Introduction
This guide is designed to help you use the Poet image description tool to add image descriptions to DAISY books. The tool assumes you have access to the DAISY zip file of the book for which you wish to add descriptions. If you do not have access to the DAISY file, please check with the administrator of your digital book library to find out how to do so.
The diagram below explains the Poet environment; Steps 2, 3, and 4 are the core of the Poet image description process, and covered in this guide. Steps 1, 5, and 6 are outside the realm of Poet but are part of the overall image description process and depend on your particular situation.
This is a summary of the steps of the image description process:
-
Download the DAISY book zip file from your library. The DAISY zip file contains several files including the XML document, one or more cascading style sheets, the XSL transform, as well as a folder of image files. Poet is designed to work with the zip file so you do not have to extract and manage the files manually. The zip file should be downloaded to the computer on which you will eventually be receiving the processed file (with image descriptions) later in Step 4.
-
Upload the DAISY book to the Poet server. Following the step-by-step instructions, browse to the DAISY zip file on your computer to select it for uploading. You will receive a unique book id during the upload process, be sure to copy it down. The book will remain on the server for easier access while you are describing the images it contains. While the book is on the server, you can access it from any computer with an Internet connection to perform your image description work. Just go the Poet home page, enter the book id and click the Edit button to go to the Poet edit page.
-
Perform image description steps per instructions and guidelines. This is the core process in creating image descriptions for your book. Following the step-by-step guide, for each image you will determine whether it should be described and, if so, provide its description. Remember to click the 'Submit image description' button after each description is entered.
-
Process the DAISY book to add image descriptions. In this step, the image descriptions you have provided are placed by Poet into the XML file of your DAISY book and the updated book is downloaded from the server back to the computer you used for the upload.
-
Re-publish the book. Your DAISY book with its image descriptions can be placed back into your digital book library. This step would probably be handled by the librarian or similar function. Please contact the appropriate individual for assistance.
-
Download and read the DAISY book. Once re-published, the book can be read by any DAISY compatible reading tool and the image descriptions can be voiced by those tools which can voice prodnotes.
Note: The screen shots in this guide are from Firefox on a Widows based system. The Mac interface, or other browsers, may differ slightly, but the Poet functionality is the same.
Process Flow
Step-by-Step Instructions
|
Step |
Process |
What you see |
|---|---|---|
|
Registering and Signing In to Poet |
||
|
1. |
Open your Internet browser and go to the URL provided for Poet, or click on the Poet link. If you are a new user, proceed to Step 2; if you are a returning user skip to Step 3. |
 |
|
2. |
Register with Poet by clicking the Register link in the upper right corner of the screen. The Sign up screen appears. Fill in a username along with your email address and a password of at least 6 characters, and then click the Sign up button. You are returned to the home page and a confirmation message is displayed if the registration is successful. If unsuccessful, an error message will indicative the corrective action to take. |
 |
|
3. |
Sign in to Poet by clicking the Sign in link in the upper right corner of the screen. The Sign in screen appears. Fill in your username or email along with your password, and then click the Sign in button. You are returned to the home page and a confirmation message is displayed if the sign in is successful. If unsuccessful, an error message will indicate the corrective action to take. |
 |
|
Uploading a DAISY Book to the Poet Server (Step 2 in the Poet Environment diagram) |
||
|
1. |
After signing in, you are at the home page. |
The Poet Welcome page: |
|
2. |
In order to begin creating image descriptions for a DAISY file, the file must first be uploaded to the server. Click the Upload link on the Home page; the DAISY Book Upload page is presented. Note: Your DAISY book must have been previously downloaded to your computer from your digital book library. To select your DAISY file, click on the Browse (or Choose file) button. |
The DAISY Book Upload page (Firefox appearance):  |
|
3. |
A file selection dialog box will open showing your computer's file structure. Locate and select your DAISY file, then click Open. You are returned to the DAISY Book Upload page with the file name populated. If the file is password protected, enter it in the password field. |
File Upload dialog box (Windows appearance):  |
|
4. |
Click the Upload button on the DAISY Book Upload page. This will upload your DAISY file to the server. You may need to allow up to 15 minutes for the upload process to complete, depending on the size of the book and the number of images it contains. Note: Be sure to copy or write down the book ID presented in the confirmation message Click the Home link to return to the Poet home page. |
A confirmation message and unique book ID code are presented:  |
|
Tagging Images for Description (part of Step 3 in the Poet Environment diagram) |
||
|
1. |
