Message from the President

We’re living in uncertain times. In 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have dramatic health and social economic effects globally. At the time of writing this message, we’re confronted with a devastating war in Ukraine.

Despite these ominous developments, we continue to look forward and have to work for a better future. Like the DAISY Consortium has done in the 25 years of its existence, also in 2021 DAISY has been successful in making the world more accessible for people with print disabilities.

This Annual Report contains an impressive list of activities and achievements of last year. As you can read significant progress has been made and promising developments were initiated. This has been done in the fields of standards, tools, training and support and special collaborative projects. In this way the DAISY Consortium succeeded last year in supporting the membership and in endorsing inclusive publishing.

Due to the restrictions that were caused by the pandemic, the meetings of the Board of the DAISY Consortium and the Annual General Meeting were held online. Although we miss the interactive character of a ‘physical’ meeting, the online way of having a meeting has enabled many more members, friends, and partners to attend the meetings.

Special thanks for achievements of 2021 in sometimes difficult circumstances is owed to the management and staff of the DAISY Consortium.

I also wish to thank to Michael Katzmann and Michael Wright who each contributed to the DAISY Board for more than 10 years before stepping down last year.

In 2022 the European Accessibility Act has to be implemented in legislation in the 27 member states of the European Union. Part of this is the obligation that e-books and e-readers must be accessible from 2025. Undoubtedly this is a step forward towards the accessibility of information. The activities on inclusive publishing of the DAISY Consortium, the members, and partners, both in and also outside Europe will contribute even more with these developments in mind.

Like we’ve done last 25 years, also in 2022 we aim to come closer to the situation in which people have equal access to information and knowledge regardless of disability.

Maarten Verboom
President of the DAISY Consortium

Vision, Mission, and Key Activities

Vision

People have equal access to information and knowledge regardless of disability; a right confirmed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Mission

To develop global solutions for accessible publishing and reading, in partnership with civil society, publishing and technology industries, standards bodies and governments.

Key Activities

To achieve our mission, vision, and goals we will:

Help creators, distributors & service providers of access-enhanced publications be more effective

Help DAISY Consortium member organizations to work together to deliver inclusion

Help authors and mainstream publishers build inclusion into their publishing processes

Help publishing, reading technology and content authoring tool industries to enable a great reading experience for people reading with their eyes, ears or fingers

Influence legal, copyright and standards bodies to make an efficient global marketplace that includes developing countries

Help governments, civil society and disabled peoples’ organizations to achieve their inclusion aims

Help people with disabilities benefit from the improvements

Community

The DAISY Consortium is the hub of a global community of organizations which works together to share expertise and collaborate to bring about the accessibility of published materials. The Member Spotlight section of this report highlights the accomplishments of a few of our members from around the world.

Caption: World map highlighting the reach of the DAISY Consortium through members, friends, and partners

2021: Year in Review

DAISY Board and General Meetings

As in the previous year, many events in 2021 took place virtually instead of in-person, including out Board and General meetings, ensuring the safety of all participants.

A virtual Board meeting was held in May, with an associated Annual General Meeting to transact the formal business required under our articles and governing regulations. We also used the General Meeting to deliver a showcase of member projects and initiatives.

Alongside the October Board Meeting, which was also virtual, we also conducted a 3 hour webinar to showcase DAISY projects, updates from DAISY Members and a series of briefings on accessible publishing. The webinar was also recorded and made available on the DAISY website as a lasting resource.

Welcomes and Recognitions

The DAISY Board and wider community benefit from the contribution of many people, and occasionally that dynamic changes, allowing a constantly fresh approach and always keeping the door open for new perspectives.

In 2021 the DAISY Board said farewell and welcome to the following people:

Thanks to Michael Katzmann for his considerable contribution to DAISY who stepped down from the Board after 10 years of service. Welcome to John Brown as the new representative for NLS/BPD at The Library of Congress.

Welcome Alison Long the new treasurer for DAISY, thanks again to Michael Katzmann for serving in the role.

Our thanks to Duane Morgan who contributed on behalf of CNIB, who have changed their membership level.

