Baseline for Born Accessible EPUB
A Practical Consensus Approach by the Inclusive Publishing Industry
Last revised: April 7, 2015
Status: draft version .011
Editor: George Kerscher
Contributing editors: Robin Seaman, Julie Noblitt
Preamble
The goal of this document is to create interest in key companies, organizations, and individuals to form a
group to establish the baseline for Born Accessible EPUB 3 publications. It does not assume that any of
the conclusions have been agreed; we want to kick start a global effort.
Executive Summary
Introduction
The inclusive publishing Industry -- which includes trade and educational publishers, the journal and
magazine industry, disability-focused organizations, educational institutions, governmental
organizations, tech companies, and standards organizations -- are being encouraged to come together
to agree on the baseline minimum requirements for a digitally published work to be termed “Born
Accessible.” Publishers have said: “Tell me what to do to make my digital book accessible.” This is a
complex question, which involves many systems. This document begins to answer the question by
starting to create consensus among the stakeholders in the publishing ecosystem. It lays out a roadmap
for the stakeholders to work together to raise the bar for accessible digital publications.
EPUB 3 Publications, Reading Systems, and Assistive Technology
The baseline for Born Accessible EPUB 3 must:
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have the accessible content in EPUB 3 (or future version).
the reading system must support EPUB 3 content.
be useable with Assistive Technology (AT).
The consensus on the baseline asserts that all three components must be working or it is impractical to
include the feature as a requirement for accessibility.
For example:
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Today, using EPUB 3 publishers can deliver the full text of their publication (as text) in a wellstructured, logical reading order, even if images are used for title or headings as long as alt text is
there.
Today, EPUB reading systems can present the full text of an EPUB 3 publication on every platform.
Today, Assistive Technology (AT) can integrate with reading systems and speak the text using
synthetic speech (TTS), as refreshable braille using a Bluetooth device, or enlarge the text on the
screen.
CONSENSUS: Well-structured text in a logical reading order is a baseline requirement for a Born
Accessible publication.
EPUB 3 Designed for Everybody
EPUB 3 is based on the open web platform and HTML5. We benefit from the work done within the Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Many of the features of EPUB 3 will be effective for persons with
disabilities without additional work from the publisher.
However, there are specific accessibility requirements that need attention outside of the traditional
publisher workflow.
HTML 5 Content Structure
To benefit all readers, publishers must make use of the native semantics of HTML. This will enable
logical reading order, easy navigation, skipping, and escaping content. It is the very starting point of
accessible content, and the foundation of digital publishing.
Images, ALT text, and Additional Enhancements
Graphical content, especially in educational materials, falls into one of three broad categories:
1. Images used for ornamental purposes.
2. Images and graphics that can be sufficiently made accessible through ALT text.
3. Images, charts, diagrams, infographics, artwork, etc. that convey a great deal of information and
the presentation and information requirements may need to be customized for different types
of learners.
Consensus: Publishers will mark up ornamental images and provide ALT text, where needed, according to
the W3C A & AA guidelines, also addressed by Accessible EPUB 3: Best Practices for Creating Universally
Usable Content by Matt Garrish, DIAGRAM’s Image Guidelines for EPUB 3, and the forthcoming BISG
Quick Start Guide for Accessibility; these are all in harmony.
Note: To be clear, extensive descriptions, tactile graphics, or 3D printer models of images, charts,
diagrams, infographics, artwork, etc. and the mechanisms to make these fully accessible are beyond the
baseline of what is expected of publishers; it would be wonderful to someday get to where these
enhancements are included, but this is work for the future.
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Metadata, Asserting Conformance
Knowing a publication is Born Accessible and conforms to the agreed-upon baseline requirements is
critical. This metadata will be necessary for discovery, marketing, sales, and inclusion in educational
coursework.
CONSENSUS: Metadata will identify the accessibility features of publications that conform to the baseline
Born Accessible agreed-upon features, as defined in the ONIX code (List 196). Schema.org also includes a
set of accessibility metadata.
Enhancements to Born Accessible Publications
While the vast majority of baseline Born Accessible publications will be accessible to a broad range of
persons with disabilities, mechanisms to address special requirements will need to remain in place, and
new relationships will need to be created between publishers and organizations that can enhance
publications.
Some of the enhancements and services are:
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Information-rich graphical content can be enhanced by use of Diagrammar: A Framework for Making
Images and Graphics Accessible. Educational materials in STEM will need this kind of support, which
includes detailed long descriptions, tactile graphics, and 3D models, all described in the Diagrammar.
Some persons with disabilities lack the technical skills to effectively use modern digital publications.
For example, the National Library Service for Persons Who are Blind and Physically Handicapped
(NLS) in the USA reported that there were 3,600 blind and visually impaired patrons over the age of
100; it will be essential that people who need special library services continue to get what they
need.
Republishing of Born Accessible materials may be needed today to integrate enhancements, but in the
future using annotations should mean that the enhancements would be delivered separately and the
reading system would integrate annotations with the commercially available Born Accessible version.
Where to Get Enhancements
The DAISY Consortium has played a leadership role in the move to digital publishing. All DAISY members
are non-profit organizations and have provided services throughout the world for many, many years.
These organizations are in an excellent position to be partners with the inclusive publishing industry.
Another critical stakeholder is the education community. Disabled Student Service Offices (DSSO)
provide essential services to students with disabilities. Working from an existing baseline Born
Accessible version in EPUB would streamline their process and focus on the enhancements that are
needed. Of course, these work flows with new products will need to be upgraded in the new world of
Born Accessible educational materials, and here too, the opportunity to provide the student with
annotations to critical information not available in the baseline Born Accessible version will be a total
game changer.
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Broadly Available EPUB 3 Authoring Tools
The biggest problem educational institutions face is that teachers and faculty lack access to authoring
tools to create EPUB 3 documents and instructional materials. Having EPUB 3 authoring tools broadly
available would be extremely important for those who are creating course-level content for students.
Governmental organizations are also looking for broadly available authoring tools for their publications.
Here too, the identification and proliferation of authoring for EPUB is vital.
Let us not forget the everyday author and student. In making the transition to EPUB 3 on a global basis,
the mainstream commercial and open source authoring tools must support EPUB 3 and future
iterations.
Reading System Testing
The IDPF, BISG, and DAISY Consortium are collaborating on conformance testing of reading systems,
including accessibility. The website http://www.epubtest.org is essential as we evaluate support for
features made available in EPUB 3 publications.
Raising the Bar
Born Accessible publications will evolve in the foreseeable future, and we all want to be a part of the
innovation and delight of these new products. As the technologies become more capable, the baseline
for Born Accessible publications will need to be raised. Mathematics, for example, is one area that is
rapidly improving, and the inclusive publishing industry will want to add this to the list of consensusbased features as soon as practical.
CONSENSUS: The practical baseline features for Born Accessible publications are expected to advance as
technology and work processes improve.
Call to Action
Many of our companies and organizations belong to associations and standards organizations. The W3C,
IDPF, DAISY Consortium, BISG, Readium Foundation, AAP, IPA, and in individual companies or
institutions are welcome to join in this cross-cutting collaboration. The W3C and IDPF are collaborating
on digital publishing standards, the BISG has a Working Group focused on accessibility, and the DAISY
Consortium is a member of all of these organizations.
Call to action: submit your ideas on how this collaboration can be advanced by writing to George
Kerscher at [email protected]
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