Why accessibility is hard and how to make it easier: Lessons from publishers

Abstract

The requirements for providing publications in an accessible form have recently become much clearer and easier to comply with. They are based on standard web accessibility guidelines that are commonly used globally, and the format for interchange is EPUB, a format many publishers already produce in their normal production process. Nevertheless, accessibility still proves difficult to accomplish for most publishers. This article refers to informal interviews and the author's own experiences to examine the issues that are challenging to publishers and their suppliers, assessing the level of effort required to address them, discussing the factors that make them difficult, and suggesting strategies for reducing the effort required.The article concludes that the best solution is to build accessibility into the publication workflow upfront as this can dramatically reduce the cost and effort required to make publications accessible. INTRODUCTIONAlthough the need to ensure that publications are able to be accessed and read by everyone, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities, is almost universally acknowledged as important, publishers have typically been reluctant to invest in the effort to make their publications fully accessible. This is partly a cost issue; in the highly competitive and costchallenged world most publishers operate in, it is all too easy for them to neglect something that is perceived -correctly in most cases -to increase their costs of production, especially when they do not perceive an offsetting increase in revenue. Most publishing workflows are not engineered for accessibility, which means that making publications accessible is an add-on after standard production is complete. This is especially the case for scholarly journals, whose workflows are typically based on JATS XML and PDF, rather than being based on the more accessible HTML and EPUB standards. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS TO SUPPORT ACCESSIBLE PUBLICATIONSThat confusion about specifications has largely been addressed both by harmonizing previously conflicting specifications and by basing the current recommendations on formats and technologies

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