E-books have received quite a lot of press in recent months, and are starting to change the way that books are sold, as well to as influence the in-house production systems of major publishers.
Both the e-books and their development files have the potential to revolutionise access to books, and dramatically improve the number of books produced in accessible formats (braille, large print or audio) - which currently stands at an incredibly poor 4% of books published.
Specialist converter tools are in development which are planned to take a well structured e-book and speed up the transcription of that book to accessible formats. This isn't a fully automated process, but offers the potential to significantly speed up the process.
However this is still a relatively new industry, with over 50 different e-book file formats, several of which are completely inaccessible (being image based), a limited amount of e-book content being published and the rapid development of devices which can read e-books, we are only at the beginning of a very exciting journey towards improving access to books.
Direct e-book access
For some people the quickest and most effective way to read will be directly from the e-book. Some e-books can be read directly by blind and partially sighted people using access technology on a computer, or a dedicated e-book reader which can enlarge the text, or has text to speech.
At present challenges are presented by the software accessibility for mainstream e-book management, and a lack of accessible e-book reading devices with text to speech or talking menus, however RNIB continues to encourage developments in these areas.
EPUB format - a new hope?
One of the file formats which is gaining popularity is EPUB, as well as being one of the increasingly popular formats for delivery, it is also being used by some publishers to manage their print publications.
At it's core is an open XML system which was developed with contributions from the technical minds behind the DAISY format. This facilitates the potential for conversion into DAISY and other accessible formats - depending on the construction of the book.
EPUB is starting to look like the new industry standard in e-books, and is rapidly gaining popularity in Europe. In terms of improving the amount of information produced in accessible formats, e-books and specifically the EPUB format arguably offers the most potential to improve access to books for blind and partially sighted people around the world.
For a review of the accessibility of e-book services available in Autumn 2008, see eBook review (Word, 374KB)