Hi Scott:
As I stated before:
"Regular print books have headers, some have footers, that is part of a
print book.
If we want digital copies of print books then, take the good with the
bad."
If I don't want to read the headers, I can strip them out myself or use
an automated tool (k1000) to do so."
Scott and Jim, nothing prevents you from stripping those headers out
yourself before you begin reading.
It would then leave the material in the master copy for those of us who
want it.
In fact, I would do more touch-up work on things like headers but I don't
because the first couple of lines of each page seem to be the strippers
domain and therefore my efforts would be futile.
The ironic thing is that we spend time on this list devising and testing
various stripper countermeasures and bookshare is aware of this and does
not discourage it.
Keri Carmos saw that full well with hp6.
(It's like rolling a boulder up hill)
Jim:
You make some interesting points.
As someone has previously mentioned, if the headers are too mangled, not
even the stripper will strip them.
The stripper is just plain erratic. It does different things to the
same
header within the same book.
This is clearly a case where the benefit is not worth the cost. not with
all this collateral damage being done.
I urge you all to continue doing what your doing. (if anything try to
validate a little more so we can cut down the step 1 page)
I will drop this issue for now, but i am not forgetting about it and I
trust after these last couple days, Bookshare won't forget either.
-- Rui
a 2004 Volunteer of the year
and a 2005 pain in the rear. (smile)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Blanks" <scottsjb@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 6:58 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Where are those contrarians?
Let me speak first as a reader of Bookshare books. I mostly read
fiction,
with the occasional pop culture book thrown in for variety. I read
almost
all these books in Braille. I don't want to see repeated text such as
page numbers, author/title info, etc. If people want to be able to see
that info, there should be an option to include or exclude this from
your
book. Chapters and other major headings should be included of course,
and
I believe that problem will be addressed.
As a validator, I can't think of a good enough reason at this point to
stop submitting books and validating them. That includes the stripper
issue. If we stop submitting or validating works, we're hurting a much
larger group of people than ourselves. The ultimate purpose of Bookshare
is to give access to books. There are still many books rated fair on the
website, and in the past I'm sure there were a much higher percentage of
"fair" books submitted to the site, but we wouldn't have wanted those
books held back from being available just because they were poorly
scanned. I don't want people deprived of books just because of a missing
chapter heading, or because there aren't page numbers included.
Let's take things slow and easy folks.
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rui" <goldWave@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 6:28 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Where are those contrarians?
Hello:
I would like to here from people who disagree with me.
Let me know why you think the current setup makes sense.
I do not mean for people to play devil's advocate with this.
I'm asking if anyone seriously disagrees with the centiments expressed
over the last 30 hours.
(There is a method to my madness)
-- Rui (who is probably liked at Benetech right now as much as the
plague)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 6:26 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: stripper and colatteral damage
Dear Charlyn and Bookshare community,
I think a petition is an excellent idea. Charlyn, would you like to
put it
together? Rui, would you put it on the Bookshare Scans site?
I also think we should select a day to make phone calls and send
emails
to
the Bookshare staff calling on them to turn off the stripper. How
about
Thursday, July 28, one week after this most recent stripper discussion
began.
We need to take in the fact that, as Bookshare volunteers and users,
we
must
have direct say on policy issues. Right now this list is virtually
the
only
vehicle we have for reaching the staff, and it is clearly ineffective.
The
stripper issue highlights a need for a more formalized means of
communication. Maybe we should develop an advisory committee which
can
bring concerns to the staff and have a real voice in policymaking.
As blind people, most of us have grown up with the sense that we're
lucky to
get whatever reading matter is offered to us. We had better be
appreciative
and not complain. On the title page of every book from the National
Library
Service we read that the book has been produced for the blind and
physically
handicapped "with the kind permission of the publisher." That line
about
"the kind permission" says so much! Do sighted people need anyone's
kind
permission in order to read? I AM in fact extraordinarily grateful to
the
volunteers and others who have spent countless hours putting books
into
Braille and recorded formats for us, and to those who have worked to
change
copyright laws and make our special-format books possible! Most of us
would
not be literate, educated, contributing members of society without
their
help! But I think that our lifelong dependence upon others to provide
us
with books, and the constant feeling that we must be grateful and that
we
can't expect too much, do take a toll.
Bookshare is different. Bookshare is a program which is not only FOR
us,
but BY us. We, the volunteers, determine what books go into the
collection,
and we ourselves make them available. We are not "only volunteers"
who
have
no right to determine policy. We are the backbone of the program - a
program which is created to meet our needs and those of other blind
and
print-disabled people. The Bookshare staff are not users of Bookshare
materials. They do not live with the inaccessibility of print; they
don't
experience our issues from the inside. It is absolutely essential
that
they
listen to what we have to say.
Bookshare is an incredible program, and I believe in it utterly. It
has the
potential to narrow the print gap for us as no other program ever has
before. But we need to take a stand and insist that it be the quality
program we all deserve.
