[Athen] Bookshare manual was ] Great news, for Bookshare.

[Daryl Murphy]

Opps, sorry but you still need to log in to get there.  How about saving
the html page to a pdf or word doc and then post it.

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Kestrell
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 12:02
To: James Bailey; Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] Bookshare manual was ] Great news, for Bookshare.

Here is the link to the manual. It is also downloadable, though I had to
log 
in and go to the volunteer page before I could find the link, which was 
named "Volunteer Manual."

http://www.bookshare.org/web/VMMain.html

Kes

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Bailey" <jbailey at uoregon.edu>
To: "Access Technologists in Higher Education Network"
<athen at athenpro.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Athen] Great news, for Bookshare.



>

> 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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>> >

>> >

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