[bksvol-discuss] Re: Carrie's fan and CSUN weather
- From: Carrie Karnos <ckarnos@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:17:56 -0800 (PST)
Oh of course, I'll bring the little fan to CSUN! I forgot to mention that the
fan lights are green, red, yellow and white, so it puts on quite a show. It's
been cold and rainy here in Palo Alto for weeks, so I'm looking forward to some
warmer weather in LA next week :-)
Carrie
Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Will you bring it to CSUN? Hopefully the weather will
not be hot enough for you to need it, but last year it
certainly was, and if it's as hot this year as it was
last year I'll borrow it. :-)
Actually, folks the last couple of weeks has been cold
in L.A., i.e., highs in the 60's. And it's supposed to
rain this weekend. I checked the 7-day weather
forecast and although there's supposed to be a slight
chance of rain on Tuesday, it's supposed to be clear
Wed. & Thurs. But highs in the low 60's. I suppose
that's warm for some of you. I remember that when I
lived in the Midwest the 50's were considered warm in
the spring.
And I think it will be dryer than in in Palo Alto,
according to what my daughter reports from San
Francisco.
Anyway, who can tell. Last weekend we were supposed to
have rain and thunder showers and it wa a lovely
weekend here, although not further south.
Cindy
--- Carrie Karnos wrote:
> It's a little hand-held fan with little plastic
> propellers. One of the propellers has 5 tiny lights,
> each of which blinks on and off at random intervals
> as it whirls around, so it's a mini light show. I
> love lights and colors, so I'm enchanted by it :-)
>
> Carrie
>
> siss52 wrote:
>
>
> A toy? What did she give you, Carrie???
>
> Curious minds want to know.
>
> Sue S.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Janice Carter"
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 7:38 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] FW: Re: who we are
>
>
> > Janice made a huge mistake. When writing the
> update Monday night - I
> forgot to add the #1 Geek representing Volunteers of
> Bookshare.org - Ms.
> Carrie Karnos! Imagine someone with the patience to
> work with all of you,
> me, and Gustavo, and still manage to produce so many
> quality books for
> Bookshare.org.
> >
> > I gave her a toy as a small token of apology and
> appreciation.
> >
> > Janice
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Janice Carter
> > Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 10:33 PM
> > To: 'bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> > Subject: RE: [bksvol-discuss] Re: who we are
> >
> > Thanks Pratik for sharing your observations about
> the challenges of
> Bookshare.org and the information that is sometimes
> confidential to the
> running of a business. However, a lot of the
> questions can be answered and
> will hopefully give the list a sense of what
> everyone's accomplished over
> the past four years.
> >
> > The non metric answer to "who we are" is that we
> are an incredibly strong
> brand in the blind community. Schools, Departments
> of Rehab, Schools for
> Blind, etc. are finding out about us slowly (as they
> are also resource
> constrained). Reason we go to so many conferences
> even though we are short
> staffed is because that's the most efficient sales
> channel to reach DSS
> offices, teachers, and parents who should know about
> a service that provides
> such a rich collection of content.
> >
> > The answers to some of the list's questions are:
> >
> > 1. We have close to 4,000 subscribers.
> > 2. Over half are students. The student population
> has doubled over the
> last year. The school program began two years ago.
> > 3. Haven't kept records of how many members are
> vision impaired, mobility
> impaired, or learning disabled (those folks who
> qualify to join
> Bookshare.org).
> > 4. We have over 26,000 books.
> > 5. We have 125 newspapers from 39 NFB funded
> states plus Washington DC.
> > 6. Regarding retention, we began sending quarterly
> emails to those folks
> who don't renew. The answers were varied - including
> "I forgot." The
> results of these emails are guiding the redesign of
> our website, the quality
> of our content, and the clarity of our messaging.
> > 7. Top Ten downloads over the history of
> Bookshare.org included five
> Harry Potters, The Da Vinci Code (Brown), My Life
> (Bill Clinton), The Broker
> (Grisham), Holy Bible, New International Version
> International Bible Society
> Editors, and The Last Juror (Grisham)
> > 8. A not-statistically-valid observation was made
> a few weeks ago when I
> asked the gentleman who runs our network why
> Bookshare.org was so slow (I
> was trying to answer one of these posts). It was
> because it was the
> President's holiday and for several hours, folks
> were downloading books at
> the rate of 1+ per minute. That was a very cool
> metric.
> > 9. For the past six months, we have had a group of
> long term members who
> have a fairly deep understanding of technology, the
> internet, and the slow
> process of writing software. This group was asked to
> help Bookshare.org
> staff know the needs of the volunteer community. We
> can't answer every
> question and every email. That is the purpose of the
> list. But we
> definitely needed a few voices to listen to as well
> as guide the engineering
> and operations staff at Bookshare.org as we grow.
