The document discusses the accessibility of e-texts, ebooks, and ejournals for print-impaired individuals in the UK, highlighting the prevalence of print disabilities and the benefits of ebooks. It presents various initiatives aimed at improving accessibility and outlines research indicating that customizable features in ebooks can enhance reading experiences for impaired readers. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for standardization, personalization, and conversation around copyright for better access to educational resources.

1. Accessibility of etext, ebooks and ejournals: their market places and devices - UK.
E.A. Draffan, University of Southampton
ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk
http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk

2. Removing barriers for print impaired individuals
•In the UK, approximately 4% of learners in higher education have a print disability,.
•10% of the general population are dyslexic
•between 20 and 50% of men in prison have a specific learning disability.
•By age 70-80 ebooks could support you YOUR poor vision (20% risk) or fine motor control difficulties (50% risk).

3. E-text revolution – SCONUL* Annual Library Statistics, 2010-2011
•UK university libraries offered access to 21,189,696 ebooks
•17, 612, 276 ebooks were purchased
•1089 e-book databases were purchased
•Expenditure on ebooks was £12,751,3421920
•Mean average of ebooks/100 FTE students is 1,168
*The Society of College, National and University Libraries

4. E-text revolution - Ebrary global ebook survey, 2011
Ebook usage is on a par with print books, with almost equal numbers of students using each type.
• 72% of students would use ebooks if there were more titles in their subject area.
• 60% of students would use ebooks if there were less restrictions on printing & copying.
• 85% of students want to download to a PC (up from 80% in 2008).

5. UK Progress
•Right to Read Alliance coordinating message to publishers
•·Publisher Lookup website responding to user feedback
•Accessibility Action Group – reps from publishing industry and advocacy groups – meeting 3-4 times a year to:
–identify areas of strategic importance
–identify areas of future importance and help communicate the value to our audiences (eg EDUPUB)
–plan and implement accessibility seminars for the last 5 London Bookfairs
•Load2Learn – originally schools now FE and Skills sector- integrates with Publisher Lookup website – Bookshare links
•High quality text to speech voices made freely available to education sectors in Scotland, England and Wales.

6. Modelling a Framework for eBook Accessibility
Thanks to JISC TechDis www.jisctechdis.ac.uk
Disabled Learners understanding what they could expect and how it would make a difference.
Learning Providers
understanding the costs of inaccessibility and their legal obligations to learners.
Technology Evolution (Education) Ebook collections, virtual learning environments, WiFi hotspots, Bring Your Own Device. Data analytics.
Technology Evolution (Publishing) XML first workflows, Ebooks, EPUB3, WIPO enabling technologies framework, ONIX Codelist 196, Multiple platform delivery.
Key drivers

7. ICT Issues affecting ease of acquisition…
Accessible e-book retrieval
Browser
Ebook search engine
Library online catalogue
Ebook platform
Ebook shop
Ebook retrieval

8. ICT Factors affecting ease of use…
Accessible e- book
hardware
operating system
App / software
Copyright / lending restrictions
Publisher
content of the book

9. Why are e-books helpful for print impaired readers?
•Recent studies suggest that for print impaired readers:
–Allowing reader to select the font, size and colour can improve reading accuracy (Petrie et al, 2005)
–Reading shorter lines of text on a small screen can improve reading speed (Schneps et al, 2013)
–Hearing and seeing the text in a synchronised manner can improve reading speed, accuracy and comprehension (Stodden et al, 2012)
•These personalisations can be provided through ebooks if they are accessible and customisable

10. What makes e-text accessible?
•Alter font size, style, spacing and justification
•Alter font and background colour
•Text can be read aloud
–User can select different voices and speed
•Annotate the text
–Search
–Notes & bookmarks
–Dictionary
Based on Web2Access (http://web2access.org.uk/)

11. Edupub - ePub3 support grid - http://www.epubtest.org/

12. Case study – I have to study Romeo & Juliet…..
•Tested Romeo & Juliet in:
–PDF format
–Kindle format
–Generic ebook format with no copy restrictions
•7 devices
•10 apps on Android
•4 apps on iPad and iPhone
•4 ebook readers on Windows
•2 Kindle devices

13. Case Study Results
•Scores ranged from 100% to 21%
•Top scoring app: 100% Voice Dream on iPad or iPhone for all book formats
•Tests that scored 75%+
–ebooks on iBooks on iPad or iPhone
–Kindle books on iPad or iPhone (but low scores on other platforms)
–ebooks and text documents with Cool Reader (Android)
–ebooks with Blio on iPad and iPhone

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Ebook accessibility rating: blue iOS apps, red Android apps, green Kindle device, grey Windows apps

15. Keep watching this space….
“To be blunt, I don't think there is any "great" solution right now for online textbook sources as you have limitations with all of them.”
Sean Keegan, Stanford University
ATHEN Email Forum, 26th March 2014

16. Still to be achieved…
Standardisation of formats, devices and content personalisation
Copyright and Digital Rights Management relaxation
Guidance for Accessibility options
?
Thank You

17. References
Ebrary global ebook survey, 2011 quoted in CILIP Ebook Acquisition and Lending Briefing (updated) http://www.cilip.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Ebook%20Acquisition%20and%20Lending%20Briefing%20July%202013_0.pdf
Guide for testing and developing http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/assets/Documents/accessebookresearch.pdf
Petrie, H., Weber, G., Fisher, W.(2005) Personalization, interaction, and navigation in rich multimedia documents for print-disabled users. IBM Syst. J. 44(3), 629–635
Schneps MH, Thomson JM, Sonnert G, Pomplun M, Chen C, et al. (2013) Shorter Lines Facilitate Reading in Those Who Struggle. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71161. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071161
SCONUL Annual Library Statistics, 2010-2011 http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/ALS1011.pdf
Stodden, N. J. (2012). Use of Text-to-speech Software to Improve Reading Skills of High School Struggling Readers. Procedia Computer Science, 14(Dsai), 359– 362. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2012.10.041