Transcript Slide 1

NIMAC UPDATE
Julia Myers
Nicole Gaines
January 2009
NIMAC FACTS
What does the NIMAC do?
The NIMAC receives and catalogs
publishers' electronic files of print
instructional materials in the NIMAS
format.
NIMAC FACTS
What does the NIMAC do?
We also sign up registered users and
provide the searchable web interface.
The NIMAC receives and catalogs
publishers' electronic files of print
instructional materials in the NIMAS
format.
NIMAC FACTS
What does the NIMAC do?
OverDrive, Inc., is the vendor who is
providing the database software and
off-site storage for the NIMAC’s file
sets.
Big News! New AU Definition!
• Per a directive from OSEP, the NIMAC
has expanded the definition of who may
be designated as an Authorized User.
• The new definition enables State
Coordinators to name as Authorized Users
any agency which qualifies as an
“authorized entity” under Chafee.
Big News! New AU Definition!
• In order to accommodate the change, we
have made minor changes to the language
of both the NIMAC Coordination
Agreement and the NIMAC Limitation of
Use Agreement.
• The new docs are now posted at our web
site:
http://www.nimac.us/authorized.html
Big News! New AU Definition!
• All State Coordinators have been sent a
notice of the changes, as well as
electronic copies of both documents.
• In order to implement the policy right
away, we are activating any pending
accounts upon receipt of an email
response of acceptance of the new
Coordination Agreement.
NIMAC Statistics
Accepted File Sets:
January 2008:
4,100
January 2009:
12,571
(This represents an increase of 306%.)
NIMAC Statistics
Publishers Working with NIMAC:
January 2008:
49
January 2009:
75
(This represents an increase of 153%.)
NIMAC Statistics
States/Outlying Areas Coordinating:
January 2008:
44
January 2009:
54
(This represents an increase of 28%.)
NIMAC Statistics
Authorized Users:
January 2008: 58 (from 31 states)
January 2009: 105 (from 51 states)
(This represents an increase of 81%.)
NIMAC Statistics
Accessible Media Producers:
January 2008:
45
January 2009:
105
(This represents an increase of 133%.)
NIMAC Statistics
Unique Downloads by AMPs:
January 2008:
71
January 2009:
425
(This represents an increase of 600%.)
NIMAC Statistics
Unique Downloads by AUs:
January 2008:
294
January 2009:
822
(This represents an increase of 279%.)
NIMAS Inventory
Number of Files Available:
Textbooks:
2,690
Other:
1,171
Consumables:
1,174
Supplementary reading materials: 7,536
TOTAL:
12,571
NIMAS Inventory
File Types by Percentage:
Textbooks:
21.3%
Other:
9.3%
Consumables:
9.4%
Supplementary reading materials: 60%
TOTAL:
100%
NIMAS Inventory
Files Downloaded:
Textbooks:
916 (73.4% of downloads)
Other:
30 (2.4% of downloads)
Consumable: 96 (7.7% of downloads)
Supplementary reading materials: 205
(16.5% of downloads)
TOTAL:
1,247
NIMAS Inventory
Percentage of Total Inventory
Downloaded as of 1/20/2009:
Textbooks:
35%
Other:
3%
Consumable:
8%
Supplementary reading materials: 3%
Total Inventory:
10%
Authorized User Downloads
From 12/03/2006 through 01/20/2009 (Top 10 )
Account
State
Wyoming INstitute for Disabilities
...
Wyoming
Indiana Center for Accessible
Mater...
Indiana
Downloads
210
149
University of Louisville
Indiana Education Resource
Center
Idaho School for the Deaf and
the B...
Kentucky
78
Indiana
71
Idaho
40
Ohio State School for the Blind
Louisiana Instructional Materials
C...
Iowa Department for the Blind
Kansas Instructional Resource
Cente...
George Mason University
(Virginia)
Ohio
35
Louisiana
Iowa
25
21
Kansas
17
Virginia
15
AMP Downloads
From 12/03/2006 through 01/20/2009 (Top 10)
Account
State
Downloads
Bookshare.org, a
Benetech Literacy ...
California
178
Recording for the Blind &
Dyslexic
New Jersey
80
APH
Kentucky
53
Anamosa Braille Center
Iowa
26
TechAdapt, Inc.
Washington
21
Braille Access Center
Washington
16
Prose and Cons Braille
Braille Transcription
Project of Sa...
Nebraska
9
California
5
gh LLC
Indiana
5
Recap of NIMAC Growth
Jan. 2008
Jan. 2009
% increase
Files
accepted
3977
Files
accepted
8636
217%
AU
downloads
294
AU
downloads
822
280%
AMP
downloads
71
AMP
downloads
425
598%
Files Available 4100
Files Available 12571
307%
Outreach and NIMAC
• Outreach continues to be a key aspect of
our work.
• NIMAC routinely offers training webcasts
and does further outreach through
conference calls and participation in
conferences and workshops.
Outreach
• Webcasts and Conference calls (59).
• Workshops and conference presentations
(20).
• AAP SSWD and NIMAC joint first meeting,
June 2008.
Outreach
NIMAC Advisory Council
• Provides input to NIMAC on policy and
operations.
• Includes representatives from AMPs, AFB,
AAP & AEP, OSEP, and states.
• Meets on a quarterly basis via
teleconference.
More Outreach
NIMAC User Group
• Provides a forum for improving the NIMAC
experience through collaboration and
support of its users.
• Includes actual users of the NIMAC from
among authorized users, accessible media
producers, and publishers.
