The needs of blind and partially sighted people from ebooksPrepared for RNIB by i2 media research limitedDepartment of PsychologyGoldsmithsUniversity of LondonNew ross! London! "#$% &N'(el) *2* +,$, +--%.*2* ++$+ 22*2/a0) *2* +,$, +-+1#mail) 23/reeman4gold3ac356. 23Lessiter4gold3ac356&th December 2*$*Executive summary1. Background and introduction(his doc5ment reports primary independent research cond5cted by i2 media research limited 7i28 commissioned by RNIB! to eval5ate the needs of blind and partially sighted people in relation to eboo6s39n :eboo6; is an electronic te0t version of a boo6 which can be read on an :eboo6 reader;3 (his can be eboo6 reading software on a comp5ter 7des6top! portable! or tablet8 or mobile phone3 #0amples incl5de iBoo6s on the iPhone or iPad! or 9dobe Digital #ditions on a P3 9n eboo6 reader can also be a dedicated hardware device designed specifically forreading eboo6s3 #0amples incl5de 9ma5st sit bac6! rela0 and listen to boo6s for leis5re witho5t the need to interact with a device by t5rning the pages of an eboo63(hey considered that eboo6s re?5ired more effort to 5se than a5dioboo6s3JI s5ppose the main thing is that yo5 have to be constantly interacting with the PeQboo6 in order to really get to the ne0t page3 Do5 >5st slap a D in and get off! li6e yo5 can with a5dioboo6s3 P9ltho5gh with eboo6sQ If yo5 were act5ally more interested in nonAfiction than fiction! it;s m5ch easier 5st mentioned it3R7BN! female! NNA&% years@ onset from birth b5t sight affected at $N years! level of sight P$Q8Generally! participants in this sample appeared to be warmer towards the standalone eboo6 readers or on m5ltif5nctional portable devices than to eboo6 reading software with a fi0ed generic device! s5ch as a P3(his partly appeared to relate to their interest in having portable prod5cts! which they perceived wo5ld be enabled thro5gh dedicated eboo6 players! and also beca5se they were less familiar with the concept of eboo6 reading software3JFaven;t really tho5ght abo5t that Peboo6 reading software for PQ3 I thin6 it;s the mobile thing! I;m so 5sed to listening to my boo6s on my iPod! I don;t really thin6 that if I was going to sit and listen to a boo6 I wo5ld really want to be sat at my P! I;d want to be sat on ab5s or a sofa or whatever3 'orth a try b5t I;ve never tho5ght abo5t it3R7B1! male! 1NA%% years@ onset from birth b5t diagnosed at $, years! level of sight P1Q8ompared with the eboo6 5ser gro5p! participants in the nonAeboo6 5sergro5p were less s5re how to respond when as6ed directly whether they preferred the idea of a dedicated eboo6 reader to eboo6 reading software on a m5ltif5nctional device3Responses were varied) some recognised the benefits of a portable m5ltif5nctional device@J333yo5;re not having to carry a whole range of gadgets! one poc6et foryo5r mobile phone and another poc6et for yo5r eboo6 reader! it fits easily and yo5 don;t want yo5r handbag f5ll of technology3R 7B$! female! NNA&% years@ onset from %2 years! level of sight P2Q8 others preferred the perceived simplicity of a dedicated prod5ct@JI;d be ?5ite happy if I co5ld >5st get away with it reading boo6s beca5se I;ve got lots of other bits and pieces for doing things3R 7B2! male! NNA&% years@ onset from 12 years! level of sight P2Q8J25st eboo6s3 PInterviewer) 'hy is thatLQ Beca5se m5ltif5nctional gadgets are ?5ite diffic5lt to navigate3R 7B%! female! %NAN% years@ onset at 2* years! level of sight P1Q8 one participant preferred a dedicated prod5ct that was compatible with other e?5ipment they 5sed3JIf I co5ld combine it with my e0isting e?5ipment I wo5ld prefer that! if it was a specific piece of e?5ipment I probably might li6e it to have some other limited facilities3I;ve got most of the e?5ipment at the moment which does what I need3R7BN! female! NNA&% years@ onset from birth b5t sight affected at $N years! level of sight P$Q8"." !otential barriers to adopting ebookseBoo6s perceived as not accessible to blind and partially sighted people9ll participants raised concerns abo5t whether there were prod5cts in the eboo6 reader mar6et that wo5ld be accessible to blind and partially