The DAISY Planet: DAISY Consortium Newsletter, December 2009
The WIPO SCCR 19 meeting held in Geneva, December 14 to 18, just ended with the surprise announcement that the USA has changed its position from being completely opposed to the proposed WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons to being completely in favor of it. This is a huge step forward toward copyright exemption for the specialized editions of works that reading impaired and visually impaired persons need to gain access to published books and other materials. The proposed treaty would greatly reduce or eliminate cross-border movement of such versions.
On another note, George Kerscher, long-time advocate for accessible editions and assistive technology, has been elected President of the International Digital Publishing Forum. The IDPF is the organization of publisher and other interested professionals who work with ebooks. Kerscher was one of the founders of the IDPF and is also Chair of the EPUB standards maintenance Working Group and Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
RHYW Responds to Proposed WIPO Expansion
RHYW Responds to Proposed WIPO Expansion
This is the text of a news release explaining that ReadHowYouWant can help publishers serve reading impaired persons while making a reasonable profit. This new model encourages publishers to provide accessible editions of new titles in a timely way, which benefits publishers by incrementally increasing their revenues while benefiting blind and visually impaired persons by giving them access to new books when the books are still new.
This is the text of a news release explaining that ReadHowYouWant can help publishers serve reading impaired persons while making a reasonable profit. This new model encourages publishers to provide accessible editions of new titles in a timely way, which benefits publishers by incrementally increasing their revenues while benefiting blind and visually impaired persons by giving them access to new books when the books are still new.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Humanware Announces December Free Chapter Download Titles
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
PLEXTALK and ReadHowYouWant Partner to provide free digital books to visually impaired readers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (on Nov 2, 2009)
Contact:
Bradi Grebien-Samkow: bradi@readhowyouwant.com
971-340-9853
DeanaValdez : dvaldez@shinano.comv
310-693-7629
971-340-9853
Deana
310-693-7629
Sydney, Australia, November 2, 2009†PLEXTALK®, the producer of the PLEXTALK® Pocket and other digital talking book players, and digital accessible publishing innovator ReadHowYouWant are partnering to help visually impaired readers discover literary classics in a convenient format that works for them.
Beginning in November, each month readers will be able to go to the PLEXTALK® website, www.plextalk.com to download five free titles from ReadHowYouWant's Classics collection. November's selected Classics titles are The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, TheGreat Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Herbert George Wells.
"We are very pleased to be able to partner with ReadHowYouWant," said Deana Valdez, Sales and Marketing Manager for PLEXTALK® North America. "Through our PLEXTALK® Pocket partnership with ReadHowYouWant, we are able to offer even greater access to and increased mobility for reading thousands of books available for download from ReadHowYouWant's extensive library."
ReadHowYouWant will be demoing the PLEXTALK® Pocket DAISY reading device at book industry events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, theLondon Book Fair, and Book Expo America. Similarly, PLEXTALK® will present DAISY files from ReadHowYouWant's collection on their players at technology industry shows, including ATIA (Assistive Technologies Industry Association) conferences.
"We are delighted to be partnering with PLEXTALK®. The monthly giveaway program of ReadHowYouWant titles at the PLEXTALK® website furthers our mission to make more content accessible and easily available to all kinds of readers," says Tricia Roth, CEO of ReadHowYouWant.
Readers looking for more great books can go to www.readhowyouwant where they will find over 2,000 titles from in the Classics Library in DAISY 2.02 and NISO/2005 formats, as well as synthesized audio MP3 books for $9.99 each. In addition, ReadHowYouWant offers thousands of classic and bestselling titles in downloadable ASCII and Visual braille book files for $4.99 and $9.99. Visit www.readhowyouwant.com/braille for a complete list of titles available in braille, DAISY, and audio.
Beginning in November, each month readers will be able to go to the PLEXTALK® website, www.plextalk.com to download five free titles from ReadHowYouWant's Classics collection. November's selected Classics titles are The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, The
"We are very pleased to be able to partner with ReadHowYouWant," said Deana Valdez, Sales and Marketing Manager for PLEXTALK® North America. "Through our PLEXTALK® Pocket partnership with ReadHowYouWant, we are able to offer even greater access to and increased mobility for reading thousands of books available for download from ReadHowYouWant's extensive library."
ReadHowYouWant will be demoing the PLEXTALK® Pocket DAISY reading device at book industry events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, the
"We are delighted to be partnering with PLEXTALK®. The monthly giveaway program of ReadHowYouWant titles at the PLEXTALK® website furthers our mission to make more content accessible and easily available to all kinds of readers," says Tricia Roth, CEO of ReadHowYouWant.
Readers looking for more great books can go to www.readhowyouwant where they will find over 2,000 titles from in the Classics Library in DAISY 2.02 and NISO/2005 formats, as well as synthesized audio MP3 books for $9.99 each. In addition, ReadHowYouWant offers thousands of classic and bestselling titles in downloadable ASCII and Visual braille book files for $4.99 and $9.99. Visit www.readhowyouwant.com/braille for a complete list of titles available in braille, DAISY, and audio.
About Shinano Kenshi Co., Shinano Kenshi Corporation & PLEXTALK®
Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd. is responsible for the development and manufacture of digital talking book players and other products sold under the brand name of PLEXTALK®. Shanano and PLEXTALK® assistive products are created to improve the quality of life , self-reliance and independence of their users. Shinano Kenshi Corporation is the North American subsidiary of Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd.
About ReadHowYouWant
ReadHowYouWant Pty Ltd and its R&D parent company, Accessible Publishing Systems Pty Ltd are both Sydney, Australia-based privately held companies founded in 2004 by electronic publishing pioneers Christopher Stephen and Greg Duncan. When Chris's sister, who suffers from MS, developed difficulty reading, they began experimenting to determine whether people with reading difficulties could benefit from changing the text format.
After more than four years of testing, ReadHowYouWant has successfully developed award-winning conversion technology that reformats existing books into the widest selection of on-demand, alternative format editions on the market today. Each edition has been optimized for maximum readability. The company's goals are to make reading easier and more enjoyable by delivering formats that suit the reader and to give people with reading difficulties access to books in the formats of their choice†at an affordable price, and as soon as the book is published. For more information visit www.readhowyouwant.com.
After more than four years of testing, ReadHowYouWant has successfully developed award-winning conversion technology that reformats existing books into the widest selection of on-demand, alternative format editions on the market today. Each edition has been optimized for maximum readability. The company's goals are to make reading easier and more enjoyable by delivering formats that suit the reader and to give people with reading difficulties access to books in the formats of their choice†at an affordable price, and as soon as the book is published. For more information visit www.readhowyouwant.com.
Holiday Friends and Family Discounts on Large Print, Braille and DAISY Books
As you know, ReadHowYouWant is a new book publisher with an important social mission. We believe that readers should be able to choose the format of a book that suits them best. This presupposes a radically inclusive model for publishing that does not discriminate against readers who are unable to read a standard printed book. Our books are available in EasyRead™ large print formats in 16 to 24 point font sizes, braille, and DAISY—an audio format suitable for the blind, visually impaired, and individuals who are unable to hold a physical book.
ReadHowYouWant has a great selection of over 4,000 books—the Classics, Oprah picks, New York Times bestsellers, and titles from best-selling authors including Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Louise Hay, the Dalai Lama, and more. Over 75 publishers have partnered with ReadHowYouWant, including Wiley, Berrett-Koehler, Allen & Unwin, and more.
As a special offer to all readers, we are offering a 25% discount on all orders placed between December 1 and December 31, 2009. Go to www.readhowyouwant.com, and choose the books you want to buy. When you check out there will be a box to enter your Promotional Code.
The Promotional Code is RFF7KT76.
Give the gift of reading to all of your friends and family. Please feel free to re-post this code and announcement on your website or blog. Pass it along to your friends and family.
Purchasing books from ReadHowYouWant allows us to provide books for blind and visually impaired readers at the same time they are available to other readers.
Check out our site and let us know what you think.
ReadHowYouWant has a great selection of over 4,000 books—the Classics, Oprah picks, New York Times bestsellers, and titles from best-selling authors including Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Louise Hay, the Dalai Lama, and more. Over 75 publishers have partnered with ReadHowYouWant, including Wiley, Berrett-Koehler, Allen & Unwin, and more.
As a special offer to all readers, we are offering a 25% discount on all orders placed between December 1 and December 31, 2009. Go to www.readhowyouwant.com, and choose the books you want to buy. When you check out there will be a box to enter your Promotional Code.
The Promotional Code is RFF7KT76.
Give the gift of reading to all of your friends and family. Please feel free to re-post this code and announcement on your website or blog. Pass it along to your friends and family.
Purchasing books from ReadHowYouWant allows us to provide books for blind and visually impaired readers at the same time they are available to other readers.
Check out our site and let us know what you think.
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