Best Practices

France

BrailleNet is a non-for-profit agency created in France in 1997 in order to develop ways in which the Internet could be used for the social, educational and cultural inclusion of visually impaired people.

BrailleNet is full member of W3C and a partner of the Comité National de l’Edition Adaptée (CNEA) which represents most of the main francophone transcribers producing materials in alternative formats for visually impaired people, and of the Confédération Française pour la Promotion Sociale des Personnes Aveugles ou Amblyopes (CFPSAA).

BrailleNet manages the Internet server Hélène which gathers in one database the files provided by publishers and the e-files supplied by specialized centres which produce materials adapted for visually impaired people. The server collects mainly francophone works, including works of literature, textbooks and documentation.

The server is managed by the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique Appliquée (INRIA), in Grenoble, and the Centre de Calcul et de Recherche (CCR) in Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris; supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and funded by private sponsors.

The files stored in the Hélène server can be used by certified organizations in order to adapt the material for visually impaired people. For example, e-files can be used to produce large print or Braille books. Security features are built into the access arrangements to protect rightholders’ interests.

In the past, BrailleNet signed contractual agreements with publishers regarding acquisition and use of e-files for the server Hélène. These contracts granted rights to make accessible copies worldwide for partners of BrailleNet, including recipients in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and some countries in Africa. Today, French copyright allows nonprofit organizations to benefit from an exception to produce materials for visually impaired people.