Focus on Inclusive Publishing: Making Content Accessible From Day One
In the Information Age, access to information is a fundamental human right.
Focus on EPUB 3
Finally, the publishing industry and the disability community are coming together. The focus is on EPUB 3, the digital publishing standard from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). The library community, the publishing industry, related tech companies, educational institutions, governmental organizations, and the disability community have an opportunity to embrace the Open Web and surrounding standards through the EPUB 3 specification.
Never before has the disability community played such an important role in the development of a mainstream standard. The DAISY Consortium is putting resources towards the development and adoption of EPUB 3. The DAISY format is used throughout the world, and now the inclusion of accessibility features in the mainstream standard means that publications can be born accessible. The DAISY Consortium solidly approves this development and with increased worldwide implementations, we can change the information world.
Essentials
- EPUB 3 is an open standard that embraces HTML 5, CSS, SVG, and MathML and is completely internationalized.
- The DAISY Consortium and experts from the disability field are deeply engaged to create the best way to read and publish, for everybody.
- The publisher associations throughout the world are recommending EPUB 3 as the single format going in to their distribution channels.
- Reading system platforms, such as Apple iBooks, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble natively support EPUB 3.
- Amazon supports ingestion of EPUB 3 content in their Kindle distribution network.
- Readium project is an open source reading system development activity with worldwide support. Readium will be a reference implementation of EPUB 3.0.1; expect to see commercial releases starting in 2014.
Links to Supporting Materials
- International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
- EPUB 3 Accessibility Guidelines online
- EPUB 3 Best Practices, Matt Garrish (available from O’Reilly)
- IDPF Accessibility Forum
- Association of American Publishers (AAP) EPUB 3 Implementation Project
- DAISY Consortium Vision & Mission
- 2004 ITD Article DAISY For All: Publishers' Collaboration Enabling Print Access