[bksvol-discuss] Re: Headers, pages, and the future

  • From: Pat Ferguson <fergent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 07:58:15 -0500

Amen! Charlene!

Perhaps they could put together a committee to do this task, and call it the Stripper Committee <grin> lol. Oh I couldn't resist that! lol.

Pat Ferguson
At 04:13 PM 7/23/05, you wrote:
So, wouldn't it be in the best interests of everyone to not strip the books? And, I keep meaning to mention this, if the stripper is retired and sent elsewhere, then the books should be uploaded again with their old headers, chapter titles, page numbers and the like intact again. It seems like I read recently that bookshare still has the files after validation and before they were stripped. I'd like to see that included in our request.

Charlene

-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rick Ely
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 9:42 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Headers, pages, and the future

Though this is not a comment on what the stripper does or does not do at any given time, I do want to comment on the long discussions regarding the presents of headers and page numbers for the future. Though as users we can elect to download a Daisy copy of a book, those copies are not examples of fully implemented Daisy books. The DAISY/NISO Standard is a means for creating accessible media that may or may not include human voice recordings. If actual text is use, it can be marked up to greatly enhance its delivery and accessibility. Headers, footers, page numbers and many types of text structure can be indicated. With a fully functional player or reader, one could choose to show headers
or page numbers or to effectively turn them off. Someone wishing to read through a book ignoring pages or footnotes could do that, while a student needing to know a page number of a particular quotation could have access to that structural information.

If the books that volunteers produce have no headers or page numbers, then obviously no one now or later can determine just where they are in the print equivalent of that book. When, in the near future, there is full implementation of the DAISY/NISO Standard, the value of a collection like that of BookShare or the Gutenberg project will be determined by how much structural data is present in the digital text. If there are no page numbers, then they cannot be marked and it will not be possible to jump to page 247. For any of you who have found the correct page in a book by listening to little beeps, then the notion of entering a page number and accurately landing there must seem magical.

As readers, we are at a very early stage in digital access. I am sure that BookShare wishes they could fix that stripper this Monday and use all of the DAISY/NISO features next week. What is important to remember is that the "Halfblood Prince" was available the same day it was released in print. In the days when NLS was the primary source for accessible books, that production would have taken nine months to a year. It is volunteers who have changed all that. If those volunteers allow the annoyance of the stripper, to stop them from submitting, then we, at some level, surrender our rights to timely, broad, access to information.
Rick

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