The latest happenings on the Disability 411 podcast

I want to catch you up on the latest happenings at one of my favorite podcasts,
Disability 411,
Hosted by Beth Case.

On the home page, the first posting you will see is a Adobe Flash file of the new D411 promo. I like it. The dialogue features an interaction between a man and woman and is created with synthesized speech. Like everything else Beth puts herself into, it is very professionally produced. I also like that she mentiones three of my favorite people-- Marcus Engel, Mark Zupan, and Sarah Whitlock --in her list of featured guests.

On the most recent D411 episode,
Show 63,
Beth interviews Daniel Berkowitz of DigiLife Media on the subject of eText production.
The title of the show says it all, What is eText?” It is the first of a three parter, so check back for more soon.

If you read much about accessible texts, you might already recognize Dan's name. He is also a contributing member to the
Access Technologists Higher Education Network,
so it should come to no surprise that he is knowledgeable of eTexts.

When I worked as a college disability service coordinator, one of the hallmarks of my time there was that I implemented a push into eTexts for our college. It was beyond me why, in this digital age, a school was not getting material in the most accessible format for its students. Before I arrived there, they were paying readers to record the students’ texts onto cassette. That was a good method for providing access to texts in earlier decades, but this was 2006 and I could see no excuse for that to still be happening in this day and age when more accessible solutions were omnipresent. When I began researching for the push into a digital change for our students, Dan was one of the names I was regularly finding as a resource.

And, as always, there are transcripts available for every audio file Beth posts, even the new promo.

So, go catch up with the latest on D411 and stay tuned for more with Dan Berkowitz.

Publishers Launch Look-Up Service to Speed Delivery of Course Materials

If you’re looking to expand your catalog of access tools, (and who isn’t?) then the Association of American Publishers (AAP) has just ramped up a service that should prove a valuable resource for you.


According to the official press release,
“Higher education publisher members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) today launched a beta version of a Publisher Look-Up Service. The online search tool, found at
publisherslookup.org
will enable Disabled Student Services (DSS) professionals who are seeking text materials in alternate formats for print-disabled students to more easily contact publishers.”

“The Publisher Look-Up Service is a first step in AAP’s Alternative Formats Solutions Initiative (AFSI), a national effort to identify ways to provide print-disabled post-secondary students with specially formatted course materials on a timely basis. AFSI research showed that publishers could make an immediate difference by launching the Publisher Look-Up Service, while still exploring longer-term solutions.”


The entire text of the press release can be viewed at:
The APP web site


If you want to see what else the APP has to offer, their homepage is:
publishers.org


There is a link on the page specifically for Higher Education.

This new service is a good supplement to the publisher contacts that
AHEAD
already offers to its members. Between the two of these resources, access to accessible materials by DSS professionals, and the students they serve, continues to improve.