[bksvol-discuss] Re: book synopses and volunteer poll
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:47:12 -0700 (PDT)
I wonder if I've missed a survey. I filled out the one Scott seent recently,
but the posts Jill and Lissi just postedted makes me think I've missed an
earlier survey. But maybe it was just for members.
Your ccomments about synopses prompt me to add that they're really
time-consuming to write--or were when they had te be limited to 50 or 250 words
or whatever it was (is there a limit now?) When I was doing the list that John
is doing now, I frequently had to rewrite synopses that either had been copied
from Amazon or were, from what I read of the book on Amazon, or what I knew
from having read the book, told nothing of the strory at all and at times
hadcharacters'names wrong. I rewrote the synopses and sent them to ALlison to
post with the book (Is she still wowrking for bookshare or had her internship
ended--Allison, let me know how you are and what you're doing these days. smile
Cindy
Wish List (i.e., books wanted added to the collection) and books-being-scanned
list available at sites below
Wish List: https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Bookshare+Wish+List
Books Being Scanned List:
https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Books+Being+Scanned+List
--- On Wed, 4/21/10, Estelnalissi <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Estelnalissi <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] book synopses and volunteer poll
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 8:42 PM
Dear Jill and Booksharian Friends,
Jill, I agree with your observation that synopses are sadly neglected,
underwritten and uninformative. In the survey I suggested that another task
volunteers could take on to assist Bookshare is to replace inadequate synopses
with thoughtfully written ones. This includes short synopses which consist of
the first 50 words of the dust jacket information which often don't give an
overall summation of the book and even cut off in midsentence. The volunteer
might not need to read the entire book, but should spot read and do enough
research to write from knowledge, not copying Amazon or other reviews which
isn't allowed anyway.
I made several other suggestions and raved about the many things I love about
Bookshare, too.
It was disappointing to hear that fewer than ten per cent of volunteers on this
list filled out the survey. The problems I had with it, which were just like
those Lori Castner noticed, have been corrected. With Windows XP and JAWS 10,
the survey was easy to read and fill out.
A few months ago I missed a survey because I procrastinated. I've been kicking
myself ever since. Now there's a new survey and I hopped to it to make my
experiences and ideas known. I hope more of you will take this opportunity to
communicate your impressions of what works and isn't working so well from your
perspective as volunteers. This is our chance to talk to the staff. I'm so glad
they are asking and are listening. Let's not waste this chance.
Always with love,
Lissi
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jill O'Connell" <jillocon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:48 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Currently scanning
> Has anyone seen Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons in the collection? I
> entered this in the search box the other day and it took me to other books by
> this author but not the one I had sought. I read this book in braille a few
> years ago but may have obtained it from Web Braille. While I am on this
> subject, I think most of the comments that are showing up about the books are
> abysmal. They are obviously pieced from original synopses or something, often
> including an advertising about the book or author, marginally helpful in my
> opinion.
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