The Canadian Association of Educational Resource Centres for Alternate Format Materials is an informal organization that promotes and facilitates the sharing of educational materials amongst eleven Educational Resource Centres across Canada. Each centre has a mandate to provide alternate format resources to students with perceptual disabilities who are enrolled in Kindergarten to Grade 12 and/or Post-Secondary education programs in their respective province or region. In its
submission to the 2009 national copyright consultation, the CAER recommended:
Provide an exception that permits the circumvention of digital rights management and technological measures for purposes of creating an alternate format. Permit the use of circumvention devices for the purposes of preparing materials for alternate format production.
Previous Daily Digital Locks:
Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) BC,
Canadian Consumer Initiative,
Retail Council of Canada,
Canadian Council of Archives, Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Canadian Federation of Students,
Canadian Civil Liberties Association,
Documentary Organization of Canada,
Canadian Library Association,
Council of Ministers of Education Canada,
Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright,
Canadian Association of Research Libraries,
Canadian Historical Association,
Canadian National Institute for the Blind,
Canadian Bookseller Association,
Canadian Home and School Federation,
Film Studies Association of Canada,
Canadian Bar Association,
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences,
Appropriation Art,
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives,
Canadian Association of Law Libraries,
Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec,
Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres,
Canadian Association of Media Education Associations,
Association of Canadian Community Colleges,
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada,
Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED),
Canadian Alliance of Student Associations,
CIPPIC,
Canadian Association of University Teachers,
City of Vancouver Archives,
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
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Alternate formats
Alternate formats should not just be limited to people with disabilities. I like to read myself, but I can understand if you have long commutes it’s probable easier to have it read to you. There are AudioBook editions that have professionals read to you, but it’s probably often sufficient to use a text-to-speech system (the quality of some software “voices” is actually astonishing) and required if there is no AudioBook.
Another thing that we will see soon if it’s not already there is “exclusives”, i.e. some books might only be available on the Kindle platform (especially if Amazon is the publisher). You can then strip the DRM, convert it to a format that will read on your non-Kindle reader. You might even want to shop around for non-exclusives and get a better price from say the Kobo store and convert it to read on your Kindle.
Having to strip DRM from a book you legally own to use in al alternate format should be allowed for anyone, not just the disabled.