Daisy Reader For Mac

Posted By admin  On 19.05.21

DAISY is a way of preparing an audio book that allows the reader many more options than cassette or audio CD books, for a superior reading experience. Libraries for the blind are now producing DAISY books around the world. For this reason, a number of digital reading technologies (hardware, software and apps) are listed and briefly described to inform those who may be in search of a useful reading and study support tool using digital content that may be provided as DAISY, EPUB, NIMAS, text, Microsoft Word, PDF and other formats.

DAISY, which stands for Digital Accessible Information System, is a set of standards developed to make written materials such as books more accessible to people with print disabilities. DAISY provides a way to create digital talking books for those who want to hear — and navigate — written material presented in an audible format, according to DAISYpedia, the website of the organization that produces this technology.

Many people have print disabilities including blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia or other issues, and DAISY tries to help them overcome those disabilities by allowing them to listen to books and easily navigate talking-book websites.

History and Background

The DAISY Consortium, founded in 1996, is an international organization that develops, maintains, and promotes standards and technologies designed to provide all people with equal access to information. The group developed DAISY for persons who have limitations that make it difficult or impossible to read standard print, including those who are blind or visually impaired, have cognitive dysfunctions such as dyslexia, as well as limited motor skills making it hard to hold a book or turn pages.

'DAISY offers versatility by providing navigation that goes well beyond the plain text navigation used in the first electronic books for the blind,' says the National Federation of the Blind, the nation's largest advocacy group for vision-impaired people.

Multiple Formats

Daisy

DAISY comes in a number of forms, but the full audiobook is the simplest. It consists of audio that has been prerecorded either by a human reader or through text-to-speech technology.

Digitized words can be quickly transmitted via the Web and accessed on many types of assistive devices. For example, a DAISY audiobook can be played on a computer or mobile device using software or a screen reader or on a player such as the Victor Reader Stream. The text can also be enlarged for those with low vision or converted into Braille for embossing (printing) or reading on a refreshable display.

Embedded Navigation

The main advantage is that DAISY books have embedded navigation that enables readers to instantly jump to any part of a work — the same way a sighted person can turn to any page. With DAISY, the text is delineated with tags, such as part, chapter, page, and paragraph, and synced with the audio files. Readers can navigate through this hierarchy using the tab key or other player control.

Other advantages DAISY books offer include a word search, spell check, and the ability to place electronic bookmarks on key passages and navigate back to them on future readings.

Accessing DAISY Books

The largest providers of DAISY audiobooks include Bookshare.org, Learning Ally, and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). People with qualifying print disabilities can apply and access books from these sources for free. Readers download BookShare and Learning Ally content via the Web to a computer or mobile device. The NLS provides free digital players and, through its BARD program, makes some books available for download.

To comply with copyright laws, Learning Ally and NLS books are encrypted to limit their access to those with documented print disabilities.

Playing DAISY Talking Books

To play DAISY books, you must either install special software on a computer or mobile device or use a DAISY-compatible player. The most popular software that supports the DAISY format includes:

  • AMIS (Adaptive Multimedia Information System), an open-source self-voicing player for Windows that works with several screen readers
  • Android Daisy ePub Reader
  • Daisy Delight, an open-source player for Mac OS and Unix-based systems
  • DaisyWorm, for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
  • MAX the DAISY, a free player for Microsoft Windows
  • Read2Go, a mobile app for Mac iOS devices
  • Read OutLoud Bookshare Edition (free for Bookshare members) for Mac OS and Windows.

The most popular DAISY playback devices include:

  • Victor Reader Stream: a handheld portable DAISY player produced by HumanWare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Digital Accessible Information System, orDAISY, is a means of creating digital talkingbooks for people who wish to hear—and navigate—written materialpresented in an audible format; many such listeners have 'printdisabilities,' including blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia orother issues.

Using DAISY, a talking book format is presented with enablednavigation within a sequential and hierarchical structureconsisting of (marked-up) text synchronized withaudio.[1]

DAISY 2 was a standard based on XHTML and SMIL[2]. DAISY3 is also based on XML and is standardized as ANSI/NISOZ39.86-2005.[3]

DAISY assists people who, for different reasons, have problemsusing regular printed media. DAISY books have the benefits ofregular audiobooks, butthey are superior because DAISY 2.02 provides up to six embedded'navigation levels' for content (i.e. other objects such as images,graphics, MathML etc) and for displaying synchronized text tospeech. DAISY Multimedia can be a talking book, computerised textor a synchronised presentation of text and audio.[4]

As a result, DAISY books allow the blind listener to navigate an encyclopedia; this isimpossible using conventional audio recordings because they lacksearch and navigation features and they require linearlistening[5]. Whilereading a DAISY book, a reader can go to the next or previous page,chapter or sentence. DAISY is for everyone who needs accessibleinformation and for everyone who loves to read.

