WHAT IS DAISY?

Preface

This document aims to introduce DAISY, what does it stand for and what led to its development, whom does it benefit and how can it be implemented.

This document has been prepared with the objective of providing some exposure to DAISY to persons who are totally new to it. It also points out to resources where the readers can find more information on this subject.

PRELUDE

DAISY: BEST WAY TO PUBLISH

In the DAISY Way, a single source document is prepared on the computer. From this source document, all accessible formats such as Braille, Talking book, large print book or the e-text book can be prepared in matter of minutes.

DAISY: BEST WAY TO READ

Reading experience of DAISY Book is rich in features such as:

With all these features the book can be read in following ways:

1. Background

Books and written information is difficult to provide to persons with vision impairment or print disability in a format that they can access themselves. The intensions are there to do this but the methods are difficult and facilities and knowledge of production of these materials is limited in relation to the demand. There are a few critical factors related to materials in accessible formats:

The alternative formats to print are:

  1. Braille
  2. Talking Books
  3. E-text
  4. Large Print

In today’s world, computers are playing a big role in production and dissemination of all of these formats.

  1. Braille Production: The computerization of the Braille production has been accepted method in all parts of the world.
  2. Talking Books: The Digital recording provides in numerable benefits the analog recording and therefore digital talking books recorded using PC and stored on CD are becoming common in the developed world. Efforts are also being made to provide the benefits of this technology to the developing countries.
  3. E-text: The screen reading software loaded on a PC becomes an excellent reader of electronic text, which is easy to produce and distribute among persons with blindness or print disabilities.
  4. Large Print: The electronic text can be viewed as large print on a PC and the large font printing of the book in e-text has made large print production easier than ever before.

We are living in a global village and transferring of digital information from one place to another has become a work of few seconds. The data once produced thus can easily be used at various locations. For example, a book prepared to be printed in Braille at New Delhi, India could easily be sent by e-mail to any location with Braille printer where a copy of the same could be produced in a few minutes. However, if this data is produced in a format which is not being used at other locations of Braille production, the ground work for the preparation of the data would have to be done again at all the locations. In today’s scenario most productions of reading material in various formats work in isolation. Most of the organisations spend enormous resources in preparing errorless copy of material in e-text or do laborious recordings of textbooks and reading materials and distribute to their members. If the materials are produced conforming to a mutually accepted standard, the material can be shared and this would avoid duplication and save enormous time and energy. This sharing would remain just a theory till all produce digital form of reading material in format which is common and standard.

The Digital Technology is very dynamic. The data in the digital format can be stored and produced in many different formats. Realizing this alternative material producers of the world got together and adopted standards for production and storage of reading materials in e-text or audio recording format. These standards are called DAISY Standards.

Benefits of Standards:

  1. Intellect from all over the world is able to get together and produce the best structure and format of talking, e-text and Braille books. Have a look at the example of a talking book recorded according to the DAISY standards.
  2. Manufacturers of adaptive technology tools are able to produce equipment, which can be used all over the world by persons with print disabilities.
  3. Due to the common knowledge of standards, producers of original materials are able to contribute in production of alternative format materials. For example, a University could provide its books in xml format, which can be turned into Braille format using off the shelf Braille transcription softwares. This file could be read using screen reading software and this very file could be used for producing a full text full audio synchronized Digital Talking Book. The current text to speech technology can convert this xml file into a talking book with in minutes.

For Whom are these books?

The DAISY Forum of India is working for "The Print Disabled" which is defined differently in different countries. It may be defined as the inability to access print due to a visual, perceptual, or physical disability. Examples of print disabled include persons with blindness, low vision, learning disabilities, the inability to hold a book. Other groups like aged persons, persons with cerebral palsy, illiterates are also likely to benefit from DAISY.

You may want to read the following articles for more information -

Theory behind the DTBOOK DTD by George Kerscher
http://www.daisy.org/publications/docs/20020913153305/theory_dtbook.html

More information on Daisy Consortium is available on its official website - www.daisy.org

An evolving standard

The DAISY standards have evolved rapidly during the last few years and and it is still going through the process of evolution as it aims to widen its area of application.

2. The DAISY DTB and its Advantages

What is a DTB?

Central concept of the Daisy DTB is Media synchronization that is the DAISY DTB allows temporal synchronization of the following media types:

The structure of a Daisy DTB is at least two-dimensional; sequential and hierarchical. The structure of the DTB often resembles the Table of Contents of the print publication.

DTB types

  1. Full audio with Navigation Center (NCC or NCX) only:
    This is a DTB with structure. The structure is two-dimensional, providing both sequential and hierarchical navigation. In many cases, the structure in this type of Daisy DTB resembles the table of contents of its print source. Most of these productions provide page navigation.
  2. Full audio and full text:
    This is a DTB with structure and complete text and audio. The audio and full text are synchronized. This type of production may be used to generate braille.
  3. Text and no audio:
    This is a DTB containing a Navigation Center and marked up/structured electronic text only. No audio is present. This file may be used for the production of braille.

Advantages of Daisy DTBs

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