WHAT SHOULD YOU HAVE IN YOUR ALTERNATE FORMAT TOOLBOX?

INTRODUCTION

Susan KelmerAlternate Format Access Coordinator

University of Colorado Boulder

INTRODUCTION, CONTINUED…

• We produce electronic files and tactile graphics/Braille for students with all types of needs

• We produce approximately 700 pieces each semester – some are textbooks, some are handouts, some are test and testing materials

• We track requests via a spreadsheet and hard copy system

ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS

• Hard copy handouts

• Hard copy textbooks

• Electronic files from faculty/staff

• Electronic files from publishers

• Electronic files from Braille

ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS, CONTINUED…

• AccessText Network

• Bibliovault

• PublisherLookup.org

• Bookshare

• Maintained list of publishers

• ListServs – DSSHE, ATHEN, Alternate Media (California CC System but can be used by anyone)

OVERVIEW OF OUR PROCESSES – ADMINISTRATIVE/TRACKING

OVERVIEW OF OUR PROCESSES - PRODUCTION

HARDWARE

• High-Speed Duplexing Scanner

• Copy Machine with Scan function

• Flatbed Scanner (not recommended)

• Network-based Storage Space

• Production PC

• Braille Embosser

• Tactile Embosser

THINGS THAT CAN MAKE A SCANNER (AND YOU) GO CRAZY

• Heavily textured paper

• Strange or stylistic fonts

• Paper cut unevenly

• Poorly copied documents

SOFTWARE – ADOBE ACROBAT PRO

• For breaking up files into smaller pieces for production – by chapter or just number of pages

• Run basic OCR

• Setting reading order

• Fixing text

WHEN PDF FILES ARE LOCKED OR WATERMARKEDAre we legally allowed to crack PDFS?

• Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust

• Various OCR cases country-wide

Civil rights trump copyrights, every single time.

PDF Unlock Tools (password removal)

• Small PDF (http://smallpdf.com/unlock-pdf)

• Free My PDF (http://www.freemypdf.com

Watermark Removal

• Watermarks can usually be removed (Tools, Pages, Watermark) after the password has been removed.

WHEN PDF FILES HAVE OTHER DIFFICULTIES

• PDF won’t scan in OCR

• PDF won’t extract to Word

• PDF won’t print

OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION - OMNIPAGE

• Runs basic and complex OCR

• Allows you to set zones and re-use for later documents

• Allows you to cut out certain places, or add text recognition to certain places in the document

• Exports to text or other formats for further editing

• I like it best because it’s the one I’ve used for the last 10 years or so, i.e. it is a personal preference

OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION - ABBYY FINEREADER

• Seems to work best with foreign language or mixed language documents

• Allows selection of editing fields and a re-scan

• Saves as a text-based document for further editing

• Does very well with tables

SOFTWARE – TEXT EDITING

Microsoft Word (standard)

OpenOffice

• Edit out or in graphics

• Add alternate text to graphics as needed

• Recreate or reformat tables for readability

• Add in or remove page breaks, page numbering, and header information

• Add styles/headings as appropriate

• Spell check

• Recreate footnotes

SOFTWARE – MATH

• MathType

• Enter/correct math equations

• Output to html,

• Output to Word with Equations

• Lean

• Creates easily-readable equations for all screen readers (Jaws, WindowEyes, NVDA)

SOFTWARE – BRAILLE TRANSLATION SOFTWARE

• Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT)

• Turns Word (doc, docx) files into Braille

• Turns LaTex files (when coded properly) into Braille

• Turns html files (when coded properly) into Braille

• Save as .brf (Braille Ready File) for use with refreshable displays or Jaws

• Emboss to hard-copy Braille

SOFTWARE - TACTILES

• Adobe Illustrator

DISTRIBUTION OF FILES

• On-campus solution (if possible)

• Dropbox

• HighTail (formerly YouSendIt)

• Google Drive

• In-person

• Flash drive

• CD

• External hard drive

HOW YOU CAN CONTACT ME

Susan Kelmer

Alternate Format Access Coordinator

University of Colorado Boulder

Susan.Kelmer@Colorado.edu

303-735-4836