2003 was a year of especially impressive growth in the Consortium. Eleven new Associate Members and six new Friends joined the global effort to implement and promote DAISY as the better way to read. At the end of the year, there were 12 Full Members, 47 Associate Members, and 15 Friends that together comprised the Consortium. Organizations within the Consortium created thousands of new titles that are today being distributed to people with print disabilities worldwide.
The Consortium released new freely available tools to assure that this content is valid and will remain future safe as the DAISY standard is positioned to keep pace with the demands of evolving information technology. One of these tools was developed with the financial support of the Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The software supports the transition to DAISY 3, the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 standard. This software, called Zedval for short, will be an integral part of the migration path to DAISY 3. Several staff members of the Consortium continued their work with the ANSI/NISO Maintenance Committee to support the evolution of the standard so that it will remain aligned with the recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium.
Other highlights of the year included participation in CSUN (a large international conference that has been held for many years in the Los Angeles, California area), the DAISY for All conference, the inaugural year for the DAISY for All project, and the Consortium's participation in the World Summit on the Information Society. Without the Nippon Foundation's most generous grant, the support for DAISY in developing countries would not have been possible.
The DAISY Consortium Board continued to operate in accordance with the management structure established in 2002. This report has generally been organized according to this structure.
As demonstrated by the audited statement of accounts, the Consortium continues to be managed well within its forecasted budget, delivering outstanding progress on behalf of its Members and Friends. The staff of the Consortium continues to be instrumental in its success, and the Board would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff for its dedication.
Peter Osborne left the position of Secretary General in order to assume additional responsibilities within the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB). Thanks to Peter for his outstanding contributions. We appreciate RNIB's making Peter's talents available to the Consortium. Louise Hallsworth also left her position as administrator on the staff, and we wish to thank her for her support.
At the 2003 General Meeting in Amsterdam, George Kerscher was appointed to the position of Secretary General. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) has generously made more of George's time available to the Consortium so that he is able to assume the responsibilities of the Secretary General position.
The Danish National Library for the Blind (DBB) began to contribute a portion of Lisbeth Trinskjær's time as Executive Administrator to the staff. Lisbeth's considerable experience with nonprofit organizations makes her a welcome member of the staff.
We thank the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB) for continuing to contribute with Markus Gylling, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) with Lynn Leith, and the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities ^(JSRPD) with Miki Azuma. Jennifer Sutton has provided support for the Consortium as an independent contractor.
The Board met three times during 2003 in Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Montreal. The General Meeting was in Amsterdam. We sincerely appreciate the respective Member organizations for their assistance with arranging these meetings and warmly welcoming all those who attended. FNB in the Netherlands should be especially recognized for its support in the preparation and execution of the DAISY for All conference held in conjunction with the General Meeting. Additional details about this conference may be found in the Marketing and Communications section of this report.
The year has seen notable growth with a number of Members and Friends joining the DAISY Consortium. We are excited to see this demonstration of the growing confidence in the DAISY specification.
Two changes among Full Members were the establishment of countrywide consortia in both Japan and Sweden. The formation of the Swedish DAISY Consortium and the Japanese DAISY Consortium will undoubtedly permit coordinated efforts to make more DAISY titles available to people with print disabilities in these countries.
The formation of the Japanese DAISY Consortium means that the Nippon Lighthouse (Mojin Jyoho Bunnka Center) and the Institute of DAISY Editing (Digital Henshu Kyogikai Hinagiku) are no longer Associate Members of the Consortium since they are now affiliated with the Japanese DAISY Consortium.
Also, Labyrinten Data AB, a longstanding Friend of the Consortium, was incorporated under Dolphin Computer Access's Friendship status. Hadley School for the Blind resigned as an Associate Member as well as Korean Blind Union.
New Associate Members in 2003 were:
New Friends in 2003 were:
As indicated in the 2002 Annual Report, the Consortium was represented at the Consumer Electronics Show early in 2003. George Kerscher, along with several DAISY Friends, ably demonstrated DAISY playback options. Their demonstrations provided evidence to convince those in the audio industry that the DAISY specification offers improved functionality not only to people with print disabilities but also to everyone in the mainstream who appreciates features such as high-quality audio and flexible content navigation.
