[bksvol-discuss] Re: A perhaps inappropriate request
- From: Guido Corona <guidoc@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 07:40:20 -0500
Cindy, most of us volunteers use flatbed scanners of one form or another.
This means that most of us need to turn pages manually, then press the
open book on the scanner platen and ensure that there is good contact
towards the center spine. Having said that, a lot of us use software
which recognizes two pages at a time, and can even restart the scanning
process automatically every few seconds, so we do not have to press the
'scan' key each time we turn a page. This means that we can scan a 300
page paperback book in less than 90 minutes.
The lucky inhouse volunteers have instead access to a Canon monster
scanner which can scarf down the same book in about 2 minutes, after
removal of the binding. Very nice, but such a beauty can cost several
thousand dollars.
Guido
Guido D. Corona
IBM Accessibility Center, Austin Tx.
IBM Research,
Phone: (512) 838-9735
Email: guidoc@xxxxxxxxxxx
Visit my weekly Accessibility WebLog at:
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/weblog/corona_weblog.html
Cindy R <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
05/06/2004 08:02 PM
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[bksvol-discuss] A perhaps inappropriate request
It is perhaps inappropriate for me to request books
since I am only a volunteer and not a member, but
here's the situation (and my request).
Recently, in response to a request, I scanned and, as
I always do, validated the book before sumitting it.
As a result, I have become a fan of Bertrice Small.
Her historical romance novels are wonderfully textured
-- full of details that not only make the historical
personages, as well as the ficitonal characters in the
books, wonderfully real but also have woven into them
the social customs, clothing, food, politics, etc.,
etc.that educates as well as entertains.
My problem is that since volunteering for bookshare I
don't feel that I should read and enjoy a book without
making it also available to bookshare readers. Thus
books I choose to read on my own time are books that
are already on bookshare or older classics that I
suspect members can get elsewhere.
I know this is totally irrational, but it's the way I
feel. When I read a book, as I am now, for my pleasure
that isn't on bookshare I feel a bit guilty.
Back to Bertrice Small's books. When I finished Love
Slave for bookshare, I noticed that Rosamund was
already in the collection, so I read that and
thoroughly enjoyed it (set in turn-of-16th century
England). I just received from the library its sequel,
Until You, which I shall scan and submit -- and, being
unable to wait for it, I'm now reading Beloved, set in
3d century Palmyra (a city-state in the Roman Empire
in the 3d century). But I seem able only to obtain
these books from the library in paperback editions
with small print. It takes a long time and is somewhat
difficult for me to scan them with the kind of
unsopisticated scanner I have (page by page, pressing
down so the pages near the binding will scan). I know
there are quite a few of you who like to scan and who
can do it very quickly. I'm hoping maybe some of you
would be willing to scan some of her books -- there
are many -- maybe starting with Skye O'Malley and the
ones that follow in the Skye O'Malley Saga. It doesn't
matter to me how bad the scan is -- I'll be happy to
validate the book -- but if someone else wants to,
that's o.k., too. Then I'll feel free to read it.
I hope this request isn't out of line.
Cindy
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