Putting Bookshare.org Books On The iPad
As the Technology Coach for Educational Vision Services, the program in the NYC Department of Education that serves students in our school system with visual impairments, I have been looking for a way to provide students with low-vision access to large print using the iPad. Our students are registered with Bookshare.org but it has been a stumbling block converting the DAISY formatted books into the epub format that can be read on the iPad. While there are numerous options for our students who are auditory or Braille readers, there has been a large disconnect in taking advantage of technology for our students who require large print and alternate contrast for visual reading.
The first thing I noticed is that while the iBooks app is great, it doesn't provide the flexibility in adjusting text size and contrast that is available in the free app Stanza. I tested it with several visually impaired students and determined that Stanza was preferable for reading books on the iPad.
Calibre is a free, cross-platform e-book convertor. While it won't recognize DAISY, it will recognize HTML documents. Firefox can open up the XML file in the DAISY book folder downloaded from Bookshare. Using Firefox, you can convert the XML file to an HTML file that Calibre recognizes and retains most of the book's format, including images in the DAISY book. This is particularly useful for NIMAC sourced textbooks that rely heavily on graphics.
During the Welcome Wizard, I set up Calibre to save files to an eBook folder I created in my Documents folder. While I chose the iPad as my Output Profile, it did not stick and had to be selected again in Calibre's Common Options Preference pane. The Base Font size can be adjusted in the Common Options Preference pane as needed by the intended reader. Calibre takes the HTML file and converts it to an epub file, saving it in a folder sorted by the author.
I wanted to find a way of transferring the epub book to the iPad without having to worry about syncing the iPad each time. Dropbox proved to be perfect for this. A teacher can share a folder with the student and use it to transfer the book to the iPad wirelessly. This is especially helpful the majority of our students are served using the itinerant model and the teacher can get the book on the iPad remotely.
While Dropbox cannot open the epub, it will transfer the book to the Stanza app. Once in Stanza, the text can be adjusted to the reader's preference for size and contrast. The iPad's built in Zoom can provide even further magnification if needed.
I understand this is a bit laborious and I am looking for a method to automate the process. I needed a way that would work on both Macs and Windows as our schools are cross platform. I also wanted to focus on a method using free software as we are a school system and budget is a concern.
What you need
Note that all of these applications and apps are free.
- On your own computer, install these - they will all install correctly on Windows, Mac, and Linux-based computers:
- Onto the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch where you want the books, install these (links are directly to the App Store):
After you have unzipped the downloaded book from Bookshare, these are the steps to take on your own computer:
- Open Firefox. Use the File>Open File command and open up the XML file in the Bookshare book's folder.
- In Firefox, select File>Save Page As. Navigate to your preferred folder (I created one called eBooks for this purpose), rename the file to the book's title with the extension ".html" and in the Save As drop down box, select Web Page, Complete. Quit Firefox.
- Open Calibre. Add the HTML file you created in step 2 to your Calibre library. For larger NIMAC books, especially ones with lots of graphics, this can take a long time. You will need to add the author's name as this is not picked up by Calibre.
- Select the book in the Calibre library list and choose the Convert Book icon. You can adjust the Base Font Size by clicking on the Look & Feel icon in the left pane. Click the OK button to process it.
- Navigate to the author folder created by Calibre. Open the book folder and find the .epub file created by Calibre. Transfer it into your Dropbox.
The next steps must be taken on the iPad (or iPhone or iPod Touch) where you want the book to be read:
- Open the Dropbox App on the device. Select the book you transferred in the previous step. After Dropbox attempts to open it on your iPad, you will get a message that Dropbox cannot open the file. This is fine. In the upper right hand corner of the screen, select the "Transfer to" icon. Select Stanza from the list.
- Stanza will open up and import the book. You can now read it the book in Stanza, adjusting the font, text and background colors to your preference. Images will not be magnified but you can use the iPad's Zoom feature to enlarge them if necessary.
- David H Cohen
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10 Responses to Putting Bookshare.org Books On The iPad
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[...] Putting Bookshare.org Books On The iPad tutorial on how to put bookshare.org books on ipad (tags: ipad ebooks reading elementary middle high sped professionaldevelopment tutorials olivia bookshare itouch) [...]
Brilliant use of free technology! A tool to automate the process could make a good project for one of my computer science students.
Thank you for this post! This is great to use in the meantime until Benetech comes out with the app for bookshare books!
http://blog.bookshare.org/
Great article! Thanks!
Hi I really like that Apple is making such strides to make their products accessible. Having Bookshare available will make life so much easier for blind users.
Check out my blog at www.accesstechgeek.com. I write about various emerging technologies for people with disabilities.
Just got back from ATIA where Bookshare announced that they have a new ipad/ipod/iphone solution that will make this all much easier for bookshare users. It isn't free (about $20), but from what they were showing it is going to be easy. Check out their press release
ttp://www.bookshare.org/_/aboutUs/2011/01/read2go
Thank you SO much, David! I just followed your directions and was able to convert a book for my iPad as a test. Can't wait to try this with some of our students who have iPads! I'm also looking forward to the Bookshare app when it becomes available!!
Thanks!!! Been looking for this. Works great with Nimac textbooks. From what I can tell, the Bookshare app won't be able to show graphics or pictures and this way does. I hope someone can come up with a way to script it.
Hi David-this is AWESOME! Until the bookshare app comes out- converting DAISY to epub is easy- it also works on iBooks and Overdrive Media Console apps as well (I had to test as these options came up when I was sending the book to Stanza)
VERY cool!
[...] Putting Bookshare.org Books On The iPad tutorial on how to put bookshare.org books on ipad (tags: ipad ebooks reading elementary middle high sped professionaldevelopment tutorials olivia bookshare itouch) [...]
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/gui.html#connect-share
Jump in at step 5 and try this. Instead of saving the file to Dropbox, you can "Start Content Server" on your own computer.
Then on the iPad, open the Stanza app, select "Get Books" then wait for the iPad to see your computer. It will show up us "Books in calibre (on Name of My Computer)" under the heading Computers Sharing Books. Open it up, and you should be able to see the file there.
This works over my wifi network at home, and I'm not using any of my internet data.
I'm going to try the Dropbox way, also! Thanks. That will be useful for students that I don't get to see face to face.
Try stanza on the ipad. I need help finding speech to text that isnt nuance/dragon for apple os platform. Nuance has not returned multiple calls in two months and id rather boost a competitor than pay them a penny. If theyll treat me this way, im a therapist, then what crap would they put my clients through?? I cant support them because i cant trsut that theyd be there when my clients need something from them. Ideas welcome. Using apple macbook and ipad2.