[bksvol-discuss] Re: changes in books and volunteering

  • From: "robert tweedy" <roberttweedy@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:10:50 -0500

I do too and another thought comes to mind, there are some that are more advanced than others but if the submitter takes the time to take out the errors and such, it makes everyone's job easier, just my two cents. ----- Original Message ----- From: "siss52" <siss52@xxxxxxxxxxx> 

To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 5:37 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: changes in books and volunteering



Bob, I salute you.  This is a wonderful post!!

Sue S.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob" <rwiley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 5:23 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: changes in books and volunteering


I think we can all agree that bookshare has changed.

Every day we get a list of the new books added to the system, and it's
normally at least fifty books or more. Once we were lucky if we got fifty
books a week.

We now have a choice of downloads, daisy or Braille, and sometimes we can
choose daisy with or without images.

The clientele for bookshare has changed too. Bookshare isn't just for the
blind anymore.

Most of us look back with some sense of loss (them was the good ol' days).
But as I see it, I welcome these changes. This is a long long way from where 
I started getting books via the internet. My first books were downloaded
from newsgroups and illegal sites that rose up to fill a need.
Volunteering for bookshare has also changed. Books rated fair are no longer 
accepted, submitters and proofreaders are asked to do much more, including
changing the fonts of chapter headings etc.

As I see it if volunteering for bookshare becomes a thing of the past, it
will be because we can't, or won't, keep up with the other changes going on. 

Roger, and others, have asked some wonderful questions. The main one, I
think, is, is there a future for volunteers, and my answer is there will be a future, if we make it so. Frankly, I'm enjoying being part of that future. 

Just my opinion.
Bob


"We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us
will live on in the future we make,"
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Goodin" <goodindo@xxxxxxx> 
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 3:05 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] changes in books and volunteering



Hi all,

I have been feeling for some time that the blind/braille community is
becoming almost an afterthought here at bookshare.  I agree with the
person who said that bookshare is getting away from its original mission, 
perhaps broadening it, but in broadening it, also focusing  more on the
reading issues of other groups.  More and more I find that  when I submit
a book to bookshare, I have to produce two copies, one  for myself, and
one for Bookshare.  Honestly, I'm not sure how much  more of that I am
willing to do.  I also wonder if it's really  realistic to have a
one-size-fits-all approach to formatting.  It  makes total sense that the
needs of a user who is sighted like Judy,  would be different from the
needs of someone like myself who is not.   For example, the first thing I
do when I pull up a book in MS-Word, is  make the font size uniform
throughout the document. I find that getting rid of large fonts makes the 
editing process much easier.   Similarly, I don't care about page
numbering in fiction books, and I  don't want to have to forward my
braille display through a line of  dashes, another line that says "blank
page"  and then another line of  dashes.  Bookshare seems much more
willing to ask me to put up with  that, than to say that a sighted user
should have to live without  enlarged chapter headings. I'm not sure what
the answer to all this  is, but I will say that I've been feeling unhappy
for a while now  about what I'm seeing coming out of Bookshare.
Best,
Donna
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