sighted 5sers3Iss5es raised in this regard incl5ded concerns that) 5sers wo5ld need to rely on others to get the eboo6 reader to wor6@J(he eboo6 reader for me wo5ld have to be totally accessible3 /or me! there;s nothing worse than having a gadget and yo5;ve got to get someone to see what they;re doing to load it 5p and act5ally wor6 the thing for yo53R 7B$! female! NNA&% years@ onset from %2 years! level of sight P2Q8 eboo6 readers wo5ld be inaccessible to people with no vision beca5se te0t to speech o5tp5t wo5ld not be available@JI;ve not tried anything with eboo6s beca5se I;m not convinced they;reblindAperson friendly P333Q Do5;ve got to have sight to 5se them beca5se there;s no spo6en men5 or anything li6e that! that I 6now abo5t anywayR 7B2! male! NNA&% years@ onset from 12 years! level of sight P2Q8 eboo6 readers may not be compatible with assistive technologies 5sed@JI haven;t gone into it a lot! b5t in respect of the eboo6s! I believe that I wo5ld have to have some additional or specialist e?5ipment3 I haven;t act5ally researched that myself yet3 (he other thing is that I;mnot s5re whether the e?5ipment that I have wo5ld be adaptable! or whether I wo5ld need to get another piece of e?5ipment3R 7BN! female! NNA&% years@ onset from birth b5t sight affected at $N years! level of sight P$Q8 if eboo6 readers enlarged te0t to the desired si5st fear of technology! P333Q If yo5;re dealing with someone my age! or someone who;s developed sight loss in their +*s! they are going to be ?5ite nervo5s of trying anything li6e that3 I 6now spea6ing for myself! amongst sighted people I 6now locally! it;s s5rprising how few of them who 5se comp5ters! mobile phones!anything li6e that3I 6now they tal6 abo5t silver s5rfers b5t I don;t 6now where they are! they;re not in r5ral "cotlandT 7B$! female! NNA&% years@ onset from %2 years! level of sight P2Q8eBook readers are too expensiveoncern was e0pressed abo5t the cost of an eboo6 reader partic5larly one which had accessible feat5res s5ch as te0t to speech o5tp5t3(he cost.benefit of an eboo6 reader was also ?5estioned by one participant! given the low cost of print boo6s3Jost! I s5ppose! really3 'hen yo5;ve got to shell o5t a co5ple of h5ndred ?5id to >5st read a co5ple of VN boo6s! that;s a big e0pense isn;t itLR 7B1! male! 1NA%% years@ onset from birth b5t diagnosed at $, years! level of sight P1Q8"ome participants reported that they wo5ld be li6ely to wait 5ntil the cost of eboo6 readers had come down and teething problems associated withearlier models had been dealt with3JPInterviewer) Fave yo5 done any research on it yo5rselfLQNot at the time beca5se I tho5ght! J(hat;s going to cost money!R and I;ll wait 5ntil I;ve heard there;s definitely one that;s $**W accessible3 P333Q I always thin6 once things come 5nder V$** maybe I;ll start thin6ing abo5t them3R 7B$! female! NNA&% years@ onset from %2 years! level of sight P2Q8Cne participant s5ggested that if the p5rchase of eboo6 readers was financially s5pported by the RNIB (al6ing Boo6 "ervice! that this co5ld facilitate adoption of eboo6s3J333there might be a problem with cost of that e?5ipment! the f5nding of that3 It might limit certain people who! economically! might not be able to p5rchase it if it was not p5t o5t on loan li6e the(al6ing Boo6 service3 I s5ppose that applies to everyone really! b5tI thin6 there may be some disadvantage! some economic disadvantage 5nless there was some financial s5pport3R 7BN! female! NNA&% years@ onset from birth b5t sight affected at $N years! level of sight P$Q8#o interest in ebooksD other methods meet needs/or some! there was low interest or they had yet to be JconvincedR that eboo6 readers wo5ld be for them@ many perceived that the barriers o5tweighed the potential benefits even tho5gh most were apathetic abo5t finding o5t more abo5t them3Cnly one participant in the nonAeboo6 5ser gro5p 7BN8 indicated any serio5s interest in accessing eboo6s3JPInterviewer) Fave yo5 considered trying an eboo6LQ No! I haven;t at this point! b5t I plan to3 9s I say! this is my ne0t vent5re P333Q I s5ppose! I >5st didn;t have time previo5sly to develop any other methods that I;ve PbeenQ 5sing3 P333Q I;m semiAretired now! so I;ve gotmore time now3 25st managing to 6eep 5p with a f5llAtime demanding >ob didn;t give me a lot of time to loo6 at things other than what I was doing3 I wo5ld have done! pres5mably! as time went on! b5t it ta6es time to cope with the effort3R 7BN! female! NNA&% years@ onset from birth b5t sight affected at $N years! level of sight P$Q8".