media:Fw: Prestigious Awards for DAISY and two of its Leaders

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Pattison" <srp@bigpond.net.au>
To: "Access L" <access-l@icomm.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 7:55 AM
Subject: Fwd: Prestigious Awards for DAISY and two of its Leaders


From: William Jolley wjolley@bigpond.com
To: vip-l@softspeak.com.au

Hello Everyone

I am delighted to inform you that Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt, President
of
the DAISY Consortium, and George Kerscher, International Projects
Manager of
the DAISY Consortium, are the winners for 2001 of the Dayton M Forman
Award
from the CNIB National Library for the Blind.  More information is in
the
piece below which is the lead article in the inaugural edition of our
newsletter, "DAISY News".

Cheers

Bill

PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR DAISY LEADERS

Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt and George Kerscher are the proud recipients
for
2001 of the Dr. Dayton M. Forman Memorial Award. This prestigious
award,
established
by the CNIB Library Board in January 1996, recognises outstanding
leadership
in the advancement of library and information services for Canadians
who are
blind or vision-impaired. It is offered in tribute to Dr. Dayton M.
Forman,
an exceptional humanitarian and longstanding CNIB volunteer, who
exemplified
the leadership required to make a difference for more than half a
million
people who are blind or vision-impaired throughout Canada. Award
winners
receive
a bound copy of the Award Citation, together with a silver medal
bearing the
likeness of Dr. Forman.

Ingar and George were recognised for their outstanding achievements in
overcoming barriers to information equity for people who are blind or
print-disabled
in Canada and beyond. Their achievements were seen as broad in scope,
of an
enduring nature and significant in terms of library and information
services
as a whole; demonstrating great leadership and innovation, and serving
as a
positive role model for others.

Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt has been President of the DAISY Consortium
since
its formation in 1996, and as director of the Swedish Library of
Talking-Books
and Braille she has led the development effort to create and implement
the
worldwide standard for digital talking-books, the DAISY standard.
George
Kerscher,
who pioneered accessible eText documents for people who are blind or
print-disabled as long ago as the late 1980s, has been Project Manager
and
Technical
Director of the DAISY Consortium since 1997.

"I am deeply honored by this news", George said, "I look forward to
standing
with Ingar to receive the award on behalf of everybody who has
contributed
to the efforts of the DAISY Consortium. Ingar is the leader we all want
in
this effort to improve access to information for persons with print
disabilities."

Stop Press

We are delighted to inform you that DAISY is a winner in the
International
Access Awards Ppogram for 2001 of the International Coalition of Access
Engineers
and Specialists (ICAES). The purpose of the awards Program is to
recognise
significant innovative technical contributions to the access
engineering
profession.
All entries were judged on innovation, creativity, scope-of-benefit to
consumers and the universality of the product or service.

The Daisy Consortium, National Information Standards Organization
(NISO) and
Open eBook Forum (OeBF) have won ICAES' Collaboration and Coordination
Award,
recognising their successful endeavours to resolve and promote
compatibility
and interoperability. The work of DAISY, NISO and OeBF has converged
nicely
in the development of file specifications for Digital Talking-Books and
eBooks. In announcing the Award ICAES stated that "... digital
talking-books
based
on the open standards being developed by Daisy and NISO provide
significant
advances in usability and functionality for people with print
disabilities.
The Open eBook specification, a base format for mainstream electronic
books,
incorporates features to promote accessibility. These organisations are
working
together to build a future where the world of electronic books will be
open
to all."

ICAES is a non-profit membership organisation which fosters
international
co-operation and support for the design of products that are as
accessible
and
usable by persons with disabilities, as economically possible, and
technically feasible. Achieving this mission will deliver better
products,
for all consumers,
on a global basis. For more information go to http://www.icaes.org .

William Jolley
Secretary General of DAISY Consortium
Email: wjolley@bigpond.com
Tel.: 613 9807 5137
20 Wadham Parade
MOUNT WAVERLEY  VIC  3149
AUSTRALIA

Regards Steve,
mailto:srp@bigpond.net.au.

Received on Wednesday, 15 August 2001 12:04:46 UTC