The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs has awarded CAST two five-year Cooperative Agreements to establish two national centers to further develop and implement the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). The NIMAS guides the production and electronic distribution of digital versions of textbooks and other instructional materials so they can be more easily converted to accessible formats, including Braille and text-to-speech.

Version 1.0 of the NIMAS was developed in 2002–2004 by the National File Format Technical Panel, which was comprised of forty technology specialists, educators, disability advocates, and publishers, and is based on the DAISY/NISO Z39.86 (DAISY 3) specification. The final NIMAS was published on July 19, 2006 (71 FR 41084) and was included as Appendix C to Part 300—National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard—published on August 14, 2006. Technical specifications for both version 1.0 and 1.1 are available in the About NIMAS section of this web site.

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ClustrMap archive for 2006–2007

Join the NIMAS Interest Group listserv to learn what others are saying and asking about NIMAS.

The nimas.ig listserv has been formed for the purpose of NIMAS- and NIMAC-related discussions, including concerns, options, issues, and practical applications. This discussion group is open to the public.

The NIMAS Development Center will improve the original Standard by identifying new research and technological advances relevant to the Standard. The Center will also explore existing and new distribution models for the provision of accessible materials to students with disabilities. Visit the new NIMAS Standards Board page.

The NIMAS Technical Assistance Center will work with key stakeholders such as states, school boards, and publishers to raise awareness of the benefits of accessible materials. It will also advise stakeholders on the efficient production and distribution of NIMAS-compliant materials. Visit the new NIMAS Implementation Advisory Council page.

The NIMAS Development and Technical Assistance centers, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), works with states, TA systems, disability advocates, national associations, technology experts, publishers, and content conversion houses to improve the timely delivery of high-quality accessible educational materials to students with disabilities. The NIMAS Center was launched on October 1, 2004. The project officer for both the Development and TA centers is Bonnie Jones, Ed.D. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the Department of Education's position or policy.

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