Being digital –
creating a win-win situation for the
visually impaired and publishers
US ebook wholesale rev. (Mio. $)
‚In 2015 Random House US will
generate 50 % of turnover with
ebooks‘
(Handelsblatt citing RH CEO)
34.000 titles in Braille
15.000 audio books
4.200 titles in large print
Common Issues
Tables
Graphs
Formulae
Image/text combinations
Complex layouts
Rethinking the way content is
• created
• managed
• published
• delivered
XML for
typesetting
Print
Graphs
-------------------------------------------------------------
Manuscript
Tagging
Transformation
e-book
XML (e.g
ePub)
e-book
Content DB
Web XML
(XHTML)
Artwork
Web publication
ePUB 3.0: new features
HTML 5 support
Rich media and interactivity
Layout improvements
Global languages
Accessibility improvements
≈
Barriers
Tech capabilities of publishing staff
Digital workflows have to be implemented (technical problems, costs)
Different types of content / delivery platforms
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Copyright issues (eg text-to-speech)
Accessibility – a win-win-game
Accessibility helps publishers in generating future-proof
content structures
Digitisation moves visually impaired readers from a niche market to
mainstream consumers
Stronger lobbying is needed to convince publishers of the benefits of
accessible publishing for ALL readers and their WHOLE business
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