> The group includes
> Pratik, Rui, Guido, Gerald, Jake, Kellie, Gustavo,
> me, Dave Offen, and soon
> Jennifer Sutton. We've only had a few conference
> calls as we couldn't get
> started without funding.
> >
> > We haven't answered all of your questions because
> we don't have some of
> the answers. And it's very hard for us to measure
> that tremendous feeling
> of satisfaction when a parent or teacher or member
> approaches our booth to
> let us know the impact Bookshare.org has had on a
> child or student, etc.
> >
> > If you have suggestions for what you think could
> or should be measured for
> the Bookshare.org of the future, please send to me
> at Janice.c@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Finally, as the great orator, Pratik Patel stated
> earlier..... It will
> continue to take time.
> >
> >
> > 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
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Pratic Patel
> > Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 6:41 AM
> > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: who we are
> >
> > Mike et al,
> >
> > Because of the exponential pace of technology
> growth, we seem to have
> > different expectations from organizations such as
> Bookshare in terms of
> how
> > quickly it grows. Some informal economic analysis
> I have performed
> suggests
> > that the employment rate among the U.S. blind
> population has not radically
> > changed since he 1960's. It is difficult to
> attract blind users and
> > individuals who do not have the means to pay for
> the excellent service
> that
> > Bookshare provides. Unfortunately, Bookshare is
> also faced with the
> > attitudinal barriers among the blind
> population--at least a part of the
> > population that believes in receiving free
> services.
> >
> > The fact that Bookshare is not willing to share
> their user base
> information
> > does not, by any means, suggest that the base is
> small and insignificant.
> > Perhaps the threshold of information that you
> consider sufficient for
> > Bookshare to divulge its subscription base is not
> the same as what the
> > Bookshare advisory Board considers sufficient.
> Let's also consider, RFB &
> > D, for instance. I have never heard anyone from
> RFB & D provide the type
> of
> > numbers and information that is being requested.
> As a governmental
> agency,
> > NLS does provide this type of information. But you
> will have to dig hard
> to
> > find the data.
> >
> > Organizations such as RFB & D have certainly
> established their base
> > successfully simply because they have been in
> existence for a long period
> of
> > time. The comparison between Bookshare and RFB & D
> is not valid just for
> > that reason. RFB & D was established in 1950's if
> I am not mistaken.
> > Bookshare, on the other hand, was
> established--What, four years ago?
> While
> > it may seem like a long time to those of us who
> have been affiliated with
> > the organization from the beginning. Relatively
> speaking, however, that
> is
> > not very long time. We also have to consider the
> fact that, when RFB & D
> > was established, it had no competition. Bookshare
> has no such luxury.
> And,
> > there are some significant challenges for
> Bookshare when looking at
> various
> > populations. There are things on the horizon that
> will change some of
> that.
> >
> >
> > Your point about hundreds of hours of work and the
> effort to make books
> > accessible for individuals with disabilities is
> valid. As a volunteer, I
> > can quite understand why you might wish to know
> whether your efforts are
> > really going toward something worthwhile. Let me
> ask then, what number
> > would satisfy you? How many subscribers do you
> feel Bookshare should have
> > in order for the hundreds of hours to be
> worthwhile?
> >
> > As I've said before on this list, IT ... WILL ...
> TAKE ... TIME!
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Pratik
> >
> > Pratik Patel
> > Director, CUNY Assistive Technology Services
> (CATS)
> > The City University of New York
> > T: 718-997-3775
> > F: 718-997-5895
> > E: pratik.patel@xxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Mike Pietruk
> > Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 6:24 AM
> > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: who we are
> >
> > Pratik
> >
> > If Benetech is unwilling to supply some concrete
> answers, and I can
> > understand why they may be unwilling to do so
> given the reasons you have
> > outlined, this would suggest to me that the
> numbers may be so dismal that
> > it wouldn't serve them competitively.
> > If that is the case, then this calls to question
> the worth while of
> > spending, as some of us do, hundreds of hours a
> year in intentionally
> > scanning and validating material for BookShare.
> > If few people read the books, then time could be
> better spent elsewhere;
> > on the other hand, if many benefit from the books,
> then the effort is
> > definitely worth while and this would encourage
> others (both sighted and
> > handicappted) to offer their services.
> > Elizabeth's questions cut to the core of the value
> of Bookshare to end
> > users; and Benetech, if it expects donations both
> of dollars and time, has
> > to be able to address these especially now that
> the service has been
> > around for a number of years.
> > I'd suggest that organizations such as RFB&D have
> established such success
> > and longevity as they have successfully
> demonstrated the value of their
> > service to their target audience.
> >
> >
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