Cristina Mussinelli, Fondazione LIA @Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, TISP workshop

1. Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General of Fondazione LIA
Money for innovation: how the European Commission promotes
growth for Creative Industries
Frankfurt Book Fair - October 15th
The case of LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili

2. 2www.fondazionelia.org
The LIA Foundation is a non-profit foundation, aimed at promoting books
and reading, in all its forms, both traditional and digital, through education,
information, awareness and research in this area.
Started as 3 years project funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture.
Was created in May 2014 by Italian Publishers Association and has a strong
collaboration with Italian Blind Union.
The Foundation intends to, in particular:
• promote reading among all vulnerable groups through initiatives to expand
their access to publishing products through reasearch and technological
innovation;
• spread a culture of accessibility in the publishing sector and to the other
companies in the digital publishing industry (distributors, booksellers,
manufacturers of hardware and software, etc..);
• training for users, visually impaired and other types of disable people with
uncomfortable conditions in reading.
LIA: project, service, foundation

3. 3www.fondazionelia.org
Key aspect: Accessibility: traditional vs digital
1 ebook=1 ebook
readable
1 ebook= 1 ebook
readable
1 ebook=1 ebook
readable
with Braille displays
1 books=10
braille books
1 book=10
enlarged
characters
1 book=1
audiobook
(Cd, mp3)
1 book= 1
file with low
editorial
quality
1 ebook=1 is a
file with high
editorial quality
DIFFERENTWORKFLOWSFOR1EACHUSER
1WORKFLOWFORMANYUSERS
• Ad hoc creation = very expensive.
• Huge public funds for micro-results
• Long delay for readers before
obtaining the desired version
• Readers can access accessible
• versions in the same way and at the
same time as any other reader
• This takes place irrespectively of
copyright exception and in a more
efficient way

4. 4www.fondazionelia.org
• Publication format and content must be accessible
• Reading system used must support the accessible content and be
accessible as well
• Publication, in the context of the reading system, must be useable with
Assistive Technology (AT)
All 3 components must be working or it is impractical to include a given
feature as a requirement for accessibility in published documents.
Plus information on accessibility must be delivered along the distribution
value chain
•
Key aspect: Accessibility requirements

5. 5www.fondazionelia.org
All the Value Chain of Digital Publishing is involved

6. 6www.fondazionelia.org
The driving concept of LIA is its
breakthrough approach to
accessibility:
• same books
• same channels
• same information
• same reading system
for an inclusive
digital reading experience
Key aspect: full inclusion approach

7. 7www.fondazionelia.org
LIA-Libri Italiani Accessibili is an online accessible catalogue
• more of 10.000 fiction and non fiction titles in Italian in accessible format
• a wide variety of offer: classics, best sellers, literary prizes and children
books
• distribution through online bookstore and lending platform
www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it
In progress (+ 400 new titles each month):
• June 2013: 3.000 titles of 44 publishers
• October 2015: + 10.000 titles of 65 publishers
The result: The LIA service

8. 8www.fondazionelia.org
• Blind and visually impaired readers will no longer have to find out the
desired text: they have same books at the same time and price
• Accessibility is becoming part of the production workflow for all
EPUBs of trade LIA publishers
• Growing number of titles representing the variety of the editorial
market
• Accessible EPUB are better EPUBs for everybody
• Growing online bookshop awareness of accessibility requirements
thanks to LIA
• Accessibility requirements implemented by online payment services.
benefit for all purchases, not only LIA e-book
Already achieved results

9. 9www.fondazionelia.org
• Not only fiction and non fiction but professional, education,
institutional publication etc
• New production tools including accessibility as mainstream feature
• Fully accessible e-reading systems integrating DRM options (whose
technology creates difficulties to let people reading in a fully accessible
way)
• Inclusion of metadata on accessibility in global online bookstore
which now use proprietary schemas
• E-reading technology is always evolving and changing: more research
and development focused on mainstream accessibility is needed
• Consultancy and training is needed both for publishers, software
developers and production suppliers
• Support for specific training for visual impaired people
What’s next?

10. 10www.fondazionelia.org
A shared effort is necessary, involving all the actors:
• Publishers
• Reading software developers
• Producers of e-readers and tablets
• Online stores and e-commerce platforms
• Electronic payment system
Fondazione Lia is part of an international network:
• ABConsortium
• IDPF (Internationa Digital Publishing Forum)
• Readium Foundation
• Bisg Accessibility Group
Lesson learned: collaboration and pro-active approach

11. 11www.fondazionelia.org
An European excellence globally recognized
Mention as international best practice by G3ict
(Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs), UN’s
initiative about ICT and inclusion
Nomination for the e-Inclusion Awards
2012, a European Commission contest aimed
at raising awareness and reward the
excellences and the best practices on the use
of digital technologies to reduce digital divide
in Europe
Nomination among best innova tive
practice s 2014 by Zero Proj ect,
international initiative aimed ad supporting
disabled people’s rights
One of the four finalists selected by WIPO
Accessible Book Consortium in the
International Excellence Award 2014.

12. 12www.fondazionelia.org
On November 13° in Milano Fondazione Lia will host
in occasion of the Daisy Consortium Board Meeting an
International Seminar on Accessibility
in the Publishing Ecosystem
Interested in participating?
Contact segreteria@fondazionelia.org

13. Fondazione LIA
Corso di Porta Romana, 108, 20122 Milano (Italy)
Tel. (+39) 02 89280801
Mail: segreteria@fondazionelia.org
www.fondazionelia.org
www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it
Twitter #fondazionelia