[Athen] Great news, for Bookshare.

[James Bailey]

How do we get a copy of the Bookshare scanning/formatting manual? /jb

--
James Bailey
Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
Office: 541-346-1076
jbailey at uoregon.edu

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007 13:18:52 -0400, "Kestrell" <kestrell at panix.com> wrote:

> Another point to keep in mind is that one of Bookshare's strengths is its 

> reader volunteers. Many of these readers are college students and college 

> graduates who are far more knowledgeable about digital formats and 

> formatting concerns than the DSS providers to whom they have to keep 

> explaining about new tech. I say this as a former student who had to often 

> explain to the DSS office about scanning technology like Kurzweil, 

> converting text to Daisy or mp3, etc. Bookshare just released its first 

> manual for scanning and formatting books, and I expect this will become 

> increasingly sophisticated as time goes on.

> 

> Kestrell

> 

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Robert Beach" <rbeach at kckcc.edu>

> To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" 

> <athen at athenpro.org>

> Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 1:08 PM

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Great news, for Bookshare.

> 

> 

> > Another point to remember is that BookShare is already partnering with 

> > colleges and universities to collect their scanned books.  So, they may 

> > not necessarily have to hire staff who are knowledgeable in textbook 

> > publishing in order to produce good quality books.

> >

> >

> >

> > Robert Lee Beach

> > Assistive Technology Specialist

> > Kansas City Kansas Community College

> > 7250 State Avenue

> > Kansas City, KS  66112

> > Phone:  (913) 288-7671

> > Fax: (913) 288-7678

> > E-mail:  rbeach at kckcc.edu

> >

> >>>> "Michael O'Brien" <obriemic at hvcc.edu> 10/3/2007 11:33 AM >>>

> > All good points, except Bookshare doesn't merely scan books, it cleans 

> > them

> > up.

> >

> > Mike

> >

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

> > Behalf Of Robert Martinengo

> > Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 12:02 PM

> > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network

> > Subject: [Athen] Great news, for Bookshare.

> >

> > The $32 million given to Bookshare certainly speaks well about their 

> > ability

> > to score big grants, but I remain skeptical about the substance of this

> > award. I'm waiting to get a copy of the proposal from the DoE, but I'd 

> > like

> > to offer a few cautionary observations.

> >

> > Bookshare doesn't have much experience with textbooks. Their collection is

> > primarily novels, mysteries, sci-fi, and romance. They are going to need

> > serious upgrades to their infrastructure, and much better relations with

> > educational publishers, both of which money can buy.

> >

> > They rely heavily on volunteers, as does RFB&D, but volunteers don't 

> > really

> > enjoy textbooks (As a former studio director for RFB&D, I should know).

> > Bookshare will have to hire staff with educational publishing experience.

> >

> > Saying they "expect to add over 100,000 new educational titles in high

> > quality DAISY and Braille formats over the next five years", is a dubious

> > claim, for several reasons.

> >

> > First, its not the size of the collection that's important (RFB&D had

> > 100,000+ titles before they went digital), it's speed and specificity

> > - having the right book at the right time.

> >

> > Second, textbooks present challenges to Braille production that require

> > skilled human transcribers, not just automatic translation, and the issue 

> > of

> > tactile graphics must be addressed.

> >

> > Third, DAISY/NIMAS textbooks also have plenty of challenges that have yet 

> > to

> > be dealt with, and students are going to need major amounts of training 

> > and

> > support to make effective use of them. Math, and other symbolic texts,

> > remain a huge challenge.

> >

> > The point is, to succeed with this grant, Bookshare will have to transform

> > itself from a cozy, volunteer community in to a professional provider of

> > professional services. They will try to have it both ways, but it wont 

> > work.

> >

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