NIMAS stands for National Instructional Materials Standard, and is a set of computer code standards that allow textbooks and other instructional materials to be accessed. The standard is called DAISY, itself a national standard for electronic textbook accessibility, letting users with a wide range of disabilities access printed materials on a variety of hardware and software reading devices.
National Instructional Materials Standard (NIMAS)
- NIMAS Statute and Regs – IDEA 2004
- Effective July 2005
- NIMAS Final Rules published 200ti
- Places expectations on publishers of materials published after August 2006.
NIMAS Designed to
- Provide a timely delivery of specialized formats
- Avoid a duplication of effort (scanning and OCR)
- Standardize across states
- Improve student outcomes
NIMAS Files
- Based on the international DAISY standard for electronic text
- Consistent and valid XML-‐based source files created by publishers
- Files are used to create accessible specialized formats (eg, braille, audio, digital talking books, large print, etc.)
The NIMAC?
- Established through the American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
- Receives and maintains a catalog of NIMAS print instructional materials
- Provides those materials in accessible media source files
- Has procedures to protect against copyright infringement
Source: Skip Stahl, cast.org
[image credit: http://www.uwyo.edu/wind/nimas/]