E-Publisher Making Accessibility Universal
Christopher Stephen is an Australian pioneer in
electronic publishing. To help his sister, who has multiple sclerosis, maintain
her joy of reading, he was motivated to expand the services that electronic
publishing offers to people with disabilities. His company’s Web site is
www.readhowyouwant.com, abbreviated as RHYW. He was
interviewed by John M. Williams.
Q: What commercial benefits do you see in RHYW's
multiple publishing services?
A:
There are many benefits including:
1. We can help level the playing field for people with
disabilities. This means that less time is spent trying to acquire content or
make it accessible.
2. We can allow individuals as they age to continue to
participate with ease in an enriching activity.
3. We can help improve
literacy by providing formats that will benefit struggling and reluctant
readers.
4. We can help publishers meet legal requirements for providing
accessible content.
5. And we provide publishers with a vested business
interest for making their content accessible.
Q: Who benefits from your services?
A: Consumers, libraries and publishers will benefit
from our services. Let me expand. There are two broad categories of consumers
who will benefit from RHYW services:
Category 1 is those individuals who are unable to read
standard -format books because of illness that affects their vision/eye control
(MS, diabetes, macular degeneration, stroke, etc.). There are visual challenges
such as blindness, low vision. Other disabilities are cerebral palsy and
learning differences such as dyslexia. Lots of research shows that large print
benefits dyslexics and students who are labeled reluctant readers. This
category of readers spans all ages but skews toward older people as age-related
issues and diseases are the fastest-growing category segment of the visually
impaired market. For validation of this, see the number of vision-related
products on the market – magnifiers, etc., and catalogs and Web sites
directed to this demographic.
Q: And the second category?
A: Category 2 is readers who prefer large print
because it makes reading easier. They do not consider themselves disabled. They
prefer large print. This is the market that Thorndike, Doubleday and other
large-print providers serve and have served for many, many years. This is a
proven market that is growing as the population ages. At the same time, this
population is poorly served because only a small percentage of books are
available in large print.
In addition, we will be addressing how to help people for
whom English is a second language, and we will try to help busy people like
researchers and academics to read and learn better by changing the format of
books.
Q: How can you help libraries and publishers?
A: For the first time, libraries will be able to
order books in the formats best suited to their readers, and they will be able
to order shelf-ready books. And we are working on a library donation program
where individuals and companies can give books to libraries and have the name
of the donor and a message from the donor printed in the donated book.
Publishers will be able to do the right thing and make their books available in
multiple formats (and comply with disability discrimination legislation) with
little risk and no upfront cost and make some money at the same time, with
little effort.
Q: What benefits are there to an individual
without a disability who uses your services?
A: Most people who have tried our EasyRead
large-print formats and who do not have a disability have responded favorably
to the large print. The usual response is: “I can read this!”
Publishers have been reducing font size on standard editions so that they can
put more words on a page, thus reducing the amount of paper they need to print
a book. The result has been smaller and smaller type, so that even readers with
normal vision have difficulty reading many standard books.
The more I study reading, the more complex and personal it
appears to be. It also appears that there are many more things we are likely to
be able to do for people – help them to read better, faster, remember
things better, pronounce words better and so on. Large type can do this for
some people right now, and we are expecting to be able do a lot more in the
future. We have optimized the EasyRead by improving eye tracking, using a font
that is very easy for people to recognize, and reducing hyphenation.
The DAISY formats will allow people to read and listen to
text at the same time. We have “chunked” the text so that phrases are
pronounced and highlighted. We will also be trying new ways to display the text
with DAISY.
Q: How difficult is it to convince print publishers
to provide your type of printing services?
A: In the beginning, it was slow and difficult
getting books from publishers. But several factors are changing this; the
business model is proved. We are now established and getting sales. The sales
of eBooks, especially on the Kindle, have taken off. Hard times are making
publishers realize that they need to change, and disability discrimination
lawsuits in some jurisdictions have spurred publishers to act.
Q: What is the commercial future of RHYW?
