The Miami Accessible Media Project (MAMP) was established in May of 2008 thru the collaborative efforts of the Indiana Department of Corrections, the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired/Indiana Educational Resource Center and the Indiana Department of Education. It is the goal of the project to provide quality braille, large print, and accessible instructional materials to students who are blind or have low vision in Indiana’s local schools, in a timely and efficient manner, while providing a skill to the offenders that will increase employment opportunities thus reducing recidivism.
MAMP produces and transcribe books from National Instructional Material Accessible Standard (NIMAS) formatted publisher files whenever possible. NIMAS files are electronic publisher files that have been formatted or tagged in a universal format to assist accessible format textbook producers in producing accessible specialized formats in a timely manner. By utilizing NIMAS files, textbooks no longer need to be scanned in or input manually. This significantly speeds up the process of producing braille, large print and digitally rendered textbooks. However, the ICAM can only access NIMAS files from the national repository, the National Instructional Materials Center (NIMAC), if the schools require the publishers per their textbook contracts to send them down to the NIMAC. Be sure to include this contractual language when purchasing textbooks from the publisher to insure that the appropriate files can be secured for production and transcription, especially for core instructional materials not on the state adoption lists.
Print copies of the textbooks are still required for production and transcription, along with the NIMAS file, to insure that all text, images, and image descriptions are included and placed in the correct sequence.
MAMP utilizes state-of-the art production equipment and techniques in the transcription and production of braille textbooks. All transcription staff meets the national certification requirements for braille transcription.