[bksvol-discuss] Re: Why No Book Reviews?
- From: "Gerald Hovas" <GeraldHovas@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 11:47:11 -0600
Robert,
Jim Fruchterman is the head of Benetech, which maintains Bookshare.org.
Bookshare is one of Benetech's literacy projects.
OpenBook originated with Benetech and was sold to Freedom Scientific.
NIMAS is a standard which K-12 textbooks must meet, and DAISY is a standard
for creating accessible e-books and/or audio books, based on other
standards for file formats. According to the newsletter which came out last
month, Bookshare can now produce DAISY books which meet the NIMAS standard.
There was nothing in the newsletter which said that they have brought any
books already in the collection up to that standard, or how many books in
the collection might possibly be revalidated in the future in order to meet
the NIMAS standard.
Here's an analogy as to how DAISY and NIMAS relate. If a teacher gave the
class an assignment to do a paper and required it to be turned in in a Word
document (.DOC file) and required it to contain a table of contents
generated by Word, page numbers generated by Word, and footnotes created
using Word, then that would be analogous to the books being created in DAISY
and meeting NIMAS. I haven't read the NIMAS standard, but from something
that Jim said back in 2005, I expect that DAISY books must include the
capability to move to a specified page, chapter, or section, among other
requirements before they can meet the NIMAS standard. DAISY supports this
and other capabilities which NIMAS requires, but I haven't heard of any
organization making use of the capabilities yet.
HTH
Gerald
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert Woody
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 9:49 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Why No Book Reviews?
Who is Jim? I thought the head guy is called Gustavo. Isn't Open Book
from Freedom Scientific. None of this seems very organized.
The Stephen King book that gave me trouble is Lisey's STory, but other
books do too. What is Daisy? The new software for the Braillenote says it
can read Daisy. Is that the same as nimas?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Elizabeth and Burton" <thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 10:51 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Why No Book Reviews?
> Jim certainly deserves the award. However, he actually won the aware
> for creating what later became open book and did not earn it for his
> bookshare creation.
>
> We volunteers expect a good deal of the staff and of ourselves. Both
> staff and volunteers put a great deal into bookshare. There is always
> room for improvement of course. No improvement of any kind would be
> possible unless bookshare staff did the legal and official work needed
> to keep within the bounds of the copyright laws as they apply to
> disabled folks. I have been with bookshare almost since its founding
> and have been a part of its growing. Both staff and volunteers are
> committed to making it even better. Thank you for being a volunteer
> and being part of our project.
>
> E. volunteers think improvements can be made, At 10:43 PM 1/5/2007,
> you wrote:
>>Dear Robert W.
>>
>>When you've been on the list a while you'll find that we volunteers
>>are on a continuum in the matter of our satisfaction or frustration
>>with Bookshare and its staff.
>>
>>I'm way way at the top of the high end of satisfaction. I'm so proud
>>of Jim for winning the prestigious, well deserved award for his
>>inventive contribution to human well being, bookshare being a part of
>>that contribution.
>>
>>Bookshare still feels like a huge gift, to me, both the downloading of
>>books and the opportunity to validate. It's such a beautiful bubble I
>>still get scared it'll burst! I remember way long ago when I heard in
>>the TV news that Stevie wonder had a reading machine, and feeling
>>sorry for myself because I'd never, ever have that kind of wealth to
>>get a machine like his and I'd never be able to read the print books
>>that I foolishly bought knowing I'd never be able to read them
>>
>>Since Bookshare, not even 2 years ago yet for me, I've donated boxes
>>of those print books to our library book sales because I've either
>>found them in the collection or because Volunteers here at least a
>>dozen of them, have scanned them for me and I've had the thrill of
>>reading them as I validate so don't need to keep the print copies anymore.
>>
>>Yep, I've given up on a few blotchy books, too full of scrambled dots
>>on my braille note to puzzle out, but I've also read the equivalent of
>>piles of great BRF files and have hundreds more waiting for me to find
>>time to enjoy them.
