[bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
- From: "Darrell Shandrow" <darrell.shandrow@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:19:31 -0700
Hello Donna,
I think we need to advocate our position from an understanding of both sides
of the equation. While we do need our equal access, publishers must make
money or simply go out of business. It is just that straightforward. In
our advocacy, we thus need to make sure we affirm our understanding of
business. If a lot of people gain free access to a book through piracy,
then the author and publisher lose money. We need to make it clear to
authors and publishers that our aim is not to cause them to lose money.
Instead, our aim is simply to ensure that we are granted access to the
content on a par with those who happen to enjoy the benefit of eye sight.
Some people in the world today are cold and lacking a conscience, but I
still think that we can find ways to get the access we need if we frame our
positions in a way that causes them to understand us better. The law is one
way to accomplish this goal, but I also think simply communicating with
people can work.
At the Blind Access Journal, we communicate with people as a means of
gaining accessibility. Sometimes it doesn't work, but usually it does. If
there is anything I can do for anyone to advocate for accessibility, please
send a note off list to us at editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and we'll see
what we can do to help. Also, you may want to visit
http://www.blindaccessjournal.com to learn what we're all about.
In the arena of book publishers, I know the first place for accessibility
advocacy is the company's Licensing and Permissions department. As is
usually the case, however, the first, and probably even the second, person
with whom you communicate is most likely going to lack both the authority
and the interest necessary to help you. When that happens, the key is to
ask (insist if necessary) on being escalated up the department's chain of
command. Explain that you may even be willing to pay a reasonable fee (not
exceeding the cost of the print edition) in order to acquire a reasonably
accessible copy. The key here is that we are not freeloaders. We need
accessibility, not a free ride. Of course, a donation of the material to
Bookshare would represent the best outcome, but I wouldn't absolutely insist
on that as the only accomodation you would find acceptable.
In any event, I find it is useful to go back to the hierarchy of basic
needs. We all wish to increase our pleasure and decrease our pain. I find
that, if I communicate with enough people, convincing them that granting me
accessibility is going to increase their pleasure or failing to do so is
going to cause increased pain (bad press, further escalation of an
unpleasant situation, public relations) then I am ultimately able to acquire
the reasonable accomodations I need. In any case, I usually don't even
bring up legislation in most of my advocacy efforts.
OK, well, I will stop now as I'm sure I'm really straying off the topic
myself, but I hope these ideas help someone out here to get what they need.
Please feel free to communicate with myself and Karen off list by e-mail to
editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Regards,
Darrell Shandrow
Accessibility Evangelist
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Goodin" <goodind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 12:47 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
Hi Darrell,
I agree with you about Jim being an authority and Bookshare "fighting the
good fight", so to speak. However, I'm also very cynnical about publishers.
My husband is the director of the office for Services for Students with
Disabilities at the University of Michigan, and has done a lot of work with
text accessibility for college students. He was heavily involved in the
passage of what is known here as the Barbara Bill, a Michigan law requiring
publishers to provide etext to college students. He's also served on a
number of other panels and groups that have explored and worked with these
issues. More often than not, the publishers are rather intractible, and
when they do allow access, they control it within an inch of its life.
Though in general, i agree with you about the power of being up-beat and
positive, it takes more than that to get these guys to loosen the reigns.
In this climate of peer-to-peer data sharing, paranoia around controling
access to copyrighted material, be it music or text, is rampant.
My own position is also frustrating. I teach Spanish at the college
level. While many publishers now provide etext to college students, those
same publishers see absolutely no reason to provide access to those of us
who teach. I was actually working with a publisher last September around
getting access to a text book. I was fortunate because one of the book's
co-authors also teaches in my department, and contacted the publisher
requesting that they provide me access to the book. They actually had the
teacher's edition--which they usually don't--and gave me access to it. But
they also said that after I had used the book they were going to destroy the
teacher's edition, because the law only covers student access. *sigh*
We've got a long way to go yet, and I fear that the only way the publishers
will go there is kicking and screaming. I think the passage of a federal
law would be the best way to address many of these issues. If I find out
more about the law my husband mentioned this morning, I'll share it with the
list.
