Well, many are 15-20 years old, so I'll continue to scan them, and if a
published copy makes in to the collection later, it is good.
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Rains [mailto:scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 1:36 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Purpose of Bookshare was Re: Fw: Your
book has been marked for more editing
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
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to
bookshare-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
bookshare-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 - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2972 - Release Date: 07/07/10
02:36:00
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to
bookshare-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
bookshare-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 - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.830 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2987 - Release Date: 07/07/10
02:36:00
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to
bookshare-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.
