structure
Images, ALT text & Additional Enhancements Images used for ornamental purposes Images & graphics can be made accessible through ALT text Images, charts, diagrams, maps, infographics, artwork, etc. that convey information may need to be customized for different types of learners Consensus: Publishers will identify ornamental images. ALT text will be provided following W3C A & AA guidelines, also addressed by Accessible EPUB 3: Best Practices by Matt Garrish & DIAGRAM s Image Guidelines for EPUB 3, and the forthcoming BISG Quick Start Guide for Accessibility.
Metadata, Asserting Conformance Metadata will be necessary for discovery, marketing, sales and inclusion in educational coursework. Consensus: Metadata will identify the accessibility features of publications that confirm to the baseline Born Accessible agreed-upon features, as defined in the ONIX code (List 196) and Schema.org which includes a set of accessibility metadata
Enhancements to Born Accessible Publications Adding value by using Diagrammar: A Framework for Making Images and Graphics Accessible Republishing materials for persons who are not technologically capable the safety net Future enhancements delivered separately as annotations Reading system would integrate those annotations with the commercially available Born Accessible version DAISY Consortium members make terrific partners to make information fully accessible
Educational Publications and the EDUPUB Profile of EPUB 3 Modern educational publications in EPUB 3 format are anticipated to use the EDUPUB profile Videos need to be captioned Support for MathML rapidly evolving Scripted components, widgets, assessments, 3D (WebGL) demonstrations, data visualizations, SVG Consensus: Educational materials will have additional requirements in the baseline for Born Accessible EPUB 3 in the EDUPUB profile
Broadly Available EPUB 3 Authoring Tools Needed in education for course content development Needed in governmental organizations for publications Needed for everyday use by authors, students and professionals
Conformance and Certification Epubcheck, use it now Pre-flight needed to assist with checking conformance Self-certification linked to metadata External certification of publisher content Consensus: Tools for evaluation, certification approaches, approved guidelines training and support will be topics for discussion
Reading System Testing epubtest.org - IDPF, BISG, DAISY Collaboration Fundamental accessibility tests available now.
Raising the Bar Consensus: The practical baseline features for Born Accessible publications are expected to advance as technology and work processes improve
Call to Action Everybody is invited to participate in the evolving Inclusive Publishing Ecosystem Formal announcement will kick off the collaborative effort We do not expect to meet in-person, all virtual DAISY Consortium will help to drive Key principles: Consensus and practicality We need to raise the bar over time Contact George Kerscher directly: kerscher@montana.com