[Athen] [Fwd: New Concept in Textbooks]

Ron Stewart ron at ahead.org
Tue Nov 17 08:37:02 PST 2009


Thanks for the clarification on this, guess I should have spent more time on
the site.



You are right on, an HTML based system would be great, Pearson is now
producing some HTML textbooks in the k-12 space unfortunately there is not
descriptive text on the images and no way to add it at this point. Though I
understand they are working on a possible solution.

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ4Z4
<http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ4Z4&PMDbProgramId=67381&P
MDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=6732&PMDbCategoryId=806

>

&PMDbProgramId=67381&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=6
732&PMDbCategoryId=806



Ron



From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Ken Petri
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 3:27 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] [Fwd: New Concept in Textbooks]



The output I saw was HTML. I created an account and tried to create a couple
of "chapters" of a "book." Students get an online textbook, of sorts. It has
the ability to mark up and add notes to text, skip through chapters, etc.
Even though it is HTML, it is not very accessible.

There appears to be no keyboard-only navigation and the page markup is
geared primarily to visual users. The next-previous buttons are not tab
navigable, for instance. Neither are any of the drop down menus that give
you access to key functionality, such as bookmarking and noting.

With a screen reader I can hunt around and mostly figure out what things are
(so long as I don't rely on the tab key--what most web application users
would expect), but I can't access any of the necessary high-level fly-out
menus. This keeps me from being able to access a lot of core
functionality--just like with keyboard-only use.

Note: this is just a once over and I'm not even pretending to give a
complete analysis. I would say the system has promise (an all HTML book
system with basic not-taking ability) but the developers clearly did not
have accessibility in mind.

Best,
ken
-------------------------------------------------------
Ken Petri
Program Director
OSU Web Accessibility Center
102D Pomerene Hall
1760 Neil Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Phone: (614) 292-1760
Fax: (614) 292-4190
mailto:petri.1 at osu.edu
-------------------------------------------------------



On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 1:12 PM, Ron Stewart <ron at ahead.org> wrote:

It appears to be PDF based so I would not hold my breath.



Ron Stewart



From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Heidi Scher
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 1:06 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] [Fwd: New Concept in Textbooks]



Hi Melanie,

I've not seen this, but electronic = access is definitely a misunderstanding
that I've been combating for some time now with faculty. Would definitely
be interested in hearing about this process and accessibility issues!

Heidi



On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Melanie Thornton <mpthornton at ualr.edu>
wrote:

Has anyone seen books produced using this process? I wrote to them and
asked about accessibility. It concerns me because professors may think
electronic equals accessible.

Melanie

-------- Original Message --------


Subject:

New Concept in Textbooks


Date:

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:15:51 -0500


From:

Publisher at gobongobooks.com


To:

mpthornton at ualr.edu



Do you have a collection of notes, articles, tests, and other materials for
your course?

Would you like to integrate all of it with your word documents, powerpoints,
charts, and spreadsheets, and link to web resources?

Bongobooks helps you blend it altogether into an e-book for your course.

You and your students receive great benefits including:

* An e-book that exactly matches your course requirements
* Zero cost to you and your readers (royalty option available too)
* Self - publish and retain ownership of your e-book

Take a look at: http://gobongobooks.com

_____

GOBONGO LLC PO BOX 132 Jamestown NY 14702

If you prefer not to receive commercial email click here
<http://gobongobooks.com/unsubscribe.php?e=mpthornton@ualr.edu> .



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Director, Project PACE
Associate Director, Disability Resource Center
2801 S. University Ave., DSC #103
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204
501.650.2239 (cell)
501.569.8240 (fax)
501.569.3217 (tty)

Websites:
http://ualr.edu/pace
http://ualr.edu/disability

We want your comments!
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AIM: MelanieatUALR

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+++++++++++++++
Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC
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Center for Educational Access
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