Thanks to In-hahk Lee for their contribution to the board, and welcome to Won Jong-Pil as the new representative of National Library for the Disabled (NLD), Republic of Korea.

Many thanks to Michael Wright who made a significant contribution, serving on the Board for over 10 years. Welcome to Daniel Dam Freiling as the new representative for Nota.

Thanks to Fernando Pinto Da Silva and welcome Basile Mignonneau representing DAISY France which has a rotating representative.

Developments

DAISY leads several open-source development initiatives that deliver practical solutions to Members and the wider community.

Obi

The very popular tool for audiobook production was enhanced and refined further in a series of updates throughout the year, including audio processing features like noise reduction and normalization, an improved import workflow, export options and general performance improvements. Obi now also houses a reference implementation of the W3C Audiobooks recommendation specification to aid the evolution of this new format. Obi is used for audio book creation and editing all around the world, providing a free and robust application for content production.
https://daisy.org/obi/

Tobi

Our tool for producing sophisticated books with audio synchronized with text is currently in maintenance mode and did not require updating but remains a popular solution for multimedia book creation.
https://daisy.org/tobi/

Pipeline

Our cross-platform framework for document processing and conversion is regularly updated and received a series of updates in 2021. These included extended text to speech support, support for Google Cloud TTS connectivity, new and updated conversion scripts, including adding EPUB accessibility metadata to titles. DAISY Pipeline continues to provide the reliable content creation and conversion solution which is depended upon by organizations around the world.
https://daisy.org/pipeline-2/

WordToEPUB Tool

The free and highly usable tool to convert structured Microsoft Word Documents to EPUB received regular updates throughout the year. A range of enhancements were made including support for embedded audio and video, charts and shapes, ruby annotations, vertical writing support and integration to LibreOffice. WordToEPUB is now used widely for accessible document creation, including in education and mainstream publishing.
https://daisy.org/wordtoepub/

Save As DAISY

Work has begun to revitalize the popular Word plugin which supported exporting of structured Word content to DAISY format. Building on Pipeline developments, an initial test version was released with incremental updates performed throughout the year. While not yet ready for mainstream use, Save As DAISY is well on the way to deliver one of the most requested DAISY tools.
https://daisy.org/saveasdaisy/

Ace by DAISY

The accessibility checker for EPUB received several maintenance releases throughout the year to ensure it continued to provide a reliable service analyzing and reporting on EPUB accessibility issues, as per the latest specifications updates. Ace has become the tool that mainstream publishers globally rely upon for their accessibility testing prior to publication.
https://inclusivepublishing.org/ace

Ace SMART

The Simple Manual Accessibility Reporting Tool (SMART) for EPUB supports the continued accessibility testing which can only be conducted manually, working through the Ace report. SMART has received a series of updates including changes in readiness for the EPUB Accessibility Specification 1.1 changes. The publishing sector have access to the tool through limited free trials and via the Inclusive Publishing Partner level of Friend Membership.
https://inclusivepublishing.org/smart

Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base

At the very heart of EPUB accessibility is the Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base reference resource from DAISY. The Knowledge Base has been updated regularly to ensure it conveys current best practices and quality advice.
https://kb.daisy.org/publishing

Reading System Testing

Our site for testing and recording reading app accessibility epubtest.org has received regular updates to improve usability, with our volunteer testers completing and publishing the results of over 40 tests. In addition to enabling consumers to make informed decisions about suitable applications, reading app developers rely on these tests to prioritize improvements to their products, with a degree of friendly competition between app developers encouraging changes and ultimately benefiting all parties.
https://epubtest.org

InclusivePublishing.org

Our Inclusive Publishing website continues to be the leading resource for information and advice on accessibility and publishing. A regular flow of articles, event information and newsletters conveying the latest industry developments, along with regular site updates ensures relevant information is delivered to publishers, developers, educators, and consumers globally.
https://inclusivepublishing.org

