Adaptive content processing
The transition from accessibility to adaptivity is a gradual process. However, this relatively slow pace also creates an opportunity to take a step back and observe all the individual processes that touch upon the notion of accessibility. This allows us to explicate similarities and possible complementarities, a process of convergent gradualism. The opportunity then arises to synchronise various efforts in the accessibility arena and offer them to end-users and businesses as a 'package’. Such a package contains scientific knowledge about accessibility, as well as technological knowledge about how to implement such notions. This package also contains detailed descriptions of the requirements of the end-users, producers and distributors of content, as well as tools aiming towards market segments that rely on these requirements. Such an approach that aims to unify 'common' content, system, service and tool provision and the more 'specialised' content, system, service and tool provision, can be called Adaptive Content Processing (ACP) and this lies at the core of the EUAIN Network.
The forthcoming Deep Access Roadmap (April 2011, ISBN: 978-90-79167-02-9) (pdf) (doc) aims to provide pointers to design, build and validate robust and compliant adaptive content processing frameworks. These frameworks can then be used within private or public sector organisations to distribute content in suitable formats to end-users whilst maintaining the structural integrity of that content and ensuring all the concerns of content providers and rights holders are met. In this way a central concern can be addressed, namely the real-life mainstreaming of accessible content processing within existing and emerging service provision and value chains.