Purchasing Born Accessible Software and Content Can Change the World 16 November, 2018

Speakers Philip Voorhees, Technology Accessibility Coordinator, University of Nevada George Kerscher, Chief Innovations Officer, DAISY Consortium Robin Seaman, Director of Content, Benetech

Introduction Philip Voorhees Technology Accessibility Coordinator University of Nevada Philip.Voorhees@univ.edu

George Kerscher A Model for Systemic Industry Wide Change Chief Innovations Officer DAISY Consortium kerscher@montana.com

Handshake between Reading App, Content and Assistive Technology Reading App, Content, and Assistive Technology must all be working together Content must be feature rich, for structural navigation, page navigation, and ease of use The App must expose features to the end user The Assistive Technology must integrate with the Reading App

Strategy Towards Born Accessible Published Materials Identify Standards for the format Establish the baseline and get buy-in for the format Build tools for accessibility checking of the format Develop a methodology for evaluating Reading Apps Create perfect test books in the format Disseminate results of testing the Reading Apps

Google Impact Challenge Thank you to Google for the funding that made this work possible We are at the end of the three year grant The work will carry on

EPUB 3 the Publishing Standard Standards work conducted in the W3C EPUB 3 approved in 2011 Improvements continue, with 3.2 being approved this year Whole EPUB 3 solid with accessibility Broadly adopted in publishing Publishers want a single file they can move into all distribution channels Distributors of EPUB include: Apple iBooks and the new Apple Books, Google Play Books, Microsoft Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, VitalSource, RedShelf,Follett, and Amazon’s Kindle recommends EPUB 3 for their ingestion

EPUB Accessibility Conformance and Discovery Specification Approved January 2017 Establishes the baseline for accessibility References WCAG A and AA Adds EPUB specific requirements Publishers can make conformance claims Metadata present that can be used for Discovery Praised by the publishing industry for setting the bar

Accessibility Checker for EPUB Ace by DAISY Free open source software Works for all versions of EPUB Automatically checks the whole title and reports errors Identifies content for manual review Provides in HTML report for easy viewing Includes a JSON report for machine processing, like for a distributor Has a simple GUI so anybody can run it

Isolating the Reading App for Testing First we must be able to test only the Reading App We start with a perfect EPUB with no errors We can then test features of the App We test with Assistive Technology We test in environments we know students use We work with App developers to fix their errors We work with AT vendors to improve their offerings

Dissemination of Accessibility Results We want universities to pick Reading Apps that really work We want to be able to discover what content conforms to AA We want students to use the Reading Apps that are best for them We want Disabled Student Offices to promote Born accessible EPUB Learn more at: http://www.inclusivepublishing.org

Robin Seaman Global Certified Accessible Director of Content Benetech robins@benetech.org

Global Certified Accessible First-ever certification initiative A global initiative – Creating a worldwide “standard” in collaboration with DAISY Engaging publishers and procurement offices Expanding Benetech’s social mission to help publishers create material that’s accessible from the get go

Global Certified Accessible Participating Partners Dedicon RNIB Vision Australia DAISY Consortium

Why Certification? The Legal Landscape Increasing demand to provide third-party validation of digital files Achieving the Potential of Digital Publishing Accessibility presents the most exciting challenges in digital publishing A Training Tool for Publishers Fulfilling Benetech’s social mission

Benetech’s Certification Model An Economical Two-step Approach Based on Subscription Pricing Publisher Accreditation Benetech accredits the publisher after a rigorous review of a representative sample of titles (anywhere from three to ten titles) from a single production workflow. Auto-Certification Once accredited, Benetech grants them the publisher a one-year license to certify their content, renewable on an annual basis through a subscription model.

VitalSource Bookstore: AccessibleBooks.org First retail store for accessible books All GCA titles included VitalSource® will promote certification to their publishers and include certification metadata in their catalog feed to retailers

Benetech’s Certification Pilot 40 titles from 10 publishers: Macmillan Learning Wiley Penguin Random House Harvard Business Press Elsevier Amnet (Conversion Vendor): Oxford University Press Springer Duke University Press University Press of Kentucky Demos Medical

Initial Publishing Partners Macmillan Learning McGraw-Hill Education Wiley Simon & Schuster

What Does It Take To Be Certified? Conformance to EPUB 1.0 Accessibility Specification Baseline WCAG AA (excluding Long Description requirement) Page Navigation Discovery and Conformance Metadata

Philip Voorhees Procurement, Policy and Process Technology Accessibility Coordinator University of Nevada Philip.Voorhees@univ.edu

Policy 16 November, 2018

Do you have an Accessible Procurement Policy? THEC Accessibility Task Force Recommendations Penn State University of Montana University of Miami Nevada System of Higher Education Section 15. Policy for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Accessibility

Legal Background Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Americans with Disabilities Act Section 508 Settlement Agreements 2010/11 Dear Colleague Letter/FAQ

The Hat Rack Definition of Accessibility With respect to this policy, “accessible” means that individuals with disabilities are able to independently acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same benefits and services within the same timeframe as their nondisabled peers, with substantially equivalent ease of use. NSHE Section 15. b.

What Are Your Guidelines and Are They Consistent? 508 WCAG 2.0 AA EPUB Accessibility ATAG, UAAG, WCAG21CT, (WAI-ARIA) 1.1 etc

What is this WCAG Stuff Anyway? Why WCAG? Higher Ed Agreements and Consent Decrees Private Sector Andrews v.Blick Art Materials

Accessibility Language in Contracts What to meet (guidelines) How to demonstrate the vendor meets guidelines What happens if vendor does not currently meet all your requirements Warranty, Indemnification and Cancellation

The Documents Used to Support Policy Accessibility Statement Accessibility Roadmap VPAT

Building the Vendor Relationship 16 November, 2018

A Relationship is Essential Most vendors are not fully conformant to accessibility guidelines! Working with vendors is essential in supporting your ICT accessibility initiative! Which vendors will be willing to work with you and which will not? Higher-Ed General Market - The in-betweens Very Specialized

What to Expect From the Vendor A product accessibility expert is available Specify where technical standards are, and are not, met Warranty availability and performance of technical standards that are met Participate in identifying accessible alternative access options Negotiate support in providing options

Using the Dear Colleague 2011FAQ Letter WHAT educational benefits and opportunity does your institution provide through the use of the technology? (ASK THE VENDOR!) HOW will the technology provide those benefits? (ASK THE VENDOR) DOES the technology exist in an accessible format? IF NOT, is there an accessible alternative/can it be modified? WHAT does an accessible modification look like? DCL 2011 FAQ

Now What? Develop a procurement workflow: Requester, Accessibility Liaison, Testing / Validation Procurement Review documentation for accuracy Leverage vendor’s testing results Have vendor demonstrate accessibility Always confirm accessibility of ICT Include accessibility roadmap in contract Create an alternate access plan with vendor when needed Never rely on vendor accessibility results only! Test! Test! Test! Possible 3rd party conformance certificates

NEEDED!!! Repository of vetted vendors with their: Accessibility Rating Accessibility Statements Accessibility Roadmaps Alternate Access Plans Example (AIMT) Conformance Webform

Myriad of Questions? 16 November, 2018