BIC Brunches 2024

#bicbrunch

European Accessibility Act: AltText for Digital Books.

Overview

BIC Brunches are a series of live webinars which have been created for BIC members and non-members to attend to discuss book industry supply chain topics (including issues, successes, and challenges). Each BIC Brunch session is dedicated to one key area of the supply chain, offering attendees a unique opportunity to gather knowledge about that topic from experts in the field.

Introduction

Join us in this, the fourth session of our brand-new series of webinars dedicated to Accessibility, which we’ve put together with the 2025 European Accessibility Act (EAA) firmly in mind.

This event follows on from three incredibly well received sessions: The first one in July 2024 launched the series and took us back to the basics with a look at the legalities. The recording of this session is available exclusively to BIC members via info@bic.org.uk

In the second session (September) we explored the EAA requirements in light of what they mean for digital/eBooks both in terms of the metadata contained within the EPUB file and also the metadata created and distributed throughout the book industry supply chain via ONIX. The recording is freely available via our YouTube Accessibility Playlist.

Our third session (October) saw our expert speakers guide us through the accessibility requirements of the content of a digital book (EUPB and PDF). The recording for this will be made public on our YouTube Accessibility Playlist in late November. Prior to this, BIC members (only) may email info@bic.org.uk to request a link to the recording.

So having already looked at the legalities, metadata, and content. November’s session sees our expert speakers guide us through the accessibility requirements of AltText for digital books. What is AltText, its purpose, why it’s important, how to do it, how not to do it, common pitfalls to avoid etc. We’ll consider different types of scenarios and contexts, and determining when/if AltText is appropriate/required and if so, how best to describe, and the impact on workflows. We’ll be looking at maps, images, graphs, photos, charts etc. We’ll also hear first-hand about the impact of good, bad and absent AltText on readers with accessibility requirements. Finally, we’ll also touch on the implications of AI in this space.

If you have any specific questions you would like addressed at the webinar, please send details to info@bic.org.uk.

Host

• Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

Speakers

• Huw Alexander, Managing Director, textBOX.
• Madleen Bluhm, Sight Loss Adviser – Digital Skills, UK Sight Loss Advice Service, RNIB.
• Lindsay Sherriff, Senior Books Data Specialist, Taylor & Francis Group.

Who should attend?

This event will be of interest to those concerned with complying with the EU Accessibility Act, particularly when it comes to the creation and application of AltText within digital books.

The EU Accessibility Act will have a far-reaching impact on the book industry supply chain and so this session will be of interest to anyone working in the book publishing world including publishers, vendors, and in particular, content creators.

Registration

Tickets are FREE for BIC and BISG members – non-members are asked to pay a nominal fee.
To register, scroll to the top of this webpage and click on the ‘Get Tickets’ button.
Not sure if your organisation is a BIC member? View our members list here.

Future Accessibility BIC Brunch sessions

In addition to October’s session, there are currently5 further BIC Brunch sessions planned that will explore specific topics with regards to the EU Accessibility Act and they include:

• Fixed Layout/PDF – December 2024
• STEM/Educational/Scholarly Requirements – January 2025
• Websites/Platforms – February 2025
• Digital Audio – March 2025
• DRM, Text-to-Speech and Accessibility – April 2025

Previous Accessibility BIC Brunch sessions

There are 3 previous BIC Brunch sessions:

• Back to Basics – the Legalities (held Jul 2024) – recording available on request via info@bic.org.uk, exclusively for BIC members only
• Metadata (held Sep 2024) – recording freely available via our YouTube Accessibility Playlist
• Content: EPUB and PDF (held Oct 2024) – recording currently available only to BIC members via info@bic.org.uk

Can’t make it?

If you would like to attend this event but cannot for any reason, you can watch our BIC Brunch and Green BIC Brunch sessions via the BIC YouTube channel. One month after the live event, the footage will be uploaded to the channel.

Attendees will have access to the recording more quickly: Within a few days of the live event. BIC members will also have access to the recordings more quickly.

Also, if you’re unable to attend this event but have a question for one of our speakers then do get in touch. Either tweet at @BIC1UK using hashtag: #bicbrunch (before or during the event) or contact us at info@bic.org.uk (prior to the event) to have your question put to our speakers.

If you would like to remain informed about all of BIC’s forthcoming events, including our BIC Brunch sessions, join BIC’s mailing list.

We look forward to seeing you!