[bookshare-discuss] Re: correcting books after download
- From: "Don Bishop" <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 09:28:30 -0700
Hi Cindy,
I certainly don't expect perfect books as the validating process is being done
by people and there's no real way to totally automate the process.
I brought it up not to complain, but rather to figure out if there is some way
to improve the quality of the scanned book while still being able to do what
bookshare is about which is to be able to read books and get information from
them. It's a hard line to walk, but a whole lot better than no access at all,
and
I'd like to think we're all trying to make it better as time goes on.
Don
On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 01:12:40 -0700 (PDT), Cindy wrote:
Don, you aren't the only one who's commented on the
fact that books rated "Good" really aren't all that
good. There has been a lot of discussion and
validators are now trying to make books perfect,or
close -- and there is a concerted effort going on to
have people who scan books make corrections before
they upload them. When there are too many scanning
errors, validators who don't have a lot of time
release the books and it takes quite a while for them
to get into the collection --if they ever do.
"rn" for "m", as in your example, can't be corrected
by a quick replace with, unless one is absolutely
certain that the word "corn, or "born, isn't used, or
that there isn't some other word that *should *have
""r n" instead of "m". The only way to make these
books truly "Excellent" is for the validator to read
them and correct as he or she goes along. -- and/or
for the scanner to do that before submitting the book.
More and more people are now taking the care necessar
to do this, so the later submissions should be in much
better shape than the older ones. Some members are
going to download books in the collection marked Fair
or Good, correct them, and submit them as replacement
copies. I think they'll get credit for it, too. If you
feel like becoming a volunteer (apparently it's a
separate process from being a member) and doing that,
with the book you're currently reading, you could. Are
you aware that as a volunteer you get credit toward
your annual membership? I think the going rate is
$2.50 for scanning and submitting a book and 50 cents
for validating one that's on the download for
validatin list. (I thought someone onceposted that
itwas $3.50 for scanning -- I do't know for sure which
is correct)l
Cindy
--- Don Bishop <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm a bookshare subscriber and haven't posted much
> here at all,but I do have a question.
>
> I've been reading the questions by those who have
> the time to validate books, and they've prompted
> questions of my own.
>
> I've found that I prefer reading the .brf files from
> bookshare as just can't get used to synthesized book
> readers. But, I notice some errors and some appear
> to
> actually be consistent. Such things as words which
> should be hyphenated but are treated as separate
> words, many on a consistent basis. There are other
> times where the first syllable will be (I think) com
> which is actually translated as the word corn.
>
> My question is this: I read the discussions about
> book corrections and note that validators are
> downloading the books to be validated in word or rtf
> or even
> text format. Are they then converted to the daisy
> and .brf formats as part of the post-validation
> process?
>
> I'm trying to figure out whether the errors I'm
> seeing are from the original scans, the translation
> to .brf, or maybe in some other step I'm not aware
> of. And,
> how can I best correct these, at least for my own
> personal braille reading if nothing else.
>
> I'm presently reading a book called Independence
> without sight or sound which is rated as "good", but
> in all honesty, I'd really have to rate the quality
> as
> somewhat lower than that.
>
> I realize this book may be from the early bookshare
> days when procedures were still being put into
> place,so I honestly don't want to be too critical
> here. Just
> wondering what I might do to make the errors less of
> a distraction. It's kind of a text book format
> anyway, so the errors really do tend to slow down
> reading.
>
> I must confess I haven't done a lot of reading from
> bookshare until very recently when I've been able to
> get more time for reading.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions and/or tips.
>
> Don
>
>
>
>
>
>
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