[bksvol-discuss] Re: bookshare seems to be interested in quantity
- From: "Lora" <loravara@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:19:23 -0600
Hi E.,
I admit that I've faced each of those emotions and attitudes in myself in
the past, but it's what we do about them, and how long we allow them to
linger, that marks the difference between one and another. I have told
those who ask, "The first thing I think about in the morning is not my
blindness. It's usually: Do I really have to get up just now? Do I have
time for breakfast and to skim my Email? Will my daughter be difficult to
get out of bed today? You know, she's a senior, should I still be waking
her up to go to school? What's the first thing I need to do at work this
morning? Should I call Tom about that work order ... "
That doesn't mean that there aren't days when I'm frustrated by my inability
to do something. Today there was a Vizio document I needed to read, and I
simply couldn't. I went to my boss, and we reviewed it briefly, and decided
that everything in the picture was contained in the text, but it's
frustrating. What to do: don't dwell. I then wrote my report, received
accolades for getting it done well enough that it was forwarded to the
powers that be unedited, and went on to my next project.
Yes, I should say right here that I have a job where I am appreciated,
respected and a go-to person for much obscure information. I think it makes
a huge amount of difference.
I apologize; I've rambled terribly. I'll start writing to our romance novel
submitters if you will. I try to be very nice in my rejection notes,
explaining that I believe that the scan could have been an excellent one,
and offering tips when I can see obvious things that could have been
corrected, but unfortunately, we can't make them see the light, only point
it in their direction and hope they notice.
Lora
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of E.
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:09 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: bookshare seems to be interested in quantity
There have been times when what I was most proud of that day was the good
careful work I had done for bookshare.
I worked hard and well at a place where I was not appreciated long enough to
know how soul draining such an experience can be.
I have known a lot of disabled folks who quite simply do not try. I do not
know if there are depressed, or nobody ever expected them to do anything, or
they are so frustrated that they give up or all of these. I have been all
of these myself from time to time and do empathize. I also know that doing
even little things when you just cannot stand to do those big hard things is
sometimes enough. Doing the little things and doing them well builds up
your emotional strength somehow or at least it does mine. I can then go on
to do more. Asking for support and understanding and knowing the difference
between that and downright complaining whining and being a victim is
important too.
So which of us is going to email our submitters who submit all those messy
romances? (grin) and that one is a teacher of braille too. Sad!!
E.
At 06:00 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
>It is a matter of pride and self-esteem. And to further dig a shared
>grave, we do this and so many other things to ourselves.
>
>The justification begins: No one else expects anything from me, so why
>should I even bother? You bother (or at least I bother) for countless
>reasons, including a paycheck, but also including the pride and
>self-respect that come with it.
>
>And I want to see pride and self-respect echoed in the books we share
>with one another. Why shouldn't we have quality? And we're the ones
>who make that final call. No one else is telling us we can't do it.
>
>With constant attention to the books we submit to make sure they are of
>excellent quality, and regular and consistent use of our ability to
>reject books that don't meet our standards, we can shape the collection
>into something to be proud of.
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of k4zq
>Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 11:44 AM
>To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: bookshare seems to be interested in
>quantity
>
>Elizabeth,
>
>Apparently you and I really got off on the wrong foot.
>
>I totally agree with you--sloppiness is a particular pet peeve of mine.
>Specially in a situation like Bookshare where the blind are able to
>contribute so much to themselves.
>
>I have heard many times how the sighted world doesn't give the blind a
>fair shake, and now, I see that many of the blind don't give
>themselves a fair shake. It's a matter of pride, or per haps self esteem,
isn't it?
>
>Man! Did that get me in trouble!
>
>Peace,
>Ernie
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "E." <thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 7:53 AM
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: bookshare seems to be interested in
>quantity
>
>
> > Another thought is garbage in garbage out.
> >
> > Folks are rightly offended at paying for bookshar subscriptions and
> > then, if particularly unlucky, downloading a book rated excellent
> > which turns out not to be so.
> >
> > Apparently particular upset is reserved for 1 instead of I resulting
> > in "1
>
> > have" etc. and people particularly hate reading for pleasure when
> > the book
>
> > is of poor quality in some way. I think folks may be willing to
> > slog through more muck if they have to read a textbook. An example
> > might be my
>
> > being willing to listen to somebody read a textbook badly but not
> > put up with it if reading a novel for my own amusement.
