[bksvol-discuss] problem noted across books and proofers and software engines

  • From: Valerie Maples <vlmaples@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 03:50:59 -0600

I don't want to stir up a hornet's nest, and my guess is it is virtually out of 
our control, but I am routinely noticing a problem  across books and proofers 
and software engines when I proof with book in hand.  Some will be caught by 
extremely alert proof-readers, but many would not.  The big problem I am seeing 
even from the best scans, quality scanners and good prep, combined paragraphs 
and separated paragraphs are a fairly common occurrence.  Obviously it has 
little impact on the many who convert to audio, but it is a big issue for 
people who read text visually, especially dyslexics like me who get cues and 
attribution of quotes by paragraphing and develop continuity of ideas in its 
presentation.

The only run together paragraph suspect that is easy to identify is if you see 
a quote mark/space/quote mark since that is usually two sets of quotes that 
should have a carriage return between them.  

Am I (and others who produce high quality scans) missing something we can alter 
in our settings to prevent this from happening.  And, are there other easy ways 
besides my current paragraph by paragraph matching to identify other run 
together paragraphs?  Split paragraphs are easier to pick out, but they are an 
issue at times, too.

I am a numbers geek and at first thought It was just me getting confused as I 
read, but then I realized it was happening.  I sampled three good scanners work 
and saw as few as 20 occurrences in a 130 page book to a high of 88 in a 257 
page book.  That can really muddle the mind of a struggling learner, especially 
when quote attribution becomes ambiguous.

Any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Valerie


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