Ebooks are starting to show the technological edge with EPUB 3 and HTML5 - however, a larger issue looms as far as market penetration. Accessibility. No institution of higher education, K-12, libraries or other institutions can acquire information products that are not meeting ADA requirements. This is a wonderful and important piece of legislation; however, ebook designers seem to be ignoring this elephant in the room.
I was asked to write about new media and accessibility for Against the Grain's news blog and you might find the article interesting - especially the perspectives from some very smart people I was able to talk with in doing the research.
Did you realize, for example, that we currently live with a "book famine that causes over 300 million visually impaired persons, the majority of them in developing countries, to be excluded from access to over 90 percent of published works" according to the U.N.? We face a major literacy challenge, let alone a starving marketplace, awaiting innovation and change.
Let's hope for a better world coming with access to all.
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