[bookshare-discuss] Re: Purpose of Bookshare was Re: Fw: Your book has been marked for more editing
- From: Scott Rains <scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:36:05 -0700
Sharon,
Here in-house we have been trying to discern the pattern behind the books that
our new publishing partners squirt to us as ePub files by the hundreds each
day. At first we had hoped that they were sending books by year. If that had
been the case then your strategy of focusing on older books would have been a
great solution.
It now appears that at least some of them are sending us their entire
publication catalog in alphabetical order regardless of publication date.
You still might find that submitting older books - or any from publishers that
have not partnered with us - is a good practice. The logistics of these new
book pipelines from publishers have introduced too many unknowns for us to give
rock-solid advice just yet.
Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
From: Sharon [mt281820@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 2:50 AM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Purpose of Bookshare was Re: Fw: Your book has
been marked for more editing
Another thing: I have hundreds of old books, and old books may be another
way volunteers can keep adding to the collection.
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: Lori Castner [mailto:loralee.castner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 3:07 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Purpose of Bookshare was Re: Fw: Your
book has been marked for more editing
Hi, Roger,
You give a very comprehensive and, in my opinion, accurate view of
Bookshare--what it was and how it has evolved.
Personally, I am sad to see the role of volunteers changing and becoming
adjunctive because I have valued being able to contribute books in what was
a grassroots movement. On the other hand, I know that I am in a minority
and that most members of Bookshare are glad to see the collection grow and
to have access to many more books even if that development lessens the need
for volunteers.
Similarly, I think you give sound advice about being familiar with the
sources that will be making books available and focusing volunteer efforts
on small presses, out of print books and more obscure books. Following such
advice could enable volunteers to avoid having their time and work wasted
when a PQ book replaces their scanned or proofread book.
As I have certain interests and enjoy proofreading or sometimes submitting
books in those specific areas, I suspect that my role as a volunteer at
Bookshare will come to an end in the foreseeable future. That realization
causes me to feel quite sad, but what is is, and accepting the reality of a
situation is a positive step.
So thanks for expressing such a comprehensive and clear insight into the
evlution of Bookshare.
Lori C.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 9:06 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Fw: Your book has been marked for more
editing
>I think your understanding of the whole point of Bookshare is incorrect, or
>at least outdated. I have only been involved since July of 2008, but in
>that timeI have seen considerable changes in Bookshare and have surmised
>changes that came about before I came along. I think your understanding of
>the whole point of Bookshare being about volunteering and sharing books
>would have been pretty accurate when Bookshare began and that is reflected
>in its name. That is, well before I had anything to do with Bookshare I
>remember reading something about it in which it was stated that many blind
>people have undoubtedly scanned many books for their personal use and that
>they are sitting on hard drives around the country or world. It went on to
>state that Bookshare would give them a chance to share those books with
>other blind people and to make use of the work those others had put into
>scanning books. Time passed, though, and both Bookshare's mission and
>standards evolved. The standards changed such that the poorer quality
>submissions of the past became no longer acceptable and are being replaced
>with the intention of making every book in the collection as near to
>perfect as possible. The mission changed, first, with the grant from the
>Department of Education that caused educational books to be given priority
>and, second, with the recruitment of publishers to submit their own
>electronic files of books. The use of outsourcers to proofread no doubt
>influenced the mission too. It now seems that the mission is to provide as
>many books of any kind whatsoever to print impaired people with an emphasis
>on educational material and to provide them by any means that can increase
>the number of those books the most with the highest quality possible. That
>means that with the addition of publisher quality books and the use of
>outsourcers the number of books making it into the collection through the
>efforts of volunteers is now a minority and is continuing to shrink.
>Volunteers still contribute books that are not otherwise added, so
>volunteers were never dropped. However, the main point of bookshare being
>volunteering and sharing of books has not been the case for some time now.
>Personally, I think that is good. It does seem to me that access to all of
>these books is more important than just giving volunteers something to do.
