NIMAS
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA 2004), educational publishers are required to provide source files (digital content) that are compliant with the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) to students with visual impairments in order to ensure that there can be a digital content experience. [1]
NIMAS means the standard established by the Federal Department of Education used in the preparation of electronic files suitable and used solely for efficient conversion into specialized formats. These specialized formats include Braille, audio, or digital text for use by those who are blind or other disabilities covered under IDEIA.
National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) requires the publisher "to prepare, and, on or before delivery of the print instructional materials, provide to NIMAC electronic files containing the contents of the print instructional materials using NIMAS." [2]
In essence, a publisher may place their content, their most valuable product, on a NIMAC controlled server. The first time this is hacked and the content is lost, the publisher is at risk.
The eTouchBook™ enables the publisher to provide a NIMAS solution without the NIMAC. How? Because the TUI technology embedded within the eTouchBook™ platform enables the Braille and tactile printed pages to connect directly to the digital content. As a result, the publisher never has to relinquish control of their digital content!
What is interesting about the eTouchBook™ is that once it is deployed, the publisher can drive all of its content and services from it. This means the publisher can increase their revenue opportunities by driving services such as on-demand-tutoring. For example, when the student needs help with the publisher's content (say a math problem), she or he simply touches the tutor icon on the page and it will connect directly to the tutor via VOIP, IM, or email.
The Braille experience is critical for enabling literacy among those who are blind. As a result, replacing Braille with an auditory only experience may not enhance literacy. Deploying tactile and Braille print that connects to digital content not only enhances the literacy experience, it may also improve reading comprehension. [3] The eTouchBook™ provides publishers with a way to present supplementary digital content to enhance the information provided.
In essence, all the recurring revenue models that are driven from a web page online can be driven from the printed page. The printed page, with tactile, and Braille can not only drive an inclusive experience to meet the legislative demands of NIMAS, but it can serve to increase the publisher's market size, add new revenue models, and offer new services such as prescriptive publishing and on-demand-tutoring.
Notes
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http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html
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http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/tb-accessibility.doc
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Mott, M.S., & Benus, M.A. (In Press).
Digital books with media-rich paper: Improving reading comprehension
through touch-user-interface technology. Journal of Literacy and
Technology 7,(1).
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