[Athen] Need Tips: Preparing JAWS-ready beginning Spanish textbook (Accessible PDF)

Nast, Joseph M Joseph.M.Nast at lonestar.edu
Thu Jan 21 12:16:45 PST 2016


I'd like to personally thank Dr. Haven and Professor Polizzotto for pointing me in the right direction on this matter. Thank you!

As challenging as it'll be for me to create a Daisy or EPub version of this book, my biggest worry is delivering the alt format in a timely manner - considering the semester has already started. As Dr. Haven noted earlier: "Retrofitting foreign-language educational materials into something appropriately accessible requires a lot of labor and attention to detail."

Fortunately, the DSO spirits have smiled upon us a bit; Learning Ally has this textbook available, read entirely by Spanish\English bilingual narrators. The audio seems to be satisfactorily detailed; readers even annunciate purely visual elements of the book like the afore-mentioned red-colored text. Naturally, I don't imagine it's a 1:1 substitute for a fully accessible Daisy book, but it seems to be much more accessible than a PDF in this case.

However, I'm not confident we'll always be this lucky, so I'll continue creating a Daisy\EPub version using the advice I've been given as a starting point. Apparently, I also need to do a better job at managing students' expectations when it comes to this kind of intense alt formatting. Submitting alt format requests 2 business days before the semester starts is No Bueno. :)

Gratefully,


Joseph M. Nast<mailto:joseph.m.nast at lonestar.edu>
Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator
office phone: 281.290.3207
office room number: CASA 109j
Lone Star College Cy Fair<http://cyfair.lonestar.edu/>
Counseling, Career, and Disability Services<http://www.lonestar.edu/counseling-services.htm>

The information in this e-mail is legally privileged and confidential information intended to be reviewed by only the individual or organization named above.



From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Normajean.Brand
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 1:01 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Need Tips: Preparing JAWS-ready beginning Spanish textbook (Accessible PDF)

Sooooo glad you brought this up Joseph! We're struggling with the same issues with another Spanish textbook for another JAWS user.

NJ

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Nast, Joseph M
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 5:55 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Need Tips: Preparing JAWS-ready beginning Spanish textbook (Accessible PDF)

Title: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish
Author: Dorwick, Thalia; Pérez-Gironés, Ana María; Becher, Anne
ISBN13: 9780073385419
Beyond simply using my OmniPage Pro to save\convert the publisher's non-accessible PDF to the tagged, searchable flavor, I was wondering if those wiser than me (meaning everyone) have any tips\best practices to offer regarding possibly problematic visual elements of the textbook, such as:


1. "Matching" mini-exercises that ask the reader to match items in the first column to a list of choices in the second.

2. Textbook's use of text color to tag important elements (quote: "Note the use of red to highlight aspects of Spanish that you should pay special attention to").

Additionally, I'm concerned about the book's use of mixed Spanish and English within the same sentence. I know that JAWS (at least v12 and up) has a Spanish voice (Paulina) and is capable of reading Spanish comprehensibly. However, I'm concerned about the Spanish voice's pronunciation of English words. (I've heard the English voice butcher Spanish words).

Any pointers are much appreciated. Thanks!



Joseph M. Nast<mailto:joseph.m.nast at lonestar.edu>
Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator
office phone: 281.290.3207
office room number: CASA 109j
Lone Star College Cy Fair<http://cyfair.lonestar.edu/>
Counseling, Career, and Disability Services<http://www.lonestar.edu/counseling-services.htm>

The information in this e-mail is legally privileged and confidential information intended to be reviewed by only the individual or organization named above.

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