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By Jon Noring

George Kerscher and NesbitThe IDPF membership recently changed its Bylaws and added two more directors to the IDPF Board. For the two new seats, there are seven candidates, all of whom are worthy to serve on the Board.

One of the seven candidates vying for the two seats is George Kerscher, the former Chair of the OeBF/IDPF Board, and e-book accessibility advocate and expert. This is a call for IDPF members to seriously consider casting one of their two votes for George this time around.

In a recent IDPF Board election, George came awfully close to winning a seat on the Board. Hopefully the IDPF membership will recognize the importance of having an accessibility advocate on the IDPF Board. Three reasons:

  1. Meeting accessibility requirements benefits the sighted as well (a topic I may write about in the future.)

  2. New legal mandates in the digital publication arena, especially in education (e.g., NIMAS), have elevated the importance of accessibility.

  3. It is the right thing to do.

George’s platform includes three points:

  1. Access to Information in the “Information Age” is a Fundamental Human Right

  2. Digital Publishing is a Global Market for Everybody: It Needs to Grow

  3. Accessibility of eBooks by Persons with Print Disabilities

A few of us have advocated IDPF establishing a permanent Board seat for the accessibility community. But until that happens, the IDPF membership will have to do what is right and make sure George gets back on the IDPF Board. I hope it will be a mandate. I plan to individually contact many IDPF members and urge them to vote for George.

As the primary representative to IDPF for DigitalPulp Publishing, I will proudly cast one of our two votes for George, and I hope you will, too.

 
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