>At the same time, volunteers do still have something to do and by doing it
>they do make books available that would not otherwise be available. I would
>suggest, though, that you, as a volunteer, keep it in mind that your role
>has become an adjunct rather than the main point and to direct your efforts
>to the adjunctive role. That is, that you familiarize yourself with the
>kinds of books that are being added by other means and concentrate on
>working on books that are unlikely to be added by those other means. Work
>on obscure books. Work on books that are likely to have gone out of print
>before publishers started retaining electronic files of their books. Work
>on books published by small presses or books that were self published by
>the authors. Right now there is a role for volunteers, but if somehow
>Bookshare can figure out a way to add every single book that has ever been
>published and to add every one of them in perfect quality without the need
>for volunteers I think that will be to the good. I would look forward to
>volunteers being put out of business. However, I see no prospect for that
>in the near future.
>
>
> _ _ _
>
> "Socialism can be built only by free men and women working together to lay
> the foundations for a new society and transforming themselves in the
> process." - Ernesto "Che" Guevara
>
>
> The Militant:
> http://www.themilitant.com
> Pathfinder Press:
> http://www.pathfinderpress.com
> Granma International:
> http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "traci" <season@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 12:35 AM
> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Fw: Your book has been marked for more
> editing
>
>
> I am so furious right now. I mean, it is probably all my fault but still.
>
> As I understand it, the whole point of bookshare is volunteering and
> sharing books. I scan and share what I have and proof what others have
> submitted. We get credits from this and hopefully by year's end, we have
> enough credits to either satisfy the membership cost or to at least
> significantly reduce the amount. However, not taking into consideration
> the cost, this book wasn't that long--only 200 or something pages. But
> take Chances by Jackie Collins. That book was 800 plus pages. And to
> receive an email like this makes me want to rip my hair out by the roots
> and throw a tantrum to rival my five year old. We all have lives so I am
> in no way minimizing what others do. But try being a single mom of six
> hormonal girls ranging in age from 18 to 5 and a 4 year old. My time is in
> very short supply so I use my insomniac nights to scan and then to get
> something like this??? I read each and every page looking for scannos and
> I also use sighted help when available. I try to make the proofing as easy
> as possible because I have read earlier submitions that never should have
> made it to the library. I am using openbook 8 and a lexmark scanner and my
> screenreader, Window Eyes 7.2. Somehow I didn't realize that page breaks
> weren't happening so read the below email. Does this mean I go and resub
> my earlier submitions??? and about proofing. I agree with Patti. I have
> seen some of the same books on the list needing to be proofed dating back
> to May of 2009 and many are on hold. can't we have a moritorium or
> something stating that if you haven't done anything with a book on hold
> for you in say 60 days that it be returned so that others can have the
> opportunity to proof? I mean, if there's nothing interesting to proofread,
> then your only other option is submitting and who gets all warm and fuzzy
> about submitting after receiving an email like this?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bookshare Support
> To: season@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 9:46 PM
> Subject: Your book has been marked for more editing
>
>
> Dear Traci
>
> Thank you for your efforts to prepare a book for Bookshare. We are
> contacting you because your submission, Moth to a Flame by Ashley
> Antoinette has been marked for more editing before publication on
> Bookshare.org.
>
> We invite you to contact volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx if you need more
> information regarding this submission. We appreciate the time you spend
> contributing to Bookshare.org, and look forward to continuing to build the
> collection together.
>
> Below are some of the specific reasons for the request for further editing
> of this submission:
>
> To the submitter: Please keep paragraph breaks (but not line breaks) when
> you scan books. To the proofreader: It looks like most pages are one long
> paragraph. Please add paragraph breaks where appropriate so they match the
> scanned book. Since neither of you left your email address in the comments
> section, I can't ask one to contact the other, due to privacy concerns.
> The only option left is for the proofreader to get the book from the
> library and check it for paragraph breaks. Or release the book and let
> someone else put in the paragraph breaks.
>
> Thank you,
> The Bookshare Team
>
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