> >
> > What you say, she is sometimes doing things for amusement?
> >
> > E.
> >
> >>I believe that you are correct. And perhaps it is the proper
> >>strategy at this point, though I'm not certain of it. One thought
> >>process might be that it's important in the first few years of
> >>Bookshare's life to build numbers, to show that the collection can
> >>grow when driven by the needs and wants of the blind membership.
> >>
> >>On the other hand, many people, myself included, won't touch a fair
> >>book, and would argue that they don't really count as a part of the
> >>collection as they are of such inferior quality.
> >>
> >>Why do I envision myself like Tevia ... He's right ... No, he's right.
> >>
> >>Ah, just rambling.
> >>
> >>Lora
> >>
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of E.
> >>Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 5:32 AM
> >>To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] bookshare seems to be interested in
> >>quantity
> >>
> >>I suspect that bookshare still wants to give most of the monetary
> >>reward to the person submitting the book rather than the person
> >>validating it and so is not likely to make the difference more
> >>"equitable" as you want. I base this suspicion on the fact that
> >>bookshare still permits submits of poor quality books rather than
> >>raising the bar, thereby making less work for validators and
> >>improving the quality of bookshare's collection. Bookshare for now
> >>seems to want to keep the bar low and strive for quantity.
> >>
> >>E.
> >>At 07:15 AM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
> >>
> >> >Hi Monica,
> >> >
> >> >I do understand that some people validate for credits, and there's
> >> >nothing at all wrong with that. On the other hand, many of the
> >> >people on this list, yourself included, strike me as dedicated,
> >> >and willing to do a good job for Bookshare at the same time.
> >> >Originally, Evan I think it was, said that by offering more money,
> >> >people would just rush through their validations to get the
> >> >credits. Although this may be true for some, I still find it hard
> >> >to believe that most volunteers would do that. Didn't someone say
> >> >that only seven people paid for their
> >>memberships through their volunteer efforts?
> >> >
> >> >On the other hand, I'd rather see the pay scale changed entirely.
> >> >Perhaps
> >> >$2 for submissions, and $1 for validation, would balance the
> >> >scales more equably.
> >> >
> >> >This would balance so that 25 submissions, or 50 validations,
> >> >would pay for a renewal of membership.
> >> >
> >> >And if offering more for validations would cause people to race
> >> >through a validation, offering less would seem to encourage people
> >> >to race even faster. After all, if I'll only make fifty cents per
> >> >validation, that means I'll have to validate 100 books to get
> >> >through the renewal process. Better validate real fast!
> >> >
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> >[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Monica
> >> >Willyard
> >> >Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 10:50 PM
> >> >To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> >Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: a sort of raise for validators
> >> >
> >> >Hi, Cindy. I have a scanner and use Openbook to scan. What I was
> >> >trying to say is that without credits, I wouldn't do much on the
> >> >validating side of things. As it is, I do validation both for the
> >> >credit and because we have a pretty hefty step 1 page right now.
> >> >Lora was talking about not validating for credits, and that is
> >> >what I was responding to. (smile)
> >> >
> >> >Monica Willyard
> >> >
> >> >On Monday 9/25/2006 11:34 PM, you wrote:
> >> > >Monica,
> >> > >
> >> > >One gets so much more monetary credit for scanning, and all
> >> > >you'd really have to do after a scan is to check the copyright
> >> > >page and put the right info in the submission form; go through
> >> > >the book and be sure no pages have been omitted (we've all done
> >> > >that, and double-scanned a page, too); and delete junk
> >> > >characters; and run a spell-check. So you validate because you
> >> > >don't have a scanner? I think some can be had relatively
> >> > >inexpensively and it might pay you n the
> >>long run.
> >> > >
> >> > >I don't blame you at all for validating for the credits. I
> >> > >probably would work for the credits, too. I admit that in my
> >> > >lifetime I have volunteered my time and efforts rather than
> >> > >donated money, not only because I feel I'm being useful but
> >> > >because I don't have that much money to donate. smile
> >> > >
> >> > >Cindy
> >> >
> >> > 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.
> >
> >
> > --
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> > Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.12.8/455 - Release Date:
> > 9/22/2006
> >
>
> 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:
