This free webcast is now available. It is a discussion of the philosophy, research, planning, and development of the next generation of Library-Services-provided free talking books. Speakers are: Frank Kurt Cylke, Michael Katzmann, John Bryant, Michael Martys, Donald Olson, Edmund O’Reilly. You will need Real Player to listen. (via Resource Shelf) ...

From the press release: The settlement agreement among the parties was reached in light of several factors, including: (1) ASU's commitment to providing access to all programs and facilities for students with disabilities, including students who are blind or have low vision; (2) the fact that the pilot program will end in the Spring of 2010; (3) Amazon and others are making improvements to and progress in the accessibility of e-book readers; and (4) the university's agreement that should ASU deploy e-book readers in future classes over the next two years, it will strive to use devices that are accessible to...

The New York Times Magazine has a long article on Braille and the conflict Braille advocates are having with those who are using new audio technologies. Who would have thought! Everybody has their own axe to grind. Braille readers do not deny that new reading technology has been transformative, but Braille looms so large in the mythology of blindness that it has assumed a kind of talismanic status. Those who have residual vision and still try to read print — very slowly or by holding the page an inch or two from their faces — are generally frowned upon...

E-books have long been recognized as a reading format that is particularly friendly to the disabled—at least when DRM is not involved. Blind readers can pass these files directly to their braille readers or speech synthesizers and enjoy “reading” a good book much the same as the rest of us. Ars Technica has a most interesting article about the US government’s support of a proposed WIPO treaty that mandates copyright exemptions (otherwise known as “compulsory licensing”) and DRM-breaking permissions for organizations that provide reading material to the disabled. In other words, these organizations would be permitted to...

If you register at the ReadHowYouWant site you can get on their mailing list. I did and I received this email today. This is a great service: The ReadHowYouWant Hot List gives readers monthly suggestions of 20 hot titles available in large print, braille, DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System), MP3 audio, and ebook formats. Now you can choose from bestselling titles and important topics in the format that best suits your reading preferences and needs. The selected books represent bestsellers from ReadHowYouWant's collection of over 4,500 titles, as well as Amazon.com bestsellers, and new releases from publishing partners, including Wiley,...

According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University, the Kindle can't be used by the blind because it requires a sighted helper to manipulate the buttons and navigate the menu choices. Thus, the universities won't adopt the Kindle for their sight-disabled students. The Newsvine article says that Amazon is aware of these problems and a spokesman said that Amazon is working on it....

Venturebeat has an article looking at the $1,500 Intel Reader portable text-to-speech device Intel has just released. It is the size of a paperback book and can read from files or capture printed text with its built-in digital camera. The Intel Reader is meant specifically for the blind or visually-impaired. “We want people to experience the independence of being able to read on their own in a public place or anywhere they want to,” said [Intel representative Ben Foss], speaking at a press event on Monday. “A metaphor for this are the ramps...

I'm publishing the following as a public service. Copyright Office Publishes Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments on Facilitating Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind or Other Persons with Disabilities The Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office seek comment on possible solutions to enhance the accessibility of copyrighted works for the benefit of the blind or other persons with disabilities. Comments are specifically sought on the objectives and potential impact on existing U.S. law of a draft treaty prepared under the auspices of the World Blind Union and proposed formally at the May 2009 session of...

This looks as if it could be of real use to many people. It is from the Freie Universitat Berlin. The artificial intelligence group at Freie Universität Berlin, under the direction of the computer science professor Raúl Rojas, has developed a new type of information system for blind and visually impaired individuals. Field trials are being carried out to optimize the device for future users. ... "InformA" is a small computer that is connected wirelessly to the Internet. The device is operated like a radio. The user can choose between different information channels. By pressing a button, the time or the...

Here is their press release: Baltimore, Maryland (June 25, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. Darrell Shandrow, a blind ASU student, is also a named plaintiff in the action. The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device are not...

David Faucheux is suspending his Blind Chance blog blog for health reasons mostly but also in part because of Odeo’s inability or refusal so far to restore his audios. Also, his Talkr text-to-speech service faded away. I thought I’d share his final post in TeleRead’s main part. I’d love to see David’s blog reborn at some point, ideally with help from a library-related site. – David Rothman. Readers to my combination audio and text blog may recall that day in early May 2004 when I began my cautious journey into the blogosphere. I can't say I...

From Public Knowledge: PK Staff Attorney Rashmi Rangnath discusses the issues presented at the May 18th, 2009 public meeting held by the US Copyright Office and the US Patent and Trademark office on the topic of copyright exceptions for the blind or other persons with disabilities. Grab it from our podcast or media feeds, download the episode here or listen to it in the player below...