Best,
Donna
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Darrell Shandrow
> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 2:10 PM
> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
>
> Hi Donna and all,
>
> I would certainly trust Jim as being an authority on this entire
> process,
> and I would also trust that he and others did everything possible to
> make it
> happen. The recipient of the material must both have a print
> disability and
> be a K-12 child. Right now, I would say that a blind parent should
> focus
> their advocacy efforts on their school system. If it desired, I'm sure
> the
> school could purchase a copy of the book and get special written
> permission
> from the publisher for it to be released to the blind parent by NIMAC,
> or
> the publisher could just send the file on their own. Ultimately, I
> have
> found through my advocacy that if I speak and write with enough people
> and,
> ultimately, talk about something often and loudly enough to as many
> relevant
> folks as possible, I tend to get positive action in many situations.
>
> Also, now that NIMAC exists, there's an infrastructure in place for
> delivering this material. I'm wondering if state legislation could
> release
> it to blind parents? If the education officials in a particular state
> are
> only allowed to purchase materials from publishers who would allow
> release
> of accessible books to both children and parents with print
> disabilities,
> then I'd imagine publishers would want to comply with that state's law
> in
> order to continue doing business. Keep in mind that this could be done
> while taking little or no funding from a state's budget, after all,
> we're
> talking about a state's not spending money rather than spending. It
> shouldn't hurt education in the state as most publishers would
> immediately
> want to jump aboard as soon as the law were signed.
>
> I have a blind friend with two teenage sons. His inability to acquire
> most
> of the books in an accessible format is serving to diminish his ability
> to
> assist his children with their homework, etc. IMHO, there's absolutely
> no
> excuse for that state of affairs.
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donna Goodin" <goodind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 11:57 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
>
>
> I'll see what I can find out. My husband pays a lot of attention to
> this,
> so I'm sure he'll eventually read the proposed law.
> Donna
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-
> > bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of maithe007
> > Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 1:42 PM
> > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
> >
> > No, but I would love to know about it. I have several author friends
> > who
> > are Ebook authors and now I am wondering how this will affect them.
> >
> > Hugs,
> >
> > Maithe
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Donna Goodin" <Goodind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 8:50 AM
> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced book
> >
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I don't have kids, but am sorry for those of you who do. I wish
> that
> > > schools would boycott Nimac books until they get over themselves,
> but
> > > that's probably too much to hope for. *smile* Why Nimac can't get
> > that a
> > > blind parent might need to have access to their kids' schoolbooks I
> > just
> > > can't imagine.
> > >
> > > I was sharing this message with my husband, and he mentioned that
> > there is
> > > a law about etext that will be going before congress soon. Anyone
> > know
> > > anything about this?
> > > Best,
> > > Donna
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > >>From: "Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx"<Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >>Sent: 2/16/08 3:55:34 AM
> > >>To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"<bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: User cannot download NIMAC sourced
> book
> > >>
> > >>We lost the battle to make NIMAC-sourced books available to blind
> > >>parents when we pushed this at the NIMAS/NIMAC committee meetings.
> > APH
> > >>has taken a careful view of what can be done with these books, and
> > the
> > >>publishers became less flexible as the discussions went on about
> this
> > >>because of other decisions they disagreed with. As someone said,
> > these
> > >>are political decisions that trade off different interests and
> access
> > >>for all suffers a bit in the process.
> > >>
> > >>The issue of permissions is a good one, and we're actually hiring
> for
> > a
> > >>full-time position to work with publishers and authors. We'll see
> > where
> > >>it leads.
> > >>
> > >>These books are beautifully formatted XML that should glide
> > effortlessly
> > >>into our collection. We're hoping to see more content like this.
> > >>
> > >>Jim
> > >>
> > >> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> > >>bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >>put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a
> > list
> > >>of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject
> > line.
> > >>
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> > > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a
> > list
> > > of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject
> > line.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> > > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.7/1283 - Release Date:
> > 2/16/2008
> > > 2:16 PM
> > >
> > >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a
> > list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the
> > subject line.
>
> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a
> list of
> available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
>
> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a
> list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the
> subject line.
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of
available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of
available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
Other related posts:
