The following are my notes from the presentation - Born accessible: making e-books fully inclusive from day one - held during the NISO- The E-Book Renaissance Part II: Challenges and Opportunities. Best efforts were made to ensure accuracy.
Back in 2007 there was very little known about how e-books were being used by students in universities and colleges across the UK and even worldwide. The lack of market research and the fear of the 'unknown' was holding back the market.
"Thanks to a European research council grant (2011-2014) the printed book will be associated with a very original purpose built digital platform allowing for the inquiry summed up in the book to be pursued and modified by interested readers who will act as co-inquirers and co-authors of the final results."
For the 2010 academic year, 50,000 of Ohio's 70,000 Introductory Psychology students have had a low-cost digital option available for the textbook of their instructor's choice. Developed within a University System of Ohio Project framework in collaboration with five leading publishers of psychology textbooks, the Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project emerged from three years of research and within a social network established among faculty, librarians, technologists, and the accessibility community.