[Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF

[Wink Harner]

ATHEN-ites,

I'll throw my two cents into the ring on this discussion of extolling the
virtues of EPUB versus other types of publisher files.  I'm with Susan
Kelmer one hundred percent on this.  Because it is easier for the
publishers to produce EPUB files does not mean that they are acceptable as
source files, and it doesn't mean we should go down with a whimper
accepting what is offered to us instead of expecting --and getting-- what
we need.  Our role in higher education, whether we work in the disability
resources office providing accommodations, or we work in the alternative
text production or in the assistive technology branch providing services
and/or accessible text files, our responsibility is to provide access for
the students with disabilities on our campuses.  While all of us will
acknowledge that things are different when we reach "the real world," it is
not our responsibility to push students into fending for themselves while
they are under our purview, or training them to accept a text format which
is not specifically designed for the specific functional limitations of
their disabilities.  Would it be a good idea for us in disability services
to provide some kind of transition to "real life" accommodations?
Certainly, but not at the cost of providing them with accessible text in
the present tense.  The publishers seem to have decided that they know what
we want (or what the students want and/or need) is another example of
ableism – that they know more than we do about what we need and what the
students need.  Is not a matter of sitting on the curb with a cup out and
being grateful for any handout that comes by.  We are all professionals,
and we should not be grateful for or satisfied with handouts from the
publishers. Publishers are not experts in accommodations, they are not
experts in assistive technology, they are not experts in alternative text
production, learning disabilities, reading impairments, or anything else
related to disabilities.  They are publishers. Period.  They have designed
a process which is easier for them, and not necessarily what we or our
students need.  The remediation necessary for EPUB files borders on onerous.

My two cents – and it's not even Friday! [stepping down from my soapbox
now].

Wink
Wink Harner
Accessibility Consultant/Alternative Text Production
The Foreign Type

Portland OR
foreigntype at gmail.com
480-984-0034

This email was dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Please forgive
quirks, misrecognitions, or errata .


On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 11:07 AM Schwarte, David M. <schwarte at purdue.edu>
wrote:


> Hello david,

>

>

>

> Thanks for stating what I was thinking so well.  In the “wild” a PDF that

> has text, a set reading order, and tags is extremely rare.  So rare that I

> assume none of these features are there and proceed with opening the PDF as

> if it were image-only.  Long-term this is faster and less labor intensive.

> Remediating documents is not in my job description, so spending time in

> testing accessibility and fixing issues is essentially a hobby.  In

> comparison, an imperfect ePub is a vast improvement.

>

>

>

> David Schwarte

>

>

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *David Andrews

> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 29, 2018 10:55 PM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF

>

>

>

> No one is going to do all this conversion and hand-holding for them when

> they get out of academia. It would seem prudent to me to teach them how to

> deal with the materials that are available.

>

> I know ePub is a change for people, but 15 or 20 years ago, so were PDF's

> and people kicked and screamed.  ePub's offer a richer, and inherently more

> accessible experience over PDF's.  There is still some growing that needs

> to be done by tools, but they have the potential to be substantially better!

>

> Dave

>

>

> At 08:46 AM 8/29/2018, you wrote:

>

> Same here.  For most of them, navigating a PDF is new to them, as

> surprising as that might be.  Not all young people are tech enthusiasts,

> as is commonly believed, so I am trying to put the least amount of stress

> on them as possible.

>

>

> On Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 9:44 AM Susan Kelmer < Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>

> wrote:

>

> Andrea, this is basically what we do with Bookshare files.  Most of my

> sighted students have no interest in learning to navigate a bookshare file,

> so we convert to word, add in page numbers and heading levels (because

> those do not exist or are poorly done in most bookshare files) and then

> convert word to PDF, or just give the student the word files.

>

> Â

>

> Isn’t it amazing the hoops we jump through for your students?  This is

> also why I am so angry about publishers finding yet another few hoops we

> have to jump through to get what our students need.  Why are they making

> things more difficult?

>

> Â

>

> Susan Kelmer

>

> Alternate Format Production Program Manager

>

> Disability Services

>

> University of Colorado Boulder

>

> 303-735-4836

>

> Â

>

> Â

>

> Â

>

> From: athen-list < athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On

> Behalf Of Andrea L. Dietrich

>

> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 7:03 AM

>

> To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

>

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF

>

> Â

>

> I use a free program called Calibre (also available in a “portableâ€

> version in case you don’t have the ability to install software on your

> computers yourself). It’s designed as a general ebook management program,

> but it has really good conversion capabilities. The only issues I’ve had

> with epub to PDF are that sometimes the conversion will divide pages in odd

> places, and that there are usually no original page numbers to correspond

> to the hard copy of the book.

>

> Â

>

> Depending on your time constraints, you might want to convert the epub to

> .docx, add page breaks manually in Word, and then convert that file to PDF

> so that you can “recreate†the original publisher layout for the book,

> but obviously that’s more time-consuming.

>

> Â

>

> Good luck!

>

> Â

>

> -Andi :)

>

> Â

>

> --------------------------

>

> Andrea Dietrich

>

> Cornell University

>

> Student Disability Services

>

> Cornell Health, Level 5

>

> 110 Ho Plaza

>

> Ithaca, NY 14853

>

> http://sds.cornell.edu

>

> Â

>

> Tel. 607.254.4545

>

> Fax. 607.255.1562

>

> Â

>

> Office Hours:

>

> Monday-Thursday 8:15AM-4:45PM

>

> Friday 8:15AM-4:00PM

>

> Â

>

> From: athen-list < athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On

> Behalf Of Robert Spangler

>

> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 8:54 AM

>

> To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

>

> Subject: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF

>

> Â

>

> Hello, is it possible to convert from EPUB to PDF and, if so, how would I

> go about doing it?  We distribute PDFs only to our students unless

> otherwise requested, but a publisher on AccessText is stating that Epub is

> the only option available from them.

>

> Â

>

> --

>

> Robert Spangler

>

> Disability Services Technical Support Specialist

>

> rspangler1 at udayton.edu

>

> Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023

>

> Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)

>

> University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302

>

> Phone: 937-229-2066

>

> Fax: 937-229-3270

>

> Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)

>

> Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning

>

> _______________________________________________

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>

>

> --

> Robert Spangler

> Disability Services Technical Support Specialist

> rspangler1 at udayton.edu

> Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023

> Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)

> University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302

> Phone: 937-229-2066

> Fax: 937-229-3270

> Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)

> Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning

>

> _______________________________________________

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