[bksvol-discuss] Re: A Proposal For A Quality Solution
- From: "Lori Castner" <loralee.castner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 10:22:06 -0800
Hello, Monica,
I think that all of your points are very valid.
I know two people personally who did not renew with bookshare because of the
quality of the books. And as bookshare grows and reaches many more
students, books must be of excellent quality.
As you know, Mike and I scan with Openbook 7.0, and I know we submit good
scans because we read each book before submitting it and rescan pages if
needed. We use a Hullitt Packard scanner which is well over ten years old,
and it scans well though maybe more slowly than some newer ones. However,
it has a large scanning surface and can scan many larger books in two-page
mode.
I think that there must be a baseline for submissions.
Cat Lover Lori
----- Original Message -----
From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 7:00 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] A Proposal For A Quality Solution
I would like to propose a solution to resolve the ongoing quality control
issues that have plagued Bookshare since I started volunteering 2 years
ago. As Bookshare grows, we're going to have some growing pains. Things
aren't as they were six years ago, and we have to find ways to work through
our growth challenges graciously . The Salvation Army had to do something
like this in the past, and so have other groups who depend on volunteers
for part of their work force.
Quality control is an issue that keeps cropping up and is something that
is causing frustration for staff, readers, and volunteers alike. We are
producing books for people who actually want to read them and are also
serving a growing population of students. At some point, I think we have
to set a baseline for what is useful and what is just garbage. The Toys
For Tots program won't let you donate broken toys for children. They
insist on a baseline for quality because no one wants to open a broken toy
for Christmas. No one wants to read an illegible book they download from
Bookshare either. Quality is one of the things staff and volunteers hear
about when we go to conventions, and teachers want quality if they're
going to use Bookshare for their students.
I'd really like to see staff give a firm definition of what fair means,
because there really is a quality lower than fair. As it stands now, fair
could mean almost anything, even a book at only 22 percent accuracy. I'd
like to see fair defined clearly for everyone and then for all books on
step 1 to be run through the Bookshare tools. Any books below the defined
level should be deleted from step 1 automatically and could be reviewed by
Claire as she reviews all other rejections. Then we could start with a
mostly clean slate. Yes, that means we'd lose around 40 to 50 books in
this process, but these are books that will end up being rejected anyway.
This policy change would prevent the waste of hundreds of volunteer
manpower hours because the tools can assess books in a matter of a minute
or so. Time is a nonrenewable resource, and our volunteer hours could be
spent in more productive ways such as scanning books from the wish list,
validating books, and teaching new users how to use Bookshare.
I have been told that setting up guidelines would discriminate against
people using older technology. However, I have scanned books for college
and my own use for 17 years. Over that time, I have met many people who
are able to scan and proofread text from a wide range of books with good
results. Some of our volunteers use very old technology and still produce
clean, readable scans. Jim, Bookshare's passionate founder, helped to
create Openbook, and he helped make scanning work well with Openbook Ruby,
technology that is close to 10 years old. For these reasons, I believe it
is very possible for users of older technology to continue to volunteer,
even if Bookshare created quality control guidelines.
Establishing a baseline for scan quality is a fair-minded process. It
won't single out problem submitters or discriminate against anyone. It
simply says that broken books, like broken toys, cannot be accepted
because it's not fair to the recipient.
I hope you will consider my suggestion along with those of staff and other
volunteers. I care deeply about Bookshare and want it to flourish. I'm
proud of the work we've done here, and I want it to ring out like the
clarity of a fine bell that gleams in the sunshine, a beacon of hope,
help, and good books for us all.
Monica Willyard
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