douglas g blane presentation alt format mainstreaming digital talking bookproduction080415

MainstreamingDigital Talking Book production By Douglas G BlaneTechnical Co-ordinatorDigital Audio [email protected]/disability

Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2008

AcronymsCSS Cascading Style SheetsDAISY Digital Accessible Information SystemDDA Disability Discrimination Act DTB Digital Talking BookDTD Document Type DefinitionHTML Hypertext Mark-up LanguageOU The Open UniversityPDA Personal Digital AssistantPDF Portable Document FormatSENDA Special Educational Needs & Disability ActSMIL Synchronized Multimedia Integration LanguageVLE Virtual Learning EnvironmentW3C World Wide Web ConsortiumXML eXtendable Mark-up Language


‘The human mind is a fire which has to be set alight … we take this as our ambition’

Lord CrowtherThe Open University Chancellor 1969


Introduction• Background• Types of student disabilities• Why mainstream DTB production?• Structure is the key• OU production workflow• OU production processes• Mainstreaming beyond disability• Looking into the future• A student’s perspective


Background

180,000 students actively studying with the OU

10,000 (5.6%) OU students registered as disabled

Not all disabled students studying with the OU register as disabled with the OU All statistics based on 2007 data


Types of student disabilitiesFatigue / Pain 3904Mobility / Physical 2926Mental health 2448Manual skills 1914Other 1735Dyslexia 1606

Sight 938Unseen disability 854Hearing 693Personal care 669Speech 351Autistic spectrum 58

Students may have more than one disability


Why mainstream DTB production?• Increase number of courses available as DTBs• Decrease our costs to produce DTBs• Provide DTBs & other e-formats for all students• Meet students individual preferred learning styles• Provide “structured” MP3 files for all students• Decrease our costs to distribute DTBs via the web / VLE• Comply with SENDA & DDA legislation


Structure is the key• The Open University Structured Authoring system

• Provides structured outputs in XML, Word, HTML, PDF etc

• Allows automated transformation into DAISY Digital Talking Books


Structure is the key• The Open University Structured Authoring system


OU Production WorkflowWord

Structure:Schemas

DTDs

Print layout PDF

XML

Web forms

Editors: IllustrationFormatting

forPublishing

Editors: Audio Visual

Other inputs

Learning objects

HTML

VLE

DAISY DTB

Structured MP3

Other outputsCreated by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2008

OU Production WorkflowWord

Structure:Schemas

DTDs

XML

Formattingfor

Publishing

DAISY DTB

Structured MP3


OU Production Workflow

OU StructuredAuthoring

OU XML

DAISY DTB

Structured MP3DAISY XML

Word


OU Production ProcessesCourse

material

OUhandcraftedprocesses OU DTBs

Humanvoice

OU DTBsoftware



material

OUhandcraftedprocesses

DAISYDTBs

StructuredMP3

Otheroutputs

OU DTBs

Synthesisedvoice

Mixedsynthesised

& humanvoices

Humanvoice

DAISYPipeline

EasyPublisher

EasyConverter

XML

OU DTBsoftware



materialDAISYDTBs

StructuredMP3

Otheroutputs

Synthesisedvoice

Mixedsynthesised

& humanvoices

Humanvoice

DAISYPipeline

EasyPublisher

EasyConverter

XML


Mainstreaming Beyond Disability• DAISY DTB software player

– Cost

– Platform dependent



– Cost

Free OU DTB Player based on a business model similar to Adobe Acrobat Reader

Increase potential DAISY DTB usage in to the mainstream market

Increase potential demand for DAISY DTBs

Increase potential market share

Increase potential revenue Created by Douglas G Blane © The Open University 2008


– Cost

Free OU DTB Player

– Platform independent

Web browser plug-in OU DTB Player



– Cost

Free OU DTB Player



Can be used on Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix, PDA, mobile phones, other



– Cost

Free OU DTB Player




Looking into the future• Further integration of academic learning structures into

the DAISY standard


Looking into the future• Further Integration of academic learning structures into

the DAISY standard• Integration of OU & BBC co-produced television

programmes into DTBs




programmes into DTBs• Integration of multimedia content into DTBs




programmes into DTBs• Integration of multimedia content into DTBs• Mobile content for mobile devices


A student’s perspectiveOver to Susan Baxter…

You can watch this video online through The Open University YouTube area:

www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenUniversity


Digital Audio ProjectDisabled Student ServicesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AAwww.open.ac.uk/disability


douglas g blane presentation alt format mainstreaming digital talking bookproduction080415

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