[Athen] Great news, for Bookshare.

[Robert Martinengo]

I appreciate the feedback. I'm not saying Bookshare wont do good
things with this money, but big money can lead to big disappointment.
There needs to be accountability and feedback - something which the
government doesn't always do well, bless their bureaucratic little
hearts.

On 10/3/07, James Bailey <jbailey at uoregon.edu> wrote:

>

> 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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