A: We want to become the one-stop shop for
accessible and personalized publishing – both for publishers and
consumers. We want to work cooperatively with publishers, distributors, book
sellers and disability support organizations so that we can educate readers and
get the right edition to each reader. We want to work with reading researchers
to expand our range of formats and understand better which format suits which
reader and why.
Q: Are you the future of printing?
A: Personalized books do allow us to format books
for specific printing machinery so we can print high-quality books on different
printing machinery, allowing us to set up a print distribution network in many
different countries. We are using POD (print on demand) technology to allow
people to have books in their format of choice and to personalize books with
reader dedications, allowing readers to design the formats to suit themselves.
We definitely think that the future of publishing will change and readers will
be able to get books in their format of choice. We don’t buy shoes that
don’t fit – why buy books that don’t suit us?
Q: What is Chris Stephen's mission with RHYW?
A: My mission is to provide people the information
they want to read in their format of choice at the time of publication at a
fair price. I want publishers and authors paid for all editions of their books
that are sold. If we want authors to write, they need to be paid.
To do this we need to accomplish the following:
- Educate publishers to the business benefits of
reaching these underserved markets.
- Educate consumers that the option of having content in
their format of choice is a reality and a right. This will lead to readers
creating demand for accessible formats.
- Continue to do our own research, drive institutions to
fund research and help develop the body of research on how literacy and
learning outcomes can be improved by offering choice in formats.
- We need to continue to improve the technology in order
to make it quicker and more cost effective to convert complicated texts to
accessible formats.
- And we need to get these new editions into the hands of
people who need or want them.
I want RHYW to benefit people with disabilities so that
they can have access to content just like everyone else in society. It levels
the playing field in this area. People with disabilities will have access to a
much broader range of content than is currently available to them in the
current system. People with disabilities will be able to participate in the
conversations about books that we take for granted in our communities and
personal lives as they will be able to get the content in a more timely manner.
Currently, the time lag on the NLS (National Library Service) providing a
best-selling title in Braille in the library system is at best six months from
publication, effectively shutting Braille readers out of the conversation with
their sighted peers. As well, I’d like to see a greater dissemination of
accessible formats in the public library system that will allow the library
system to serve all of their patrons more comprehensively.
Q: Is there an age group that you think prefers
your services rather than holding a book?
A: Of course, the baby boomers are now all getting
older and many are using reading glasses. Seniors are the fastest-growing
segment of the population, and many of them already need or prefer large-print
books. We try to make our editions small enough so that most people can hold
them. Readers who would prefer not to hold a book can read books on an e-book
reader or a computer screen in PDF format. For other readers, we offer the
option of DAISY, Braille or audio formats. The choice we offer to people is to
have it their way. We are offering a whole new concept in publishing which for
the first time allows people to choose how they access their content. This is
certainly the case for non-sighted individuals who either read Braille or
listen to various audio formats of books. We give readers the choice of reading
a book in 24-point type instead of having to use a visual aid such as a
magnifier. We give other readers the opportunity to choose the format of a book
that suits them at the same time that it is made available in standard formats.
Q: Are schools receptive to using your technology?
If they are, how?
A: The schools are receptive to the practical
outcomes of our technology -- books in accessible formats -- so that all
students have access to content. The model we are pursuing is partnering with
publishers to make their copyrighted content available in accessible formats.
They are receptive, as content needs to be accessible in order to meet the
textbook adoption requirements of the large public-school systems.
Schools are required to provide materials in accessible
formats to meet the needs of children with learning differences and children
with disabilities. Schools are committed to improving literacy and are always
looking for new ways to aid struggling and reluctant readers.
Assistive-technology departments in schools are spending enormous amounts of
time, energy and money to convert books for students that we could convert more
efficiently and with more choices in format for the students. We would like to
begin working closely with schools to create accessible formats so that they
can make better use of their resources for things like research and hands-on
help for students who need it. Greater dissemination of accessible content in
the school system will allow students with disabilities to get necessary course
materials more efficiently -- another way the playing field will be leveled.
John M. Williams, who coined the phrase
“assistive technology,” has been writing about disability issues
since 1978. He can be reached at jmmaw@verizon.net.
His Web site is www.atechnews.com. |
