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Print Disability Copyright Guidelines: Part 6
August 2007
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Overview of copyright
Part 3: Individuals with a print disability
Part 4: Print disability organisations
Part 5: Educational provisions of the Copyright Act
Part 6: Copyright owners
Part 7: Glossary
Another reason is that individuals and print disability organisations sometimes need to contact publishers and copyright owners for permission, or to ask for digital files of books to help them make accessible copies. Dealing with these requests takes time and resources. To simplify the process of dealing with these requests, we have drafted two documents (see below at 6.3 “The
Print Disability Licence and Sample Agreement”).
• “read” documents out loud in a computer-synthesised voice;
• “read” text on computer screens out loud (allowing navigation of websites); and
• translate text into “refreshable” Braille that can be read using a keypad.
Most of these require text or html files to work properly. Some software, such as Acrobat 7.0, can “read” appropriately formatted PDF files out loud.
The DAISY (Digital Accessible SYstem) standard allows people with a print disability to locate particular chapters or page numbers in a digital text or sound recording file almost as easily as a sighted person. This standard is increasingly being adopted internationally, and Australian organisations are moving towards adopting it here.
In practice, however, many people with a print disability are unable to use the most sophisticated adaptive technology. Adaptive software can be extremely expensive, and devices, such as refreshable Braille readers, cost up to $10,000. Even people using free or inexpensive software need computer equipment with adequate memory and processing speed, and assistance with learning new software. Students, and people who are not in full-time employment, generally cannot afford such equipment.
Publishers are not legally obliged to supply digital files. A publisher who grants express permission, or provides a digital file, can set terms and conditions that may or may not follow those of the statutory licence in the Copyright Act.
Where a digital file has been provided in an “image” format such as PDF or Quark, the print disability organisation must “extract” the text using specialised software. This process introduces errors that are time-consuming to correct – such as incorporation of page numbers into text, substitution of letters and words, and displacement of sections of text. Tables, columns, images and text in boxes are skipped by the software and must be added manually.
Editors then work on the files, correcting the errors and introducing formatting or other text needed for a person with a print disability to understand the material. For example, the editor may write a text description of an illustration or diagram, describing its content and explaining its significance. The editor may also incorporate text describing or explaining visual cues and formatting. This task is sometimes outsourced to specialist contractors, especially for subjects such as maths and science, where the use of symbols, for example, requires editors to have detailed knowledge of the subject.
Both the files ultimately used as masters and the copies delivered to individuals with a print disability usually look quite different from the ones provided by a publisher, and are generally not visually attractive or easy for sighted people to use.
Print disability organisations consulted for this project identified the following as key issues for supply of digital files:
• integrity (files should be “true copies”, that is, the digital file should be the same as the published version, down to chapter headings and page numbers); and
• format (generally, the easiest formats for print disability organisations to use are text files or html or xml files – the process of transferring a PDF file into a text file for people with a print disability is complex and time-consuming).
However, we understand that most publishers use publishing or graphic design programs from early in the publishing process, and therefore do not produce or hold text files of the final version. The optimal solution in each situation will depend on the circumstances.
Similarly, in consultations, publishers have noted that dealing with requests can take significant time and resources. This is especially the case for publishers who rarely receive such requests and therefore have not developed procedures or agreements to deal with them. Major concerns raised by publishers related to the uses that may be made of digital files, and the risk of “leakage” of such files into the general community.
The Sample Agreement for publishers and print disability organisations addresses these concerns.
This is, however, in some respects more restricted than the uses permitted under the Individuals Print Disability Licence.
The Individuals Print Disability Licence is broadly similar to the provisions for individuals with print disabilities in the UK Copyright Act. The Licence is drafted so that individuals do not need to contact the publisher directly where all they want to do is to make a copy to access the material. They would still need to contact the publisher for permission for any more extensive use, or to ask for a digital file.
When a publisher signs up to the Licence, an individual with a print disability can make a copy of that publisher’s material in a format he or she can access, provided it is not commercially available in the format he or she needs, and he or she has legitimate access to the material (for example, he or she owns a copy or could borrow it from a library).
