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Load2Learn – making curriculum materials[br]accessible.

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Hello. Welcome to this Load2Learn video on[br]how to use the free software AMIS to read

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DAISY books.

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In this video, we will have a look at what[br]is AMIS and what is DAISY, then we’ll look

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at how to open a DAISY book, how to read a[br]DAISY book, how to navigate a DAISY book,

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and finally how to configure AMIS to suit[br]your needs.

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So first, DAISY is a special format that links[br]text and audio and text structure and makes

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it much easier for students with visual difficulties[br]but also with cognitive difficulties to access

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the text.

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You need a special piece of software to read[br]books in the DAISY format. There are many

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very good commercial options but you can also[br]start with the free software called AMIS that

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you can download from the Daisy Consortium[br]website.

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Once you have installed AMIS and you know[br]you have some DAISY books on your computer,

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you can start reading DAISY books. However,[br]DAISY books are different from other formats

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in that they cannot be opened by simply double-clicking[br]on them. You need to open the DAISY reader

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first and open the book from within the programme.

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So first you open AMIS and click on the ‘Open’[br]icon, or go to the File menu and choose ‘Open’.

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Then you need to navigate to the folder where[br]the DAISY book is and open the folder, and

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in that folder you will find the file that[br]opens the book, and AMIS should automatically

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find the right file which is most often NCC.HTML[br]or .HTM, and then simply click the ‘Open’

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button.

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Once you have opened a book in AMIS, you can[br]start reading it. You can play the book back

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by simply pressing one of the playback buttons[br]on the toolbar or simply by clicking anywhere

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in the text. Once the book starts being played,[br]the text will be highlighted and you can control

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the playback by using the ‘Pause’ and[br]‘Play’ buttons. There are also many keyboard

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shortcuts for controlling the playback and[br]you can find more about them through the Play

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menu. Most importantly, you can use ‘Space’[br]to pause and play, and ‘Control +’ or

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‘–‘ to slow or speed up the speed of[br]playback.

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Another important feature of DAISY books and[br]AMIS is the structure for navigation. Make

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sure you enable the navigation through the[br]View menu and choosing ‘Sidebar’, and

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once you have the sidebar available you simply[br]click on any of the items there and the DAISY

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book will start playing from that point.

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Again, there are many keyboard shortcuts you[br]can use to navigate and you’ll find out

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about them through the Navigate menu. Most[br]important are the arrow keys that will help

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you go up and down in the text or jump by[br]phrase, but you can also use the Control F

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shortcut to help you search through the book.[br]If you want to mark a place to return to later,

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you can use the Bookmarks menu to add a bookmark.

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If you use AMIS a lot, you may want to use[br]the Preferences to configure it for your needs.

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The most common preference that people may[br]want to go to first and disable is ‘Self-Voicing’.

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By default, when you install AMIS, it will[br]be turned on so that every time you click

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on a menu, it will read out what the menu[br]does, but many people will find that too distracting

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so they may want to go and turn that off,[br]but again, many people will find that very

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useful, so it is a good default option.

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The next important option is to choose the[br]voice you want AMIS to use to read the text.

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Than can be a commercial voice such as Brian[br]from IVONA or one of the free voices that

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you can download from the internet or that[br]comes pre-installed on your computer. If you

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would like to change the way text is displayed[br]on page, you can go to View and choose the

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page style or the size of the font. In the[br]Text Style, you can choose the type of font

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and the way the text is highlighted as well.[br]To remind yourself of some of the functionality

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and features of AMIS, you can print out the[br]AMIS cue card from the Computer Productivity

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and Accessibility Cue Cards, you can download[br]the cue cards from the Load2Learn website.

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They are free and you’re also free to make[br]new ones and share them with other people.

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Thank you for watching.

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Thank you for watching. For more tutorials[br]or information about Load2Learn, please visit

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load2learn.org.uk or contact us on 0300 3038313.

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Copyright © 2012 Dyslexia Action and RNIB[br]Licenced under the Creative Common Licence

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by Attribution for Non-Commercial Purposes[br]and Shared Alike