Digital Talking Book

[Janina Sajka]

The following is from the U.S. Library of Congress' National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS/BPH) as published
at:

http://www.loc.gov/nls/newsreleases/06222001.html#top

Students to Design Talking Book Machine
NLS/BPH Press Release
Students to Design Talking Book Machine
Issued
June 22, 2001
For Immediate Release
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and the National Library
Service for
the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, are challenging
student
designers to create the next generation of digital talking book playback
machines.
The student design competition, scheduled to begin Jan 1, 2002, could
result in a
unique product that will help thousands of visually impaired and otherwise
disabled
people enjoy books and magazines each year. Close to a million new machines
will
be produced in the first ten years after their introduction.
Current playback machines are the same analog cassette players that made
their appearance
in the 1970s. "The analog machines have served us well, but they are
starting to
move toward obsolescence," said Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National
Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Users have started, he
said, to
expect their talking book playback machines to have some of the navigation
features
they find in CD and DVD players and computers, such as the ability to skip
sections
or return to a "bookmark." And as it becomes more scarce, cassette
technology will
become too expensive. "We need to move on to digital audio to take
advantage of improved
user features and lower costs," said Cylke.
So why not use existing digital devices? Here's the twist. Both the
recordings and
the equipment are mailed free to any U.S. citizen who qualifies. NLS is
permitted
to do this under U.S. copyright law, but the law also requires that the
materials
NLS circulates be unusable by the general public. For this reason, the
current talking
book machines and cassettes are different from the conventional cassette
players
and tapes.
When NLS decided to adopt digital technology, the agency also decided to
take advantage
of the conversion time to address the total design of the playback
machines. "The
analog machines were designed by engineers and were built to be functional
and durable,
" said Cylke. The agency had a chance to design machines that are
aesthetically pleasing,
light and compact, but with speakers that could be directed for the hearing
impaired.
When the idea of a competition was suggested, Cylke said he assigned his
reference
department the task of finding an appropriate organization to manage the
competition.
IDSA had just completed the Motorola student competition to design a
wireless device
for universal access.
"It seemed like a very nice fit. We wanted creativity and unique ideas and
the concept
of a student competition was even more exciting," said Cylke. He has been
working
on the competition with Gigi Thompson, IDSA's senior manager of
communication and
has met several times with Jim Mueller, IDSA, who chairs the Society's
Universal
Design Professional Interest Section.
Cylke explained that the students will be designing for the future, when
baby boomers
will be aging. "Many of our users are older people who were avid readers
and now
can't read. They have to be able to operate these devices," he said.
Although the
digital devices the students design will be specifically tailored to the
disabled,
they must also adhere to the principles of universal design, including
being simple
and intuitive to use, having a tolerance for error and requiring low
physical effort.
NLS has approximately 730,000 cassette talking book playback machines in
use worldwide
today and maintains an inventory of more than 23 million copies of audio
books and
magazines. "The upgrade to digital versions of not only the talking book
playback
machines but also the vast audio collection is the greatest challenge NLS
has ever
faced," said director Cylke.
One student designer has the opportunity to inspire the development of a
product
that will solve a government mandate and benefit thousands of needy citizens.
The competition begins January 1, 2002. IDSA will offer information on the
competition
on the IDSA Web site, in its publications, at the National Conference and
the National
Education Conference in August in Boston, MA, and will distribute
competition information
kits to all 54 IDSA-affiliated schools. A jury assembled by NLS and IDSA
will convene
in June 2002 and awards will be presented during the IDSA National
Conference, July
20 23, 2002. Watch www.idsa.org this fall for more details.
For additional information, contact:
Robert E. Fistick
Head, Publications and Media Section
National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped
The Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542
Telephone: (202) 707-9279
E-mail:
rfis at loc.gov

-- 

				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175

Chair, Accessibility SIG
Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
http://www.openebook.org

Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper,
Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.asp

Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther
King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at
http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp

Learn how to make accessible software at
http://www.afb.org/accessapp.asp