W3C Publishing

Throughout 2021 we continued our focus on creating, maintaining, and influencing accessibility standards related to publishing, which involved leadership and contributions to Business, Community, and Working Groups. Developments included work on EPUB Accessibility 1.1, EPUB 3.3, WCAG 2.2, the User Experience Guide for accessibility Metadata in Publishing, harmonization of accessibility metadata of schema.org and ONIX, and work to ensure readiness for the European Accessibility Act requirements.
https://www.w3.org/publishing/

Special Projects

Music Braille

This collaborative project continued to make strategic improvements to music braille conversion tools, file formats, and related resources. The professional automated music braille converter tool ‘MakeBraille’ is now available under licence from dzb lesen. The new free interactive music braille tool for blind musicians ‘Sao Mai Braille’ incorporated significant music braille functionality in its first year of development, and accessibility improvements were also made in the mainstream notation software ‘MuseScore’. These tools are already proving valuable in the sector.
https://daisy.org/music-braille/

EPUBCheck

Delivered under contract to W3C, DAISY maintain the EPUBCheck tool for validating EPUB files against the specification, a prerequisite for all published material to ensure they are well formed and will function as expected on reading systems. EPUBCheck received several updates throughout the year, with additional work taking place to prepare for EPUB 3.3.
https://www.w3.org/publishing/epubcheck/

Training & Support

https://daisy.org/info-help/guidance-training/

As in the previous year, plans to deliver face-to-face training were impacted by travel restrictions and safety concerns, however training continued in an adapted form, with the benefit of reaching a much wider audience.

Online Training

Under contract from the Accessible Books Consortium, online training on accessible book production was developed, hosted and delivered in English, French and Spanish, alongside virtual trainer sessions with groups of trainees in 16 countries.

Further training resources were created to support accessible STEM for specialist format producers, and Accessible Publishing Concepts designed for a mainstream publishing audience, with the content piloted and refined ahead of being made widely available.

Additional training was delivered for library staff South Africa, and web and document accessibility training in Malaysia.

Work started on the preparation of a DAISY Learning system to host online training in 2022.

Webinars

The popular DAISY Webinar series on accessible publishing and reading continued in 2021, delivering 14 high quality webinars on a wide variety of topics at no cost for attendees, reaching a global audience with the live event and through the sharing of assets and recordings as a lasting resource.
https://daisy.org/webinars

Strategic Partnerships

In partnership with ICEVI, Sight Savers, WBU, ITU and UNESCAP, we have helped national and international entities develop and implement strategies for accessible content and digital literacy through active participation in programs such as Visionary Learning, Incheon Strategy, WSIS and IGF.

Member Spotlight

Around the world DAISY Members have been actively serving their communities and developing new resources. We are delighted to include a few of their stories from 2021.

Amnet, India

Amnet Accessibility Solutions is committed to ensuring inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) for all. Along with state-of-the-art technology, we employ a specialized team of SMEs (with CPACC and DHS certifications), including persons with disabilities. Recently, Amnet developed a tool that accurately identifies all unique URLs on any public-facing website with 98 percent accuracy—including inactive and dead URLs, which accumulate over time, especially on retail or e- commerce websites. By crawling websites in seconds, the tool significantly reduces our team’s research time and improves our work efficiency, allowing us to focus on delivering quality accessibility solutions instead of gathering data. This unique benefit has helped Amnet’s customers maintain a clean and accessible digital presence on the web. This tool, as one of the many technological advances at Amnet, emphasizes our commitment to the IDEA concept of using technology “where it makes sense.”
https://accessibility.amnet.com/

The Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), USA

The Association on Higher Education and Disability, the leading professional membership association for individuals committed to equity for persons with disabilities in higher education, has experienced consistently strong membership growth over the last four years. In response to the changed pandemic landscape, AHEAD is offering more professional development opportunities virtually than ever before, implementing a first-ever online Spring Consortium in 2021 and substantially expanding its existing online offerings. AHEAD’s annual international conference returned to an in-person event in 2021, supplemented by an online conference offering much of the same material for those unable to attend in-person. AHEAD works in conjunction with the University of Minnesota to continue the work of the National Center for College Student with Disabilities funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and has enhanced its policy and advocacy work.
www.ahead.org

