Transcript Slide 1

NIMAC UPDATE
Julia Myers
Nicole Gaines
January 2008
Why did APH establish the National
Instructional Materials Access
Center?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act (IDEA) of 2004 named APH to house the NIMAC.
The same legislation requires states to adopt the
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
(NIMAS) file format for source files for accessible
materials for their K-12 students.
NIMAS NIMAC in IDEA:
http://nimas.cast.org/about/idea2004/index.html
What Is the NIMAC?
NIMAC is a central repository for NIMAS
files. NIMAS files are source files that can
be used to produce accessible, studentready specialized formats, such as Braille
and audio, for students in K-12 with
qualifying disabilities.
NIMAC FACTS
What does the NIMAC do?
• The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic
files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format.
• We also sign up registered users and provide the
searchable web interface.
• OverDrive, Inc. is the vendor who is providing the
database software and off-site storage for the NIMAC’s
file sets.
NIMAC FACTS
How does NIMAC obtain files?
• States and local education agencies instruct publishers to send us
files when they contract for their textbook adoptions/purchases. This
is the only mechanism for us to get files. The NIMAC itself is not
granted any authority to request or require that files be submitted by
any publisher.
Can NIMAS files be used to produce formats for any child with
a disability?
• No, IDEA provides the definition of students who may be served.
Will college students with qualifying disabilities be able to get
files from NIMAC to produce accessible formats?
• No, IDEA restricts the mission of the NIMAC to serving students in
elementary and secondary school.
NIMAC: Stats January 2008
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Accepted file sets: 4,100
Publishers working with NIMAC: 49
States Coordinating: 44
Authorized Users: 58 (from 31 states)
Accessible Media Producers (AMPs): 45
Unique Downloads by AMPs: 71
Unique Downloads by AUs: 294
All Figures Correct as of January
24, 2008
Outreach and NIMAC
• Outreach was an important part of NIMAC’s
inaugural year and will continue 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 in 2007
• In 2007, NIMAC conducted 27 Webcast trainings and
outreach conference calls with various user groups.
• Participants included: Authorized Users; NIMAC State
Coordinators; NIMAS/NIMAC coordinators; vendors;
publishers; and Accessible Media Producers.
• Conference calls and meetings with individual
publishers, state or local educational agency staff,
NIMAC Advisory Council, OSEP, OverDrive were also
conducted.
More Outreach in 2007…
NIMAC staff also presented at:
• Two webinars hosted by other organizations: EASI and
the National Center on Disability & Access to Education
(NCDAE)
• Ten conferences & workshops, including: NIMAS
Development Committee; New York Institute of Special
Education; Association of American Publishers RPAC;
SLATE; IRCBVI; State Vision Consultants; APH Annual
Meeting; AFB NIMAS Training; Getting In Touch With
Literacy ; and APH ESAC and EPAC
Hot Topics
• Indemnification
• Definition of “Core” Print Instructional
Materials
• Advance Copies
• Transcriber Training
• Images and ALT-Text
• Images and File Size
• NIMAC Outreach
Indemnification
• On December 26th, 2007, President Bush
signed H.R. 2764 (the Consolidated
Appropriations Act of 2008) into law. This
legislation included language indemnifying the
NIMAC.
• On January 2, 2008, NIMAC released a revised
NIMAC Limitation of Use Agreement (LUA) with
the indemnification clause removed.
• This new LUA has been distributed to all
registered NIMAC users and is available on our
website: www.nimac.us.
“Core” Print Instructional Materials
(C) PRINT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS—The
term 'print instructional materials' means printed
textbooks and related printed core materials that
are written and published primarily for use in
elementary school and secondary school
instruction and are required by a State
educational agency or local educational agency
for use by students in the classroom.
http://nimas.cast.org/about/idea2004/index.html
Advance Copies
• NIMAC has issued a policy statement that file
sets for “advance copy” versions of textbooks
will not be accepted.
• We ask that SEAs and LEAs craft their contracts
with this in mind and to please avoid using
language that would lead to publishers’
submitting file sets that do not correspond to the
finalized print version that will be used in the
classroom.
• For more info, please refer to the policy
statement found at the NIMAC web site:
http://www.nimac.us/advance_policy.htm
AFB Offering NIMAS Training for
Transcribers
• American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
has begun offering braille translation
software training with NIMAS updates.
• For more information, contact Mary Ann
Siller at [email protected].
Images and Alt Text
• NIMAS file sets are source files to be used to
produce accessible formats—they are not studentready.
• The current NIMAS specification does NOT require
alt text for images nor any other description of the
educational content contained within them.
• Most textbooks have thousands of images, many or
most conveying educational content. Making this
educational content accessible is part of the valueadded process that AMPs can provide.
Images and File Size
• Images--their number and size--drive NIMAS File
size.
• NIMAS File Sets are commonly 2-3 GB in size and
may reach 12 GB in size--or more.
• NIMAS Textbook Files contain thousands of images.
• File size can mean slow downloading, even for
those with fast connections.
• PNGs are 5-10 times larger than JPEG.
• NIMAS File size in context: typically a 90-minute
movie is less than 1 GB. (This is due to compression
method used for MPEG.)
• Impact: Huge file sizes are a considerable obstacle
for end users attempting to download files.
NIMAC System Development:
Key Remaining Issues
• MAC compatibility must be rolled out once other
development is complete.
• Louis/NIMAC federated search is on
development list.
• APH is please to announce that we have
contracted with Quality Solutions to move Louis
to a new system that will support federated
search via OAI.
Upcoming and Continuing NIMAC
Outreach
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Webcast Trainings for AUs and AMPs
Quarterly Conferences Calls for Publishers
NIMAC Advisory Council (Quarterly)
NIMAC User Group (Bimonthly)
Upcoming Conferences:
--AFB NIMAS Training (February 2008)
--CTEVH (February 2008)
--PA AER (April 2008)
NIMAC Team
• Julia Myers, Project Director
• Nicole Gaines, NIMAC Manager
• Anne Ledford, 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]