>>
>>To me it's as if we have a super highway through the world of books
>>which, though it might have a few pot holes scattered about still gets
>>us to books that weren't on the map before. It's a highway where a few
>>years ago we didn't even have a path through the forest, where we
>>could have bumped around pointlessly, tired, battered, hungry and
>>frustrated because we'd finally make our way out without a single
>>accessible book to show for our trouble.
>>
>>Sometimes I think contented people aren't as motivated to affirm their
>>satisfaction so I'm sharing my point of view so you can see both sides
>>of the coin. And, I've learned that those of us who express
>>frustration on list help the system to evolve, which it has done,
>>steadily. By the time the elements that need attention are addressed,
>>we'll be after the staff with a new list of must have upgrades.
>>Actually the evolution is pretty exciting and the volunteers here have
>>ingenious ideas that would never occur to me. ,
>>
>>Specifically, I'm not sure when you dropped in but if you give us the
>>names of the books you've had trouble with, some of us may pick them
>>up to rescan, resubmit, validate, and upload. and you'll see what good
>>work we can do. Since you're on the list, maybe we can help you to
>>work on a BSO copy so you can be part of the solution. I'm a slow
>>worker, but last year I validated 4 books that were better versions
>>of inaccurate books in the collection. I think you'll like the feeling
>>you get when a book you've worked on is approved and pops up on the new
books list.
>>
>>I hope you'll have happier reading ahead.
>>
>>Always with love,
>>
>>Lissi
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Woody"
>><spongebob5@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 9:51 PM
>>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Why No Book Reviews?
>>
>>
>>> It doesn't appear that anything changes on Bookshare. Do
>>>people really work there?
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Elizabeth and Burton"
>>><thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 8:40 PM
>>>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Why No Book Reviews?
>>>
>>>
>>>>Cindy, do remember that John and Gustavo are apparently so busy that
>>>>they are having a bit of lag time with volunteers. I just wonder if
>>>>we get them started on adding reviews if they will have less time to
>>>>say approve books or write those helpful additions to bookshare site
>>>>we all ask for describing various aspects of volunteering submitting
>>>>and validating. (smile)
>>>>
>>>>E.
>>>>At 08:19 PM 1/5/2007, you wrote:
>>>>>When I submitted mine recently a notice appeared saying that it
>>>>>would be reviewed and added in a couple or a few days. I'll write
>>>>>and ask John what's going on with that.
>>>>>
>>>>>Cindy
>>>>>
>>>>>--- Elizabeth and Burton <thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> > Bookshare may be not up to putting up reviews just now. Sounds
>>>>> > as if they have all they can handle at the moment. They saved
>>>>> > it I am sure. They used to send out an automated message
>>>>> > thanking the reviewer and saying it would be up on the site as
>>>>> > soon as feasible. I only submitted a couple of reviews and that
>>>>> > was years ago. I wonder though that they would stop the
>>>>> > automated message. I thought it a nice touch at the time.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > E.
>>>>> > At 05:45 PM 1/5/2007, you wrote:
>>>>> > >Hi,
>>>>> > >I submitted a review for the hunt for red october a
>>>>> > while back -- I
>>>>> > >checked three months ago and it still wasn't up on
>>>>> > the site. It's been
>>>>> > >about a year now. smile. That's why I don't review
>>>>> > anymore.
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > >Munawar A. Bijani
>>>>> >
>>>>> ><mailto:munawarb@xxxxxxxxx>mailto:munawarb@xxxxxxxxx
>>>>> > >-----Original Message-----
>>>>> > >From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> > >[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
>>>>> > Behalf Of Robert Woody
>>>>> > >Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 10:10 AM
>>>>> > >To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> > >Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Why No Book Reviews?
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Why are the reviews of books always blank? This
>>>>> > feature is used a lot
>>>>> > > on Amazon,
>>>>> > >but not a bit on Bookshare.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
>>>>> > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To
>>>>> > get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself
>>>>> > in the subject line.
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Cindy
>>>>>
>>>>>__________________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>
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>
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