George Kerscher continues to represent the Consortium in the Open eBook Forum. As Chairman of the Board, George has been able to continually provide input regarding the development of the work of the Forum, attempting to establish greater understanding of, and commitment to the provision of accessible information and the development of appropriate standards.
Issues still remain concerning the accessibility of eBooks, and the Library of Congress in the USA issued a copyright exemption that allows for the legal cracking of eBooks where they are not accessible. This resulted from position papers written by DAISY Consortium Members.
In 2003, already-available production tools received attention to assure their continued stability. Staff and Consortium member representatives with technical expertise were responsible for many improvements in the three core production tools available as a benefit of Consortium membership i.e. LpStudio/Pro, Sigtuna DAR 3, and MyStudio PC. Consortium Members also developed tools for their internal use that help to streamline and speed DAISY production work flow. The fact that DAISY Members are building upon available tools emphasizes that DAISY is now firmly established as the preferred standard for producing Digital Talking Books.
The DAISY for All (DFA) project (described more fully in other sections of this report) has offered opportunities to further implementation in developing countries, such as Thailand and India. Another outcome of the DFA project is that it has begun to make it possible to expand the core of technical experts. For example, selected individuals have been trained as trainers. Others are contributing to the further development of the Adaptive Multimedia Information System (AMIS). AMIS is an open source player particularly suited to adaptation for use with a variety of assistive technologies. It may be localized for use in different languages.
Besides the availability of AMIS as an open source DAISY playback option, several Members and Friends released new products this year. There were also new releases of production and validation tools by the Consortium. See the DAISY Web site's tools pages for an overview of the range of playback and production choices available today.
A number of DAISY training courses were offered in 2003. Some were sponsored by DAISY for ALL, some by individual members, and some by The DAISY Consortium. Highlights include:
In addition, Member organizations held internal training sessions to enable more individuals to take part in DAISY production. Member organizations may request a training course to be held on site by contacting Lynn Leith.
During the year, the DAISY Web site's training area was augmented with the availability of a growing knowledge base and the publication of training reports. As required, the DAISY training materials have been expanded and improved to take into account new production and validation tool releases.
Of special note are the modular training materials that were pilot tested during the year. The staff has developed the modular training materials based on the DAISY training manual and has included guidance regarding XHTML markup. They are designed to permit users both to follow along during a training session, and also to serve as a self-study reference after a course. Plans are underway to make these materials available online to promote independent study.
The Consortium established an XML Techniques working group to build expertise with respect to file creation. Specifically, the goals are to develop sample content that can be used to train publishers and conversion vendors and to assist DAISY Consortium Members with the creation of XML files for DAISY production. A textbook was donated for this purpose, and the first drafts of this work have been delivered.
The Consortium's work in developing countries was especially active in 2003. Achievements included the award of three grants, work under the DAISY for All (DFA) project very generously funded for its first year by the Nippon Foundation, and a presence at the World Summit on the Information Society.
DFA activities for 2003 included focal point development in Thailand and India, international trainers training, open source development workshops, and marketing and management support. Focal point development in 2003 saw the establishment of sustainable DAISY production centers in Thailand and India. Both will become regional support centers for future focal point development in the following years. Workshops included:
The Consortium was able to respond with financial support to all grant applicants this year. Applications were received from the National Association of the Blind in India, the South African Library for the Blind in South Africa, and Itra Netra foundation in Indonesia. Grants are awarded to organizations in developing countries to enable them to progress with DAISY implementation.
The year concluded with the Consortium's active presence at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva. This summit was the first of two being planned; the second phase is expected to be held in Tunisia in 2005.
The first phase of WSIS in Geneva was attended by high-level representatives of governments in many nations, as well as others generally interested in maximizing the advantages of information technology. Some 11,000 people attended from developing and industrialized countries, and many thousands of them were provided with a DAISY CD containing the "Declaration of Principles" in each of the six official languages.