Publishers can grant the Licence by emailing the Copyright Council at info@copyright.org.au (include the words “Print Disability Licence” in the subject heading). They may specify particular lists or imprints, or even individual books, in relation to which they grant the Individuals Print Disability Licence, or they may grant the Licence in relation to all books for which they hold the relevant rights.
The name of the organisation, and any limitations (such as particular imprints or titles to be covered by, or excluded from, the Licence) will be added to the list in the online Guidelines. Eligible people will then be able to rely on the Licence.
Alternatively, publishers can use the Individuals Print Disability Licence as a reference when making agreements directly with individuals.
Obviously, it may not be commercially viable to publish in hard copy Braille or large print formats. However, it may well be feasible to publish e-books in formats that are accessible to people with a print disability.
A number of organisations publish material that can help publishers make their publications accessible to people with a print disability, and some provide online information. These include:
Vision Australia
Vision Australia provides free material online, including Readability guidelines and Large Print guidelines (go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ and click on “resources”). It also runs workshops and offers consultancies on making websites and publications accessible to people with a print disability (go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au and click on “training”).
Round Table on information access for people with a print disability
The Round Table provides guidelines on production of material in accessible form, at a small charge (go to http://www.e-bility.com/roundtable/productionguidelines.php).
Acrobat and PDF files
For information on how to make Adobe PDF files more accessible, go to http://www.adobe.com/ap/accessibility/. However, many people with a print disability find even the most advanced PDF formats extremely difficult or impossible to access. In most cases, other formats are very much preferred.
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Overview of copyright
Part 3: Individuals with a print disability
Part 4: Print disability organisations
Part 5: Educational provisions of the Copyright Act
Part 6: Copyright owners
Part 7: Glossary
Copyright owners
Publishers and other copyright owners need to be aware of print disability issues for a number of reasons. One of these is that copyright owners’ rights are affected by the special provisions in the Copyright Act for print disability organisations.Another reason is that individuals and print disability organisations sometimes need to contact publishers and copyright owners for permission, or to ask for digital files of books to help them make accessible copies. Dealing with these requests takes time and resources. To simplify the process of dealing with these requests, we have drafted two documents (see below at 6.3 “The
Print Disability Licence and Sample Agreement”).
6.1 Technology used by people with disabilities
A wide range of adaptive software and devices is available for people with a print disability. For example, computer programs are available that can:• “read” documents out loud in a computer-synthesised voice;
• “read” text on computer screens out loud (allowing navigation of websites); and
• translate text into “refreshable” Braille that can be read using a keypad.
Most of these require text or html files to work properly. Some software, such as Acrobat 7.0, can “read” appropriately formatted PDF files out loud.
The DAISY (Digital Accessible SYstem) standard allows people with a print disability to locate particular chapters or page numbers in a digital text or sound recording file almost as easily as a sighted person. This standard is increasingly being adopted internationally, and Australian organisations are moving towards adopting it here.
In practice, however, many people with a print disability are unable to use the most sophisticated adaptive technology. Adaptive software can be extremely expensive, and devices, such as refreshable Braille readers, cost up to $10,000. Even people using free or inexpensive software need computer equipment with adequate memory and processing speed, and assistance with learning new software. Students, and people who are not in full-time employment, generally cannot afford such equipment.
a. The process of making accessible copies: how digital files are used
Apart from narration services (which provide recordings of people reading out the text), most print disability organisations use various forms of software to produce copies in accessible formats. The organisation may ask the publisher for a digital file of the work, or may use other methods for getting a digital file, such as scanning the text or even, in rare circumstances, re-keying it.Publishers are not legally obliged to supply digital files. A publisher who grants express permission, or provides a digital file, can set terms and conditions that may or may not follow those of the statutory licence in the Copyright Act.
Where a digital file has been provided in an “image” format such as PDF or Quark, the print disability organisation must “extract” the text using specialised software. This process introduces errors that are time-consuming to correct – such as incorporation of page numbers into text, substitution of letters and words, and displacement of sections of text. Tables, columns, images and text in boxes are skipped by the software and must be added manually.
