DAISY as an Effective Means of Synchronous Presentation of Information as Text and Audio Track ¹⁶⁸³

The article addresses the problem of barrier-free access to information for people who are not able to use the usual print media because of various reasons such as: dyslexia, impaired vision or blindness. DAISY (digital accessible information system), which allows synchronous presentation of text on the computer screen and an audio track containing vocalization of the same text by synthesized or recorded narration, is regarded as a solution to this problem.. Attention is given to the fact that the advantage of this standard before known methods of information presentation available for people who find it difficult to read printed texts is the ability to navigate the books content. The user can easily navigate articles, paragraphs, sentences, words, symbols, including diagrams, mathematical formulas and other special symbols. In total up to six levels of navigation are provided. It seriously simplifies working with textbooks, reference books, encyclopedias, thus allowing to increase the effectiveness of education. It is emphasized that the DAISY standard is widely spread in the majority of the world’s countries - it is used for publishing textbooks, fiction and even periodicals. The article also examines the principles of creation of DAISY books. It presents lists of software for creation and playback of books recorded in this format.

Keywords: means of information presentation, world information resources, adaptive technologies, barrier-free access to information, effective education.

Column: Interdisciplinary Researches