Check here for upcoming events, Board and Council news, announcements of changes to the NIMAS and to NIMAS-related legislation, and other NIMAS information.

OSEP Funds National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) Center

As announced 10/8/09 on the CAST web site, "the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs has awarded CAST leadership of a 5-year, $2 million center to further develop and implement the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)" (from www.cast.org). The new NIMAS Center will replace the NIMAS Technical Assistance and Development centers. Read the entire press release at the following URL: http://www.cast.org/about/news/press/2009-10-07.html.

OSEP Funds National Center for Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)

As announced 10/9/09 on the CAST web site, "the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has awarded CAST leadership of a 5-year, $5 million Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Center" and the new center will work with "state education agencies, local education agencies, and other stakeholders to develop effective systems to speed the delivery of high-quality accessible instructional materials to students with print disabilities" (from www.cast.org). Read the entire press release at the following URL: http://www.cast.org/about/news/press/2009-10-09.html.

The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS): State Implementation Update

This NIMAS State Implementation Survey (September, 2009) conducted by Project Forum at NASDSE is a Brief Policy Analysis that provides survey findings from 49 state NIMAS coordinators. These findings are an update from a similar analysis in 2007. Findings are clustered in the areas of dedicated staff, coordination and collaboration with national center activities, guidance, professional development, legal issues, data collection, file conversions and availability, challenges and next steps. The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS): State Implementation Update document is available in PDF format at the following URL: http://projectforum.org/docs/NIMAS-StateImplementationUpdate-final.pdf.

NIMAS Conversion Tool and Exemplar Output Versions

Now that a new version of the NIMAS Conversion Tool (v2.1) has been finalized and posted to the NIMAS web site, exemplars 1–6, 8, and 10–11 have been updated with new output versions created by the NIMAS Conversion Tool and posted to their respective pages.

The latest March and April ’09 updates of the Tool include the following:

• Improvements to design and navigation
• Edits and fixes for various bugs
• Re-designed screen/page layout and formatting to improve accessibility and appearance
• Addition of a more complete TOC
• Improved functionality with Internet Explorer browser

To download the latest version of the NIMAS Conversion Tool and/or its source code, go to the following URL: http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/conversion_tool

To select an exemplar and download the NIMAS Conversion Tool zip file for viewing in your browser of choice, go to the NIMAS Exemplars page: http://nimas.cast.org/center/exemplars

Note that conversion to HTML is just one of the many conversion options available to those who have legal access to the growing library of NIMAS filesets and who have an obligation to provide specialized formats to learners with print disabilities.
 
Questions and comments may be sent via email to nimas [at] cast.org.

NIMAS Centers’ Survey

The NIMAS centers have conducted a brief survey via an independent evaluator of those with a direct or related interest in the NIMAS and the NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance centers, including employees of LEAs (local education agencies), SEAs (state education agencies), AMPs (accessible media producers), educational publishers, conversion houses, AT (assistive technology) developers; and parents; and disability advocates.  Information gathered included respondents' experience with, observations of, and suggestions for improving the NIMAS centers. The survey closed on April 28, 2009.

Other News

• The NIMAS Technical Assistance Center has posted a Survey of State DOE Web Sites that covers U.S. states and territories and provides information on what states offer regarding NIMAS and NIMAS-related information and resources via their state DOE and associated web sites.  The Survey will be updated on a monthly basis.
• Pearson announces via press release a new HTML-based textbook format offering digital versions of their K–12 course materials.
• Bookshare.org has launched a newly updated web site and has announced via press release the development of a new Bookshare Library including over 40,000 books and free assistive software applications.
• The NIMAS Implementation Advisory Council and the NIMAS Standards Board held meetings just prior to the annual ATIA Conference at the Caribe Royale Convention Center in Orlando, FL.  The meetings were open for observation by anyone interested.
       January 27, 2009: NIMAS Implementation Advisory Council (full day)
       January 28, 2009: NIMAS Standards Board (full day)
• The NIMAS Implementation Advisory Council was implented in the Fall of 2007 to maintain, advance, and support the adoption of the NIMAS at the state level, with activities designed to facilitate the timely provision of accessible versions of core print instructional materials to qualifying students.
• The NIMAS Standards Board was formed in January of 2008 to maintain, advance, and support the NIMAS and to facilitate the timely provision of accessible versions of core print instructional materials to qualifying students. NIMAS Board members have been initially be appointed by the NIMAS Development Center to a two-year renewable term and, among other activities, advises the NIMAS Development Center on issues related to the NIMAS, and acts in a technical consultancy capacity to the NIMAS Development Center.
• "Bookshare, a nonprofit online community, and Don Johnston Incorporated, a supplemental instruction provider, recently announced a partnership that will give print-disabled students a free text reader to access electronic books from the Bookshare.org library. The free text reader, called the Read:OutLoud Bookshare.org Edition Text Reader, will serve an estimated 1 to 3 percent of the total K–12 student population." Announced by eSchool News: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/business-news/?i=53411. Additional information available at Don Johnston: http://www.donjohnston.com/products/rol_bookshare/index.html.
• The new DAISY Structure Guidelines (2008) document is now available.
• On December 26th, 2007, President Bush signed H.R. 2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, into law. As a consequence, the NIMAC Limitation of Use Agreement (LUA) has been revised. Link directly to the new LUA.