Kicki Nordström, Chairperson of the International Disability Alliance and President of the World Blind Union, was invited (as the designated representative of the civil society sector) to deliver a keynote address during the opening session of WSIS on Wednesday, December 10. Speaking after United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan, Kicki eloquently made the case that equal access to information is critical. As she said, "people with disabilities are especially and directly affected by the way in which the information society cares about all its users."
The Global Forum on Disability in the Information Society was held on Friday, December 12 and was quite well-attended. The day opened with several presentations by local dignitaries. These opening remarks were followed by best-practice showcases and examples of information and communication technology design and development for all. DAISY received significant exposure throughout the day's presentations. During the final session, the group adopted "The Geneva Declaration on Accessible Information Society."
The Swiss Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired (SBS) was instrumental in supporting the Consortium's presence at WSIS. The Board expresses its sincere appreciation to SBS for its assistance with this conference.
The DAISY Consortium remained committed to Communicating with its members and promoting DAISY technology in a variety of forums. Some of the highlights of the year included:
CSUN conference, Los Angeles, California, USA, March: For the first time, the conference program and restaurant menus were available as DAISY CDs, many door prizes were given away, and DAISY Members and Friends were recognizable as a unified community. Several sessions held on "DAISY day" were well-attended.
DAISY for all Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May: Approximately 180 individuals attended this conference which was a resounding success. Attendees were treated to two and a half intensive days of presentations that showcased new DAISY products coming onto the market, highlighted implementation strategies, and inspired those transitioning from analog tapes to Digital Talking Books. The conference also provided excellent opportunities for personal networking and information-sharing.
IFLA Pre-Conference arranged by Libraries for the Blind Section, Marburg, Germany, July: About 100 members of the IFLA Section could find information about DAISY and the DAISY Consortium at the exhibition and in speeches.
World Blind Union (WBU) Executive Committee Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria, September: The DAISY Consortium President was invited to make a presentation about DAISY and the Consortium. The DAISY Consortium is an international member of the WBU, and the WBU executive Meeting decided to form an ad hoc group on DAISY composed of Norma Toucedo, Monthian Buntan, Chris Friend, and Hiroshi Kawamura.
In addition to preparing promotional CDs for these conferences and updating the Web site, Jennifer Sutton compiled and distributed three issues of DAISY News during the course of the year. Not only were these newsletters disseminated via email, but they were also generously created as DAISY full text and audio productions with the kind support of DBB, CNIB, and the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind.
During 2003, Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt was replaced by Elsebeth Tank as President of the DAISY Consortium. While Elsebeth's official term begins in 2004, she began to assume responsibilities as President of the Consortium in 2003 so as to assure a smooth transition.
Ingar is commended for her many years of dedicated service, exemplary leadership, and ongoing commitment to the DAISY format. We are confident that her work with TPB and the Swedish DAISY Consortium will continue to make a notable difference in the implementation and promotion of the standard. As a gift to the organization, Ingar wrote an overview of the DAISY Consortium's history in the June 2003 edition of DAISY News. There, she mentioned just a few of the "heroes" that have been pivotal forces in championing the DAISY standard. Ingar, herself, is such a hero, and her presence on the Board will be missed.
During the second half of 2003, as she began to serve as President Elect, Elsebeth Tank focused particular attention on the development of the Consortium's long-range strategic plan. It became immediately obvious that there are many complex issues to examine in that strategic planning process. It is expected that the strategic plan will evolve over the next year. There are many strategic directions that are clear, and progress will be made. However, items that have not been decided will be addressed through the year.
As this plan continues to take shape in 2004 and moves toward full implementation, the cooperation of DAISY Members and Friends will be vital. The staff and Board both play a crucial part in the successful implementation of the strategic plan as the Consortium shifts its focus from the establishment of a specification to seeing that specification become more and more widely accepted. The support of Consortium Associate Members and Friends is critical to DAISY's strength and growth, and we thank all of you for your continued commitment.
Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt, President
Elsebeth Tank, President Elect