Lissi,
This may not help all of the solutions for navigation, and it won’t work for
Braille readers, but for those who have access to a smart phone or iPad,
VoiceDream Reader is a terrific app that enables pretty easy navigation between
chapters and subchapters. I’m not positive if it works for all of them, but you
can also search for particular works.
It also has different voices, so it’s an amazing upgrade form the original
BookShare app, which I personally hated.
BookShare books are easily imported through VoiceDream reader. I love the app
and think it’s one of the greatest things on the planet.
Lissi, if you have a phone, NLS also has a BARD app if the Braille books are
available in audio. I know sometimes it’s nice to just read Braille. I get some
of my magazines in Braille, and it’s nice to sometimes just read.
I don’t read using my Braille display that much on the computer as it’s faster
to listen using JAWS or the VoiceDream Reader app, but I find it really helps
me when I’m proofing.
Here’s to a better tomorrow and for your Halloween book not to be in the
collection already.
Cheers,
--Katherine
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Estelnalissi
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 10:06 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: A Day in the Life
Dear Cindy and Jana,
The two of you turn up whenever someone on this list needs support that isn’t
technical. Thank you so much!
The Halloween story is poised to be checked in as soon as I write the short
synopsis. I’m making an early start at having a better day. Paperback Swap has
another amusing story by the same author for Thanksgiving. These books are
funny, mildly scary and each teaches children about self esteem, loyalty,
courage and so much more through its hapless fifth grade main character who
finds herself in trouble even when she’s trying to be very, very good. I’m
answering messages from caring volunteers.
I’m finishing up a post to Booksharians who make it impossible to dwell on the
disappointments of yesterday!
With more thanks and Always with love,
Lissi
From: Jana Jackson <mailto:jana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 12:18 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: A Day in the Life
Lissi… I’m too tired to write much here, but I truly understand and empathize!
Yes, tomorrow is another day, but sometimes you just gotta let it out TODAY!
<Smile> I do hope that Bookshare will come up with a solution for Braille
books like the one you worked so hard to submit! I personally don’t use the
navigation you talked about, but I do read books with my apex all the time.
Oh, and by the way, that book sounds really interesting, too! Praying tomorrow
is a better day! <Smile> Hugs!
Jana
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Estelnalissi
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 5:21 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] A Day in the Life
Dear Booksharian friends,
In a day of lows and some just fines, here’s what went on.
I wrapped 5 books for Paperback Swap and 6 for scanners. Evan took public
transit over to mail them and walked home in the foggy drizzle with some
groceries in place of books.
Meanwhile I adjusted some of the contents of my Paperback Swap profile and
proofread about 30 pages in How To Drive Your Family Crazy on
Halloween, one of several Halloween books we prepared for bookshare and, no, we
didn’t finish them on time. We have two more to do after this one. Evan’s
already scanned them and has scanned several for Christmas. Stoking the
collection for holidays is still part of our master plan.
When Evan came home he told me the book I was up until 11:30 doing final tweaks
on and checking in to Bookshare was already in the collection via PQ. It may be
marked up for audio navigation, but with17 chapters and nearly 190 subchapters,
Booksharians with refreshable braille devices won’t be able to navigate the
subchapters at all. Thus PQ remains a mixed blessing totally ignoring the needs
of blind braille readers, a segment of the reading population which used to
mean something to Bookshare.
I’m on page 60 of the Halloween book now and what I need to sooth my soul is to
check it in, a book which may stick for a while.
It isn’t that Evan and I don’t feel the pinch when books we’ve worked on long
and hard get replaced. It’s that we give ourselves time to shake off the
disappointment, look at the big picture and carry on.
Another of the lows today was that after a month of waiting, braille books I
requested from NLS haven’t come yet. I gratefully read Bookshare books on my
M’Power, which I bought second hand because the $6-000 price tag is impossible
for me to afford. But that machine was faulty and I wonder every night when I’m
reading if it will be my last, with soft dots and odd file hopping from the
machine. I worry that NLS will stop making hard braille books saying there
isn’t enough demand while my library sits on requests not responsive to the
demand they have.
My heart goes out to Roger and others whose work takes much longer because they
are using older and/or less reliable programs. For private incomes, especially
retired ones, adaptive technology costs the moon.
The world is still pretty grim for readers with low incidence handicaps like
blindness and deaf blindness whose needs are still least regarded because of
their low numbers and for whom the solutions are too expensive for the same
reason.
At the end of this day there is still proofreading, a form of volunteerism
which provides a positive outlet for this blind booklover.
That’s my story. Your stories are surely different but I expect some parts of
my day will resonate with some of you.
Always with love,
Lissi
P. S. II /I’m sure tomorrow will be better and though I’ll appreciate it, I
probably won’t write about it.
P. P. S. The book which was replaced was The Highly Sensitive Person: How to
Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. All but the last chapters are quite
illuminating and helpful. You might want to give it a read as the shy, the
imaginative, the intuitive, the visionaries, the book lovers, the introverts,
and the easily overwhelmed are among its target population.
