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February
5, 2007
An update
on the accessibility of textbooks to students with disabilities
by Robert Martinengo
The issue
of whether students with disabilities can fully utilize instructional
materials normally presented in print format continues to gain
visibility. A major federal initiative in the K-12 arena, and
a variety of state efforts within higher-ed, point to an increasing
awareness that the problem faced by students with disabilities
is not being adequately addressed.
K-12
The US Department of Education has taken the initiative by defining
and promulgating a National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standard (NIMAS), and encouraging educational agencies to incorporate
the NIMAS in textbook purchasing contracts. NIMAS files are to
be deposited in the National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Center (NIMAC), where they are withdrawn by the agency, or assigned
to a vendor for further conversion into formats such as Braille.
At the January,
2007 NIMAS Development Committee meeting in Orlando, Florida,
there was an announcement by a non-profit agency that provides
conversion services that they would not charge a conversion fee
to an educational agency if the agency assigned them the NIMAS
files. This non-profit would then make those files available to
their own members without further notification or compensation
to publishers, which prompted a few critical comments from a representative
of the Association of Educational Publishers.
Authors who
wish to learn more about the NIMAS should go to http://nimas.cast.org
for updates and background information.
Higher-Ed.
Without an overarching federal law, it is primarily state-led
efforts that have promoted the accessibility of college textbooks.
The original state legislation in California in 1999 has been
copied and extended by several other states since then. This has
led the Association of American Publishers to respond with their
own Alternate Formats Solutions Initiative, in which they hired
a consultant to report on strategies for tackling this problem
at a national level. At this time, the final report has not yet
been issued, but interested parties should check the AAP website
for their progress to date and further updates (www.publishers.org).
The move
towards more universally designed instructional materials that
would be equally effective for a student with a disability as
for one without is inextricably tied to the development of electronic
publishing, and emerging electronic publishing models. As the
traditional textbook comes under fire for high-cost, outdated
content, and all-around obsolescence, electronic content is expected
to save the day. However, there is much to be learned from the
efforts of the pioneers in the accessibility field, who have struggled
for years to make information more accessible to individuals with
disabilities. Care must be taken that electronic information technologies
close, rather than widen, the information gap for the disabled.
Relying upon non-profit and government agencies to provide accessible
materials will not lead to equality of information access and
education.
Robert
Martinengo has been converting textbooks into accessible formats
for 10 years. First as a Studio Director for Recording for the
Blind & Dyslexic, then with the California Community College
System, and currently with the University System of Georgia. He
recently completed a report for the Maryland Department of Disabilities
addressing the challenges faced by students with print disabilities
in accessing their instructional materials. He can be reached
at rmartinengo@gmail.com
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Block:
Hunting down cliches
Read broadcast
writing author and TAA member Mervin Block's latest article: "Chicago
News Producer Hunts Down Cliches" at http://www.mervinblock.com/cliches2007.html
Block's articles
contain some good tips on improving your writing.
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Why are
textbooks so expensive?
Association
for Psychological Science Immediate Past President Henry L. Roediger
says the root cause of the high cost of textbooks is the sale
of used books. Read his APS column, "Why Are Textbooks So Expensive?",
originally published in the Association's newsletter, The Academic
Observer, January 2005: Click
here
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'Textbook
Writing 101'
Read textbook
author M. Garrett Bauman's humorous and informative article on
why you should consider writing a textbook on the Chronicle of
Higher Education website: Click
here
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'Can
Plot Improve Pedagogy?'
Some textbook
authors are introducing plot into their textbooks. Read "Can
Plot Improve Pedagog? Novel Textbooks Give It A Try" (May
11, 2001) on the Chronicle of Higher Education website: Click
here
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Help promote
the 2007 Conference
Request copies
of TAA's Conference Promotional Postcard and send them out to
all the textbook and academic authors you know. Send your mailing
address and how many copies you'd like to kmpawlak@centurytel.net
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TAA members
make donations to TAAF
TAA Member
Tara Gray made a $100 donation to the Text and Academic Authors
Foundation, becoming a member of the TAAF Director's
Society. TAA Member Shokichi Uto made a $30 donation to the TAA
Foundation, becoming a member of the Supporter's Society. Learn
more about TAAF: click here
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Hull blasts
etextshop.com for selling comp copies
TAA Executive
Director Richard Hull sent the following e-mail to etextshop.com,
which admitted it sold complimentary copies, "Provided they are
not Annotated Instructor's Editions. If the student ISBN is used
on the web site a lesser price may be given":
"I suppose
I should be thankful for small favors.