Book Industry Study Group (BISG), USA

BISG continues to consider accessibility issues as part of our workflow committee, which is chaired by Rachel Comerford of Macmillan Learning. A 2021 highlight of the committee's efforts was a 90-minute workshop on accessibility and metadata, with three panelists exploring best practices for describing accessible features of book content. A recording of the session can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AXznbW3dVI 
http://www.bisg.org

Christian Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBB), The Netherlands

After the development of the 'reading together concept' in which we combine full color tactile images with braille lined up with big letter print and an audio pen, we started a new project in 2021. We developed 10 theme boxes for the schools for children with a visual impairment. Each box all kinds of elements, like puzzles, questions, tactile objects, tactile games and audio elements, such as radio plays. Each theme box is centered around a book. The aim is to promote reading pleasure.

CBB is also looking more and more abroad. In 2021, we started a project to produce daisy-books for the blind and visually impaired in Suriname. We found 16 enthusiastic volunteers with a Surinamese background who will record Surinamese books. In this project, we are working together with the National Institution for the Blind and Visually impaired in Suriname.

http://www.cbb.nl

Dedicon, The Netherlands

Together with Dutch publishers associations and expert organizations for people with a print impairment, Dedicon has joined forces in the project ‘Accessible Publishing in the Netherlands’. In 2021 a program of workshops has been set up for publishers on the accessibility of e-books, websites and digital learning materials. Nearly 300 participants, spread over four workshops, took part in 2021. The website Inclusiefpubliceren.nl (in Dutch) has been developed as knowledge base and a third quick start guide has been published: Check dit! (Check this!).

In addition Dedicon has been a partner in the European project Supporting Digital Publishing through Training (SIDPT). This project, funded by the Erasmus+ Program, has delivered practical learning materials for publishers and producers of digital publications, so they can make content accessible and implement accessibility requirements into their workflows. The materials will be made available in 2022 in English, French, German and Dutch.
https://www.dedicon.nl

Fondazione LIA, Italy

In light of the forthcoming European Accessibility Act, Fondazione LIA worked actively at national and international level providing advisory on its implementation. To provide all the stakeholders with information on the compliance of the publishing standards with the EAA requirements LIA prepared a detailed document European Accessibility Act: report on the state of the art of publishing standards that has been published as open position by Federation of European Publishers (FEP), to foster the adoption by the EU Commission of the industry standards as technical specifications fulfilling the requirements of the EAA.

LIA has been supporting Italian and European publishers - also academic and educational ones, publishers’ associations and specialist organizations in the process of adapting their production and distribution workflows and their web platforms to meet EAA requirements. 

In 2021 the catalogue of Italian Born accessible e-books includes more than 29.000 titles.
www.fondazionelia.org

Medibus, dzb lesen, Germany

Medibus was part of a series of events organised by the accessibility taskforce in the German Publishers and Booksellers Association and helped to design 3 webinars. Available at: https://www.boersenverein.de/beratung-service/barrierefreiheit/ (in German)

In 2021 the dzb lesen part of the DAISY Music Braille project has been completed and, thanks to the numerous supporters and testers, the web service for Braille note transfer could be sustainably improved. Licensing agreements are planned for 2022.
http://www.medibus.info

Pratsam, Finland

Pratsam is a software company providing organizations such as Celia, the national library for accessible literature and publishing in Finland, with an online distribution platform for accessible media. In 2021, over 900.000 loans were delivered online to the patrons which is 74 percent of all loans made at the library.

A pilot project was launched together with the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, MTM, providing a voice assistant service connecting to Legimus, the digital catalogue at MTM. The service connects the end-user to existing DAISY Online Delivery Protocol (DODP) systems and streams DAISY books directly to end-user devices supporting the Google Assistant.
Photo of a Google assistant devicePhoto of a person reading a newspaper with a magnifier

Developments to support the Amazon Alexa platform started in the autumn and the first version will be launched in Q1 2022. On the roadmap for Pratsam Reader Voice is, among other features, support for more accessible media formats and content discovery.

