[bksvol-discuss] Re: opticbook and nass narkets
- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:14:04 -0500
Hi Julia. I don't know if anyone answered you since I'm running behind on my
mail. We all have our own ways of doing things. This is what works for me.
For mass markets with the OpticBook, I use the following in Kurzweil 11. It
can easily be adapted for Openbook if needed.
First, and I think most important, I scan in single page mode, using the
book edge. This is where the strength of the scanner comes into play. This
is why the scanner is worth its higher cost. Mass markets tend to have
writing that's close to the binding, and using two-page mode means you get
some shadowing or blurring of pages. No amount of holding the book flat for
two-page mode will totally remove this issue. The book edge of your
OpticBook gets right into the crease of your book, and that gives you a
nice, clean scan. I find that this saves me hours of clean-up time later.
Second, by default, under scanning settings I put the threshold on dynamic,
scanning brightness at 60, text quality is normal, and resolution is at 400.
This changes to 300 if scanning large print.
Under the recognition tab, detect columns is on, partial columns are kept,
de-speckle is disabled, and suspicious regions are kept. These are my
baseline settings. I use these by default because they work more often than
not. However, they are just my foundation, and I change them when needed.
I optimize each book once, using a page toward the middle of the book to
make sure it has normal print on it. I don't optimize with the cover page or
table of contents since those tend to be in a different font and point size.
Finally, under the general tab, my confidence threshold is set to 98.7%.
This is used when optimizing and when Kurzweil lists poorly scanned pages
for you later, so this number does seem to matter. Setting it for 100% isn't
useful because there will always be words and names Kurzweil doesn't know.
That would force it to declare every page with a word it doesn't know as
poorly scanned.
Once you have optimized for your book, be sure to save the settings so you
can load them if you have to close Kurzweil or restart your computer. That
way your scan will be consistent. I give my settings files the same name as
my book, and that makes keeping track easy. I periodically delete the
book-specific settings once a book has been accepted on Bookshare.
I hope this helps. If not, we can talk on Skype if you like, and we can see
if we can figure out what's going on. My Skype user name is rhyami
Monica Willyard
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Julia
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 4:19 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] opticbook and nass narkets
There is definitely not equal access. If I buy a mass market from amazon, it
usually turns out to be a pretty crappy scan, that means, like Amber, I have
to spend hours editing it just to make it readable. I hate mass markets, no
matter what I do they turn out crummy. I'm going to update the drivers on
the opticbook when I get home in hopes they scan better, if not, what
settings do you all use for those?
Julia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chela Robles" <cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 4:01 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Publishers and Bookshare As a Library
>I agree wholeheartedly with everyone here, accessibility is key to making
>not only consumer appliances and such that the sighted world does indeed
>take advantage of accessible for everyday use, also applies to books and
>what we use to read books with in whatever formats we choose, amen and
>amen!
> ----------------
> "If you go without playing the trumpet for one day, no one knows, two
> days, only you know, and more than three days without practicing, girl you
> better look out, because everyone will know!"
> Today, I find myself constantly saying those words, just to get myself
> going, to not give up, and it works. Since I learned to play the trumpet
> at the tender age of 10, I have spent so much passion and much diligence
> with that instrument that I will not give up on it. Sometimes my
> instrument puts me into awkward situations where I feel like they won't
> ever end, but the trumpet gives me a lot of hope with the majestic,
> crystal-clear sound it brings to my ears.
> ----------------
> Chela Robles
> E-Mail: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx
> MSNWindowsLive Messenger: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Skype: jazzytrumpet
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Melissa Smith" <mdsmith25@xxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 12:54 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Publishers and Bookshare As a Library
>
>
>> Very good points, Judy. I'd also like to add that most of my sighted
>> friends can't even understand the speech synthesizer on my computer.
>> They're always asking me, "How can you understand that?". So, I am sure
>> that they wouldn't be buying books and listening to them with TTS.
>>
>> Melissa
>>
>>
>>
>> Judy s. wrote:
>>> Interesting points from everyone! smile.
>>>
>>> I view the disabling of TTS as about as silly as the digital rights
>>> management.
>>>
>>> What happened when the digital rights management was removed from mp3
>>> music downloads? Sales zoomed up! It didn't change the behaviors of
>>> people who were going to steal mp3s. They didn't steal any more mp3s
>>> than they were already stealing -- they just continued stealing the ones
>>> they wanted. However, it did change the market in that a large market
>>> segment (myself included) who refused to buy something that had
>>> draconian and intrusive "rights" protection on it stepped in and now
>>> bought the product that was being offered when the digital rights
>>> management was removed and the product was offered at a reasonable
>>> price.
>>>
>>> I don't know a single sighted person, other than myself, who will
>>> willingly listen to listen to a book that they can read by listening to
>>> it in a synthetic voice. Me? I can't afford expensive audible
>>> downloads, and the NLS's offerings are very limited in my tastes, so
>>> listening to books via bookshare downloads using either DAISY or Text
>>> Aloud has become an acquired taste, one I've become used to and actually
>>> very much enjoy.
>>>
>>> If sighted readers were the least bit interested in hearing books read
>>> with a synthetic voice, I suspect the market would be flooded with that
>>> sort of book. Why? It is much cheaper for a book publisher to produce
>>> that en masse than it is to hire a professional reader and studio to
>>> produce the master for each and every book that becomes an audible book.
>>>
>>> I really doubt that sales of human-read audible books would waver one
>>> whit if ebooks had TTS enabled. It would expand the market of ebooks
>>> available to the sighted/disabled reader, but that's about it.
>>>
>>> Just my opinion. Grin.
>>>
>>> Judy s.
>>>
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>
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