In order to add or edit image descriptions in a DAISY file, click the Edit link on the Poet home page. On the next page, enter the ID (from Step 4 above) of the book you wish to work on the in the Book ID field and click the Edit button. The book will open in Poet with a navigation frame (showing images only) on the left, and a reading/editing frame (showing text and images) on the right. Note: If a description already exists for an image, it will be presented in the upper box beneath the image (Previous Descriptions). New descriptions are entered in the lower box beneath the image (New Description). |
The Poet image description interface:  |
|
2. |
Each book contains images that need different types of descriptions. You will need to determine which graphics should be described and which graphics need not be described because they do not enhance the learning experience. These images may either be redundant or not relevant to the content. Note: To understand which images should be described and learn about creating effective image descriptions, click the Information icon (blue circle with the letter "i") at the top of the navigation frame. Follow the links in the Image Description Guidelines to obtain the information you need. |
Image Description Guidelines (Windows appearance):  |
|
3. |
There is a drop down list beneath each image in the navigation frame which allows you to indicate whether a description should be provided or not. To remove from consideration any images that do not require description, select "No" from the "Should be described" drop down list beneath the image. If an image should be described, select "Yes;" if uncertain, select "Unspecified." Your selections are saved as soon as you make them. To change a selection, merely choose another option from the drop down list and it will become the current choice. |
 |
|
4. |
In the heading of the navigation frame there is a drop down filter. You can use it to select which category of images you want to see and it is very helpful in navigating books with large numbers of images. In the filter drop down select one of the following options depending on what images you want to see in the navigation frame:
|
Images matching the filtering criteria. Note: the filter only applies to the images in the navigation frame. All images are still visible in the editing frame.  |
|
Creating or Editing Image Descriptions (part of Step 3 in the Poet Environment diagram) |
||
|
1. |
Note: This instruction assumes you already have a book open in Poet for image describing. If not, click the Edit link from the Poet home page, enter the book ID and click the Edit button. In order to focus on only those images requiring description, select the "Description Needed" from the filter drop down box at the heading of the left navigation frame. |
Only the images designated as "Should be described," but not having descriptions, will be displayed in the left navigation frame. |
|
2. |
When you click on an image in the left navigation frame, Poet will scroll to that image in the reading/editing area in the right frame. Beneath the graphic are the Previous Description and New Description text boxes. Click in the New Description text box and type the description for the selected image. When finished, click the "Submit New Image Description" button below the box. Click the next image in the navigation frame you wish to describe. The image will be displayed in the right hand reading/editing frame. Type the description and click the Submit button. Continue in this manner to complete additional image descriptions. Note: There are no restrictions on the length of the description you provide. Image descriptions are saved to the server when you click the submit button. Reminder: To understand which images should be described and learn about creating effective image descriptions, click the Information icon (blue circle with the letter "i") at the top of the navigation frame. |
Description boxes is displayed beneath the image you have selected.  |
|
3. |
Poet provides an HTML editor which is is especially useful if you want to enter a data table to describe a chart or graph and do not want to manually type the HTML tags. To invoke the HTML editor, click the "Show Editor" button beneath the New Description text box. With the HTML editor active, click the Insert Table icon (outlined in red) to create a new data table. In the Insert/Modify Table dialog box, enter the number of rows and columns your table will require; other selections may be left at their default values. Click the Insert button to place the table structure in the New Description box. Click in the cells of the table structure and type the values corresponding to the chart data you need to represent. The cells expand as you type. When finished, click the Submit new image description button. |
 |
|
4. |
When you have completed your session simply close your browser. You do not need to perform a separate save function as all your work has been saved interactively. |
|
|
Update a DAISY Book with the Latest Image Descriptions (Step 4 in the Poet Environment diagram) |
||
|
1. |
When the image descriptions for a book have been completed, they should be processed from the server into the original DAISY file on your computer. From the Poet home page, click on the Process link. On the Update DAISY Book Image Descriptions screen, click the Browse (or Choose file) button. |
The Update DAISY Book Image Descriptions screen (Firefox appearance):  |
|
2. |
A file selection dialog box will open showing your computer's file structure. Locate and select your DAISY file, then click Open. You are returned to the Update DAISY Book Image Descriptions page with the file name populated. If the file is password protected, enter it in the password field. |
File Upload dialog box (Windows appearance): |
|
3. |
Click the Process button. This will process the image descriptions into the DAISY file on the server and download the zip file to your computer so that you can re-publish it to your library or read it with a tool which supports the voicing of prodnotes. |
|
