[bksvol-discuss] Re: Benetech's Unresponsiveness?
- From: Tracy Carcione <carcione@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 10:24:00 -0500
Marissa,
Could you communicate back to us the results of the discussions of our
suggestions? Then, we could see how they fit into the longterm plan. You
could send a note to the list, or put it in the newsletter, whatever.
Something like:
We decided suggestion X was just impossible to implement. Y is easy; we'll
start working on that next month. Z is complicated; we hope to tackle it
starting next fall, and have it completed by the fall of 2006.
I know it's a pain, setting project end dates, but at least it gives people
some idea of when something might be completed.
And having some idea of how our suggestions fit into the scheme of things
would be much better than feeling like they have just fallen into a great void.
Thanks.
Tracy
At 11:38 AM 3/31/05 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>I leave the list for 15 hours to eat, sleep, and drive to DeAnza college
>to pick up 10 GB worth of Tiffs of textbooks and science fiction books
>to put up on Bookshare.org, only to return to harsh allegations of
>Benetech not listening to our users and being responsive to your
>requests.
>
>Every time there's an insight or suggestion to this list or to me that
>seems like it might make your Bookshare.org experience better, I send it
>to the team here at Bookshare. We consider it, and we incorporate at
>least some of the ideas that seem to work into a long range development
>plan. How much of this long range development plan is actually
>implemented depends on the funding we have and the dictates of the
>grants we're operating under. Hence Spanish capability rather than
>revisiting the categories. I've brought up the smart sorting for the
>step one download page, but I'm not sure when that will happen. Believe
>me, I get just as frustrated by my administrative capabilities
>sometimes. (No back door for large bulk submissions, for example.)
>
>It's not a perfect system and being a nonprofit means that everything
>moves at a glaringly slow pace. But, some things are improving, like the
>fact that author names and titles are being cleaned up, and like the
>fact that we've gotten a small grant to improve and advance our search
>capabilities. And I can't say enough about the volunteers who take their
>time to drive the quality and content of our collection.
>
>So, feel free to vent, rant, and rage if you need to. But if you want
>something constructive to happen, write a proposal, create a spec, or
>send a polite email. I'd be happy to work on establishing some sort of
>process to more systematically address user and volunteer feedback,
>rather than letting your ideas languish on the list.
>
>Thanks,
>Marissa
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
>Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 10:40 AM
>To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: page numbers and student contest
>
>Joanie et al,
>I too am becoming very frustrated with Benetech's unresponsiveness.
>I've
>been a member of Bookshare for 2 and a half years, and I can't recall
>any
>major improvement to the usability of the website, despite our good
>suggestions. No moving the language indicator to a better place, or
>reorganizing the step1 download page, or the admittedly complex addition
>of
>more and better categories.
>The only improvement I've seen is in quality, for which I think we
>volunteers can give ourselves a pat on the back.
>
>I think the suggestion of having the stripper be part of the unpack tool
>is
>a great one, and would satisfy everyone. But will Benetech actually
>look
>into it??? A good business listens to its customers, but, too often,
>Benetech's attitude seems to be "My way or the highway."
>Tracy
>
>At 07:02 PM 3/30/05 -0800, you wrote:
>>I also want page numbers in tact, even if that means having titles
>repeated
>>too. These files ARE supposed to reflect the print copy of the book,
>and it
>>certainly isn't, since vital information is removed. It does seem that
>most
>>of us--the ones who are using and helping to support Bookshare--do want
>page
>>numbers, but we aren't being listened to, and I'd like to know why this
>is.
>>People here have been suggesting changes of various kinds for a long
>time,
>>yet nothing is ever done.
>>
>>Of course I am grateful that the site exists, and that many people are
>>generous enough to keep it operating, but that doesn't change the fact
>that
>>so many requests are ignored. How patient and tolerant are we expected
>to
>>be?
>>
>>Joanie
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Jill O'Connell" <jillocon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 5:15 PM
>>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: page numbers and student contest
>>
>>
>>> I haven't been following this thread too closely but do we even know
>why
>>the
>>> print page numbers that we work so hard to preserve when scanning are
>>later
>>> eliminated?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
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