Editors then work on the files, correcting the errors and introducing formatting or other text needed for a person with a print disability to understand the material. For example, the editor may write a text description of an illustration or diagram, describing its content and explaining its significance. The editor may also incorporate text describing or explaining visual cues and formatting. This task is sometimes outsourced to specialist contractors, especially for subjects such as maths and science, where the use of symbols, for example, requires editors to have detailed knowledge of the subject.
Both the files ultimately used as masters and the copies delivered to individuals with a print disability usually look quite different from the ones provided by a publisher, and are generally not visually attractive or easy for sighted people to use.
6.2 Problems identified by print disability organisations and individuals
In consultations with individuals and organisations in the print disability community, the Australian Copyright Council has been told of a number of difficulties in making copies in accessible format; some of these arise from the wording of the legislation, and others arise from general circumstances. The issues that are relevant to publishers are outlined below. Many of these are addressed in the Individuals Print Disability Licence and the Sample Agreement for publishers and print disability organisations.a. Reasonable enquiries about commercial availability
As noted above, print disability organisations must make “reasonable enquiries” about whether a copy in the relevant format is commercially available before making a copy in an accessible format for an individual with a print disability. This requirement is in line with the “three-step test” for exceptions to copyright infringement that is set out in international treaties. However, the way the requirement is drafted in the Copyright Act causes some problems for print disability organisations, without necessarily benefiting copyright owners: •- The Act does not define “reasonable enquiries”.
- The requirement does not take into account the fact that a work may be commercially available in one of the formats specified in the Act but still not accessible to some or all people with a print disability. For example, a book may be available in electronic form but only in a copy-protected format that cannot be accessed by adaptive software. In this case, a print disability organisation cannot rely on the Copyright Act to make copies, even though its members cannot buy a copy in a format they can use.
- Repeated checking may be pointlessly onerous where the material is never likely to be commercially available in Australia in the relevant format (such as Braille, or very large print formats).
- It may be pointlessly onerous to check for commercial availability before making each individual copy if the organisation receives frequent requests for a particular work, since commercial availability in the relevant format is unlikely to change from day to day. In particular, it is effectively impossible to make accessible material available online and meet this requirement, even though the Copyright Act allows online delivery of this material provided access is only available to people with a print disability. (We understand that most organisations require members to provide medical certificates when joining, and members need user ID or passwords to access material.)
- Print disability organisations sometimes spend considerable time and resources making an accessible master copy of a book, but are then unable to use it for their print-disabled clients without permission because a copy in the same format becomes commercially available. However, the commercially available version may be inferior from the point of view of a person with a print disability (for example, because it lacks navigation information such as chapter and page information).
b. Things that can’t be copied under the Copyright Act scheme
The print disability provisions do not allow print disability organisations to copy music (whether in printed or recorded form) or artworks (including diagrams) without permission. In some cases, such material may be copied for people with a disability under the new “special case” (or “flexible dealing”) exception. However, the drafting of the exception leaves considerable uncertainty as to what is required for the exception to be available.c. Access to digital files
Generally, print disability organisations negotiate arrangements with publishers for delivery of digital files, where these are available. Although in many cases print disability organisations and publishers have developed good relationships, people interviewed in consultations for this project commented that it can be difficult to identify the appropriate contact person in a publishing house, and that practices and attitudes can vary greatly between publishers or even within a publishing organisation.Print disability organisations consulted for this project identified the following as key issues for supply of digital files:
• integrity (files should be “true copies”, that is, the digital file should be the same as the published version, down to chapter headings and page numbers); and
• format (generally, the easiest formats for print disability organisations to use are text files or html or xml files – the process of transferring a PDF file into a text file for people with a print disability is complex and time-consuming).
However, we understand that most publishers use publishing or graphic design programs from early in the publishing process, and therefore do not produce or hold text files of the final version. The optimal solution in each situation will depend on the circumstances.
