NIMAS 101: LEARN THE BASICS OF THE NEW ACCESSIBLE
DIGITAL TEXTBOOK STANDARD
Presenter(s)
Jim Fruchterman
Benetech / Bookshare.Org
Phone: 650-475-5440 ext. 106
Fax: 650-475-1066
Email: jim@benetech.org
Presenter #2
Susie Mckinnon
Benetech/Bookshare.org
Phone: 650-475-5440
Fax: (650) 475-1066
Email:
susie.m@benetech.org
NIMAS : National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech and a member of the NIMAS Technical
Committee, and Susie Mckinnon, Bookshare.org, will cover the basics of this
emerging standard and a give a glimpse towards future initiatives.
The print and bound book can be a educational barrier for many students
with print disabilities. Because these students cannot read a print book like
students without these disabilities, they require books in alternative formats.
Text in accessible digital format can remove the barriers that these students
have with the common text book.
In 1997 IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) made it
essential that all students have the same availability to text books and
curriculum. Since almost all of these materials come from printed sources this
has caused schools and educators across the nation to use varying methods to
provide these special needs students with the necessary materials. Because of
the difficulty in producing quality accessible books, in many instances
students have not received materials in a timely manner.
Methods of providing alternative formats include contacting the publisher
directly, scanning and delivering a book, providing digital text format books
such as Bookshare.org files, and/or providing recorded books such as those
provided by Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. With book files coming from
these differing sources, student access and methods are often quite different.
Teachers and school assistive technology specialists nationwide are duplicating
their efforts and spending tight budget dollars and valuable time towards
providing the same alternative format books to their students. To help address
these issues, the Department of Education in the recent past began exploring a
common structure for educators and students to receive their alternative format
text books. This is where NIMAS got started.
NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) guides the
production and electronic distribution of digital versions of textbooks and
other instructional materials so they can be more easily converted to
accessible formats, including Braille and text-to-speech. Version 1.0 of the
NIMAS was developed in 2002-2004 by the National File Format Technical Panel,
which was comprised of forty technology specialists, educators, disability
advocates, and publishers, and is based on the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 (DAISY 3)
specification. NIMAS is mandated to be in effect throughout the educational
system by the end of 2006. This emerging national standard will benefit all
students in need of accessible format text books in grades K-12.
Many people are concerned about NIMAS, and how it will change the delivery
and accessibility of accessible textbooks. The goal of this presentation is to
demystify NIMAS and show how similar NIMAS is to existing accessible books, and
show how current adaptive technology already works with real NIMAS books. How
to access and use NIMAS books to deliver large print, audio and Braille content
will be explicitly and simply covered.
Bookshare.org and NIMAS
Bookshare.org is the leading provider of digital text e-books in the DAISY
3 format, and has extensive experience creating and delivering these kinds of
books. Bookshare.org is actively working with several organizations and federal
policy-makers towards helping realize the promise of a single national standard
for educational materials.