Page 129 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Tools of this kind make it possible to navigate the book’s contents through its heading level structure (H1, H2, H3...), which makes browsing easier. The user can define contrasts or type fonts and enlarge (or reduce) the size of the lettering, and use the day/night reading mode to optimise the experience of reading text on
a screen. In addition to specific functions for reading print, these tools also incorporate Text to Speech (TTS), a technology that reads digital text aloud and is one of the biggest contribu- tions of technology for people with impaired sight (interest and expectations have also been aroused by Blitab, the first tactile tablet in the world for visually impaired people64).
A service to look out for when it comes to content in Daisy format in Spain is provided by the national organisation for blind people, ONCE (Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles). ONCE offers its affiliates (more than 70,000) a large catalogue of works in this format through its digital library and the app Gestor ONCE de Libros Digitales which is specifically designed
to provide access to this content. Users can furthermore ask the service for any work they are interested in and ONCE systematically sees to making it available to them.
Another company that helps disseminate content in Daisy format in Spain is Benetech, a non-profit technological organisation based in Palo Alto, California, which provides technolog- ical solutions for social causes, including human rights and the environment, as well as literacy. Benetech is responsible for Bookshare, a global online content library for people with serious reading difficulties (severe dyslexia, impaired vision, blindness or reduced mobility).
Bookshare has 350,000 members (nearly 10,000 in 60 countries all over the world) and official associations with sponsor agencies in 16 coun- tries. The platform has nearly 350,000 books in digital format from more than 500 publishers from all over the world, among them Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette and
Simon & Schuster, and not-for-profit institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, World Health Organization, Brookings and RAND Corporation Publishing.
Benetech came to Spain in 2015 with the aim of establishing agreements with Spanish publishers to develop a project to convert their content in ePub format into Daisy format. According to this agreement Benetech converts archives in ePub format into Daisy format totally free of charge in exchange for being granted use of the content for its Bookshare reading service.
Since it was started up, many Spanish publishers have joined in the initiative by signing agree- ments with Benetech: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, Grupo Edebé, Grupo SM, Acan- tilado, Alrevés, Ara Llibres, Dos Bigotes, Kailas, Malpaso, Nórdica Libros, Octaedro, Olelibros. com, Páginas de Espuma, Roca Editorial, and nearly all the Basque publishers with a digital catalogue (Alberdania, Beta III Milenio, Desclée de Brouwer, Fundación ElHuyar, Elkar, Erein, Giltza, Grupo Loyola de Comunicación, Igela, Saure, Susa), who were encouraged to join the project by their commitment to eLiburutegia, the digital borrowing service of the Basque Country public reading network, Red de Lectura Pública de Euskadi.
They receive no financial compensation for collaborating but both parties benefit from it: Benetech, because it enlarges its Bookshare catalogue, and the publishers because they comply with the legal responsibility of offering accessible versions of their electronic books and because they help bring their catalogue to the 5–10% of children and adults who suffer from dyslexia and to the one million visually impaired people in Spain; and also to elderly people, as we will see in the next sections.
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
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Readers in the digital age