[guispeak] Re: eBook Accessibility

  • From: "Darrell Shandrow" <nu7i@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 08:02:32 -0700

Hi Will,

Ultimately, I must agree here, at least for the short term. For the short term, Adobe should disable the publisher's ability to be inaccessible until both accessibility and content protection can be fully achieved together.

Darrell Shandrow - Shandrow Communications!
Technology consultant/instructor, network/systems administrator!
A+, CSSA, Network+!
Check out high quality telecommunications services at http://ld.net/?nu7i
Wishing you and yours a happy, accessible New Year!
Blind Access Now blog: http://nu7i.blogspot.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Will Pearson" <will-pearson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Programming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 9:07 AM
Subject: [guispeak] Re: eBook Accessibility



Hi;

Yes, Open Book and Kurzweil do allow you to print to a virtual printer
driver so that you may perform OCR on PDF documents. However, the problem
with this approach in terms of the PDF digital rights management system, is
that a publisher can disable printing of that PDF document, rendering
conventional OCR useless. I can think of a way to perform OCR, but it would
be restricted to the currently visible portion of the Window, and would be
CPU intensive, as it would work based on the GDI GetPixel() function.


So, the only way to guarantee accessibility to PDF documents, in my opinion,
is for the ability to turn off content extraction by access technology to be
taken out of Adobe's DRM system. The other methods either have technical or
legal implications.


Will
----- Original Message ----- From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Programming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 9:56 AM
Subject: Re: eBook Accessibility



Hi Kevin -- I have a question: Do the various book reading programs such
as
OpenBook and K1000 do much the same thing as this program? I know the
access
programs do much more than OCR in that they also speak and read DAISY and
brf and who knows what else, but not having used any of them as yet, I'd
be
interested in knowing more about pdfmagic and what exactly it translates
the
pdf document to.
Also, there is a program called pdfconvert that I bought from scansoft.com
for $49 that translates pdf docs to Microsoft Word format with all forms,
images and layout preserved. Obviously this is useful for pdf access, but
what I'm wondering is how this would work with a pdf doc with the
accessibility options turned off. I have never tried it on such a file.
Also, jaws 6.0 and acrobat 7.0 are now working together better than ever
before to make pdf docs accessible, so could you please tell me more about
the access options that you say can be turned on or off by publishers? Is
this still a problem? or are all pdf docs now accessible?
Confused...
Thanks in advance.
--le


----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Jones" <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Programming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 9:46 PM
Subject: RE: eBook Accessibility



also, there's a program called pdf magic you can buy it from www.readingmadeeasy.com along with other similar tools. this program performs ocr on pdf files thus extracting even the locked
ones.
it costs around $60 and I have found it very useful.


-----Original Message----- From: Programming-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Programming-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Will Pearson Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 3:42 PM To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxx; guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Programming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: eBook Accessibility


Hi;

I've just downloaded a few e-books from Amazon, and thought I would notify
you of the current state of affairs, as books are useful in a range of
situations.


Whilst Adobe still allow content publishers to disallow content extraction
by access technology, meaning screen readers won't be able to read books
that have had this option disallowed, more publishers are allowing it. I
downloaded about three books published by John Wiley and son. All these
had
content extraction by access technology allowed, which was something Wiley
turned off in their e-books only six or so months ago. So, it looks like
Wiley books are now accessible, as well as those from some smaller
publishers.


Whilst persuading publishers to allow access is a difficult task, and one
Adobe should have taken the lead on by not allowing them to disable
content
extraction by access technology, it does seem as some of the big
publishers
are now gaining social consciences.

Will Pearson
Microsoft MVP

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