kestrell | Entries tagged with accessible ebooks

19 new accessibility features in iOS 14 that everyone can take advantage of
https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/19-new-accessibility-features-ios-14-everyone-can-take-advantage-0323436/

Kes: As someone who has a hearing impairment, that headphone accommodation feature that boosts sounds is the feature I am really excited about, so I was worried that iOS 14 might not work with my first gen iPhone SE, but it turns out
iOS 14 is compatible with all devices able to run iOS 13
https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-14/#:~:text=iOS%2014%20is%20compatible%20with,able%20to%20run%20iOS%2013.
and here is Apple's list of specific iPhones
https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-14-preview/

Can a smartphone replace the accessible book reader? And, if so, what is the best accessible book reader? As someone who just obtained a Book Port Plus after years of searching (they're no longer being produced), I found this debate interesting
https://doubletap.online/the-perfect-book-reader

On Thursday, August 6, from 7-8:30 p.m. Eastern time, the Dimensions Project at the New York Public Library will be conducting this online event about how to create DIY tactile graphics from things found around the home.
Details and registration here
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbgfxuJwtjIOgHoodKZP-prYL_lcNZoqGqM7aOJSS_Ztmgjw/viewform
Note that you can subscribe to their tech newsletter so you get updates on their events.

The Tech Juggernaut is offering free online classes for various Apple products. Read more at
https://ttjtech.net/2020/07/30/ttj-announces-2020-21-free-course-offerings-our-most-incredible-season-yet/
Note: When I tried the "subscribe to the blog link on that page, I received a DNS error so, if you get that error, you can subscribe from the blog page at
https://ttjtech.net/blog/page/2/

I subscribed to Office 365 just last month, and am still trying to absorb a lot of its features. Here's an article that explains about it.
What is Microsoft Office 365?
https://ttjtech.net/blog/page/2/
and here's an article that explains the differences between
Office 2019 Vs. Office 365
https://www.windowscentral.com/office-2019-or-office-365-which-one-you-should-get

These links were culled from this week's Top Tech Tidbits. You can read the entire newsletter or subscribe at
https://www.toptechtidbits.com/

For all the things I don't like about the new Edge browser, the Immersive Reader function balances all that out.

What it does: strips out all the web page ads, bells, and whistles, and reformats the article you want to read to look like a page in an ebook reader.

How to get it: It's already built into the Edge browser: once you are on the page of the article you want to read, just press F9, and the page is converted to the Immersive Reader view.
You can also have the article read aloud by a high quality computer voice: just click on the button labelled "Listen to this article"

How to customize Immersive Reader: Read the article
How to use Immersive Reader on Microsoft Edge browser
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-immersive-reader-microsoft-edge-chromium

In addition to braille,
National Braille Press
www.nbp.org
offers most of its books in a variety of digital formats, including Daisy, e-braille, and Word.
During Covid-19, a number of these ebooks are free to download.
Note: I didn't check to find out if any free ebooks are available in the children's category.

Books for adults
https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/scan/MM=531fd0ca00a12e9b78986345c06ff0cf:0:19:20.html?mv_more_ip=1&mv_nextpage=publications%2fadult_books&pf=sql&mv_arg=

Navigating Healthcare When All They Can See Is that You Can't
https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/NAV-HEALTH.html
NOTE: Downloads of this title are free through April 30th, 2020! [Kes: still free as of May 13]
Navigating our complicated health care system is essential for anyone interested in remaining healthy. If you happen to be blind, chances are you are familiar with the misperception by others of what our blindness means.

Dinner Delivered
https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/DELIVERY.html
NOTE: Downloads of this title are free through April 30th, 2020! Kes: still free of May 13.
You've heard the names before: GrubHub, Postmates, Amazon Fresh, Uber Eats. The authors guide you through the ins and outs, the good and the bad, of these services.

Getting Visual Assistance with an iPhone
https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/VIS-ASSIST.html
NOTE: Downloads of this title are free through April 30th, 2020! [Kes: still free as of May 13]
Technology writer Judy Dixon takes the reader on an app tour of the 10 most user-friendly and accessible apps for getting visual assistance with an iPhone.

I've been using a Kindle Fire with the VoiceView screen reader for the past year. If you are using an iPhone with Voiceover, the gestures, including the inclusive of a learn mode, are very similar. Also, you can use Alexa to read your Kindle books to you, and do all the things Alexa does, including playing podcasts.
Here is a link to a list of other kinds of Kindle content you can access with your Kindle.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-full-advantage-of-your-kindle/

This article
https://www.howtogeek.com/662339/how-to-join-a-zoom-meeting/

lists multiple ways to join a Zoom meeting.

However, I've found that using my PC involves tweaking way too many settings, so instead have whoever sets up the meeting send me a text with the OneTap link in it.
Troubleshooting I have had to figure out so far:
1. Sometimes if the person sending the text includes other text, aside from the link, in the text, it makes it difficult for me to click on the link.
2. Sometimes when I get into the meeting, Voiceover says that I am muted and it doesn't matter how many times I use the unmute command of *6, I just get repeatedly muted, and at some point my onscreen keyboard gets dimmed and I can't get it undimmed to unmute.
I haven't found a way to tweak the keyboard dimming setting, so every few minutes I flip my phone up and then back down to the horizontal position, which refreshes the keyboard.
There has to be a better way to accomplish this but, since I am using Voiceover, it changes many of the default commands, so it's difficult to find troubleshooting fixes that also work with Voiceover.
Many users who are more confident using an iPhone turn Voiceover off while using other apps, but I'm not at that level yet.

