[bksvol-discuss] Re: BKSVOL Update July 29, 2005
- From: "Jake Brownell" <jabrown@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 19:12:26 -0500
Hey Janice,
Thanks very much for the update and a bit more insight into BookShare's
current goals and plans.
Cheers and have a great weekend!
Jake
www.JBrownell.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Janice Carter" <Janice.C@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 6:54 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] BKSVOL Update July 29, 2005
> BKSVOL-Discuss Update: July 29, 2005
>
> A more traditional newsletter will go out shortly to an audience that
includes you, new members of Bookshare.org, and many who just want to know
what we're doing (including press and potential funders). The following is
an update specifically for the Bookshare.org Volunteer Community.
>
> 1. PEOPLE
> 2. CONTENT
> 3. FUNDING
> 4. NEXT SIX MONTHS
>
> 1. PEOPLE
> A lot has happened at Bookshare.org over the past six months. So let's
start with the people part. Bookshare.org shares an awesome Engineering,
Fundraising and Administrative team with other Benetech programs,
www.benetech.org (Human Rights, Environment, etc.). Your direct team
includes:
>
> Janice Carter joined Benetech in late December as General Manager of
Bookshare.org and Director of all of Benetech's Literacy programs. Her
mission is to get Bookshare.org to financial sustainability (which means
about 9,000 to 10,000 subscribers). If you have suggestions for funding or
just want to vent, please send a note to janice.c@xxxxxxxxxxxx or call
650-475-5440, ext. 122. The BKSVOL-DISCUSS list is a great forum for
volunteer scanning and collections efforts, best practices and ideas that
will serve the greater audience.
>
> Gustavo Galindo has been with Bookshare.org since September 2002 and was
promoted to Manager, Bookshare.org Website earlier this year. He manages the
Bookshare.org website functionality and usability and oversees membership
and book collection policies and procedures which means he's responsible for
running the system that we all need to manage this business (includes
content, revenue, subscribers...).
>
> Peter Scialli has been with Benetech and Bookshare.org forever and is our
expert in Assistive Technology. Peter manages our customer and tech support,
and is our first-response to most of your inquires and concerns. Peter also
makes certain that Bookshare.org plays well with all new versions of the
various AT software and hardware.
>
> Susie McKinnon joined us in early May 2005 as Manager, Group Accounts. She
has a strong background in working with schools and understands the
challenges that teachers face in connecting students to accessible books.
One of our quickest paths to financial sustainability is thru our school and
group account efforts. If you have suggestions for schools that could
benefit from Bookshare.org, please send an email to susie.m@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Pallavi Gupta joined us as an intern in late June 2005. She has a strong
background in literature and spent time working with the blind in India. She
is currently working on our backlog of post secondary textbooks. Numerous
colleges have been generous in offering to "share" their collections with
all of us. This post secondary collection will allow us to market to the
numerous colleges and universities in the US. If any of you have domain
expertise in certain subjects and are willing to proofread, please send a
note to Pallavi.g@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Carrie Karnos is our "alpha" volunteer. She leaps tall stacks of books in
a single bound. She also came in on Harry Potter day and helped Gustavo get
that book posted in less than 12 hours after it was available to the general
public.
>
> Pallavi, Carrie, and several other in house volunteers are picking up some
of the role that Marissa created. Gustavo and Janice are trying to manage
some of the other tasks. We will continue to ask your patience on some of
the things that are moving a little more slowly than you would like until we
are able to get a full time replacement for Marissa.
>
> Jim Fruchterman, last, but certainly not least, is the founder of
Bookshare.org and CEO of Benetech. He is focused on fundraising, strategic
efforts with Google, Amazon, and other global players, and accessible text
standards like NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standards). Which brings us to CONTENT.
>
> CONTENT
> There are 23,000+ books now available at Bookshare.org. So take a moment
to thank yourself for your contribution to this incredible collection. Also
thanks to the tremendous support of NFB, we can now offer NFB-NEWSLINE®
content in etext to those members who live in funded states.
>
> So, what's next with stripper stay/stripper go, NIMAS, DAISY, etc. What
kind of content do we need to get to 10,000 subscribers? What kind of
quality do we need? Some of the delay in answering your recent round of
questions and requests about content submissions has to do with what
standards will be required of the Bookshare.org collection of the future. We
are in the process of getting that information in a variety of ways:
> -Jim and Janice are working with the NIMAS Technical Committee and will be
meeting in mid September for next steps.
> -In order to understand best practices, Janice is scheduled to take a two
day eText Production course on Aug 1 and Aug 2 at the AHEAD (Association on
Higher Education & Disability) conference in Milwaukee.
> -Bookshare.org Engineering, Gustavo, Janice, and Jim are building the
project plan for NIMAS compliance.
> -And many of you who are experts in this entire process and have offered
to help will be contacted offline for your input.
> -Finally, Peggy Gibbs (Benetech's new head of fundraising and marketing)
is working really, really hard to get us some large chunks of money to do
the right thing quickly. Which gets us to the next topic, FUNDING.
>
> 3. FUNDRAISING
> If you know of a school or organization that could benefit from
Bookshare.org, please contact susie.m@xxxxxxxxxxxxx If you think one of your
local organizations like a Lion's Club or church is willing to fund new
Bookshare.org memberships, they can give the gift of reading at
http://www.bookshare.org/web/AboutGroupAccounts.html.
>
> If you know of someone who can make a small donation, give them this URL,
http://www.bookshare.org/web/DonateNow.html.
>
> And most important, we would very much appreciate your testimonials about
why Bookshare.org matters to you. Does it allow you to read to your children
or grandchildren? Does it keep you informed? Entertained? Peggy and Jim need
to tell the "story" of why Bookshare.org matters when they're meeting with
funders and foundations. If you can allow us to use your name, how long
you've been a member, even better.
>
> 4. THE NEXT SIX MONTHS
>
> In addition to the above issues, over the next week or so you will receive
the feedback from the Users Meeting we had at the NFB Convention so we can
get your additional input as we build the project plan for Bookshare.org
Version 2.0.
>
> We are attending (and presenting in most cases) at the following shows. If
you're going to attend any of these, please let us know so we can make time
to meet in person (Janice and Susie will be at most of the fall shows).
> -AHEAD (Association of Higher Education & Disability) Aug. 3-4, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
> -Closing The Gap, October 20-22, - Minneapolis Minnesota
> -LDA (Learning Disabilities Association, California session) Oct.27-29,
Concord, CA
> -Calstate CEC (Calstate Council for Exceptional Children) Nov. 10-12
> -IDA International Dyslexia Association (national) Nov. 9-12, Denver, CO
> -PATINS conference-Indiana Schools (Promoting Achievement through
Technology for Indiana Students), Indianopolis, Indiana Nov.16-17
>
> Collections-wise, aside from our goal of getting 25,000 books on the site
by the end of 2005, we're also putting in-house emphasis on processing
several post-secondary textbook collections. But at the same time, we're
still committed to working with you to get new releases of high-interest
books scanned, validated and on our website as soon as possible.
>
> We hope this gives you some additional visibility into what's happening at
Bookshare.org. Thanks for everything that you continue to do to help us
grow....
>
> Have a great weekend,
>
> Your "scrappy" Bookshare.org team
>
> Janice Carter
> Director, Literacy Programs
>
> Benetech
> 480 S. California Ave., Suite 201
> Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609 USA
>
> (650) 475-5440 x122
> (650) 759-5828 cell
> (650) 475-1066 fax
>
> janice.c@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.benetech.org
>
> The Benetech Initiative - Technology Serving Humanity
> A Nonprofit Organization
>
>
>
>
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