Digital Talking Books Plus

The world of publishing is evolving at an ever-increasing speed, with developments in digital workstreams and products, customer expectation, enriched content curation, and user-generated content becoming commonplace. In Publishing in the Digital Age: How Business Can Thrive in a Rapidly Changing Environment, Ross discusses the most significant and recent developments in educational and trade publishing, educational technology, and marketing that has enabled a new generation of content creators to reach more consumers. It is the only book that addresses disruption in the industry head on. Building on the insights from his last book, Dealing with Disruption: Lessons from the Publishing Industry, Ross takes a fresh look at the publishing environment and provides the reader with a clear view of how publishing has evolved and how it has benefitted consumers regardless of their preferred medium for accessing knowledge. Through an examination of what has worked and what has not, and with Ross’s unique perspective of more than 35 years of publishing success, Publishing in the Digital Age presents an indispensable overview of the publishing industry, how it has evolved during the first quarter of the 21st century, and how publishers, content providers, and consumers can benefit from the many options that are available today. With insights from industry leaders, Ross discusses new opportunities on the Web, streaming services, and audio formats. He reviews new publishing platforms and provides a practical guide for content developers to address the knowledge needs of their constituents by giving readers real-life, actionable examples of how best to publish their content consistent with users’ purchasing preferences. The book will be of interest to specialists in education: K-12 and higher education, the non-fiction trade, corporate education trainers, and specialist sectors such as scholarly, technical, and medical publishing. It includes clear applications for any business that is undergoing transformation or is forced to make a radical pivot because of sudden environmental changes or market conditions.

Assistive technology has made it feasible for individuals with a wide range of impairments to engage in many activities, such as education and employment, in ways not previously possible. The key factor is to create consumer-driven technologies that solve the problems by addressing the needs of persons with visual impairments. Assistive Technology for Blindness and Low Vision explores a broad range of technologies that are improving the lives of these individuals. Presenting the current state of the art, this book emphasizes what can be learned from past successful products, as well as what exciting new solutions the future holds. Written by world-class leaders in their field, the chapters cover the physiological bases of vision loss and the fundamentals of orientation, mobility, and information access for blind and low vision individuals. They discuss technology for multiple applications (mobility, wayfinding, information access, education, work, entertainment), including both established technology and cutting-edge research. The book also examines computer and digital media access and the scientific basis for the theory and practice of sensory substitution. This volume provides a holistic view of the elements to consider when designing assistive technology for persons with visual impairment, keeping in mind the need for a user-driven approach to successfully design products that are easy to use, well priced, and fill a specific need. Written for a broad audience, this book provides a comprehensive overview and in-depth descriptions of current technology for designers, engineers, practitioners, rehabilitation professionals, and all readers interested in the challenges and promises of creating successful assistive technology.

Leading figures in the digital humanities explore the field's rapid revolution

The late twentieth century saw charities grow from timid service deliverers into major providers with campaigning teeth. What caused this? How did they gain confidence and strength? In this fascinating history, examined through the eyes of RNIB from 1970 to 2010, Ian Bruce examines the internal drivers and the external socio-political environment that allowed and encouraged this explosion. Bruce's experience of leading a charity at the forefront of this change, and his participation in the wider charity sector for fifty years as both activist and academic, gives him an unsurpassed understanding of what happened and why. His first-hand knowledge will speak to charity workers as well as academics, covering themes such as the rise of beneficiary power against patronising providers; the change from welfare to rights; the shift from the medical to the social model of disability; and the adoption of social welfare and business professionalisms such as Strategic Planning and Charity Marketing. Today's charities have much to learn from the successes and mistakes of this dynamic period.

Individuals with disabilities often have difficulty accomplishing tasks, living independently, and utilizing information technologies; simple aspects of daily life taken for granted by non-disabled individuals. Assistive Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications presents a comprehensive collection of research, developments, and knowledge on technologies that enable disabled individuals to function effectively and accomplish otherwise impossible tasks. These volumes serve as a crucial reference source for experts in fields as diverse as healthcare, information science, education, engineering, and human-computer interaction, with applications bridging multiple disciplines.

Simple, straightforward guidance for the practitioner who wants to use assistive technologies to extend library access. • Tutorials on technologies for individuals with disabilities arranged by disability category • 47 Microsoft Accessibility Options screenshots • Extensive bibliographies for each disability category and for universal access, training, and marketing • A glossary of assistive technology terms • Extensive resources for each disability category

Digital Libraries: Policy, Planning and Practice brings together a wealth of international experience in the planning and implementation of digital and hybrid library projects, providing a stimulating and informative handbook and reference for library staff and information managers. It consists of chapters contributed by leading specialists from Europe, North America, South Africa and the Middle East, who offer their insight into the decision-making processes that have shaped a variety of different digitization programmes. Beginning with introductory overviews of the digital library context, the US Digital Library Program and the UK e-lib and hybrid library programmes, Digital Libraries then divides into two main sections on policy and planning, and implementation and practice. The first explores concerns such as financial and resource planning, digitized compared to born-digital content and related service issues, open access to scholarly research archives, policies for and against preservation and their justification, and evaluating electronic information services. The second section is based on case studies on major European and North American digital library projects, including the Glasgow Digital Library, UCEEL (University of Central England Electronic Library), the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (discussed in the context of five international projects), the Indiana University music Variations and Variations2 Project, and the beginnings of the Library of Congress digital program and its integration into core library services. The concluding chapter discusses the way forward for digital libraries in the context of experiences at Tilburg University library, and possible enabling or limiting factors in the future. The result of drawing together these varied and illuminating experiences is a book that offers useful information and comparisons for all digital library project staff, institutional administrators, educators and developers of learning technology. It also provides useful pointers for researchers and project staff involved in archive and museum projects, as well as introducing students to the key ingredients of successful digital libraries.

Explains dyslexia, describes the signs and symptoms of it, and discusses ways to manage the difficulties of it.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Computational Processing of the Portuguese Language, PROPOR 2008, held in Aveiro, Portugal, in September 2008. The 21 revised full papers and 16 revised short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on speech analysis; ontologies, semantics and anaphora resolution; speech synthesis; machine learning applied to natural language processing; speech recognition and applications; natural language processing tools and applications; posters.

Hands-on practical guide covering all aspects of recording, ideal for beginning and intermediate recording engineers, producers, musicians and audio enthusiasts. Filled with tips and shortcuts, this book offers advice on equipping a home studio (both low-budget and advanced), suggestions for set-up, acoustics, choosing monitor speakers, and preventing hum. This best-selling guide also tells how to judge recordings and improve them to produce maximum results. New material covered in the 5th edition to include: * complete revision and update of digital media sections * new section on mixing tips * new section on podcasts and file sharing * new section equipment and connector levels * new section function and connector types * new section on digital metering * new section exporting projects from other studios * new photos