Similarly, in consultations, publishers have noted that dealing with requests can take significant time and resources. This is especially the case for publishers who rarely receive such requests and therefore have not developed procedures or agreements to deal with them. Major concerns raised by publishers related to the uses that may be made of digital files, and the risk of “leakage” of such files into the general community.
The Sample Agreement for publishers and print disability organisations addresses these concerns.
6.3 The Individuals Print Disability Licence and Sample Agreement
a. Individuals
Following amendments to the Copyright Act in 2006, an individual is entitled to make a copy in another format of a book, magazine or other periodical he or she owns, for personal use. The Act places restrictions on the use of such copies and on subsequent use of the original material.This is, however, in some respects more restricted than the uses permitted under the Individuals Print Disability Licence.
The Individuals Print Disability Licence is broadly similar to the provisions for individuals with print disabilities in the UK Copyright Act. The Licence is drafted so that individuals do not need to contact the publisher directly where all they want to do is to make a copy to access the material. They would still need to contact the publisher for permission for any more extensive use, or to ask for a digital file.
When a publisher signs up to the Licence, an individual with a print disability can make a copy of that publisher’s material in a format he or she can access, provided it is not commercially available in the format he or she needs, and he or she has legitimate access to the material (for example, he or she owns a copy or could borrow it from a library).
Publishers can grant the Licence by emailing the Copyright Council at info@copyright.org.au (include the words “Print Disability Licence” in the subject heading). They may specify particular lists or imprints, or even individual books, in relation to which they grant the Individuals Print Disability Licence, or they may grant the Licence in relation to all books for which they hold the relevant rights.
The name of the organisation, and any limitations (such as particular imprints or titles to be covered by, or excluded from, the Licence) will be added to the list in the online Guidelines. Eligible people will then be able to rely on the Licence.
Alternatively, publishers can use the Individuals Print Disability Licence as a reference when making agreements directly with individuals.
b. Print disability organisations
In recognition of the fact that there are relatively few print disability organisations, and of the importance they place on their relationships with publishers, we have taken a different approach with print disability organisations. Rather than asking copyright owners to grant a general licence for the benefit of print disability organisations, we have drafted a Sample Agreement for publishers and print disability organisations that can be used as a basis for the relationships. Using the Sample Agreement allows publishers to deal with requests efficiently, and develop effective working relationships with organisations they trust.6.4 Providing material in accessible formats
When publishers make their material commercially available in accessible formats, everyone wins. People with a print disability benefit, because it will be quicker and easier for them to get the material they want in a form they can read. Copyright owners benefit because they can get a commercial return (which is not normally the case when copies are made under the print disability provisions).Obviously, it may not be commercially viable to publish in hard copy Braille or large print formats. However, it may well be feasible to publish e-books in formats that are accessible to people with a print disability.
A number of organisations publish material that can help publishers make their publications accessible to people with a print disability, and some provide online information. These include:
Vision Australia
Vision Australia provides free material online, including Readability guidelines and Large Print guidelines (go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ and click on “resources”). It also runs workshops and offers consultancies on making websites and publications accessible to people with a print disability (go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au and click on “training”).
Round Table on information access for people with a print disability
The Round Table provides guidelines on production of material in accessible form, at a small charge (go to http://www.e-bility.com/roundtable/productionguidelines.php).
Macquarie Customised Accessibility Services (M-CAS)
M-CAS offers consultancy services and converts documents into accessible formats for commercial and other organisations as well as for educational institutions (go to http://www.cfl.mq.edu.au/mcas/index.htm).Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY)
DAISY is a standard developed to allow easy navigation of digital and audio files for people with a print disability. It is increasingly being adopted internationally. For information on the standard, go to http://www.daisy.org/.Web Accessibility Initiative
For information on making websites accessible to people with print disabilities, go to http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/.Acrobat and PDF files
For information on how to make Adobe PDF files more accessible, go to http://www.adobe.com/ap/accessibility/. However, many people with a print disability find even the most advanced PDF formats extremely difficult or impossible to access. In most cases, other formats are very much preferred.