[bookshare-discuss] Re: Missing Annotations
- From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:01:54 -0600
Good afternoon again everyone,
This is like saying that if one runs their Web site through Bobby it's
free of accessibility bugs. Bobby alone doesn't cut it where Web
accessibility is concerned. The ultimate test of a Web site's usability by
the blind is to have a real living blind individual put the site through its
paces with several screen reading products to ensure its accessibility.
Likewise Duxbury and its kin are software packages for producing
material in Braille. they cannot detect every error or ambiguity that occurs
in the English Language and the translating process. If they could my wife
wouldn't have a job. Like with insuring web accessibility the ultimate test
of the quality of a Braille document's production is for a human to read it
to check for errors. The NLS has understood this for years.
Peter Donahue
----- Original Message -----
From: "EVAN REESE" <mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 9:29 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Missing Annotations
I doubt that proofreading braille copies would be necessary if Bookshare had
good braille translation. I used Megadots in the mid 1990s, which could take
a native MS Word doc file and turn it into excellently formatted braille.
Why Duxbury can't do the same thing is something I cannot understand, unless
it is getting a copy of the rtf file that is already stripped of most of its
formatting.
But finding out why the braille is so poorly formatted in the first place
and procuring a better braille translator, if that is indeed the problem,
would be a much more efficient use of resources than proofreading all the
braille copies.
Evan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 8:37 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Missing Annotations
> Hello Cindy and listers,
>
> How many books have you read that contain a scinopsis or a brief
> annotation at the beginning. It's just a matter of a volunteer or
> publisher
> copying and pasting this information in to the validate along with the
> other
> data and it's done!! This whole business about this requirement being too
> time-consuming is nothing but first-class poppy cock if you asked me! And
> that also goes for Braille titles not being proofread before they're
> posted.
> My wife Mary over heard me writing this note and said, "Amen!!" That's to
> be
> expected from her since she's a Braille proofreader at the Education
> Service
> Center Region Twenty in San Antonio. If Bookshare.org wants someone to
> assist with proofreading their Braille titles they need only give Mary's
> boss a call. All the best.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cindy Rosenthal" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 4:40 AM
> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Missing Annotations
>
>
> The PQ books have been put on the list by bookshare
> staff--certain ones are assigned to this--and at a
> later time they will fill in the synopses. They aren't
> validated by anyone.
>
> For a while Mayrie and I were suppling short synopses
> but it is very time-consuming--not as easy as it
> sounds, Peter, because of the restriction of 250
> characters. I was very relieved to learn that they
> would be supplied later and that I needn't bother
> doing them.
>
> I think I did write and suggest that maybe it would be
> better not to post them until the synopses were
> ready--but maybe I just thought about it. I did
> notice, though, that the PQ books added to the
> collection today all had short synopses, though not
> perfect ones--not really synopses but something that
> gave one an idea of what the book was about.
>
> Sometimes, when I know the book or have read about it,
> if I see a synopsis that is way off the mark, I've
> rewritten it for my list and notified Carrie in case
> they want to take what I wrote.
>
> As Bob said, anyone who had time can write one and
> send it to Allison to be added--we aren't allowed to
> just take what's posted on B&N or Amazon because that
> is copyrighted, but we can use what is on the back
> cover if it is up there.
>
> Cindy Ro
>
>
>
> The problem
> --- "Shelley L. Rhodes" <guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Peter and Bonnie and All.
>>
>> The fact of the matter is that no one writes the
>> synopsis' for the publisher
>> quality books. For a while volunteers were mailing
>> synopsis's to Alice
>> hilliger and she was adding them, I believe she is
>> still doing this. So if
>> you see a book, do some research figure out what it
>> is, write a short and
>> long synopsis and send it to Bookshare they will add
>> it to the database so
>> the book has one.
>>
>> I know right now I don't have the time or energy to
>> devote to that project
>> with the other projects I am doing. have way to
>> much on my plate as it
>> stands, and can't do that too.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Shelley L. Rhodes, M.A., VRT
>> And Guinevere: Golden Lady Guide Dog
>> guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx
>> Guide Dogs for the Blind
>> Alumni Association
>> www.guidedogs.com
>>
>> Though force can protect in emergency, only justice,
>> fairness, consideration
>> and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of
>> eternal peace. -Dwight
>> D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president
>> (1890-1969)
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 6:37 PM
>> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Missing Annotations
>>
>>
>> > Hello everyone,
>> >
>> > For some time I have been greatly troubled by
>> the number of
>> > publisher-quality titles posted to the "Browse New
>> Books" area of the site
>> > with missing annotations or book summaries. Its
>> this brief scinopsis that
>> > often determines whether I feel a book is worth a
>> read or not. I've had
>> > previous communications with the folks at Benetek
>> concerning this matter
>> > and
>> > received a less than satisfactory answer. This
>> problem should be caught
>> > during the validation process and corrected before
>> a book is posted for
>> > membership access. For God sakes it doesn't take a
>> week to extract a book
>> > annotation and paste it in to the appropriate
>> validation field. If I'm
>> > going
>> > to pay a subscription to this service I expect to
>> have access that will
>> > enable me to choose whether to download and read a
>> particular book or not
>> > and I'm sure there are others of you who feel the
>> same way.
>> >
>> > When asked what particular titles were missing
>> a scinopsis I explained
>> > that there are way too many for me to list. For a
>> while an effort was made
>> > to include book annotations in the listings, but
>> the number of titles
>> > which
>> > don't include them is on the rise again including
>> a missing scinopsis to a
>> > book entitled, "Raising Hell" by Ronin Ro.
>> >
>> > I would again urge the folks at Benetech to
>> remedy this problem and
>> > would appreciate the battle joined to ensure that
>> this solution is put in
>> > place. It shouldn't be too much to ask a book
>> publisher to include an
>> > annotation when they send files for inclusion in
>> the collection. Now I'm
>> > done ranting. Here's hoping 2009 will bring with
>> it a solution to this
>> > problem and more ways for us to find information
>> about particular titles
>> > quickly and easily.
>> >
>> > Peter Donahue
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "Given a chance to dream it can be done
>> > The promise of tomorrow is real.
>> > Children of Spaceship Earth the future belongs to
>> us all."
>> > Flying for Me,
>> > John Denver
>> >
>> > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email
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>
>
> WISH LIST (CALLED REQUESTED ADDITIONS TO THE BOOKSHARE COLLECTION)IS
> AVAILABLE AT
> http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/wish_list/wish_list.htm
> www.lljfm.net/bookshare/home.htm
>
> A LIST OF BOOKS CURRENTLY BEING SCANNED IS AVAILABLE AT
> http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
> www.lljfm.net/bookshare/home.htm
>
>
>
>
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