[bksvol-discuss] Re: Three Asterisks: An explanation from the staff
- From: "Estelnalissi" <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 16:55:12 -0400
Dear Jenny,
As a long time proofreader Iâm thrilled that youâve joined the volunteer
scanners for Bookshare. Whether scanning or proofing all of us made some
zingers when we started. We improve from book to book and weâre still learning
as Bookshare gets better and better.
Your mistakes will give us proofers something to do. If scans were perfect
proofers would get a free ride and then we wouldnât be needed anymore.
We exchange nuggets of information on this list. Though much of what we do is
standardized thereâs still some wiggle room meaning there are many roads to a
well prepared book so donât be surprised if you get a variety of responses to a
question. Your biggest challenge is to get all of the pages in order with
their page breaks. The proofers pick up loose ends and read through the book
word by word fixing scannoes and checking formatting. The goal is to end up
with the most accurate book we can present to the staff for approval ensuring
Bookshare readers have a great experience when they choose books from
Bookshare.
It will get more automatic and easier as you go along.
Donât hesitate to ask questions here and feel free to contact me off list at
airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Iâll help you or put you in touch with others who can
make what looks complicated become pretty simple after all.
Have fun with it.
Always with love,
Lissi
From: Lisa Gorden-Cushman
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 2:48 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Three Asterisks: An explanation from the staff
Hi Jenny,
Welcome to volunteering. Just do your best to scan following the manual, and
volunteers will fix the rest.
Take care,
Lisa
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jennifer Piening
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 11:53 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Three Asterisks: An explanation from the staff
I am a new volunteer, and all I have to say is wow! This whole asterisk
issue sounds really overwhelming! I'm going to begin with scanning books, and
I'm wondering if we make some mistakes along the way, will we get penalized or
will we be given a chance to get better as we go? Is it OK if we don't get all
of these rules incorporated into the scans and the proofreaders might have to
correct some of our mistakes? Before we officially had to volunteer, I
submitted some scans, and I think one of them got rejected, and now I know why.
It was because of page breaks. With all of these rules, though, I'm feeling a
bit intimidated by it all.
Jenny
----- Original Message -----
From: Cindy Rosenthal
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 11:49 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Three Asterisks: An explanation from the staff
page break, page number then if there are blank lines before chapter title,
*** in the space then chapter title, and thenif there are blank lines before
the txt, ***
THQT'S WHAT I UNDERSTAND.
On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 6:09 PM, Martha Rafter <mlhr@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Madeleine,
Thanks for this, but I think Iâm either confused or really, really dense!
Donât we need to put in a blank line between the page break and the chapter
heading any more? Then it would be:
Page break
blank line
Chapter heading
* * *
text of page
Again, thanks you!
Marty
From: Madeleine Linares
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 5:43 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: mailto:cynthr@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Three Asterisks: An explanation from the staff
Hello everyone,
My sincere apologies for my delayed response re. asterisks but here is whatâs
going on:
In Braille, neither bolding nor font size changes show up, which means that
it is really difficult to tell when there is a new chapter or section.
Therefore, three asterisks are added after each chapter title or chapter name
to make it clear where the chapter title or name ends and where the text
begins. For example:
-----page break---
Chapter Three
***
[text]
----page break-----
It could also look like this:
-----page break-----
[text from ch. 4]
***
Chapter Five: Kristy Kills
***
[text for ch. 5]
--------page break---------
This is especially important if there is a chapter name. For example, Chapter
Three: The Woman in Red (or whatever). Without the star, Braille readers would
have no way of knowing whether or not âThe Woman in Redâ was the first line of
text or a chapter title.
Three asterisks are NOT needed at the beginning of a page before a new
chapter (if the new chapter starts at the very top of a page) but ARE needed if
the chapter starts in the middle of the page. Three asterisks are also used to
show other breaks in the text, whether itâs a change in narration and the
sighted reader sees a font change or all italics, if there is a symbol in the
page to indicate a time change or something, and when there is a new section of
the book (such as Part One or Book One of several).
Many volunteers already do this, which is wonderful. Since we want Bookshare
books to be as accessible to everyone as possible, we strongly encourage adding
in three asterisks after the chapter number or name. I know there has been a
lot of confusion about this. From my understanding it is not a new idea, but it
has never been enforced, which is likely why some people do it and others donât
and have never been aware that they should. We want to encourage it going
forward.
Please contact me directly with any questions or concerns.
Thank you all so much for your hard work and dedication!
Best,
Madeleine Linares
Volunteer Coordinator
Bookshare, a Benetech Initiative
650-644-3459
madeleinel@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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