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Upscribers : Transcribing to a digital world.

• With enough eyes, everyone can read.

What it is ?

• A set of collaborative web-tools that facilitates the transformation of printed documents (graphics/pdf) to an accessible, structured html format
  • To goal is to make life easier for print-challenged kids (and all the others too).
  • By print-challenged we mean those who are unable to read, or have difficulty reading, printed materials
    • Low-vision
    • Learning disabilities (dyslexia etc.)
    • Neuro-motor diseases
  • Facilitating the transformation of printed documents (graphics/pdf) to a high accessibility html format
    • An option to publish to epub format, the standard for electronic books.
• UpBrowser, an enhanced browsing context that allows the non-visual browsing of a webpage
• UpEditor, an online editor for the creation of well structured webpages that can be easily read by UpBrowser.
• UpStore, a CMS that allows users to store/share/upscribe documents
• UpFixer, a browser extension that improves the accessibility of existing webpages

That's just the start

• Once the documents are in a structured format, then the magic begins, i.e. it's alot easier to apply further transformations to structured information
  • navigation within the document
  • Text to Speech
  • convert to epub3, convert to DAISY, convert to Braille
  • just the start....

The Case for Accessibility

• Taken from https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility#case
  • It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with diverse abilities. Indeed, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes access to information and communications technologies, including the Web, as a basic human right.
  • Accessibility supports social inclusion for people with disabilities as well as others, such as older people, people in rural areas, and people in developing countries.
  • There is also a strong business case for accessibility. Accessibility overlaps with other best practices such as mobile web design, device independence, multi-modal interaction, usability, design for older users, and search engine optimization (SEO). Case studies show that accessible websites have better search results, reduced maintenance costs, and increased audience reach, among other benefits. Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization details the social, technical, financial, and legal benefits of web accessibility.

Why the need to transform existing electronic formats ,e.g. images/pdf ?

• Why transformation ?

  • Because so much existing material is not accessible for the print-challenged.
  • Because the world is going digital but there is a risk that so much existing material gets left behind

• Why a collaborative webtool ?

  • Crowd-sourcing the transcription of large documents allows them to be upscribed, and shared, quickly.

##Why ?##

• Why html first ?

  • Because the web is everywhere, html can be consulted on practically every computer device (ebook reader / smartphone / PC )
  • Because html, can already avail of accessibility functions of web browsers, e.g. text highlighting, TTS
  • Because content can be created/modified directly without having the overhead of the epub3 wrapper

• Why an epub3 option ?

  • Because epub3, is the standard for e-books and is compatible with all modern e-book readers, it's the future of electronic publishing, have a look [here](This has to go somewhere) to feel the power
  • epub3 documents allow simple navigation by line, by paragraph, by chapter bringing true accessibility to the print-challenged.
  • Because epub3 allows adding an audio layer (also called a media overlay) so that every epub3 document is instantly available in audio
  • Because

• Have a look at some usecases

• The FAQ