Next Generation Accessible Media Tracking, Exchange, and Management AIMHub Next Generation Accessible Media Tracking, Exchange, and Management Cheryl Pruitt cpruitt@calstate.edu Gaeir Dietrich gdietrich@htctu.net Jack Sullivan jsullivan@calstate.edu Cheryl

The Need for “AIM” About 7% of the 2.4 million California Community College (CCC) students have some declared disability 171,090 students with disabilities reported in the CCCs in 2015–2016 school year About 1% of CCC students qualify as having a “print disability,” i.e., they have difficulty accessing standard printed materials Most of these students have some form of learning disability Data from California Community College Chancellor’s Office Web site (Data Mart): http://www.cccco.edu/divisions/tris/mis/reports.htm

Options for Accessible Formats Commercial sources Amazon audio books, Kindle books with text-to-speech enabled, VitalSource, audible.com, etc. Alternate media producers (non-profit) Bookshare, Learning Ally (formerly RFB&D), American Printing House (APH) etc. In-house From publisher files or scanned by campus

Traditionally Trained disability professionals assessed needs and provided accommodations Disability services “solved the problems” …and the campus was happy to let you do so!

But… The disability services office is a method of administration… Not a magic wand! And when it comes to technology sometimes a miracle would come in handy…because we are legally required to provide access!

Not Equal Digital does not mean accessible! Just because something is digital does not mean that it is accessible to all! And equally effective access is the legal right of students with disabilities

Communication The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has paid specific attention to communication, including course materials (print-based and otherwise), and requires that the communication to be as effective as that provided to nondisabled students.

Effective Communication Effectiveness is defined by three components: timeliness of delivery accuracy of the translation provision in a manner and medium appropriate to the significance of the message and the abilities of the individual with the disability

Time Counts Of those three criteria, timeliness is the hardest to meet Obtaining electronic publisher files can take weeks And processing may still be required In-house production can take weeks to months More complex formats (STEM, foreign language, music, etc.) can take even longer

Campus Needs A tool to find and obtain existing accessible materials. A tool to track accessible media production. A tool to manage the accessible material files. A tool that provides detailed reporting. Gaeir

Existing Campus Exchange Systems Center for Accessible Media California State University Available to CSU and UC campuses File upload/download Book holdings Automatic publisher request forms Exchange tracking AMXDB Alternate Media eXchange Database California Community Colleges Available to all post-secondary campuses Email exchange Book and video holdings Publisher contact information Exchange and workflow tracking Cheryl and Gaeir/ Current solutions and challenges CAM exchanges approximately 1,300 titles per year, saving hours of employee time and promoting student success by ensuring timely delivery of instructional materials.

CAM and AMXDB Limitations Duplicated and fractured effort 10+ years old Focused on exchanging materials Cheryl

AIMHub Goals Combine resources Modernize Manage materials and production Gaeir

Combine Resources Increased accessible materials resources -- titles for all three systems in one easy-to-use application Eliminate CSU/CCC parallel systems -- duplication of effort and a lack of efficiency Shared application -- save time, money, and resources

Modernize Opportunity to gather user feedback and feature requests 9/12/2016 Modernize Opportunity to gather user feedback and feature requests User Interface built on principles of Universal Design World Cat service automatically populates all the book information based on the ISBN number Intercampus exchanges more efficient and secure Users of the current applications expressed a number of concerns: (1) managing archives of alternate formats, (2) workload of exchanging formats, (3) discovery of needed materials, (4) managing student requests for alternate formats. AIMHub will address each of these issues though purpose-built tools with a desktop application that will provide the capability of managing student requests, accessing local files for exchange, managing directory structures, ensuring that sensitive information remains within a campus, and automatically interacting with Internet systems.

Manage materials and production 9/12/2016 Manage materials and production Desktop management application Organize and manage student requests Automatic fulfillment of accessible materials request Users of the current applications expressed a number of concerns: (1) managing archives of alternate formats, (2) workload of exchanging formats, (3) discovery of needed materials, (4) managing student requests for alternate formats. AIMHub will address each of these issues though purpose-built tools with a desktop application that will provide the capability of managing student requests, accessing local files for exchange, managing directory structures, ensuring that sensitive information remains within a campus, and automatically interacting with Internet systems.

Accessible Material Lifecycle Request Acquisition Production Delivery Storage CAM and AMXDB focus on acquisition via campus exchange. AIMHub also focuses on production tracking and storage management. Jack

AIMHub Diagram Jack

Roadmap Merge and import data from CAM and AMXDB. Implement campus exchange. Pilot with existing CAM and AMXDB campuses. Open to all campuses (v1.0). Production tracking (v2.0). Holdings management (v3.0). Integrate with other repositories and exchanges (v4.0). Jack

9/12/2016 Moving Forward Developing nationwide subscription model to support future development and maintenance Promoting the desktop alternative media management tool Building larger selections of accessible materials from a broader user base subscription model will be developed that will make AIMHub available to post-secondary institutions outside California. We project that the AIMHub desktop tool will fulfill a unique need for alternate media specialists by allowing them to organize and prioritize student alternate media requests, track alternate media workflow, schedule alternate media delivery, and streamline all aspects of the conversion process. As the number of colleges and systems in the AIMHub grows, we predict that CSU and CCC funding support will be replaced by revenue from subscription sales to outside campuses and systems. The intention is to phase out monetary support by the CSU and CCC systems, which as the initial developers, will continue to utilize the system free of charge. We anticipate the revenue will increase until AIMHub will be fully supported for on-going maintenance and development.

www.htctu.net  “HTCTU Listservers”  “Alt Media” What Can You Do Now? CAM and AMXDB members, verify contact information Non-members, sign up for AMXDB (gdietrich@htctu.net) Subscribe to the HTCTU alt-media listserv www.htctu.net  “HTCTU Listservers”  “Alt Media” Gaeir

Questions or Suggestions ? Cheryl