Campus Technology 2006 Poster Session Reminder

Just a reminder - the deadline for Poster Session proposals to Campus Technology 2006 is January 26th. Here is a quick and easy opportunity for us to get the ATHEN name and our profession out there. If you will be in the Boston area at the time of the conference it may be worth checking out. I have started getting Campus Technology via the free subscription and found it to be worth reading.

Here is my presentation proposal - I plan on creating a flow chart of the DAISY process from start to finish [from student request through the finished product]. Actually this is something I have already done to some degree as BU is startin to take a serious look at our procedures for providing digital formats to SWD's. This has been especially good for me as I have been forced to move a lot of information out of my head and on to paper. It dawned on me and my boss that should I be struck down by a T-train tomorrow a wealth of information would be lost.

Title
More Than Meets the Eye (and Ear): A Primer of Alternate-Format Text Production

Brief description suitable for publication
Each semester nearly two-hundred-thousand college students with disabilities request textbooks and other print materials in accessible digital formats. At the postsecondary level the responsibility of providing alternate format materials typically falls to Disability Support Services. Providing such accommodations requires extensive knowledge of specialized services as well as unique software and hardware solutions. This poster presentation maps the process of producing and disseminating accessible e-Text materials [particularly DAISY formats] including best practices and potential pitfalls.

Presenter bio suitable for publication
Daniel Berkowitz is the Assistant Director of Disability Services for Boston University, where he coordinates Alternate Format Text services and consults in the areas of adaptive and assistive technologies. Dann holds a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Connecticut and is working towards an Ed.D. through the Boston University School of Education. His research interests include creating technology training opportunities for postsecondary disability service providers and e-Text production best practices.

Any further information that might be helpful in determining the relevance of your topic to the conference
The advent of the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) in December 2006 will usher in a new era of K-12 textbook accessibility for special education students needing their learning materials in accessible alternate formats. Unfortunately, no comparable legislation exists at the postsecondary level and that which does (namely the Chafee Amendment and various provisions of the ADA) tends to confuse matters more than clarify responsibilities. It is one thing for a publisher to provide entire county or state school systems with digital formats of textbooks as part of the bidding process, but far less appealing (or legislatively supported) for them to do the same at the postsecondary level. Though a positive advancement for K-12 education, NIMAS seems to be setting up for disappointment a generation of students raised on broadband and podcasts who will anticipate at least the same level of digital access when they move on to college - and who may find such a level of service is not readily available.
More and more it will fall upon postsecondary education disability service providers to produce alternate formats of textbooks and other materials as an in-house responsibility. Fortunately, however, advances in software and hardware – and most especially in standardized formats such as DAISY – should make providing such services more functional and effective. However, it is imperative that personnel and departments serving the needs of students with disabilities, especially where legal issues such as copyright clash with handicap access, do not operate in a vacuum. Campus entities with whom Disabled Student Services coordinate need to have a shared knowledge of the procedures and policies around these issues. Though a poster presentation such as this cannot be all encompassing, it is the presenters desire to provide conference attendees with a general, yet solid, background of information on these issues.