There's been a couple of developments I've been tracking in the alternate format text world that bear sharing today.
The Good News
O'Reilly Books, prolific and well-respected publisher of tech books often used for computer science courses, has for some time been providing all of their texts to
Bookshare to create accessible versions. Today,
O'Reilly announced that they will add text DAISY formats of their books to their lineup of formating options. O'Reilly joins startup publisher
FlatWorld Knowledge in the small cadre of publishers who offer books in formats that anyone, regardless of disability, can purchase in the same way, at the same time, and at the same (or lower!) price. Kudos, O'Reilly. We hope the big publishers learn from your example!
The Not-Quite-As-Good News, But Still Better Than It Was Before
The Blind Access Journal has thoroughly reviewed the Kindle 3's new accessibility features. If this is of interest to you, I highly recommend reading Larry's review. There's definitely both good news and bad news there. Bottom line - Kindle still has a way to go to get to equal access for their blind customers.
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