The DAISY Consortium has been selected by the NationalInformation Standards Organization (NISO) as the officialmaintenance agency for the DAISY/NISO Standard, officially, theANSI/NISO Z39.86, Specifications for the Digital Talking Book,known as DAISY 3.[6]

The DAISY Consortium was founded in 1996 and consists of agrowing membership of organizations around the world committed todeveloping equitable access to information for people who have aprint disability.[7]

  • 1Distribution and Playback
    • 1.1Software Players
    • 1.2Hardware Players
    • 1.3Access toMaterials by the Disabled

Distribution andPlayback

DAISY books can be heard on standalone DAISY players[8],computers using DAISY playback software[9], mobilephones, and MP3 players - with limited navigation. DAISY books canbe distributed on a CD/DVD, memory card or through theInternet.[10]

A computerized text DAISY book can be read using refreshableBraille display or screen-reading software, printed as Braille bookon paper, converted to a talking book using synthesised voice or ahuman narration, and also printed on paper as large print book. Inaddition, it can be read as large print text on computerscreen.[11][12]

SoftwarePlayers

Software-based players include:

  • gh PLAYER, a commercial DAISY player [13],
  • AMIS - Adaptive Multimedia Information System - an open-sourceself-voicing player for Windows that works with several screenreaders; developed by the DAISY Consortium [14],
  • emerson-reader, an open-source and cross-platform Epub andDAISY player [15],
  • AnyDaisy Firefox Extension, by Benetech [16],
  • Dorina DAISY Reader (DDReader), a Firefox add-on for DAISY 3.0[17][18],
  • ButtercupReader, a web-based application for DAISY 3 books [19][20],
  • CUCAT Olearia, an open-source DAISY reader for Mac OS X [21][22],
  • Daisy Delight (DAISY 2.02, for Mac OS X and Unix-basedsystems)[23]
  • Daisy Book Reader, GTK Daisy Talking Book reader application[24].

Other relevant software includes:

  • Daisy Uppsala Archive Project, server-side system for managingDAISY (Digital Talking Books) files [25],
  • Online Daisy Delivery Technology, open-source software todeliver DAISY books online [26].

HardwarePlayers

There are also a wide range of hardware products available thatcan play DAISY content, usually in a portable form factor. Some ofthese devices are dedicated to playback of books, while othersfocus on other functionality, such as PDA or mobile Internetaccess, and offer DAISY playback as either a feature of the unit oras a software add-on.

A short (incomplete) list of products that have built-in supportfor DAISY playback includes:

  • Victor Reader Stream, a hand-held portable DAISY player for theblind, visually handicapped and print impaired, produced byHumanWare[27].
  • Victor Reader Wave, also by HumanWare, is a portable CD playerthat can play DAISY content from CD media[28].
  • BookSense, a similar, smaller unit produced by GW Micro; theadvanced 'XT' model features built-in flash memory and Bluetoothheadset support for playback[29].
  • The National Library Service for the Blind and PhysicallyHandicapped (NLS) in the United States has developed a proprietaryDAISY player designed for use by its print-disabled patrons. Theplayer will replace the aging cassette-based distributionsystem[30].

Access to Materials by theDisabled

Since DAISY is often used by people with disabilities, many ofthe existing organizations which produce accessible versions ofcopyrighted content are moving to the DAISY standard, and slowlymoving away from more traditional methods of distribution such ascassette tape.

In the United States, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic(RFB&D)[31],BookShare[32] andthe National Library Service for the Blind and PhysicallyHandicapped (NLS)[33],among others, are offering content to blind and visually impairedindividuals. RFB&D also allows access by those with dyslexia or otherdisabilities which impair the person's ability to read print. TheNLS uses a library methodology, on the basis that the books areloaned (as they traditionally have been, on physical cassette),hence they are able to offer content free of charge, just as anypublic library can. RFB&D and Bookshare both aresubscription-based services, however RFB&D recently has madetheir membership free of charge to all qualified individuals in theUnited States[34].

Content from both the NLS and the RFB&D organizationsutilizes proprietary encryption extensions to the DAISY standard.The basic structure of the DAISY definition files remains the same,however, the audio itself, and in some cases certain informationtags in the DAISY SMILfiles, are encrypted and must be decrypted in order to beread/played back. This is done to prevent unauthorized individuals,such as those who do not have a qualifying disability, fromaccessing the materials. The organization which offers the contentprovides a decryption key to the user, which can be installed intoa DAISY player to allow decryption. As the encryption schemes arenot part of the core DAISY standard, only players whichspecifically implement the necessary algorithms and key managementwill be able to access these titles. Bookshare does not use suchencryption; the data as downloaded from the server is encryptedusing only the user's password, which is used to decrypt the datato an open format, and thus content from Bookshare generally isreadable on any compliant DAISY player.

