The Opportunities and Challenges of the Digital Age: A Blind User's Perspective

Carey, Kevin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/3754 Copy

Description

Title

The Opportunities and Challenges of the Digital Age: A Blind User's Perspective

Author(s)

Carey, Kevin

Issue Date

2007

Keyword(s)

Library services for the visually impaired

Abstract

Library services for blind and visually impaired people (VIPs) have been inextricably tied up with alternative format production, which has never risen above 4 percent of standard-text publishing. The impact of digital publishing has been modest on Braille, modified print and audio; this partly results from production methods but also from defensive copyright in which the rights of authors outweigh consumer access rights. In this instance librarians should: assert customer rights against author rights; require piracy evidence; work towards a global digital accessibility library; and advocate a generic right to information. In a global digitally converged environment VIPs will need help with navigation, data evaluation and file migration; these needs will alter the traditional, neutral, role of librarians, transforming them into facilitators, covering what were traditionally described as broadcasting and telecommunications. The biggest single problem for VIPs will be the explosion of digital static and moving pictures.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3754

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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