Hi, Cindy. Well, what happens if a blind person scans a science-related book and can't describe these things because they can't see the pages and don't have sighted help? Well, and not just science, but any other type of book that might have these problems where they might not scan well. If the initial text is of an acceptable quality, I don't think they should decide not to submit it just because they can't describe what the OCR package couldn't scan. Take care. Julie Morales Email and Windows/MSN Messenger: inlovewithchrist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. --Unknown The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue. --Anonymous ----- Original Message ----- From: <socly@xxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 12:01 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: 550 books in the download queue Ken and Julie, I guess I didn't make myself clear. I wouldn't reject a book until I'd looked at it and was sure that I couldn't fix it without *too* much trouble. I've modified my offer to fix anything and everything, having found myself working on one book that not only was awful but was boring to me. I was afraid the one I'm working on now would require too much work, from what had been posted about it, but it's quite interesting and so the work is not a problem. I keep working beyond the time I'dplanned to stop just because I want to know what happens next, and I'm so involved with the characters. But Ken, science and history books don't have to be rejected or be considered unreadable because of the things that don't scan well. The maps, diagrams, etc. that you mention can be described, or explained briefly. Formulae can be expressed in English or with Greek letters or Greek letters written as English, e.g., {Greek beta]. I've downloaded and saved the Greek alphabet because I had just such a situation in a book I was validating. Fixing the dates in some histories is a job I won't offer to do again, though. I finally gave up reading Society in Medieval Italy (I can't remember the exact title) and just skimmed looking for the dates and footnotes and used the spell check and wrote in the synopsis that I'll keep the file and if any reader has a problem figuring something out they can contact me. I don't understand why some books which are submitted with an Excellent rating, as Shelley recently posted, appeared on the download list as Fair, unless either the scanner didn't put the rating or the automatic rater over-rode what the scanner put. In case the latter occurs, I suggest that scanners check their submissions when they appear on the download list, which I gather is instantly, to see the rating. Then maybe they can post in the discussion or validate it themselves if there's no way they can change the rating at that point. Cindy Let me present another point of view. Almost all advanced science books will have maps, diagrams, figures, pictures, formulae, and other material which will not scan well. I don't want to be denied science scans just because of this. I would rather have the book in a quasi-readable form than no book at all. In a similar vain, many history books have elaborate maps, figures, pictures, and foreign words which scanning in its present form won't make accessible to the blind. Again, I would prefer to have what can be scanned. I have read many books which have poor scanning of the top line--title or whatever--but where the total content of the book is perfect. Now I will grant that the more pedestrian the book, the more readable it is likely to be, but there is need for the others. And, by the way, anything like twenty thousand books, currently in copyright rather than public domain, is a goal we are no where near. -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10