Production

Add-ins or extensions to create DAISY files from office softwareare also available:

  • Microsoft and SonataSoftware created a Save as DAISY add-in for Microsoft Word toconvert OfficeOpen XML text documents to DAISY XML.[35]
  • Odt2DAISY is an extension for OpenOffice.org that exports OpenDocumentText to DAISY XML or to Full DAISY (both XML and audio).[36][37]

Other tools for DAISY production include:

  • the DAISY Pipeline, a cross-platform[38] 'opensource framework for document- and DTB-related pipelinedtransformations', developed by the DAISY Consortium [39],
  • the DAISY Pipeline GUI [39],
  • PipeOnline, a web interface for the DAISY Pipeline [40],
  • Daisy Producer, an integrated productionmanagement system for Digital Talking Books based on the DAISYPipeline[39]and liblouis
  • Z39.86 DTB Validator, 'Zedval': 'a Java-based conformancevalidator for ANSI/NISO Z39.86 Digital Talking Books' [41].

Download Daisy Reader For Mac

See also

References

  1. ^George Kerscher: 'DAISY is', December 2003.Accessed 2009-11-23.
  2. ^DAISY Consortium: DAISY 2.02 Specification -Recommendation, February 28 2001. Accessed 2009-11-23.
  3. ^ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2005Specifications for the Digital Talking Book. Accessed2009-11-23.
  4. ^DAISY/NISO Standard. Accessed 2009-11-23.
  5. ^Ask-it: A5.5.3: Examples of bestpractices of design for all. Accessed 2009-11-23.
  6. ^DAISY Consortium: DAISY/NISO Standard.Accessed 2009-11-23.
  7. ^DAISY Consortium: About The DAISYConsortium. Accessed 2009-11-23.
  8. ^DAISY: Hardware PlaybackTools
  9. ^DAISY: Software PlaybackTools
  10. ^DAISY: TechnologyOverview
  11. ^DAISY Consortium: 'WHAT IS DAISY?'. Accessed2009-11-23.
  12. ^George Kerscher: 'Braille Production the DAISYWay', IFLA/SLB Pre-conference Seminar, in Penang 1999. Accessed2009-11-23.
  13. ^gh, LLC: gh PLAYER, 2.2.
  14. ^AMIS (Adaptive Multimedia InformationSystem)
  15. ^emerson-reader
  16. ^AnyDaisy FirefoxExtension
  17. ^Dorina DAISY Reader
  18. ^Add-ons for Firefox: DDReader
  19. ^ButtercupReader - The OnlineDigital Talking Book Reader
  20. ^ButtercupReader atCodeplex.
  21. ^CUCAT Olearia
  22. ^olearia - Full Featutred Daisy Talking Book PlayerFor OS X at Google Code.
  23. ^Daisy Deligh,
  24. ^Daisy Book Reader
  25. ^Daisy Uppsala ArchiveProject
  26. ^Online Daisy Delivery Technology
  27. ^HumanWare Ltd. Victor Reader Stream ProductPage
  28. ^HumanWare Ltd. [Victor Reader Wave ProductPage
  29. ^GW Micro: Booksense
  30. ^National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped(NLS): NLS/BPH Digital Talking BookPlayer and Cartridge.
  31. ^for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D)
  32. ^Bookshare - Accessible Books for Individuals withPrint Disabilities
  33. ^National Library Service for the Blind andPhysically Handicapped (NLS)
  34. ^RFB&D: Individual Membership
  35. ^'Easily Translate Open XML to DAISY XMLStandards'. openxmlcommunity.org. http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/daisy/. Retrieved2008-05-15.
  36. ^Odt2DAISY (SourceForge project).
  37. ^Vincent Spiewak, ChristopheStrobbe & JanEngelen: 'Odt2DAISY: Authoring FullDAISY 3.0 Books using OpenOffice.org.' Paper presented at theDAISY 2009 Conference, Leipzig, Germany, 23-25 September 2009.
  38. ^DAISY Pipeline FAQ
  39. ^ abcDAISY Pipeline.
  40. ^PipeOnline
  41. ^ZedVal - ANSI/NISO Z39.86 DTB Validator

Externallinks

E-reader For Mac

  • Map with DAISY ConsortiumMembers, Friends and Focal Points
  • The DAISY PlanetNewsletter
  • DaisyNow.Net - The firstonline DAISY delivery web application
  • Daisy 3: A Standard forAccessible Multimedia Books