https://www.pratsam.com

Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), UK

In the summer of 2021, customers of RNIB’s Talking Books library were able to begin to access their audio books on a Smart Speaker by ‘Asking Alexa’, as well as through RNIB’s usual library services. The RNIB project team worked with both Amazon and New Zealand based company, Sonnar Interactive to develop the Alexa Skill. It gives library members instant access to 36,000 books. Users can search by book title, author and key word. Search by genres will soon be added to the list of options. RNIB distributed 3,000 free Amazon Smart Speakers to library members to encourage them to try this exciting new way of accessing their library. In the first 6 months we have had 7,000 customers subscribe to the Alexa Skill and over 1 million utterances. The Talking Books service has been described by many users as a ‘lifeline’ during the pandemic, with 1.33 million Talking Books being sent out last year and although the service is 86 years old it continues to adapt to the changing landscape of how library users want to read their books.
https://www.rnib.org.uk/

Sensotec NV, Belgium

Sensotec made some impressive achievements in 2021, we realized new apps such as the Dutch “Passend Lezen-app” and several new features:

Adding support for skippable structures in DAISY books

Adding bookmark support for EPUB books

Allowing users to send feedback about a specific book

Allowing users to send feedback about the app

Allowing users to access and manage the newspapers and magazines more easily

image of a mobile photo playing an audiobook
We also began work on several new initiatives including:

Realizing new features such as an Audio Player reading mode, a better onboarding for new users and an improvement of Voice Assistant support

The launch of a DODP server service for small organizations to allow them to use the Daisy Standard and the Daisy Online Delivery Protocol at manageable costs.

The development of a smart speaker service that connects to DODP servers, allowing Alexa or Google speaker services to be used as an alternative to hardware online Daisy players.

https://sensotec.be/

Sightsavers, UK

Sightsavers is a UK-based international development organisation working with partners in 33 countries across Africa and South Asia to eliminate avoidable blindness and support the empowerment of people with disabilities to learn, earn and participate equally in society. We have a proven track-record and strong reputation for delivering effective pan-disability education and social inclusion programs at scale.

In 2021, Sightsavers:

was selected as the disability-lead for the UK government’s seven-year flagship education programme in Nigeria which is supporting the education of up to two million children

obtained donor funding for new education projects in Kenya, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Zambia

assisted governments to strengthen teacher training systems in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Pakistan, and Uganda

supported the education of children with visual impairments across six states in India, particularly through ensuring they were able to access ICT.

https://www.sightsavers.org/

Solutions Radio BV, The Netherlands

In 2021 Solutions Radio started the development of a revolutionary new DAISY player, the Daisybox. The Daisybox combines simplicity with powerful streaming capabilities, text-to-speech and audio playback, build-in help and online and offline reading. By keeping simplicity in mind, and its remotely customizable audio menu’s, the Daisybox is the ideal reading companion.

The Daisybox next generation DAISY player with its streaming capabilities reduces the ecological footprint significantly by eliminating the need to produce and ship CDs. The compatibility with the DAISY DODP standards turns integration with libraries into a logical next step.

Falk Beerten took over the Dutch company Solutions Radio b.v. on 1 January 2022. Solutions Radio, like sister companies Lexima Reinecker and Sensotec, focuses on assistive technology for people with a visual or other reading impairment.  The complementarity of Solutions Radio’s Daisy offering with Sensotec's Online DAISY Apps and servers provides access to online audio books to more than 200,000 users worldwide.
http://www.solutionsradio.com

Vision Australia, Australia

Audio library services at Vision Australia migrated from traditional CD delivery to the Envoy Connect, a portable solar powered audio player, enabling rapid delivery of content in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner.
https://visionaustralia.org/

Financial Review 2021

Treasurer’s Report

The balance sheet, income statements and auditor’s report presented in this Financial Review are a summary of the 2021 Financial Report, which has been approved in its detailed form by the DAISY Consortium Board of Directors at its May 2022 meeting.

The Consortium finished the year with a deficit of 87 thousand dollars, which is just over 7% of revenue and broadly in line with expectations. The decision was taken to continue to deliver planned activity and fund the deficit from strategic reserves in order to achieve our objectives.