( %ummary of the non$ebook user results(o s5mmarise! participants in the nonAeboo6 5ser gro5p 5sed reading methods that were convenient! easy to 5se and lower tech3 (hey were generally less 6nowledgeable abo5t eboo6s compared with to the eboo6 5ser gro5p tho5gh had similar e0pectations abo5t what eboo6s co5ld offer) improved portability! s5pporting social incl5sion and enabling a wide range of te0ts to be accessed3Fowever! they e0pressed a range ofconcerns abo5t eboo6s incl5ding the perception that eboo6s wo5ld be inaccessible to blind and partially sighted 5sers! and if they were accessible that they wo5ld be too e0pensive3(hey were also concernedthat eboo6s co5ld be too technical and not very easy to 5se3Bany werecomfortable with their familiar reading methods and were not s5fficiently driven by the positive e0pectations of eboo6s to change them3( %ummaryD key features that blind and partially sighted people &ould like from ebook readers(hemes that emerged from both gro5ps as 6ey accessibility re?5irements from eboo6 readers for blind and partially sighted people incl5ded) fle0ible te0t display@ level of interaction re?5ired@ te0t to speecho5tp5t! and screen si5st doesn;t seem to want to do that3R 79+! female! %NAN% years@ onset from birth b5t problematic since 1*years! level of sight P*Q8(. Text to speech output =ey re?5irements in relation to te0t to speech o5tp5t! incl5de) (e0t to speech o5tp5t for both boo6 content and men5s@ ompatibility with e0isting te0t to speech software! as per 5ser preferences@ Preference.tolerance for synthetic speech varied across participants3 JPinterviewer) 'hat things do yo5.wo5ld yo5 loo6 for in the perfect eboo6 readerLQ'hether they co5ld tal6 me thro5gh the instr5ctions and the men5s and how to go abo5t downloading! and all that sort of thing3R7B2! male! NNA&% years@ onset from 12 years! level of sight P2Q8JP'hat wo5ld p5t yo5 off getting that type of eboo6 readerLQ It wo5ld depend on what the voice was li6e3 I;m so 5sed to the nice lady on the iPhone and the nice man on the comp5ter3R 79+! female! %NAN% years@ onset from birth b5t problematic since 1* years! level of sight P*Q8(." %creen Re?5irements with regard to screen display varied depending on whether the participant had any resid5al vision3/or participants with anyvision! 6ey re?5irements in relation to screen display! incl5de) "creen siect! wo5ld anything else stop yo5 from 5sing itL; e3g3! awareness! availability! prod5ct associations! portability! f5nctionality! 5sability! need333QIII3 'hat wo5ld ma6e yo5 reconsider getting that eboo6 readerLd3 eBoo6 perceptions specific to each type of reader that is not 5sed333"o those ?5estions were regarding yo5r e0perience with Pinsert eboo6 reader7s8 hereQ3 Fave yo5 considered 5sing any other ways of accessing eboo6sL PIf answered abo5t dedicated device so far! and have not mentioned software! as6 ?5estions below abo5t eboo6s software3If answered abo5t eboo6s software so far! as6 ?5estions below abo5t eboo6s device3QI3 9side from this interview! have yo5 heard abo5t Peboo6s devices. eboo6s softwareQL Fow did yo5 first hear abo5t itL If yes! how long ago! and from whomLII3 'hat did yo5 hear abo5t it at firstL Fave yo5 done any researchon it yo5rselfL 'hat information did yo5 need to 6now before deciding whether or not it wo5ld be 5sef5l to yo5L 9nd which of those were the most important factors in yo5r decision to not get itLIII3 'hat p5t yo5 off getting that type of readerL PIf financial! probe with :if money were no ob>ect! wo5ld anything else stop yo5 from 5sing itL; e3g3! awareness! availability! prod5ct associations! portability! f5nctionality! 5sability! need333QIE3 'hat wo5ld ma6e yo5 reconsider getting that type of eboo6s sol5tionL