• Meets 6 times a year via teleconference.
NIMAC Challenges:
1. File Volume
• The NIMAC already has received and
accepted more than the number of file
sets expected for the entire five years of
the project grant.
Solutions: Building Capacity!
• NIMAC and OverDrive have both added
additional staff to handle the increased
volume.
• OverDrive has also added new servers
and other hardware to better manage the
greater workflow.
NIMAC Challenges:
2. Metadata Quality
• NIMAC to date has had to reject a large
number of files due to incorrect or
incomplete metadata (descriptive
bibliographic information).
• In the past, correction of OPF data has
required the resubmission of the file set by
the publisher.
• This sometimes led to lengthy delays as
NIMAC awaited the corrected file sets.
Solution: System
Enhancements
• Publishers will be able to correct OPF
metadata directly in the NIMAC 2.0
system. (2.0 beta in test now.)
• This will dramatically reduce the number of
file set resubmissions.
• This will speed up the certification time for
hundreds of files that otherwise might
have been delayed for weeks or months.
Solution: System
Enhancements
• NIMAC 2.0 will also include functionality
that will allow publishers to generate
correctly formatted OPF metadata, with
correct tags, by using the OverDrive Excel
metadata spreadsheet.
• We hope that this will dramatically reduce
the number of errors in the OPFs by
eliminating the need for “data entry” in
OPFs by vendors.
NIMAC Challenges:
3. File Quality
• Roughly 10 files out of 1,247 total files
downloaded have been reported to NIMAC
as having serious content problems.
• This represents less than one tenth of 1%
of all downloaded files.
• NIMAC pulled these file sets and required
publishers to correct the files and
resubmit.
NIMAC Challenges:
3. File Quality
• Despite extremely low number of reported
problems, concerns expressed recently by
transcribers and others lead us to believe
that NIMAC users are not reporting
problems.
• Issues appear to involve both “best
practices” concerns as well as problems
such as missing content.
NIMAC Challenges:
3. File Quality
• However, a related issue is that of the ongoing need for training on how to convert
NIMAS into accessible formats.
• NIMAC occasionally receives calls or
emails regarding “quality problems” which
are in fact issues of NIMAS compatibility
with a given software program, not
problems with the file set itself.
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
• NIMAC recently sent out an email
soliciting feedback on quality that was
widely distributed on several listservs.
• Users were given detailed information on
how to let us—and the NIMAS Technical
Assistance Center—know about problems.
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
A. Reporting CONTENT Issues
Examples of such problems might be:
• missing portions of text (not included in either
the XML OR in image files)
• missing images
• numerous typographical errors not found in the
print book
• significant portions of text that do not match the
print book with the identical ISBN
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
Please email us the following information:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Your NIMAC user ID
NIMAS Identifier for the file set
Title of the book
Specific information regarding the
problem, including page numbers where
problems were found
5. What type of conversion, if any, you have
done on the file set
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
B. Reporting TAGGING / Best Practices
Issues
Examples of such problems might be:
• Page numbers not tagged
• Text embedded in images not included in XML
• Charts incorrectly tagged as lists, etc.
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
• We ask that you send reports of these
problems to [email protected] and also
copy [email protected].
• Please include the same detailed
information requested in the previous
section.
Solution: Outreach on Reporting
Problems
C.
SOFTWARE / Conversion Issues
• While providing assistance in converting NIMAS
into accessible formats is outside the scope of
the NIMAC, we encourage users to contact the
specific product vendor and/or the NIMAS
Technical Assistance Center at CAST for
guidance with these types of problems.
• An example of this problem is the inability to
open XML files in a specific program.
NIMAC Challenges: 4. File Size
• The size of the NIMAS file sets continues
to pose a challenge for both NIMAC users
and publishers providing files.
• The specification calls for all images of the
print book to be provided as separate
image files in the file set.
• The NIMAC has received several files in
the six GB range and we have been
alerted by publishers to expect files to
exceed ten GB.
Solutions
• This remains an unsolved problem!
• Guidance or direction from the
NIMAS Standard Board?
• Assistance to vendors from the
NIMAS Technical Assistance Center?
Future Directions: More Growth!
• NIMAC has received notification that we
will be receiving over 3,000 new file sets in
the next month alone!
• Unless the current recession adversely
affects submissions, we expect to exceed
last year’s submissions and reach over
20,000 file sets in the repository by the
end of 2009!
Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0!
• NIMAC 2.0 is now in beta testing and we
are hopeful that we will soon be able to
announce a “go live” date.
• The new version of the software will
include enhancements for all of the
NIMAC portals.
Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0!
NEW Authorized User portal features:
• View information on which users have
already downloaded the file set.
• AMP contact information listings.
• Publisher contact listings.
• Additional status information in the
Watchlist.
• Report functionality.
Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0!
NEW AMP Portal features:
• Publisher contact listings.
• More information on the download queue
display (ISBN).
• Improved display (better organized.)
• Archiving feature for download queue.
Future Directions: NIMAC 2.0!
NEW Publisher portal features:
•
•
•
•
Ability to download Uncertified Inventory.
Enhanced reporting functionality.
Enhanced search options.
More detailed brief display information.
NIMAC Team
• Julia Myers, Project Director
• Nicole Gaines, NIMAC Manager
• Johanna Argo, NIMAC Support
Specialist
• Tiffany Bradford, NIMAC Support
Specialist
• OverDrive NIMAC Team
How to Reach Us
• http://www.nimac.us
• 502-899-2230
• 1-877-526-4622 (1-877-52-NIMAC)
• [email protected]