[access-uk] Re: Ethics of book sharing services


"Ray's Home"
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Ethics of book sharing services


An 'e-book standard has to emerge >which in turn will depend on part on e->book hardware becoming an attractive >alternative to the ordinary print book. >Whatever that standard turns out to be, >PDF, Microsoft, whatever, thorough >accessibility has to be part of it, with >speech/Braille output being an easy >option. Many will accept synthetic >speech as a way of reading vastly more >material; but I for one want my books >read professionally by a human.

Yes, totally agree. I can't get on with books being red by synthetic voices, particularly coming from our screen readers.


If that is to happen on a much larger >scale then an infra-structure has to >come into being whereby spoken word >editions are handled by companies who >do not see readers as the only source >of demand for their product, and their >are other people, print handicapped in >whatever way, who would much prefer >to be read to.

Exactly! that point reminds me on why I have never seen an alliance being made up of say; RNIB, action for the blind and dislexia organistions. Together, they'd be a real force and I'm sure there are a many dislexic people out there who have it severe enough not to be able to read, let alone well enough.

Maybe such companies could be jointly >financed by large publishers, with some >state finance too. I'd envisage a form of >organisation partaking of social >enterprise ethics and the idea of a state >agency being combined into audio >publishing enterprises. Afraid I do not >see the RNIB qualifying to be a >candidate for such an enterprise given >its track record.

a shame as, the RNIB could be very useful with this. I'm not sure their "right to read" compagn carries much clout with anyone outside of the access to read materials for us visually impaired.

JUstin



As things stand, I think initiatives like Bookshare are a good move, considering that mainstream publishers are so stubbornly determined to evade their responsibilities to us. Seems no one in this country is prepared to work hard enough or to kick asse as the Americans would say, to make it happen.
Ray

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