Daisy, Dolphin Leading, Microsoft Following
Microsoft’s SAVE AS DAISY option aims to improve access to text
9th Dec, 2007
The DAISY format is an absolute must for millions of visually impaired and print impaired readers Worldwide, as well as being the World's fastest growing Alternative format. Dolphin has been at the forefront of Daisy's development for many years and we applaud Microsoft for coming round to our way of thinking.
Microsoft's acknowledgement of the DAISY format by announcing a "Save as Daisy" add-in for Microsoft Word user, signifies a big step forward in raising awareness of the benefits of information in the DAISY format. The visually impaired community have been fast to recognise these benefits with the hugely successful RNIB Bookstream Club and more recently Bookshare adopting the Daisy format to name but a few. Equally but more recently, take up in the low literacy, dyslexic and learning disabled communities has been rapid.
The results speak for themselves when research conducted at the John Hopkins University, saw students exam scores improve by 40% when provided with synchronised audio and text learning materials. The decision by Microsoft to announce the ability to save text as DAISY is extremely welcomed by everyone at Dolphin.
Ron Stewart VP of Dolphin Computer Access Inc and Technical Adviser to AHEAD commented yesterday "While details of the proposed add-in are sketchy at the moment one aspect is certain though, this is a step forward! The DAISY and digital talking book agenda has been pushed forward significantly by this announcement.
He went on "the 'save as DAISY' option will only allow users to generate Daisy XML files and not full Daisy books. This Daisy XML file is only a small part of the technology that goes into making even a simple text only Daisy book. From the information available at this time it seems unlikely that the plug-in functionality will be sufficient to meet the needs of the visual and print impaired communities. Daisy themselves are acknowledging that additional tools such as EasyConverter are essential to provide a full text and audio multimedia reading experience for the user."
What is known is that Dolphin's Publisher, EasyConverter, EasyProducer & EasyReader software are already allowing 1000's of users worldwide to make and read Daisy books. In addition Version 3 of EasyConverter that supports the input of Daisy XML files created by the Save as Daisy add-in is due for release early 2008.
With the muscle of Microsoft, the knowledge base of the DAISY Consortium and expert Daisy developers like Dolphin firmly behind the campaign for Alternative Formats, this month's announcement is a significant forward step.
To learn more about the Save as Daisy plug in, read our FAQs.
Alternatively read the Microsoft press release (opens in a new window).
Download a demo of Dolphin's most popular alternative format & Daisy book maker, EasyConverter.
