EasyProducer Case Study: A new service from National Talking Newspapers.

Successful trials using DAISY.

National Talking Newspapers and Magazines (formerly TNAUK), recently completed a three month project, to evaluate the benefits of offering audio DAISY newspapers and magazines to their members. Over 44 blind and low vision members signed up for the project. Each participant received a selection of weekly or monthly publications on CD, including such titles as The Economist, Private Eye, Telegraph Digest and Time magazine, all were produced as human narrated audio DAISY publications.

A DAISY publication (Digital Accessible Information System), is a form of electronic publication which brings together a number of different formats (text, audio and pictures) into a single accessible, navigable digital talking publication. It contains all of the features of an audio publication but may also include the benefits of full text, allowing navigation, as well as search and find features and the ability to add bookmarks and footnotes. National Talking Newspapers and Magazines used Dolphin’s latest Publisher authoring tool to create audio only DAISY publications, which were played back using a range of hardware players and Dolphin’s EasyReader software DAISY player. The publications were also able to be played back on standard MP3 players.

So what did the members think?

The overwhelming response was very positive. The vast majority of members appreciated the improved sound quality associated with the DAISY publications and felt it was far superior to previous audio publications. Over 75% of members liked the navigation features and the ability to quickly skip to the title of interest on the CD. Over 90% of the trial participants were very impressed with the audio newspaper and magazine compilations offered, and nearly 80% said they would welcome a wider choice of material in this format.

Commenting on the conclusions of the DAISY project, Simon Courcha, TNAUK Marketing Manager said “We have been very pleased by the results. Everyone at TNAUK felt that there were significant benefits associated with DAISY publications, however, we were not sure how well these would be recognised by our members. It is clear that our members fully appreciate the benefits of quality, navigation and ability to store more books on a single CD, which is offered through DAISY publications. Based upon the success of the trial we have just launched our new DAISY service to our members. Using Dolphin Publisher, we will continue to expand the range of DAISY titles available."

Steve Palmer Dolphin CEO comments "The success of this trial again demonstrates that there are real benefits associated with DAISY publications. Dolphin is pleased to partner National Talking Newspapers and Magazines in the future expansion of their DAISY service, which will certainly offer their members greater choice and flexibility in the type of accessible information they wish to receive."

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