Debbie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charlene" <caota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 12:11 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: stripper and colatteral damage
Maybe we could put together a pteition of some sort and put a notice
on
the volunteer website as well to see if we could get enough people to
sign it to send to bookshare requesting them to stop using the
program.
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pam Quinn
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:02 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: stripper and colatteral damage
We take pride in our submissions and I just don't think a lot of the
bookshare staff understands how angry and frustrated we are when we
see
that our submissions have been mangled. And for what? I just don't
get
it. Why do they insist on holding on to that useless program that
nobody
wants? Seems to me if anything, dropping it would mean one less step
and
less work in putting the books on the site.
I use chapter headings for my breaking points in .mp3 files too, when
I'm lucky enough to have them.
It might not be our decision and they might not want to listen to us,
but that would be unfortunate, because the volunteers and subscribers
have a major role in determining the future of bookshare.
Pam
Original message:
>I have seriously considered not submitting some books I have scanned
>just
>because I thought they would be of little use after the stripper
finished
>with them. I put a lot of work in to what I submit and it is really
>upsetting to see the final result when my original looked so nice,
>and
that
>is only a volunteer's view. I also am upset by the messes that I
>come
>accross when I am reading, even for pleasure. I use the chapter
headings
>as my MP3 creation breaking points, so if they aren't there I have a
big
>mess!
>
>I don't really like throwing fits, and I won't on this list because
>it
>seems to serve little purpose, but the fits are completely
>justified.
>
>If i submitted a book in DAISY and BRF format instead of in RTF
>would
>the
>normal automated processes be skipped? That is the only thing I can
think
>of to rescue books where the headers, headings, and page numbers are
>invaluable.
>
>Sarah Van Oosterwijck
>Assistive Technology Trainer http://home.earthlink.net/~netentity
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817@xxxxxxx>
>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:10 PM
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: stripper and colatteral damage
>
>
>>
>>
>> Hear, hear! I agree 200%!
>>
>> We have been telling the Bookshare staff about our concerns,
>> politely
>> but firmly, literally for years. Despite all the talk, nothing
>> has
>> changed. I am beginning to think we need to take stronger action.
>> We
>> ARE volunteers.
>> We do not have to contribute the thousands of hours we put into
>> this
>> program. And Bookshare cannot survive without us. Do we need to
>> say
we
>> will have to stop scanning and validating until we know that
>> someone
out
>> there is really listening to us, and taking action? It should not
have
>> to
>> come down to threats and strikes, but many of us are at our wit's
end.
>> What
>> is it going to take to turn off the stripper and stop mangling the
books
>> we
>> work so hard to make available?
>>
>> Debbie
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rui" <goldwave@xxxxxxx>
>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 11:16 AM
>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] stripper and colatteral damage
>>
>>
>>> Good Afternoon:
>>>
>>> At the bookshare users meeting at NFB, I made it very clear to
>>> Jim
>>> (like
>> he didn't know already) the issues with the stripper and why i
>> think
>> it should be removed.
>>>
>>> The whole concept of the stripper bothers me, not just the fact
>>> it
>>> does
>> more than it's supposed too.
>>>
>>> Its very reason for being agrivates me.
>>> Regular print books have headers, some have footers, that is part
>>> of
>>> a
>> print book.
>>> If we want digital copies of print books then, take the good with
>>> the
>>> bad.
>>> Do not sanitize the book to make it more access technology
>>> friendly.
>>> The
>> very fact that is accessible already does that.
>>> If i don't want to read the headers, i can strip them out myself
>>> or
>>> use
>>> my
>> own automated tool to do so.
>>> However, If by chance I do want them there, I simply do not get
>>> that
>> option with Bookshare!!!
>>>
>>> Words do not do justice to how much this issue ticks me off.
>>>
>>> Bottomline, this process does not serve the community that it was
>>> designed
>> to assist.
>>> -- Rui
>>>
>>> >
>>> > From: Mike Pietruk <pietruk@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> > Date: 2005/07/21 Thu AM 11:00:39 EDT
>>> > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: stripper
>>> >
>>> > Pam
>>> >
>>> > agreed! It's inconsistent and unpredictable. And the problems
>>> > relative
>>> > to it have been discussed repeatedly.
>>> > The Powers-that-be are all too aware of the damage the stripper
has
>> caused
>>> > but seem to have shoved it on the back burner probably due to
>>> > more
>>> > pressing issues to deal with. It is a shame that it cannot be
>>> > dealt with; but Marissa, prior to her leaving, pretty much
>>> > outlined where it stands. So I wouldn't expect much change
>>> > regarding the stripper as any change would require some sort of
>>> > policy change plus programmer action. Conceptually, the
>>> > stripper
>>> > makes sense; practically, it has been a
>> dismal
>>> > failure breading as much (or perhaps even more) than it has
>>> > repaired. It's not our decision as we are volunteers, not
>>> > decision-makers.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>> Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.2/52 - Release Date:
7/19/2005
>>
>>
>
