Re: Procurement requirements around accessible digital books

On 2020-12-17 22:48, Greg Alchin wrote:
> Dear All
> I am working with education providers in Australia and we are in the
> process of developing a consistent approach around the implementation
> of accessibility requirements in the procurement of digital books and
> textbooks. Just as we don’t buy a car or house that isn’t built to
> standard nor do Education providers buy books that are not to
> standard.
> 
> Essentially participating school systems will advise their Principals
> they should not  procure a digital book that doesn’t meet
> accessibility standards.
> Publishers will need to certify that each book  meets those standards
> for that book to be considered as fit for procurement.
> 
> I anticipate a go live some time around March/April 2021 with a phased
> implementation during 2021 and a hard cut off beginning November 2021.
> 
> Outlined below is a draft of the current requirements document.Any and
> all constructive comment and feedback is most welcomed..
> 
> DIGITAL BOOK PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENTS
> 
> <<Insert Education provider>> requires that any digital product
> (content, digital book, software hardware or services) it procures
> must be designed to provide equal access of use for all their intended
> users, be they students, staff or community. This procurement
> requirement supports us  to meet our obligations under the United
> Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [1],
> Disability Discrimination Act [2] (DDA), the Disability Standards for
> Education [3] (DSE), Marrakesh Treaty [4] and Australian Standard 301
> 549 [5] (Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of
> ICT products and services). To achieve our obligations, <<Insert
> Education provider>> will only consider procuring digital books that
> meet the following technical requirements:
> 
> TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
> 
> 1.  Designed to the EPUB 3 standard [6] as outlined by the
> Publishing@W3C's EPUB 3 Working Group.
> 
> 2.  Compliant with the content conformance and discovery requirements
> [7] for verifying the accessibility of EPUB publications.
> 
> 3.  Works seamlessly with the inbuilt accessibility features/assistive
> technologies found on mainstream devices running iOS 14, iPadOS 14,
> macOS 11,  Windows 10 or above, Android and Chrome OS.
> 
> 4.  Capable of providing the structure, technical functionality, and
> design to meet the following functional performance statements:
> 
>  * Usage with no or limited vision
>  * Usage without perception of colour
>  * Usage without hearing
>  * Usage with limited hearing
>  * Usage with no or limited vocal capability
>  * Usage with limited manipulation or strength
>  * Usage with limited reach
>  * Minimize photosensitive seizure triggers
>  * Usage with limited cognition, language or learning
>  * Privacy
> 
> NOTICE
> 
> Any digital product procured by <<Insert Education provider>> as of or
> after the << date TBA>>, that fails to meet these requirements is
> deemed not fit for purpose and entitles the purchaser to a full and
> immediate refund. Payment of products that are partially compliant
> will be held over until such time as compliance has been achieved.
> 
> PUBLISHER CERTIFICATION
> 
> We certify that our publication meets these NSW Department of
> Education procurement requirements and can on request provide
> technical evidence of the products accessibility compliance.
> 
>  <<insert title>>,
> 
> <<insert ISBN>>:     Publication date:
> 
> Name:
>                   Position:
> 
> Publisher:
> 
> Signature:
>      Date:
> 
> regards
> 
> Greg
> Greg Alchin | Inclusioneer
> 
> ALL EQUAL - inclusive content, services and spaces
> M: +61403273063 | E:all.equal@icloud.com
> 
> “I am an Inclusionista. I choose to design to include and enable
> rather than unknowingly exclude and disable. Inclusive design drives
> innovation in how we live, learn and work.”
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] 
> https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html
> [2] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00125
> [3] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2005L00767
> [4] 
> https://www.communications.gov.au/policy/policy-listing/marrakesh-treaty-people-print-disability
> [5] 
> https://infostore.saiglobal.com/en-au/standards/as-en-301-549-2016-100620_saig_as_as_211428/
> [6] https://www.w3.org/publishing/epub3/epub-spec.html
> [7] https://w3c.github.io/epub-specs/epub33/a11y/#sec-access-pub

Delighted to see this, Greg! Please keep me (us) posted. Will I be free 
to share this once it's finalized? (P.S. I love your job title!)
--Bill
-- 
Bill Kasdorf
Principal, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC
Founding Partner, Publishing Technology Partners
W3C Global Publishing Evangelist
bill.kasdorf@w3.org

Received on Friday, 18 December 2020 17:07:42 UTC