# Digital talking book production wiki

This wiki explains a proposed system for the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). It would turn electronic books and existing commercial audiobooks into accessible digital talking books (DTBs) with reliable navigation, required audio formats, protection, and delivery packaging.

**The central recommendation is an AI-assisted production pipeline with a deterministic compiler at its center.** AI proposes structure, prepares speech, and helps detect defects. Conventional software enforces the approved rules and creates the final files. The original analysis considers this feasible; no model benchmark, compliant prototype, or successful NLS-player demonstration is established by the materials here.

## Explore the diagrams

<div class="visual-directory"><a href="architecture.md#how-the-parts-connect"><strong>Architecture map</strong><span>Trace electronic text or commercial audio through the shared system.</span></a><a href="architecture.md#separate-three-kinds-of-segmentation"><strong>Three kinds of segmentation</strong><span>Compare speech chunks, navigation sections and delivered files.</span></a><a href="book-model.md#follow-one-passage-through-the-system"><strong>Book data relationships</strong><span>Follow a passage from source text to audio and evidence.</span></a><a href="book-model.md#explore-which-work-changes"><strong>Interactive repair explorer</strong><span>See what is reused or rebuilt after three kinds of change.</span></a><a href="compiler.md#timing-windows-depend-on-clip-type"><strong>Clip timing windows</strong><span>Compare allowed start and end boundaries for different clip types.</span></a><a href="validation.md#from-a-candidate-to-an-accepted-release"><strong>Quality and acceptance flow</strong><span>Follow checks, bounded repair, escalation and release.</span></a><a href="operations.md#how-deployment-responsibilities-connect"><strong>AWS deployment map</strong><span>Separate orchestration, workers, storage and final delivery.</span></a></div>

## Choose a reading path

| Your goal | Read these pages in order |
|---|---|
| Understand the opportunity | [Requirements](requirements.md) → [Architecture](architecture.md) → [Open decisions](decisions.md) |
| Evaluate the technical approach | [Book model](book-model.md) → [Ingestion](ingestion.md) → [Speech models](speech.md) → [Compiler](compiler.md) |
| Plan a pilot | [Standards](standards.md) → [Validation](validation.md) → [Proof gates and milestones](roadmap.md) |
| Estimate operational effort | [Quality review](validation.md) → [AWS and operations](operations.md) → [Open decisions](decisions.md) |
| Check a claim | Follow its nearby source link or visit the [source library](sources.md). |

## Follow the production path

Two input paths feed one common book model. The clickable flow below opens the corresponding explanations.

<div class="flow" aria-label="Proposed production pipeline"><div class="flow-inputs"><a href="ingestion.md">Electronic text<span>Parse structure and prepare spoken text</span></a><a href="ingestion.md#commercial-recordings">Commercial audio<span>Keep narration and recover navigation</span></a></div><div class="flow-arrow" aria-hidden="true">↓</div><a href="book-model.md">Canonical book model<span>Source, structure, speech, timing and evidence</span></a><div class="flow-arrow" aria-hidden="true">↓</div><div class="flow-inputs"><a href="speech.md">Generate speech<span>Only where needed</span></a><a href="validation.md">Verify and repair<span>Resolve specific defects</span></a></div><div class="flow-arrow" aria-hidden="true">↓</div><a class="flow-core" href="compiler.md">Compile the approved NLS profile<span>Final timing → XML → encoding → protection → packaging</span></a><div class="flow-arrow" aria-hidden="true">↓</div><a href="validation.md">Validate and test playback<span>Demonstrate the delivered book on target systems</span></a></div>

## How to interpret the claims

**Source requirement** means a statement found in the supplied draft SOW or a named specification. Edition and applicability still matter. **Proposal** means an engineering choice from the analysis or this wiki. **Open decision** means an answer is needed from NLS or from testing before the design can be fixed.

Public specifications are useful comparison material. A newer public edition does not by itself amend this opportunity. The [standards page](standards.md) explains the 2002/2005 mismatch and the difference between the attached and current public construction specifications.

## What to prove first

Produce a tiny, complete, protected book that passes the approved validators and plays correctly on the intended NLS systems. In parallel, test sustained narration on representative complete books and measure correction effort. These demonstrations address format interoperability and speech quality separately.

## About this local edition

Prepared on **October 1, 2026**, from the [supplied analysis](../sources/original-analysis.txt), the four opportunity attachments, and linked primary sources. Added explanations include a glossary, explicit acceptance evidence, dependency tracking, milestones, and decision prompts. Nothing in this wiki records answers from NLS or actual performance results.

Wiki content works offline. Attachment citations open the original files on SAM.gov and require an internet connection. The source library also offers local backup copies. Editable articles are stored alongside it as Markdown. Keep the whole folder together when moving it. See [the source library](sources.md) for provenance and [the glossary](glossary.md) for unfamiliar terms.