[bksvol-discuss] Re: request of submitters

  • From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:14:08 EDT

The problem with providing a check box to indicate that one has done a less 
than thorough job of proofreading is that it sends the message that less than 
thorough proofreading is perfectly acceptable.

                  "Philosophers have merely interpreted the world in various 
ways; the point is to change it." Karl Marx     

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[bksvol-discuss] Re: request of submitters   
Date: 
3/22/2009 5:50:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time  
From: 
mirxtech@xxxxxxxxx  
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When I first became a volunteer I thought that the minimum requirements for 
proofreading were good enough too. But then I am sighted and I had no idea of
all of the things that can go wrong with a book that VISUALLY looks good to 
me on my screen. After joining this list and getting to know many of you and
reading nearly every message even when it takes me days to get caught up, I 
understand the need to really read the books that need proofread, which is
why I generally only proofread things that need sighted help. What I see on 
my screen just isn't always what it really says. 

I know Bookshare has always had pretty minimal requirements for proofreading, 
but since they are evolving and becoming better and offering better quality
books, I would like to think that eventually they would be requiring more in 
what is needed for proofreading. Maybe not reading every single word--although
I have become convinced that is the ideal situation--but spending enough time 
with the book to make sure it is as close to great as possible. The biggest
problem, as was pointed out to me, is that if staff says spend more time with 
the book, what is to stop the proofreader from just waiting 2 hours and 
uploading
it later? 

Once I suggested some checkboxes on the check in page: one for check here if 
you have read every word of this book and one for check here if you have at
least run a spell check, verified all of the pages are present with page 
breaks and verified the copyright and title information. Then at least staff 
would
know if the book was read cover to cover and then if there was a significant 
pattern of problems, that could be addressed.  

I imagine there are volunteers who have no idea that some people read every 
word of the books they proofread. I had no idea when I was a new volunteer. 

My big issue with my own scans is that I do not have the patience to read 
every word of the scan on the computer screen. I do watch it as it goes through
the OCR process and Omnipage flags every darned little word it thinks is 
wrong so I can verify it with the print book while I still have it and then when
I am done I page through the entire file counting pages (something I learned 
to do on this list), making sure each one has a page break (Omnipage isn't
perfect in that regard), and looking for things that don't look right. It's 
the only way I feel comfortable submitting a book I don't read on the screen.
It's just that that process isn't fail proof and I feel more comfortable 
having my name on a submit when I know it's really been looked over well--not
even actually read cover to cover but looked over "well". 

I wish that before people could submit books or proof read books there would 
be little acknowledgement things to initial online like after you've read this
section of the manual you initial and hit submit. Yes, that doesn't guarantee 
a person read it, but then staff could say you initialed this that you read
it. 

But anyway, maybe someday Bookshare will require a bigger commitment out of 
the proofreaders than they do now. They have demonstrated they are committed
to providing quality books for members so I am certain that day will 
come--it's just a matter of deciding how to enforce it once a policy is decided 
upon.
You can see the huge stumbling blocks with that process. Unlike a scan, which 
is tangible because you can see it and count the pages and know whether or
not it is complete, a proofreading is more intangible because you have no 
idea what a person really did with the scan without actually proofreading it
yourself and comparing it to the original submit. If Bookshare does that, 
then Bookshare doesn't need proofreaders, right? 

Time for me to go to bed! 

-- 
Jamie in Michigan
Currently Reading: Witnesses of War by Nicholas Stargardt
www.michrxtech.com/books.html



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