For the educators and students on the list:----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 3:38 PMSubject: [Tektalkdiscussion] Fw: NACS Scan-Flat World and Bookshare ToDeliverAccessible Open Content Texts to College Students
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ardis Bazyn" <abazyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>To: "BSC" <bsc@xxxxxxxxxx>; "CCB-l" <CCB-L@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "ACB Leadership List" <Leadership@xxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:07 PM Subject: FW: NACS Scan-Flat World and Bookshare To DeliverAccessible Open Content Texts to College Students Hello All, I thought the following would be of interest to many.... NACS Scan-Flat World and Bookshare To Deliver Accessible Open Content Texts to College Students FROM: Campus TechnologyFlat World and Bookshare To Deliver Accessible Open Content Texts to CollegeStudents 12/14/09 Open-content publisher Flat World Knowledge has announced it will supply college textbooks to Bookshare, the free online library for people withprint disabilities. Flat World will be the first publisher of post-secondarytexts to contribute material to the organization. Although many colleges and universities make special accommodations forstudents with print disabilities, including the blind and visually impaired and those with dyslexia, financially challenged institutions are strugglingin the current economy to provide all the necessary materials in formats that accommodate such students. Flat World and Bookshare said they expectthe new agreement will begin to relieve some of that burden. Schools will nolonger each have to do their own conversions of commonly used texts, savingtime and money, and students requiring materials in special formats will have a one-stop, online destination to meet their needs."If all publishers supplied their books directly to Bookshare, it would savecolleges and universities millions of dollars each year and immediatelyequalize educational opportunities," said Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech,the nonprofit that operates Bookshare. "Without the cooperation of apublisher such as Flat World, students often wait for weeks to get textbooksin accessible formats and, in some cases, are forced to drop courses due tolack of accessible books. Flat World is the first post-secondary textbook publisher to recognize and alleviate this problem." The initial agreement will provide for the immediate conversion of 11 open-content titles, primarily in business and economics, and the development of 50 more titles covering several other disciplines in the natural and social sciences."Our college campus uses Flat World Knowledge in its Accounting 120 and 121courses," said Erika Higginbotham, adaptive computer technology specialist at San Diego Mesa College. "This partnership with Bookshare means that students in those courses with [print] disabilities will have their textbooks when the semester begins."Deborah Armstrong, an alternate media specialist at DeAnza Community Collegein Cupertino, CA, also noted that textbooks present an ever increasing cost to all students. The new partnership, she said, "is a giant step forward to offer high-quality, peer-reviewed, open source digital textbooks to minimizecosts and parents' angst for how to pay for core textbooks necessary to support their [children's] college education." One innovation in the process that this agreement introduces is up-front, pre-publication delivery of content. Flat World will supply the booksdirectly to Bookshare in XML format, eliminating the time-consuming processof scanning and converting paper copies. Bookshare can then, using its owntechnology infrastructure, rapidly convert the books to special formats forthe print disabled, most notably DAISY, which offers access to those with print disabilities via both multi-modal reading, combining highlightedon-screen text with high-quality computer-generated voice, and Braille ReadyFormat (BRF), a digital Braille format for use with Braille displays or embossed Braille.Bookshare's ongoing efforts are funded in part through a 2007 grant from theUnited States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The five-year, $32 million grant allows the organization, through technology initiatives and targeted agreements, to provide those withqualified print disabilities equal access to printed materials using formatssuch as DAISY and BRF. Ardis Bazyn For inspirational speaking, business coaching, or writing: www.bazyncommunications.com newsletter: http://www.bazyncommunications.com/newsletter.php Blog: abazyn.blogspot.com Ask about Yoga cd package especially for blind and visually impaired _______________________________________________ Tektalkdiscussion mailing list Tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxhttp://accessibleworld.org/mailman/listinfo/tektalkdiscussion_accessibleworld.org
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