DAISY 101
Gaeir Dietrich
Interim Director High Tech Center Training Unit
of the California Community Colleges
Co-chair DAISY in Higher Ed Working Group
DAISY
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Digital
Accessible
Information
System
What are the benefits of
DAISY?
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Special type of Digital Talking Book
(DTB)
Structure and navigation VS a “flat”
unstructured reading experience
Ever-expanding standard
DAISY Features
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Have the ability to go to specific pages
and sections
Can add, search for, and remove
bookmarks
Have the ability to skim the text
Portable
Worldwide standard for Digital Talking
Books (DTBs)
Expanding Vision
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DAISY is designed to incorporate new
features and functionality
Expandable
– “Cheese pizza” analogy
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First expansion
– MathML
Some Definitions

E-text
– Text a computer can read, also called electronic
text, digital text (e.g., e-mail, Word docs, etc.)

MP3 and WAV
– Two formats for sound on the computer; MP3 is
more compressed (i.e., smaller) than WAV

WMA (Windows Media Audio)
– Another sound type—belongs to Microsoft

Text-to-Speech (TTS)
– Text that is made audible by a computergenerated “voice”
DAISY vs. …

E-text
– DAISY has structure: headings, pages
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MP3
– DAISY is navigable, bookmarkable,
players remember where you left off
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E-text with TTS
– DAISY has navigation, bookmarks
– DAISY can have images
So Many DAISYs…
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DAISY is
– DAISY standard

An open-source standard for digital audio
– DAISY Consortium
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Group that oversees the standard
– DAISY format

The format for DAISY books
– DAISY books
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Electronic books in the DAISY format
What’s inside a DAISY?
NCC Document
(navigation control center)
XHTML
MP3
Text Side
SMIL
Both Sides Synchronized
Audio Side
DAISY 2.02 Folder
Please Note

When loading multiple DAISY 2.02
books onto a player
– Each book must be in its own folder
– Follow manufacturers instructions

When burning a DAISY book onto CD
– One book per CD
– *No* folder
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Put book files in “root” directory, i.e., loose
Stream Folder Structure
DAISY / NISO
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AKA DAISY 3
– Bundled into one file dot OPF
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Package file
Beginning to be implemented
– Hardware players will need firmware
upgrade
Where’s the text?
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Not all DAISY books are the same
DAISY will vary a bit depending on
– How it was produced
– How much mark up was done by the
producer
DAISY “Flavors”

Text Only
– Format used by Bookshare
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Structured Audio
– Audio only
– Format used by RFB&D
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Audio and Full Text
– Can be created with commercially
available publishing tools
Text Only…but It’s Audio

Text Only DAISY books
– Are played with a DAISY player that has
built in text to speech (TTS)
– Are smaller files because they do not
already contain audio
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Audio is BIG!!
– Can be used with whatever “voices” you
have
Why can’t I see it?

