The DAISY DTB is a collection of digital files which provides an accessible representation of the printed book for people who are blind, visually impaired and print disabled. DAISY stands for Digital Accessible Information System and DTB for Digital Talking Book. These files may contain digital audio recordings of human speech, marked up text, and/or a range of machine-readable files.

There are three basic types of DAISY DTBs: text and no audio; audio with navigation; and audio with full text. At NNELS, much of the final output for end-users will be in this latter DAISY format. This type of DTB is the most complete and provides the richest reading experience and the greatest level of access. The XML textual content file contains the structure and the full text of the book. The audio and the text are synchronized.

Making a document accessible is a multi-part process. Turning a Word document into a full DAISY DTB involves the following steps.

1. Create a well-structured text document that is easy to navigate. This is done through editing the text so that headings are applied correctly, images have alternative text, etc. You will need to clean up any words and page formatting that may have been mangled in the process of transforming the file. This guide will focus on this part of the process, which is the most critical.
2. This properly structured Word document is then converted into a DAISY XML document. The structure of the book is designated by the XML tags and is accessible to the reader by use of a browser, an app or a playback device.
3. The DAISY XML file is then converted into a full DAISY DTB with structure and complete text and audio.

In e-text production, the preparation of the files prior to converting them to an actual DAISY book is where you will spend most of your time.

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