Since there have been some questions about the Accessible World
announcements on the BARD Talk list it might be a good idea to post
something similar to this there too.
On 6/17/2015 7:57 AM, Ann Parsons wrote:
Hi all,
Bob Acosta runs Accessible World. Besides giving a place for an excellent technology weekly program and other interesting audio programs having to do with Old Time Radio, he has graciously opened up his server for several monthly book discussion groups.
If I may be allowed to preempt your screen readers for a moment, I'd like to acquaint you all with the history of these book discussion groups.
Back in the days of yore, some six to eight years ago, an enterprising woman named Pat Price decided that there should be a Friends Of Bookshare group online. It morphed from a discussion list to a group of people who wanted to share their love of books with others. Pat put up a TC Conference server at her home and started a couple of book discussions. One of the first of these was The Mystery Book Discussion group, which I facilitate.
When Pat Died, her good Friend Bob Acosta took over the server and brought the book discussion groups under the Accessible World banner. This is a brief tale of what happened, and the details are not included. However, the point to all this is that the book discussion groups started by Pat Price are still going. You all receive the announcements about them from Bob acosta. These book discussions are archived. You can go at any time to listen or to download them at accessibleworld.org.
In case you all hadn't noticed, many people who are blind or visually impaired are isolated by either location or by age or by inclination. Being able to join a book discussion group that meets every month is a way to meet others and to participate in sharing the love of books we all share.
Everyone is welcome at any of the book discussions. You don't have to commit yourselves to coming every month, though we'd love to get more regulars. Each book discussion group strives to discuss books which can be found both on BARD and on Bookshare; hence the announcements here. There are several book discussion groups: History, Fantasy, Worlds of Books, Banquet of Books, Science Fiction, Novels Old And New, and mysteries. If I've forgotten anyone just let me know.
Anyway, I, for one, am proud to be continuing the tradition started by Pat Price. Mr. Acosta's announcements may seem to be annoying because of their frequency, but if you remember the history of those book discussions, maybe that will help to assuage your irritation. Besides, we all love books, and we wouldn't be here if we didn't, right? So come on along, join a book discussion. Meet people, discuss interesting books. You might even have fun! Oooo, that's a scary thought isn't it?
Ann P.
