[bksvol-discuss] Re: DAISY navigation in publisher quality books
- From: Cindy Rosenthal <grandcyn77@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2014 00:27:48 -0700
oh, @# bad word beginning with a digraph (I had to google to find what
it's called) smile (and I must stop myself from saying that word to myself
before I forget and say it front of my grandchildren
On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 7:12 PM, Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Cindy,
>
> The ebooks we're talking about are publisher quality books. smile.
> Volunteers aren't allowed to proof them or change them. Also, volunteers
> are not allowed to take any ebook that they own or get from a library and
> submit it to Bookshare.
>
> There are some really solid reasons behind why libraries like ebooks, at
> least in my State (Wisconsin). Libraries have banded together and
> negotiated for ebook licenses with publishers in a way that makes the all
> the ebook titles offered in the deal available to every library in the
> Wisconsin system. When they do that, the littlest dinky rural library has
> access to all the same books for their patrons that the biggest libraries
> have. That exponentially increases the bang for the buck when it comes to
> how many books libraries can afford. The same has happened with magazines.
> As a library patron, I can downloaded and read over 200 different popular
> magazines electronically on my own computer, using my library card that was
> issued through my little limited-budget local library, including all back
> issues for those magazines, at no charge.
>
> Judy s.
> On 9/3/2014 7:41 PM, Cindy Rosenthal wrote:
>
> Perhaps the ebooks could be mentioned on the list and perhaps some kind
> person who'd like more credits could scan an edition for someone like me to
> proof -- or maybe such a book could be put on the checkout list for a
> proofer who wouldn't mind fixing it.
>
> side comment: I *hate* ebooks and the fact that libraries are stocking
> them rather than print books (and some authors are publishing in that
> format rather than print; I understand the libraries: print books take more
> space and staff time to shelve, but the authors? maybe it costs less for
> them not to have their books published, but I'm giving up on some of what
> used to be favorite authors of mine; I have others' books I can read. One,
> however... did have her next book available in print; (I did write to her
> but I really don't think I'm responsible smile
> Cindy
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 1:06 PM, Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Just some observations on the missing or poor DAISY navigation in
>> publisher quality books. As a sighted, but disabled, reader, one of the
>> things I hate about the evolution of the ebook format for sighted readers
>> for platforms like the Kindle is that publishers have decided that page
>> numbers, page breaks and even in many cases clearly delineated chapter
>> headings are a thing of the past. The publisher quality books we're getting
>> as members here on Bookshare aren't worse in terms of navigation than the
>> ones sighted readers get when using a kindle or a nook. Instead, they are
>> equally awful.
>>
>> Part of it is of course that a physical page in a printed book is itself
>> an artifact of the limitations and demands of the physical printing of a
>> book, and the shelf space it takes, the optimal size of a book for holding
>> and reading, the book's purpose and all sorts of other factors. None of
>> those translate into the needs of presenting a book on an electronic
>> screen. And part of it is a learning curve, as the ebook industry feels its
>> way into how to make ebooks work. There still isn't any industry standard
>> for how an ebook should look on a screen or navigate or all kinds of other
>> factors that affect the final product that the consumer (or in our case the
>> disabled reader) gets.
>>
>> As a member, it's very frustrating to have books with poor or no
>> navigation, no page numbers and the like. However, I just don't see that
>> Bookshare has a whole lot of say in what comes in terms of what's in a book
>> for navigation from the publishers because of the above. Bookshare
>> certainly doesn't have the funding or the staff to turn around and put all
>> those things into the hundreds of thousands of books that have come in.
>>
>> I'm not making excuses for the publishers or Bookshare here. I'm just
>> sharing my observations.
>>
>> --
>> Judy s.
>> Follow me on Twitter at QuackersNCheese
>> <https://twitter.com/QuackersNCheese>
>>
>
>
> --
> Judy s.
> Follow me on Twitter at QuackersNCheese
> <https://twitter.com/QuackersNCheese>
>
Other related posts:
