[bookshare-discuss] Re: Missing Annotations

  • From: "Gary Petraccaro" <garyp130@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:35:02 -0500

No.  It's a matter of a publisher doing that for every book they submit.  
Frankly, if the books contained cover material, they wouldn't have to bother at 
all, just submit the complete text of whatever edition including same.  On the 
other hand, how tough is it for someone to copy isbn and check it out on the 
internet?

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Donahue 
  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
  > >
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  >


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