Your not
selling annotated instructor editions means you are not undermining
the educational relationship between instructors and students
by putting into student hands answers to exercises and test bank
questions that their instructors will use.
But selling
comp copies undermines another, more fundamental relationship:
that between authors and publishers.
It is bad
enough that you buy used texts from students. Those have at least
earned their publishers and authors the gains from a single
sale.
But your
resale and repurchase and resale of comp copies, as long as the edition
is current and the copies aren't falling apart, deprives publishers
and authors of their income that is deserved by virtue of the
hard work that goes into authoring and publishing. Every one of
those comp copy sales is money out of the pockets of authors and
publishers.
Furthermore,
your practices actually end up costing students more money in
the long run. The only way publishers can break this cycle of
harm to their interests is to bring out new editions, and make
them more and more costly.
If you and
other book sellers would only sell new texts and not deal in the
used book trade, the price of new books would come down. Students
could afford, as we did in my era, to keep their texts rather
than resell them; booksellers would sell as many books; and the
cost of education could come down.
But let's
proceed in incremental steps. Stop buying comp copies and see
what the consequences will be. Then consider getting out of the
used text business and instead market new ones.
We'll be
watching what you decide to do."
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Call for
nominations to TAA Council
Three officer
positions and two Council positions will be opening up on the
TAA Council July 1, 2007. Any member of TAA is eligible to serve
on the TAA Council. Self-nominations are encouraged. The officer
positions include Vice President/President-elect, Secretary and
Treasurer. Officers serve two-year terms. Council members serve
three year terms.
TAA Council
members are required to attend two meetings per year, one in January
in St. Petersburg, Florida, and one the day prior to the association's
annual conference (held traditionally in late June or early July).
Travel and lodging expenses related to attending these meetings
is reimbursed. Officers also attend monthly teleconferences.
To nominate
yourself or a colleague for the TAA Council, email your nominations
to TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
or mail to TAA, P.O. Box 76477, St. Petersburg, FL 33734-6477.
Contact TAA if you have any questions: (727) 563-0020 or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
Nominees must
send a 100-150 word bio, and a 100-150 word position statement with
their nominations. Deadline for completed nominations is March 1,
2007. Ballots are mailed to the membership March 15, 2007. April
15, 2007 is the deadline for receipt of ballots from members. Terms
begin July 1, 2007.
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Lennie
Literary sponsoring TAA Conference
Lennie Literary
& Authors' Attorneys will be sponsoring the Friday and Saturday
Snack Breaks at the 2007 TAA Conference on Text and Academic Authoring
in Buffalo, NY, June 22-23. TAA thanks Alana and Michael Lennie
for their support.
For more info
on the conference: Click
here
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Promotional
postcards mailed
TAA has mailed
out more than 1,700 postcards promoting the February 12 at 1 p.m.
EST open registration date and time for its 2007 TAA Conference
on Text and Academic Authoring in Buffalo, NY June 22-23. The
postcards encourage people to register before the April 1, 2007
early registration deadline and offer a few incentives to do so:
the first 50 people to register by April 1, 2007 will receive
a "Goody Bag" containing a TAA logo coffee mug and items donated
by sponsors exhibitors and advertisers; everyone who registers
before April 1, 2007 receives their conference registration for
$125 (after April 1, registration is $150); and the first three
first-time conference registrants receive free conference registration.
For more info
on the conference: Click
here
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Asante
joins TAAF Board
Dr.
Molefi Kete Asante |
Dr. Molefi
Kete Asante, a professor in the Department of African American
Studies at Temple University, and the author of several academic
books and the successful high school textbook, African American
History: Journey of Liberation, has joined the Text and Academic
Authors Foundation Board.
"I look forward
to working with the TAA Foundation," said Asante. " I believe
it is worthwhile and very useful work."
