BIC Brunches 2025

#bicbrunch

European Accessibility Act: DRM, Text-to-Speech

Introduction

Join us in this, the 8th session of our series of webinars dedicated to Accessibility, which we have put together with the 2025 European Accessibility Act (EAA) firmly in mind.

This event follows on from 7 incredibly well received sessions that have already examined i) Back to Basics – the Legalities, ii) Accessibility Metadata, iii) Accessible Content (EPUB and PDF), iv) Alt Text, v) Fixed Layout vi) STEM/Scholarly Publishing and vii) Websites/Platforms & Packaging.

Recordings of each of the above sessions (with the exception of the Legalities session)are now freely available via our YouTube Accessibility Playlist. BIC members (only) may request a copy of the first session “Back to Basics – the Legalities” via info@bic.org.uk at any time.

May’s session sees our expert speakers guide us through the accessibility requirements and impacts of DRM and Text-to-Speech (TTS). We’ll hear about the user experience with regards these areas: when considering DRM and TTS, which elements make a book accessible/inaccessible etc. There’ll also be hints and tips on implementing TTS in reading for use on iOS, Android and on the Web and much more, including a dedicated Q & A section. So come with your questions!

We look forward to seeing you!

Host

• Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

Speakers

• Hadrien Gardeur, Reading Project Manager, EDR Labs
• Simon Pallant, Digital & IT Services Manager, Gardners.
• Wendy Reid, Accessibility and Publishing Standards Lead at Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Who should attend?

The EU Accessibility Act will have a far-reaching impact on the book industry supply chain, including the consideration of DRM and TTS, and so this session will be of interest to a broad range of different book industry organisation types and professionals, especially content creators and those working at publishing houses, vendors, 3rd party suppliers etc. It will also be of interest to those organisations that supply content/products directly to customers (B2C).

Registration

Tickets are FREE for BIC and BISG members and MA Publishing Students at City St George’s, University of London. Everyone else is required to pay a nominal fee. Please ensure you select the correct ticket type.

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 May’s session, there are currently 3 further BIC Brunch sessions planned (with possibly more to come) that will explore specific topics with regards to accessibility and they include:

• Accessibility of Physical Product – later in May 2025.
• Digital Audio – June 2025
• Making Documents Accessible (PowerPoint, Word docs, Excel, PDFs etc) – July 2025.

Can’t make it? Watch it on YouTube

If you would like to attend this event but cannot for any reason, you can watch it later via the BIC YouTube channel. One month after the live event, the footage will be uploaded to the channel. Attendees of this event will automatically receive a copy of the recording within one week of the live session.

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!