I still have not downloaded one of these human narrated books. I'm just
not ready to start one right now. But I have been doing searches for
them and examining their metadata pages and now I am not so sure that
they are either all from VisAbility nor that they are all that new. I
frequently do searches of the Bookshare catalog and browse it. Until
this announcement I don't recall coming across any human narrated books
before, but suppose that they have been there for a long time anyway. I
suppose that I might have just missed them or I might have come across
them and didn't read down the metadata page far enough to realize that
they were human narrated. But now that I know that they are there and
know how to look for human narrated books specifically I am finding out
things that surprise me. If you click on a title that you know is human
narrated and then read the metadata page it will look pretty much like
the metadata page of any other Bookshare book, but near the bottom it
will say that it is human narrated and give the name of the narrator. I
am thinking that I might have come across them before and just didn't
read that far down. But given Bookshare's vast catalog I suppose I might
just have not come across one before too. Anyway, I already told you
about looking at one that, according to the metadata page, was a
publisher quality book and was published by Warner Books in New York. I
suppose I would have to download it and listen to it to be sure, but
that does not sound like a VisAbility book from Australia to me. But in
addition to that I am looking at the date that the metadata page says
the book was added to the Bookshare collection. Some of them were added
as far back as 2019. That indicates that this is not actually a new
Bookshare innovation. It looks like they started it a long time ago and
just didn't mention it.
On 5/20/2022 10:05 AM, Joshua Hendrickson wrote:
I really like the new human narrated books from bookshare. I was ableTo unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to bookshare-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
to get a book by british author Mandasue Heller that is the exact
version from the audible site in the UK. If it weren't for bookshare,
I wouldn't now have this human narrated audio book to add to my
collection.
On 5/20/22, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Roger, Thanks for that further explanation. It confirms for me, what I'd
suspected. There's no point in my attempting to download any of these books.
All I've ever wanted from narrated books is a clear American voice, reading
with appropriate expression and pronunciation with no dramatization. I
wanted it in the 1970's, and now that I'm almost 85 years old, I want it
even more.
Miriam
From: bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 10:27 PM
To: 'Bookshare-Discuss' <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: human narrated bookshare books; press
release from Bookshare
If you don't like Australian accents you might have a problem with
VisAbility books. Actually, I might better say that if you have a problem
with any accent other than American you might have a problem with these
books. My experience with VisAbility is this. They seem to have their own
recording studios in Western Australia and use Australian narrators, but
they also seem to get recordings from wherever they can around the world. I
have come across book from that source that were originally recorded in
Britain, South Africa and Canada. They even have a few that were originally
NLS recordings This was all prior to Merrakesh. I think Australia has its
own copyright exception that allows VisAbility to just grab any book
recording they can get. It might be commercial or from who knows what
original source as well as their own recordings. And, oh yes, they have
talking books from New Zealand too. They seem to get them from any source
that records books in English. I don't think I ever came across any of their
books that were in some other language. I mentioned that their collection
doesn't give the impression of being very professional and one of the main
reasons is the lack of standard formatting. If you read NLS books you know
what to expect in, say, the front matter. You will get the title, the
author, a synopsis, an estimated reading time, the name of the narrator and
so forth. Then at the end there will be something standard too like when it
was recorded and so forth. In VisAbility books all of that varies. Sometimes
there is not any front matter at all, for example. That is, the book just
starts right in without even an announcement of the title and author. Other
books have front matter, but it varies in what you get. All of this is
likely because the books come from so many sources with different policies,
but the impression it gives, at least to me, is that VisAbility comes off as
a bit amateurish. Now, I have not yet downloaded and listened to any of
these books through Bookshare. Perhaps Bookshare might have done something
to standardize them or make them a better listening experience. That remains
to be seen. On the accents again, I thought I liked British and Australian
accents, but I noticed something on occasion. I can listen to one of those
British or Australian accents narrating a book especially a long book, and
think I am doing really well with it. Then I finish and start a book from
the NLS and find myself feeling a bit of relief at hearing the American
accent. I think what was happening was that I was unconsciously straining
just a little bit to understand the accent and then when I come back to an
accent that I am used to I find myself relaxing even if I didn't realize
that I was not entirely relaxed with the VisAbility book. That sometimes
happens when I switch from synthetic voice to human narration too, but not
as frequently nor so strongly.
On 5/19/2022 3:12 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Thanks for that information. However, since I'm finding many human
narrators to be more and more irritating, I suspect I won't be happy with
many of these books, especially if their narrators have Australian accents.
Miriam
From: bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 2:24 PM
To: 'Bookshare-Discuss' <mailto:bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: human narrated bookshare books; press
release from Bookshare
Bookshare is highly oriented toward schools. In fact, if you check the
Bookshare most popular downloads list regularly you will see that the first
several pages are mostly books that would be assigned in school or else are
children's books. That probably explains why the press release seemed to be
addressing teachers. Apparently it was a press release especially for
teachers. However, if you follow those instructions for calling up the human
narrated books and start browsing the ten thousand or so results it will
become apparent that this is not just for children or students. And if these
books come from the Australian VisAbility library I can attest from my
personal experience that only a minority of them are for children.
On 5/19/2022 9:45 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Unlike many folks on the DB Review list, I don't read children's books.
Miriam
From: bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Schneider, Katherine
S.
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:37 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: human narrated bookshare books; press
release from Bookshare
I’d guess you could use them; they’ll never know if you’re a teacher, a
grandma or just someone who knows that sometimes kids’ books are the best!
Kathie
From: bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 8:48 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: human narrated bookshare books; press
release from Bookshare
So, it sounds like this is a special program for students, not a program for
every Bookshare user.
Miriam
From: bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:bookshare-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > On Behalf Of Schneider,
Katherine S.
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 9:27 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] human narrated bookshare books; press release
from Bookshare
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Katherine Schneider, Ph.D.
Senior Psychologist, Emerita
Counseling Service
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
<mailto:schneiks@xxxxxxxx> schneiks@xxxxxxxx
Author of Hope of the Crow, Occupying Aging: Delights, Disabilities and
Daily Life, To the Left of Inspiration: Adventures in Living with
Disabilities and a children's book Your Treasure Hunt: Disabilities and
Finding Your Gold
Blog: <http://kathiecomments.wordpress.com/>
http://kathiecomments.wordpress.com
