1 00:00:00,069 --> 00:00:06,033 Load2Learn – making curriculum materials accessible. 2 00:00:06,033 --> 00:00:14,119 Hello. Welcome to this Load2Learn video on how to use the free software AMIS to read 3 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:16,082 DAISY books. 4 00:00:16,082 --> 00:00:22,023 In this video, we will have a look at what is AMIS and what is DAISY, then we’ll look 5 00:00:22,023 --> 00:00:27,004 at how to open a DAISY book, how to read a DAISY book, how to navigate a DAISY book, 6 00:00:27,004 --> 00:00:32,007 and finally how to configure AMIS to suit your needs. 7 00:00:32,007 --> 00:00:38,076 So first, DAISY is a special format that links text and audio and text structure and makes 8 00:00:38,076 --> 00:00:44,073 it much easier for students with visual difficulties but also with cognitive difficulties to access 9 00:00:44,073 --> 00:00:47,017 the text. 10 00:00:47,017 --> 00:00:52,085 You need a special piece of software to read books in the DAISY format. There are many 11 00:00:52,085 --> 00:00:59,829 very good commercial options but you can also start with the free software called AMIS that 12 00:00:59,829 --> 00:01:04,079 you can download from the Daisy Consortium website. 13 00:01:04,079 --> 00:01:09,003 Once you have installed AMIS and you know you have some DAISY books on your computer, 14 00:01:09,003 --> 00:01:14,082 you can start reading DAISY books. However, DAISY books are different from other formats 15 00:01:14,082 --> 00:01:20,044 in that they cannot be opened by simply double-clicking on them. You need to open the DAISY reader 16 00:01:20,044 --> 00:01:25,079 first and open the book from within the programme. 17 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:32,059 So first you open AMIS and click on the ‘Open’ icon, or go to the File menu and choose ‘Open’. 18 00:01:32,059 --> 00:01:38,089 Then you need to navigate to the folder where the DAISY book is and open the folder, and 19 00:01:38,089 --> 00:01:44,017 in that folder you will find the file that opens the book, and AMIS should automatically 20 00:01:44,017 --> 00:01:52,073 find the right file which is most often NCC.HTML or .HTM, and then simply click the ‘Open’ 21 00:01:52,073 --> 00:01:53,001 button. 22 00:01:53,001 --> 00:01:59,059 Once you have opened a book in AMIS, you can start reading it. You can play the book back 23 00:01:59,059 --> 00:02:05,005 by simply pressing one of the playback buttons on the toolbar or simply by clicking anywhere 24 00:02:05,005 --> 00:02:13,006 in the text. Once the book starts being played, the text will be highlighted and you can control 25 00:02:13,006 --> 00:02:17,074 the playback by using the ‘Pause’ and ‘Play’ buttons. There are also many keyboard 26 00:02:17,074 --> 00:02:22,039 shortcuts for controlling the playback and you can find more about them through the Play 27 00:02:22,039 --> 00:02:28,005 menu. Most importantly, you can use ‘Space’ to pause and play, and ‘Control +’ or 28 00:02:28,005 --> 00:02:33,035 ‘–‘ to slow or speed up the speed of playback. 29 00:02:33,035 --> 00:02:40,012 Another important feature of DAISY books and AMIS is the structure for navigation. Make 30 00:02:40,012 --> 00:02:45,074 sure you enable the navigation through the View menu and choosing ‘Sidebar’, and 31 00:02:45,074 --> 00:02:51,043 once you have the sidebar available you simply click on any of the items there and the DAISY 32 00:02:51,043 --> 00:02:54,055 book will start playing from that point. 33 00:02:54,055 --> 00:02:58,051 Again, there are many keyboard shortcuts you can use to navigate and you’ll find out 34 00:02:58,051 --> 00:03:05,099 about them through the Navigate menu. Most important are the arrow keys that will help 35 00:03:05,099 --> 00:03:11,061 you go up and down in the text or jump by phrase, but you can also use the Control F 36 00:03:11,061 --> 00:03:19,025 shortcut to help you search through the book. If you want to mark a place to return to later, 37 00:03:19,025 --> 00:03:21,091 you can use the Bookmarks menu to add a bookmark. 38 00:03:21,091 --> 00:03:28,095 If you use AMIS a lot, you may want to use the Preferences to configure it for your needs. 39 00:03:28,095 --> 00:03:35,043 The most common preference that people may want to go to first and disable is ‘Self-Voicing’. 40 00:03:35,043 --> 00:03:39,027 By default, when you install AMIS, it will be turned on so that every time you click 41 00:03:39,027 --> 00:03:44,047 on a menu, it will read out what the menu does, but many people will find that too distracting 42 00:03:44,047 --> 00:03:48,055 so they may want to go and turn that off, but again, many people will find that very 43 00:03:48,055 --> 00:03:51,819 useful, so it is a good default option. 44 00:03:51,819 --> 00:03:56,239 The next important option is to choose the voice you want AMIS to use to read the text. 45 00:03:56,239 --> 00:04:01,064 Than can be a commercial voice such as Brian from IVONA or one of the free voices that 46 00:04:01,064 --> 00:04:06,022 you can download from the internet or that comes pre-installed on your computer. If you 47 00:04:06,022 --> 00:04:12,319 would like to change the way text is displayed on page, you can go to View and choose the 48 00:04:12,319 --> 00:04:17,959 page style or the size of the font. In the Text Style, you can choose the type of font 49 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:23,005 and the way the text is highlighted as well. To remind yourself of some of the functionality 50 00:04:23,005 --> 00:04:28,012 and features of AMIS, you can print out the AMIS cue card from the Computer Productivity 51 00:04:28,012 --> 00:04:32,066 and Accessibility Cue Cards, you can download the cue cards from the Load2Learn website. 52 00:04:32,066 --> 00:04:37,055 They are free and you’re also free to make new ones and share them with other people. 53 00:04:37,055 --> 00:04:41,035 Thank you for watching. 54 00:04:41,035 --> 00:04:46,002 Thank you for watching. For more tutorials or information about Load2Learn, please visit 55 00:04:46,002 --> 00:04:57,139 load2learn.org.uk or contact us on 0300 3038313. 56 00:04:57,139 --> 00:05:02,139 Copyright © 2012 Dyslexia Action and RNIB Licenced under the Creative Common Licence 57 00:05:02,139 --> 99:59:59,999 by Attribution for Non-Commercial Purposes and Shared Alike