BackgroundThe accessible ebook production process requires many different steps and procedures:

• The source: from which the production starts vary from an actual printed book to a file from a common word-processing application or a PDF, up to a file in a Desktop Publishing Tool (DTP), such as InDesign or Quark Xpress.
• The conversion: Addressing complexity e.g. linear access of non-linear materials (vision) and better readability (cognition). Books may consist of different levels of complexity, beginning from novels to complex structures of workbooks with many graphics, mathematical formulas or scientific symbols for school pupils or students, including also books with multilingual text.
• The Presentation: Personalised access including issues like DAISY, haptic or audio presentation.
• The workflow: Efficient production of accessible and personalised materials, including standards, legislation, involving publishers and authors, management, user involvement and delivery services. 

All the above demand more and intense R&D to make the process of ebook production more efficient and the products better accessible and usable.Challenges and Call for ContributionDifferent formats, type and structure of information (graphics, images, etc.) and the different level of complexity pose a great challenge in the process. Also the delivery to endusers of the ebooks should be targeted in this STS. Since the variance in the target group is very high (print disabled, cognitive disabled, hearing impaired persons) it is also challenging to deliver the right content in the right form to the right target reader. To implement and reference all the different representations of information should be a field of scope in this STS. Also an outlook beyond the current practice  into the future of accessible ebook production procedures. This Special Thematic Session is organised to tackle the above issues in an inclusive way. We are considerably interested in research results that deal with challenges as

• Software / Plugins
• Standards and their application
• Production Procedure, Automation ot the Process
• Tools
• Work flow
• Formats
• Distribution (Libraries, Meta Data, etc.)
• Speeding up OCR process
• Development of administrative meta data
• Automatic relation between inline elements, side marks
• Accessible Graphics (reuse of graphics sub elements) historical and new standards for haptic graphics or/and audio descriptions / audio tactile combinations
• Cataloguing/referencing system. (Referencing audio description, tactile representation, easy to read version and/or swellcopy versions, etc.
• Service provision and delivery

Please note: This STS will be organised in close relation with a "hands on" pre-conference workshop on Accessibile eBook production inviting service providers, end users, tool developers and researchers to demonstrate products, workflows and tools and to discuss futures paths towards more and more efficient eBook production. Please consider taking part and contributing to both activities.This STS and the workshop on Accessible eBook Production is featured by and organised in cooperation with

Chairs

• 
  Georgios Kouroupetroglou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
• 
  Reinhard Ruemer, BookAccess
• 
  Tomas Murillo Morales, JKU
• 
  Klaus Miesenberger, Johannes Kepler University Linz