[Athen] Accessible digital course pack vendors?

[Chagnon | PubCom]

<< Are we searching for a unicorn? >>
Well, maybe now but not in the long term!
If these companies want to stay in business, they'll have to comply with
PDF/UA for academia, especially with the forthcoming Sec. 508 refresh on the
near horizon.

What's most disturbing to me is that they first scan a printed version of
the book, and then OCR it. Now they have to get the OCR into an accessible
format, which is very time-consuming and difficult to do.

Maybe best to contact the original publishing house and have them produce an
accessible PDF/UA version from their original source files. Takes much less
time, is more accurate, and they keep their editions in a marketable
state...accessible.

--Bevi Chagnon

— — —
Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com 
Technologists, Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
for publishing & communication

| Acrobat PDF | Print | EPUBS | Sec. 508 Accessibility |

— — —




-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Gaeir Dietrich
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 1:23 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
<athen-list at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Accessible digital course pack vendors?

Have you looked at the Copyright Clearance Center? Years ago they were
talking about making accessible PDFs available, but I don't know where they
are now in that process.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
HTCTU Director
408-996-6047
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Jennifer Stevens
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2016 6:49 AM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Athen] Accessible digital course pack vendors?

Hello all,

My apologies if you've seen me ask this on another list!

We've been trying to find vendors that would simultaneously solve our
copyright clearance and accessibility problems for readings in online
courses.

We've looked at XanEdu and SIPX, and they will research the clearances and
allow students to purchase coursepacks online, but the PDFs they provide are
only OCR and do not meet the PDF/UA standard. (XanEdu says that they have
"enhanced" PDFs upon request, but their process is only to OCR them and then
convert them to EPUB.)

Do you know of any vendors that do copyright clearances, allow students to
purchase digital coursepacks online AND provide pdfs that meet the PDF/UA
standard as a matter of course? Are we searching for a unicorn? How do have
you solved these problems?

Thanks,

Jenn Stevens

Director | Instructional Technology Group | 403A Walker Building  |  Emerson
College  |  120 Boylston St  |  Boston MA 02116  |  (617) 824-3093