[bksvol-discuss] Re: Chess books
- From: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 09:06:04 -0500
Some problems that we'll have with the "Chess for Dummies'" book are the
same as all sorts of "Dummies" books in that it will contain epigraphs all
over the place which is very bad for OCR. Second, I'm willing to bet that
its board diagrams use black and white chess pieces with no indication other
than color which cannot be automatically converted into a textual or even
tactile diagram without a lot of intelligence built into an OCR program
prepared for chess. Finally, the diagrams will probably need to be
recreated using some sort of notation that makes sense to a user with vision
impairment which would probably require a sighted person to hand
transliterate from the source into the modified format.
A decent hacker could write a program that would make the transliteration
fairly easy but it would, nonetheless, require a fair amount of hands on
effort to build diagrams we can use effectively.
If I find the time (an unlikely event) I plan on opening up AppleScript to
build a bridge between the Macintosh chess game and a refreshable Braille
display (I have a PAC Mate 40 kicking around the house somewhere).
Ostensibly, I can use the VoiceOver screen access utility to pump the dots
out to the display and, although my Braille skills are poor, I can quickly
learn an abbreviated set of items that I can enjoy in a tactile manner.
Maybe I should get the Hadley book just to use their notation system as it
would be a good idea to develop a base standard so readers of different
materials won't need to learn new systems each time they want to read about
the game.
I've wanted an audio tutorial for chess since spring 1999 when, at
Henter-Joyce, an intern built a talking version of the GNU WinBoard game
that used JAWS to handle speech. Our program was kind of buggy but pretty
usable. It died on the vine years ago.
Happy Hacking,
cdh
Chris Hofstader
email: cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Blog: http://www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com
Skype: BlindChristian
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cindy Rosenthal
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 2:43 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Chess books
If you put the word chess in the advanced search space
you'll find a bunch of books, but I don't think
they're quite what you're looking for. Some are
fictkion involving chess matches or players; one s by
Kasparov analyzing some matches; and one is the
history of chess all the way up to and including
modern matches.
There are two peoplke I'll ask if they could validate
the books; one person requested many,many chess books
to be added to the collection, one of which is Chess
for Dummies. I thought I'd saved his name but I can't
find it, specifically. I think it's one of two people
and I'll ask.
But at the time I posted the request someone here on
the list said he could validate. I think it was one of
the Bobs, but I'm not sure. Hopefully whoever it was
will see your post and volunteer.
CIndy
--- Mary Anne Lynskey <yeksnyl1953am@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> I will be scanning the following two books. Both
> are by Rhys Boen.
>
> In Dublin's FairCity
> Oh Danny Boy
>
> I've also just started playing email chess and I've
> ordered a book from our library. Would there be
> someone in the group who could work on the diagrams
> as necessary for me? I haven't seen the book yet so
> don't know what it is like. It's just a good place
> for me to start. The book is:
>
> Chess for Dummies
>
> If anyone would be interested in helping with this
> project, I'll get more info about the chess book. I
> probably won't have the book for a week or so so
> don't know how feasible it will be for me to do it.
>
> Are there any chess books on the site? I don't know
> how to look by subject.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Mary Anne Lynskey
WISH LIST (CALLED REQUESTED ADDITIONS TO THE BOOKSHARE COLLECTION)IS
AVAILABLE AT
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/wish_list/wish_list.htm
www.lljfm.net/bookshare/home.htm
A LIST OF BOOKS CURRENTLY BEING SCANNED IS AVAILABLE AT
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
www.lljfm.net/bookshare/home.htm
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