[bksvol-discuss] Delayed Recognition for Bookshare Stars - Part 1 of 2
- From: Scott Rains <scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:29:22 -0700
Volunteers,
By end-of-day today you will see changes in the manual reflecting a few of the
navigation issues you identified last week:
Changes in where navigation bar links take you
Removal of the divider (vertical pipe) in the nav bar
New summary sections on the main page
A custom search feature
We inserted this extra trial and comment phase because of the many valuable
insights you supplied.Take note that these are trial solutions. The redesign is
not complete and there will be no .rtf, .pdf, .brf, and DAISY versions created
until this testing phase is complete. i will alert you today when the changes
go live.
Some will recall that I surveyed you in April on your initial experience as a
Bookshare volunteer. What you told us then informed the improvements to the
online manual that you reviewed all last week.
After the April survey I promised you a report once Pavi returned and had a
chance to study your responses. This week she and I began Bookshare's process
of systematic strategic planning around volunteers in which we are studying
such data. Below, in partial fulfillment of my promise, are the responses of
those who answered question 6:
"What was the most valuable part of your training? (If you are able be
specific and give us the name of the training document, name of the person who
helped you, or details on just how the training you received met your
information needs and learning style.)"
The story is clear, no matter what we do to improve the manual there is no
substitute for the high quality day-to-day mentoring and problem-solving you
provide each other on this list.
Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
1 I learned most from other volunteers and from the volunteer document
that explains how to validate and scan books.
2 Bookshare volunteer email list
3 The volunteer discussion list
4 The bookshare discussion list is where I learned how to handle
problems.
5 Louise Gourdoux
6 I first began by proofreading, and my fellow volunteers and BookShare
employees were extremely helpful. There was no online training or volunteer
manual at the time.
7 The bookshare volunteer list.
8 Mayrie Renee and Marilyn Beasly helped a lot specifically and being on
the volunteer list in general helped to pick up pointers.
9 I received help from the others volunteers online.
10 Carrie helped me a lot, the e-mail list helped me a lot.
11 Since I had no formal training, I would have to say being able to ask
questions on the volunteer list. I had done semi-pro editing before, just not
for Bookshare.
12 The manuals did not help me but an individual with simple step by step
instructions over the phone did Mayrie things on line to complicated for me.
13 Both the vollunteer manual and the bookshare vollunteer listserv helped
me with my training. They both worked with my learning style. I felt
comfortable knowing that I could ask other vollunteers, and bookshare staff.
14 The most valuable part of my training was the tips and tricks that I
learned from other more experienced, or differently able volunteers on the
volunteer e-mail list. Very often in my early volunteering days, we as
volunteers were troubleshooting ways to
15 My only training came from reading the manual on bookshare. I'm glad
to see that it has been changed to give specifics about proofing. Those
instructions (which I didn't have when I started) will be of great value in my
future proofreading efforts.
16 Questions answered by Mayrie, especially, on the volunteer list, as
well as other volunteers, and Carrie (staff member)
17 Carrie took time to patiently answer all questions and give examples
18 I learned by doing proofing, still not that good.
19 I was trained by asking questions of Monica Wilyard, Mayrie Rene, and
others.
20 I asked questions and learned from responses on the bksvol list.
21 just getting in there and doing it. Also, reading things on the
discussion list.
22 In general, I simply asked questions on the Bookshare lists, and
incorporated responses into my validating style. I also read through the FAQ
document to make sure I was doing it right.
23 I had a friend who volunteers for Bookshare who emailed her procedure
for formatting a book before starting to proofread a book. I was given advice
on saving my work, etc. Kudos to her for her meticulous explanations for
procedures which she demonstrated
24 Use of the Bookshare scanning and proofreading manual.
25 The most valuable is the volunteer listserve. The volunteer manual is
good, but there is only so much a manual can cover. Specific situations are
best handled by asking other experienced volunteers. One area that the
volunteer manual could be improved is
26 I am still learning. I help Robert Tweedy with scanning and spelling on
his part, not my.
27 Read the Validation Handbook. I have a file on my PC I downloaded from
Bookshare that I named Proofreading Tips, but I'm not sure that's what it's
called on the website. It's someone's cheat sheet on tricks for cleaning up
books. I've been scanning fo
28 The manual and especially the Volunteer list. On the list, I was able
to ask questions when I needed information right then and get the answer.
29 Gerald Hovis gave me lessons and helped me to proofread a novel by Tess
Geritson he scanned. He taught me how to insert accents, italics, and other
symbols. He taught me to search for junk characters, to move page numbers to
the tops of pages, to make an
30 My friend Molly O'Sullivan is very helpful with my volunteering. Since
I am sighted and she is visually impaired, she is able to let me know how the
books read from the perspective of someone who can't see the words.
31 the volunteer listserve.
32 I would say the document I refer to most often in volunteer work is the
section written by Mayrie concerning expediting the proofing process in MS
Word. It's in the volunteer manual and I use it for every book I do to ensure
thoroughness, on top of readin
33 Reading the guidelines before I started. They were much shorter then.
34 help by other volunteers through examples and techniques discussed on
the list.
35 The manual has been the most valuable to me and I hope it continues to
be updated as standards evolve.
36 Gerald Hovas, Jake Brownell, and Mayrie ReNae. Pay them to do your
training because they understand scanning and proofreading. The guys in
Bookshare's tech support don't scan books and can't answer questions. When
Gerald moderated the volunteers list, he
37 I think that the most valuable part of my traning was the BookShare
proofreaders manual, especially the section on proofreading with Microsoft
Word. It explained everything explicitly, and did not assume that I would just
know how to do certain things, as
38 When I first volunteered there really wasn't much in the way of
training other than a few documents that were sent to me via email from Jesse,
the coordinator at the time. They were helpful, but the current manual
available is much more so and I have read
39 Monica was instrumental in all my training with scanning and
proofreading.
40 I asked a lot of questions via the BKSVolunteer discussion list. Also
Monica Wilyard and Amber Wallenstein helped me greatly.
41 people on the volunteer list were very helpful, they answered my
questions completely, but wading through copious amounts of email to find the
answers was a challenge at times. also the bookshare manual was helpful for
learning the basics
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