[Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to read?

[Rachel Comerford]

Hi Susan!

Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is one of the many readers that will open
epubs. It isn't a proprietary format (although they may have a format that
they push as well). ADE is the platform (like ibooks, kindle, vitalsource,
redshelf, and others) and EPUB is the format of the content (basically all
of the text, design files, navigation files, etc). Students who use
Kurzweil or Read and Write Gold can also open epubs in those platforms
although those companies are in the process of doing some updating to allow
for more ease of use of epub.

My favorite epub reader for textbooks is vitalsource. It's free to download
the reader and the company has worked really closely with Benetech and
DAISY to build an accessible ebook reader. There are a lot of good ones out
there though.

I wholeheartedly believe that PDFs were a good solution for students using
AT but EPUBs are a better one. The accessibility metadata that can be built
into them, the clear navigation without remediation, and the ability to
resize and reflow text (no more horizontal scrolling!!) are just a few
reasons.

Just my 2 cents in case it helps. I know there will be some talk about this
at AHEAD and AHG this year - maybe we'll get a chance to meet there!

If the file is DRM'd - have you tried reaching out through BookShare or
AccessText Network for a file that isn't? I know we provide DRM-free files
via those libraries... I'm sure other publishers do to.

Rachel

Rachel Comerford | Senior Director of Content Standards and Accessibility |
T 212.576.9433

*Macmillan Learning*


Message: 5
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2018 17:44:33 +0000
From: Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
        <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to
        read?
Message-ID:
        <DM5PR03MB3321CC468FEC9FDAE6F3E22AFB440 at DM5PR03MB3321.
namprd03.prod.outlook.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Removing DRM to produce an accessible file for a student with a disability
is legally allowed.  Converting any type of file to another type of file
for accessibility purposes is legally allowed.

We are not "illegals!"

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf
Of chagnon at pubcom.com
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2018 11:40 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <
athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to read?

FYI, DRM (digital rights management) was developed to protect the copyright
and control the distribution of the content.
Be careful what you post on a public list! <grin>

- - -
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO  |  Bevi at PubCom.com<mailto:Bevi at PubCom.com>
- - -
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting * training * development * design * sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes <http://www.pubcom.com/classes><
http://www.PubCom.com/classes <http://www.pubcom.com/classes>>
- - -


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:
athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2018 12:20 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<
mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to read?

Thanks, Bevi.  I will likely be experimenting with some cracking, to see if
I can get it out of DRM.

I've had success in the past doing this.  This will be no different.

-Susan

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:
athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of
chagnon at pubcom.com<mailto:chagnon at pubcom.com>
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2018 10:01 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <
athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to read?

Adobe Digital Editions is a proprietary eBook format (not EPUB) that does
indeed require software or plug-ins in order to access the file.

Since its proprietary rather than open source, we generally stay away from
it. Plus, Adobe charges a small fortune to developers to create and publish
titles in Adobe Digital Editions.

And it's not EPUB, the universal open source ebook reader file format that
pretty much anyone can open on any device.

Adobe's website does say it is now accessible. See https://www.adobe.com/
solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html

- - -
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO  |  Bevi at PubCom.com<mailto:Bevi at PubCom.com>
- - -
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting * training * development * design * sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes <http://www.pubcom.com/classes><
http://secure-web.cisco.com/1fPUvjX9jiMIJMlgPZfalTDuqonDjkDCjL_1-xyRROP-
epedYN3ZF8eWpxwLvkq-mbtdMmZVNI1QW0X3m3NyxiB_r1vyLsMypmPJ6hITcaZsPvEUw2ygWo
vsqJUfGgTrY8hqL9JHdHQ4u7YYztxqR46IcpBd-_6C_COQlPuls5MAaoDzY4M-FAiqP-
McYNcCUuq2X60RnXytBPU9P64kaOhpWodRLmuU4irYx1cXiH4GoAZ5nyEsia
220xQFXXYpAsyM2cwYDjVwSjWzERGL3v2gMA0YWy9OrIDxgihRUaTKZ1Y76bU_
R5Km9UoVGpqSOL9mrx34SR9ue8Em5xiS2AalJtmmVdFAT52LaKQfHqzlSLuz
3m7pqLrf9t2o9d1Qm7r3dUdjWvnFX_pzigCLVXa0dUYcoXsCPcnzA6_
vssGKgHJpThqfczezxTK3Rjby6l5t_BpYfWC-TuVZV261d9A/http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.PubCom.com%2Fclasses>
- - -


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:
athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2018 10:51 AM
To: ALTMEDIA at LISTSERV.CCCNEXT.NET<mailto:ALTMEDIA at LISTSERV.CCCNEXT.NET>;
Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<
mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>; athes at lists.colorado.edu<mailto:
athes at lists.colorado.edu>
Subject: [Athen] ePubs need Adobe Digital Editions PLUS Jaws to read?

Sorry for the cross-posting...some of you may see this more than once.

A colleague brought this to my attention.  My understanding was that Jaws
could read EPUBs already, but one she just received from a publisher
requires the download/installation/use of Adobe Digital Editions in
addition to Jaws to read.

Is this new, or have I missed something?  Since publishers are now foisting
ePubs onto us, I need to know if we are going to run into these types of
problems.  "It will work, but, you need this thing and this thing and this
other thing too..."

My biggest gripe is needing to give students yet another way they have to
read their materials, when what they had in the first place was working
just fine before publishers decided to take it upon themselves to tell us
what our students need and want.

Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836

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