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

[Kestrell]

Perhaps this is going to seem ironic, but since this manual was not made 
publicly available from the main Bookshare.org page, and technical writing 
is usually considered to be copyrighted material, I am not sure I can 
publicly distribute this manual.

Perhaps someone with more direct contact with Bookshare administrators could 
request that this manual should be made available on the main page?

Kes

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Daryl Murphy" <dmurphy at collegeofthedesert.edu>
To: "Access Technologists in Higher Education Network" <athen at athenpro.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Athen] Bookshare manual was ] Great news, for Bookshare.



> 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.

>>> >

>>> > _______________________________________________

>>> > Athen mailing list

>>> > Athen at athenpro.org

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>>> >

>>> >

>>> > _______________________________________________

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>>> >

>>> >

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>>>

>>>

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>>>

>>

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