Asante is considered
by his peers to be one of the most distinguished contemporary
scholars. He has has published 65 books, among the most recent are The
History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony (2007), Cheikh
Anta Diop: An Intellectual Portrait (2006), Spear
Masters: Introduction to African Religion (2007), Handbook
of Black Studies, (2005), co-edited with Maulana Karenga, Encyclopedia
of Black Studies, (2004), co-edited with Ama Mazama, Race,
Rhetoric, and Identity: The Architecton of Soul, Erasing Racism:
The Survival of the American Nation, (2003), Ancient
Egyptian Philosophers (2003), Scattered to the Wind,
Custom and Culture of Egypt, and 100 Greatest African Americans. The
second edition of his high school text, African American
History: Journey of Liberation, 2nd Edition, (2001), is
used in more than 400 schools throughout North America.
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2007 TAA
Conference registration opens Feb. 12, 2007 at 1 p.m. EST
To encourage
people to register for the 2007 TAA Conference on Academic Authoring
in Buffalo, NY, June 22-23, the association is offering some special
incentives.
- The first
50 people to register before April 1, 2007 will receive a TAA
logo coffee mug and a special "Goody Bag" filled with items
donated by sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers.
- Everyone
who registers before April 1, 2007 will receive $25 off their
conference registration (after April 1, 2007 conference registration
is $150).
- The first
three first-time conference registrations will receive FREE
conference registration. See registration
page for details.
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Seeking
Sponsors & Exhibitors for TAA Conference
Sponsor or
exhibit at the 2007 TAA Conference on Text and Academic Authoring
at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo in Buffalo, NY, June 22-23. The TAA
Conference is a terrific opportunity to network with authors and
get your products and services in front of them. For Sponsorship
& Exhibit Opportunities: click
here
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TAA welcomes
new members
Delia Ackerman,
Deborah Arteaga, Mary Beirne-Smith, Mary Berkheiser, Satish C.
Bhalnaga, Lynne Bibeau, Phil Bishop, George M. Boszilkov, Kelly
Brennan, Helen Brownstein-Evans, Joy Burnham, Charles Callahan,
III, Karla D. Carmichael, Kim Cattat, Hyun K. Chatfield, Lynda
J. Cochran, Julianne Coleman, John Curry, Rochelle A. Dail, Catharina
F. de Wet, Marcia Ditmyer, Erika Engstrom, Jeremy Fails, Shirley
Foster, Lee Freeman, Betty Garcia-Matthewson, Steven P. Hackmyer,
Colleen Hall-Patton, Daniel Harris, Angela Hernquist, Jean Hertzman,
Weiyin Hong, Katherine Howard, Kimberly Johnson, Dawn Jones, Valentini
Kalargyrou, Christy Keeler, Brandon Keaveny, Beverly A. Kissinger,
Cecile Komara, David Kreamer, Cory Lampert, Teresa Leher, Mildred
A. McClain, Hargh,Nancy Menzel, Todd Mooradian, Kentaro Nagamine,
Jane Newman, Margaret Oakes, Sandra Owens-Kane, Charlotte Pass,
Faith Prather, Christopher Price, Linda Rak, Pam Reamer, Margaret
L. Rice, Tessie Rose, Deborah Russell, Peggy Schuber, Diane Sekeres,
Jie Shen, Elba Simpson, Elena Solomon, Tom Sommer, Bivette Stodghill,
Ralf Sudowe, Heidi Swank, Mildred Switzer, Michelle Tannock, Agapi
Theodorou, Rebecca Thomas, Renee M. Umstattd, Renee Van Norman,
Dustin M. Wax, Todd C. White, Jean Whitney, Elizabeth A. Woodruff,
Jessica Word, Ken Wright, Vivian Wright, Helen Zaikinah-Montgomery
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Gift memberships
TAA member
Don Collins gave a TAA gift membership to Joanna Shearer. TAA
member Charles Lytle gave a TAA gift membership to John Meyer.
Thanks Don and Charles! Welcome Joanna and John!
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Sustaining
members
The following
TAA members renewed at the Sustaining Member level: Susan Fawcett
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Author's
Resource Center
Have an authoring
question? Get an answer from the authoring experts at TAA: TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
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Search
the TAA website
TAA recently
added a Google-powered internal search engine to its website.
Put in your search terms (e.g. textbooks, journals, grant writing,
etc.) and relevant pages on the TAA website that contain those
terms will be shown on Google. Go to the TAA
members only section to begin your search.
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Renew your
membership online!
TAA has just
launched a new online member form that will allow members to renew
online using a secure server. The form can also be used by new
members. Check it out in the TAA Member Center here.
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