[bksvol-discuss] Re: 550 books in the download queue
- From: "Gary Petraccaro" <garyp130@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:11:43 -0400
Nonsense. If I'm a student I'm not there to guess at the meaning, people
and places. My grade depends on it. "Sorry, Proff, but the gang at BS
can't
shoot straight," won't fly.
Speaking as an ex-history/Poli. Sci major.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenneth A. Cross" <crossk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 6:05 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: 550 books in the download queue
> I doubt that it would be permissible to edit and describe material that is
> copyrighted. To correct test is one thing; to give descriptions of what
> appears is quite another. I have a history book right now on the list
which
> has perhaps a hundred pictures. Many of them generate garbage, and I
can't
> describe any of them because I can't see them. Even if I could, such
> editing would exceed what I believe the law allows. I can remove the
book,
> and perhaps will, but it presents a very interesting perspective on the
wars
> of the past century or so and gives extensive information. More
important,
> it could provide some real suggestions to the reader for further research.
> But, alas, it is book with a fair rating. You see, I don't think our
> function should be to make things perfect, but to make them available.
> Consider, for example, the following. Recording for the Blind puts out a
> book on tape or disc. In our collection there is a copy of that same
books
> with many, many errors. The Recording for the Blind tape will give me
> someinformation, but if I can't understand or don't know how to spell some
> of the words, I have no remedy without going to the book in scanned form.
> That alone could make the presence of the book useful. Now I have seen
> scans which should be rejected, some of which are on the system. They
> should be rejected because they convey no useful meaning to the reader or
> are so deficient that they generate interest and frustrate its
acquisition.
> But the decision about that is not one for a machine. Just consider
> material by Lewis Carroll and you can come to recognize how complex the
idea
> of validation can be.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <socly@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 3:01 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
> >
> >
>
>
>
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