Finally, let me once more plug the national Braille Press nbp.org for providing a pile of technology guides for blind and low-vision users. Anna Dresner's books, in particular, are both detailed and clearly written, and you will definitely get your money's worth from any of her guides.
Note that, although it is called the "Braille" Press, you can get these guides in all sort of accessible formats, including Daisy, and that you can buy these books already loaded ona thumb drive so that you just plug them into whatever device you use to read your books.

If you are blind or visually impaired and haven't checked out the technology guide published by the National Braille Press, you should definitely do so
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/apple.html

I'm constantly overwhelmed by all the new tech that is becoming accessible to blind people and, after having my iPhone for over two months, I still don't access more than a handful of its features. Plus, all those new apps that offer assistance with travel navigation? Clueless. But I just found a bunch of guides to talk me through learning how to use these features.

If you are a visually impaired smartphone user, you have probably spent as much time as I have trying to find documentation for accessibility features, with frustratingly little profit, but these guide make it quick and easy to learn what you want to learn.

There are guides for both iPhone and Android users, and there are guides on particular subjects such as navigation and GPS apps, ebook apps, and writing on your smartphone.

I'm coming late to the kerfuffle
https://www.tor.com/2019/06/10/the-1983-book-ian-mcewan-and-everyone-else-who-craves-thoughtful-scifi-should-be-reading/
but cyborgs and mermaids sound like my cup of tea. Sadly, I'm not finding this title available in any accessible format in either Bookshare or the NLS or Amazon Kindle, and the link from the original online article is a dead link.

Adding alt text to caption or describe objects in files is new relatively easy using Word and, I, Personally, always feel as if the writer/publisher has gone just a little bit more of the distance in including it in texts and documents. Also, if the subject of your paper or book has any relation to disability, it's really poor form to skip using alt text.
https://www.howtogeek.com/424208/how-to-add-alternative-text-to-an-object-in-microsoft-word/

Also, there is a Voice Dream Reader app for Android. Interesting that this line of apps was not originally designed to be accessible, it was just such a good design that visually impaired users could use it.
https://www.afb.org/aw/20/5/16444

And the price is staying at $50. This is another relatively cheap way of getting Alexa. Since Alexa can be used to read Kindle ebooks and to start, pause, and further use Audible audiobooks, this makes it a great ebook reader for low-vision readers.
Added later: This tablet also includes VoiceView, Amazon's screen reader, and a screen magnifier.

Current Location: aerye

Five books by world writers and, yes, Alexa will read your Kindle books to you in her own voice. You can also ask Alexa to play your Audible audiobooks, and those will be read in the recorded narrator's voice.
https://smile.amazon.com/article/read-the-world?ref_=pe_1840220_406976050_sub_aucc_us_crm_041919_worldbookday

This is if you do not already have a BPL card. The point of this is that you can register for an e-card online and it allows you access to all the online services, including being able to electronically borrow music, audiobooks, and ebooks. Some of these ebooks require an additional ebook reader app, but many can be read using just your browser.

This online registration form is mostly accessible--I am using Jaws with Chrome--but the label for the "City" combo box didn't get read for some reason. You will get an error and a link back to the form if you miss anything, though, so just stick with it.

Here's the link to the form and the FAQ
https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4197886/eCard-Registration

I don't actually listen to a lot of stories read out loud, but LeVar Burton is a truly amazing reader, and his podcast highlights a truly diverse selection of writers. His latest podcast features a Tananariv Due short story
http://www.levarburtonpodcast.com/
which is doubly exciting because 1, I love her writing, and 2, she will be the guest of honor at this year's Readercon.

Note that the previous story read by Burton, titled "Miracle," features a blind character and was written by a Nigerian writer. Burton also reads a lot of speculative fiction, but I haven't delved very far back into the archived podcasts yet.

Another major plus for Burton's podcast: check out all the ways you can access it, including through a very accessible
online player. Burton is so cool, sometimes I forget he isn't actually blind.

I just received a very nice email from an academic scholar who I contacted earlier today with a request that she consider adding her book to Bookshare.org.

So this is just a reminder to readers who use Bookshare: if you find a book you would really love to read, and it isn't already in Bookshare, consider contacting the author or publisher and asking them to add that book to the Bookshare collection. I usually try to contact the author first, because most are thrilled to hear from someone who wants to read their book, and to find out that there is a way to make their books accessible to PWD.

Many writers and publishers still don't know about Bookshare, so in my emails I usually include a link to the Bookshare page describing how authors can get their books added to the library
https://www.bookshare.org/cms/partners/authors

This is from the Bookshare Blog, so it reflects a specific subsection of readers with visual and print disabilities, but my advice is to support that the trend toward using mainstream tech and avoiding assistive tech as much as possible.
http://bookshareblog.wpengine.com/2019/03/apps-bookshare-members-use/

Kes: Short but information-rich, if you are going to read one article on the subject of ebooks and accessibility for blind readers, read this one.

E-Texts for All (Even Lucy)
By Char Booth, E-Learning Librarian, University of California, Berkeley Aug 5, 2010
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/community/academiclibraries/886230-419/e-texts_for_all_even_lucy.html.csp

block quote start
Lucy is partial to a few sayings that have helped me understand the e-text accessibility paradox. The first is that "ebooks were created by the blind, then made inaccessible by the sighted."

Online text formats like DAISY and EPUB were pioneered in part by the accessibility movement as an alternative to expensive and cumbersome Braille texts.
As ebooks have gained popularity, however, digital text became inexorably less accessible as for-profit readers like the Kindle and Sony Reader muscled onto the scene. A patina of
digital rights management (DRM) has been added in order to protect the intellectual property of vendors, contrary to the open and accessible orientation libraries have long held toward literacy and learning.
block quote end