Audio Only DAISY books
– Are usually human narration
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Recording of a person reading aloud
– Adding the text to these books requires
the text and audio to be synchronized
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Kind of like captioning
– Usually have a “navigation structure” that
can be seen
Best of Both Worlds
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Full Text Full Audio DAISY
– Has both text that can be seen and sound
that can be heard
– Audio comes as part of the book
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Do not need TTS or voices
– Audio may be human narration or
machine generated
Playing DAISY: in General
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Requires a DAISY player
Software and hardware players
available
– Software—free to $300
– Hardware—$195 to $995
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DAISY players also play MP3 files
DAISY players allow you to control
speed and pitch
Playing the Flavors
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Text only
– Requires a DAISY player with built-in text to
speech (TTS)
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Audio only
– Human narration—no text to see
– Works on any player
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Audio and full text
– Speech can be human or TTS (usually TTS)
– Text and graphics can be seen
Players
Text Only DAISY
Audio Only DAISY
Audio Full Text
DAISY
Software
players
TTS “on the fly”; can
see and hear text
Hear audio; no text
to see
Can see and hear text
Hardware
players
Requires TTS built into Plays on all
player (PT1,
hardware
BookPort, Stream,
players
Classmate)
Plays on all players,
but can only see
text if a monitor is
present
Bookshare.org
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www.bookshare.org
Text-only DAISY
Requires player with TTS built in
Membership free for all students and
educational institutions
Software included in membership
Playing Bookshare Books
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Choose from
– Victor Reader Soft
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Generally preferred by blind users
– Don Johnson Read OutLoud
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Generally preferred by LD users
Software “tied” to Bookshare format
– Only plays Bookshare books
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Can also play on some other systems
– OpenBook, Kurzweil 1000/3000, WYNN
RFB&D
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Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
– www.rfbd.org
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Audio-only DAISY
Individual memberships now free
– Institutions still pay a fee
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Books on CD or downloadable
RFB&D AudioPlus CDs
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Requires RFB&D authorized player
Can purchase players through RFB&D
Other players can be sent to RFB&D to
have “key” installed
User requires code to “unlock” books
RFB&D players can play other DAISY
books
Players have firmware upgrade from
DAISY 2.02 to DAISY 3
Downloadable Audio
Access RFB&D
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Are not DAISY
– Are WMA with DRM (Digital Rights
Management)
– Do not have navigation
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Can be played with Windows Media
Player and some players (Zen by
Creative; *not* iPod)
– Can be converted to MP3 (burn to CD)
Playing RFB&D Books
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Two downloadable formats
– AudioPlus
DAISY
 Requires RFB&D-authorized DAISY software
or hardware
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– AudioAccess
WMA files with DRM
 Not DAISY
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Software currently Windows only
Comparison
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RFB&D
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–
–
–
–
–
Free for students
Schools pay fee
Audio only
Human narration
Requires RFB&D
authorized
hardware/software
– Requires “key” to unlock
books
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www.rfbd.org
Bookshare
–
–
–
–
–
Free for students
Free for schools
Text only
Synthetic speech (TTS)
Software player comes
with membership
– Playable on some
hardware players with
TTS built in
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www.bookshare.org
National Library Services
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NLS DAISY books will have very
limited mark-up
– No page numbers
– Heading level navigation
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Players will be free
Sources of DAISY Books
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RFB&D
– www.rfbd.net
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Bookshare
– www.bookshare.org
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Read How You Want (for purchase)
– www.readhowyouwant.com
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National Library Services (NLS)
– www.nlstalkingbooks.org/dtb/
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Produced on some college campuses
Grow Your Own DAISYs
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Commercial software available
Can begin with text and convert into
Audio Full Text DAISY
Check these vendors
– Dolphin
– IRTI
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SADX (Save As DAISY XML)
DAISY in Higher Ed

Special working group of the DAISY
Consortium
– Presence on the DAISY.org Web site
– Designated consortium liaison

George Kerscher, Secretary General of the
DAISY Consortium
– Direct access to information about DAISY
– Conference line and discussion list
– Free membership for higher ed
Purpose of the Working
Group

Feedback to DAISY Consortium on use
of DAISY in higher ed
– Raise awareness of higher ed issues
– Attend DAISY meetings

Work with disability service offices
– Provide information/understanding
– Provide training materials
– Simplify process
Web Site
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http://www.daisy.org/projects/highered/
Resources available
– General information
– FAQs
– Partial list of DAISY books available
worldwide
Joining the List
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Send a blank e-mail to
– Join-daisy-in-higher-ed@mail.daisy.org
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No need for text in the subject or body
of the email.
Should then receive a conformation
email within two days that you have
been added to the email list.
Demo
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Victor Reader Classic Plus
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Victor Reader Stream
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Dolphin Easy-Reader
Thank You!
Gaeir Dietrich
gdietrich@htctu.net
408-996-6043
DAISY in Higher Ed Web site
www.daisy.org/projects/higher-ed/