Our major source of income remains full member fees; however, a significant proportion comes from funded projects and, as with the previous year, 2021 has also been challenging. The continued uncertainties brought about by the pandemic significantly impacted funding opportunities. Whilst this is starting to abate, any financial awards will not materialise until 2022.

I am pleased to report that DAISY continues to be in a good financial position to handle challenges 2022 may bring and has maintained its capital reserve at the target level. I have no doubt the Consortium will continue to deliver its Strategic Plan whilst managing resources effectively and seeking opportunities to diversify income sources.

Alison Long

Treasurer

Independent Auditor's Report

Report of the statutory auditors to the General Meeting of the DAISY Consortium

As statutory auditors, we have audited the accounting records and the financial statements (balance sheet and income statement) of the DAISY Consortium for the year ended December 31st, 2021.

These financial statements are the responsibility of the board of management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We confirm that we meet the legal requirements concerning professional qualification and independence.

Our audit was conducted in accordance with auditing standards promulgated by the Swiss profession, which require that an audit be planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. We have examined on a test basis evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. We have also assessed the accounting principles used, significant estimates made and the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the accounting records and financial statements comply with Swiss law and the company's articles of association.

We recommend that the financial statements submitted to you be approved.

Zurich, April 8, 2022

BETSCHON TREUHAND AG
Christian Schmid
Auditor in Charge

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st DECEMBER 2021

ITEM | 2021 | 2020
ASSETS |  |
Bank | 403 | 645
Accounts receivable | 55 | 101
Current Assets | 458 | 746
Capital assets | 0 | 0
Fixed assets | 0 | 0
TOTAL ASSETS | 458 | 746
LIABILITIES |  |
Accounts Payable | 4 | 0
Accruals | 140 | 248
LIABILITIES | 144 | 248
Capital reserve | 300 | 300
Strategic reserve | 14 | 199
TOTAL LIABILITIES | 458 | 746

OPERATING INCOME AND EXPENSE 2021 - SUMMARY

ITEM | 2021 | 2020
INCOME |  |
Full members | 488 | 463
Associate members | 79 | 66
Friends | 53 | 61
Total membership Fees | 629 | 599
Technical Training | 279 | 167
Additional income | 272 | 419
Earned interest | 0 | 1
TOTAL INCOME | 1,180 | 1,182
EXPENSE |  |
People costs | 944 | 914
Administrative costs | 22 | 20
Other costs | 27 | 22
Standards | 30 | 35
Tools | 193 | 128
Technical training and support | 21 | 9
Communication, marketing, fundraising | 30 | 24
Organization structure and administration | 0 | 1
TOTAL EXPENSE | 1,267 | 1,152
BALANCE | -87 | 29

Your DAISY Consortium Board

At the end of 2021 the DAISY Board members were as follows:

Chairman of the Board: Maarten Verboom, Dedicon, The Netherlands

Treasurer: Alison Long, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), United Kingdom

John Brown, NLS/BPH The Library of Congress, USA

Francisco Martínez Calvo, Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles, O.N.C.E, Spain

Tove Dannestam, Myndigheten för tillgängliga medier (MTM) Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, Representing the Swedish DAISY Consortium, Sweden

Daniel Dam Freiling, Nota, Denmark

Won Jong-Pil, National Library for the Disabled (NLD), Republic of Korea

Prof. Dr. Thomas Kahlisch, DZB (Deutsche Zentralbücherei für Blinde) Representing Media Association for Blind and Vision Impaired People – MEDIBUS, Germany

Hiroshi Kawamura, Assistive Technology Development Organization (ATDO), Japan

Flavia Kippele, SBS Schweizerische Bibliothek für Blinde, Seh- und Lesebehinderte, Representing the Swiss DAISY Group, Switzerland

Arne Kyrkjebø, Norsk lyd- og blindeskriftbibliotek, Representing the Norwegian DAISY Consortium, Norway

Scott LaBarre, National Federation of the Blind, USA

Basile Mignonneau, Association Valentin Haüy, Representing DAISY France, France

Brad Turner, Benetech/Bookshare, USA

Minna von Zansen, Celia Library, representing the Finnish DAISY Consortium, Finland