ARCHIVED - The Council on Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians

Development of a Vision and Implementation Plan for a National Clearinghouse for Print-Disabled Canadians

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December 8th, 2002
Version 3.0

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Agenda

Project Background

Interviewed

Current State

Issues and Challenges

Vision

Implementation Plan

Next Steps

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Project Background

• The Task Force recommended that the Government of Canada establish and fund a clearinghouse for e-text to which Canadian publishers must make their works available

The project objective was to:

• Develop a Vision and Implementation plan for a National Clearinghouse for Print-Disabled Canadians that:
  • Develops the framework for the overall strategy, identifies key issues and opportunities, and assesses overall readiness
  • Will act as the foundation for the pilot project for the clearinghouse for e-text to which Canadian publishers make their works available to alternate format producers

Interviewed

• National Library
• CNIB
• Industry Canada
• Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP)
• Canadian Publishing Council (CPC)
• AccessCopyright
• CAER
• Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes du Québec (RAAQ)
• St. Mary's University
• McClelland & Stewart
• Key Porter Books
• Dundurn Press
• Pearson Canada
• Bob Fenton
• Learning Disabilities Association of Canada

Current State

• There are a number of different organizations producing alternate format material for the Anglophone and Francophone print disabled community
• All groups involved are moving to a digital text and book model
  • Still in its early stages of development
• All groups show an interest in participating in a National Clearinghouse program that:
  • Represents the interests of the print disabled community;
  • Protects the rights of the copyright holders; and
  • Streamlines the process for Alternate Format Producers to access digital files

Issues and Challenges

• Copyright Act in a state of change
• No national format for E-text
• Publisher's e-files are in many different formats
• There are 2 streams of books to be transformed
  • Straight text
  • Complex instructional material made up of text and graphics
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) is still in development
• There is no standardized process for accessing material from publishers
  • Publisher dependent
  • Alternate format producer relationships
• There is no standardized process for access to alternative formats for the print disabled community

Vision

• Build a Publisher to Alternate Format Producer Clearinghouse
• Focus on building a Clearinghouse model that
  • Establishes a clear relationship for exchange of E-text between publishers and alternate format producers across Canada
  • Protects the licensing rights of publishers and authors
  • Deals with the Digital Rights Management of the E-text
  • Defines a standard format for E-text masters
  • Builds repositories for the E-text masters and the alternative formats
• Takes advantage of the early stages of E-text development
• Build a Partnership that is made up of a consortium of players
  • National Library - Partner in charge
  • AccessCopyright - Access provider
  • Alternative Format Producers as the storage and transformation agents
• Provides consistent access between the publishers and alternate format producers through AccessCopyright
  • Puts an agreement in place that ensures access to the alternative format producers via AccessCopyright
  • Develops the licensing and rights management necessary
  • Ensures that all publishers are represented
• Build digital repositories
  • Work closely with the Alternate Format Producers to build multiple repositories that that will act as the transforming and storage repositories
• Develops a National Format
  • Work with the standards community on the development of a national standard format (e.g. DAISY NISO)
• Builds the capability, in a later phase, for Print Disabled Canadians to access and pay for the digital books and E-text

Benefits

• The Vision provides the following benefits:
  • Includes all parties currently involved in the production of alternate formats and distributes responsibilities based on their mandate
  • Leverages work currently going on in the development and management of E-books/E-text
  • The National Clearinghouse can be built in phases
  • Costs can be minimized as the vision leverages the work planned or underway by the participants

Implementation Plan

• Implement over a two-year period
• Work with the current milestones of all of the participants and standards groups to establish
  • Copyright Act requirements
  • Digital Rights Management standardization
  • E-text format Standardization
  • Digital Libraries
• Put in place a funding model to support the coordination of the program and assist in funding the development of the Clearinghouse and the agreements

Step One - Build the Agreements

• Establish the consortium (governance)
• Establish a team to coordinate and manage
• Develop the legal agreements to:
  • Ensure publishers deliver e-text/e-files
  • Ensure AccessCopyright provides access to alternate format publishers and publishers

Step Two - Design the Clearinghouse

• Develop the design and process models of the Clearinghouse
• Develop a pilot to test all of the components
  • Submission of files
  • Transformation
  • Storage
  • Access
  • Licensing
  • Format

Step Three - Develop the Clearinghouse

• Develop the full model
• Build it in phases based on the readiness of the consortium partners

Next Steps

• Write the report on the National Clearinghouse Vision
• Detail the implementation plan and costing
• Develop the terms of reference for the consortium
• Establish a subcommittee to look at the access for print disabled Canadians