[bksvol-discuss] Re: Clarification: Elegible books for bookshare
- From: Scott Rains <scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:04:07 -0700
At the risk of some literate Bookshare volunteer telling me that this sounds
like a rule from Alice in Wonderland, unfortunately the answer is "no." The
source for volunteer-submitted books must be a physical book.
Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Judy s. [cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 12:59 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Clarification: Elegible books for bookshare
Scott, how about this situation regarding a PDF?
The author has published a printed version of a book. The author
then decides to make available, via the web, at no charge, a
complete PDF version of the book. The PDF is unreadable for the
blind, however, because each page of the book has been reproduced
in the PDF as an image of that page. The entire book is contained
within the PDF, including title page, blank pages - everything.
Could a volunteer take that PDF and run it through OCRing
software and then submit the book?
Judy s.
Scott Rains wrote:
> This discussion helps explain why specificity is essential. Without access to
> the source a quote a great deal of time is consumed asking for clarification
> and, when that is not forthcoming, speculating out of context.
>
> The link to the relevant Chapter of the manual is below:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/26r4ht5
>
> The relevant subsection is "c. Cannot be proprietary digital books"
>
> Here reference to "Digital books from other accessible book providers..."
> means the actual files from a publisher or other library such as from "such
> as an RFB&D digital book or a Library of Congress (NLS) Web-Braille book."
> These actual files cannot be submitted to be entered into the Bookshare
> library. "In other words, a book must be scanned by the submitter in order
> for it to be acceptable by Bookshare."
>
> This does not mean that a scanned copy of a physical version of the of a
> particular title cannot be added to the Bookshare library if that title shows
> up in another digital library. Some who have commented seem concerned that
> there might be some restriction on digital books being limited to only one
> library at a time. There is no such restriction. Think of a physical library
> as the example. Saint Louis public library can have the same titles as Little
> Rock but you would get an overdue notice if you tried to return one library's
> book in the other state!
>
> It may be helpful to further clarify in light of the separate running
> question on .PDF files.
>
> Yes, Jim and Betsy indicated in the letter below that Bookshare has need for
> volunteers to work with a backlog of publisher-supplied .PDF files. We are
> working with Collection Development to establish the policy, processes, and
> training materials for this future opportunity.
>
> Note that working in the future with .PDF files supplied by the publisher
> directly to Bookshare will not change the prohibition on volunteers
> attempting to submit commercially available e-books, digital books received
> from other providers such as an RFB&D digital book or a Library of Congress
> (NLS) Web-Braille book, or digital books provided to a student by their
> school which the school received in digital format from a publisher.
>
> Clearer nowr?
>
> Scott Rains
> Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
> ________________________________________
>
> Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 11:32 AM
> To:
> bks_announce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Dear Bookshare Volunteers,
>
> We wanted to give you some thoughts on the critical importance of volunteers
> to Bookshare and its mission of getting everybody in the world with a print
> disability access to the books they need for education, employment and full
> inclusion in society. Although there’s been a lot of change in Bookshare,
> one thing that won’t change is our need for volunteers that share our
> dedication to that mission.
>
> Bookshare is the first library for people with print disabilities built
> primarily by people with print disabilities (as well as book-lovers of all
> types!). Our credo has been that if someone thought a book was worth
> scanning, we thought it was worth sharing. We knew that people with
> disabilities had few choices for accessible materials, and that scanning was
> a frustrating and slow process.
>
> The volunteers built Bookshare into a potent force for equality: we’ve
> revolutionized a field that was falling far short of meeting the goal of
> equality when it comes to access to the printed word. And you’ve worked with
> us to revolutionize the quality of our scanned books through meticulous
> proofreading. Thanks to partnerships with over 60 publishers (especially a
> handful of huge trade publishers), we have now been able to add thousands of
> new titles to Bookshare electronically, delighting our users. Scott and Pavi
> have shared with us, and our management team, some of the negative impacts
> this has had on the morale of some of our volunteers. This is especially
> true when a publisher-supplied version of a title displaces a
> volunteer-supplied version of that same title.
>
> We know some people feel like that’s not respectful of their volunteer time,
> or that somehow their volunteer time was wasted. I hope you realize that it
> has been the potent force of our volunteers creating Bookshare that has
> brought so many modern publishers to the table, since we can tell them that
> we already can scan all of their books, but providing it electronically will
> save us time and the cost of buying a book, chopping it, scanning it and
> proofreading it. The two things they want in return from us is to publicize
> their social responsibility and replace our scanned versions with the version
> they supply. The replacement issue is pretty much a standard requirement:
> publishers want to be assured of the quality of their books we’re
> distributing. For the publishers it’s built into the publishing culture, they
> do believe their original product is superior and that this requirement
> implements their contractual responsibilities to the authors, even though
> most readers wil
l c
>
> oncur that these are also not perfect. While there are exceptions, the
> value of having 15-20,000 publisher supplied books over a year to our users
> is incredibly high.
>
> These publisher partnerships are a terrific way to help advance our mission,
> in terms of quality, quantity and uniquely, reach outside the United States.
> But, they are not going to replace our need for volunteers. We have a long
> way to go to deliver equal access to our users, and the market is going to
> fail to fill these needs for the foreseeable future (even as we applaud the
> recent accessibility work of Amazon, Apple and Google).
>
> Let me give you some ideas of the gaps that still exist:
>
> · Older books, specialty books, or simply books that aren’t in the top
> 5% of sales during the years since 2000. While it makes sense for us to
> invest the effort of the amazing Robin Seaman, our Publisher Liaison, and our
> engineering team to support a publisher who can give us 4,000 titles at once,
> there aren’t very many more of those big name publishers, but there are over
> 25,000 publishers.
>
> · Proofing PDF files. The bulk of publishers in the U.S., and almost
> all publishers in the developing world, don’t have the modern XML
> capabilities of the major trade publishers. We are getting tons of PDF books
> from these publishers, which need volunteer effort to convert into accessible
> form.
>
> · The international challenge: new titles, new publishers, new
> languages and new communities of Bookshare volunteers in other countries who
> would benefit from mentoring. Americans have Bookshare, but the average
> person with a print disability has nothing. We have so much more to do
> globally!
>
> · Proofing textbooks. The textbook industry is way behind the
> technology curve and Carrie is sitting on stacks of hardcopy textbooks sent
> in by teachers from around the country.
>
> · Metadata. Even if we have something, it only helps if the person
> looking for it finds it. We can use significant volunteer help cleaning up
> the information about our information.
>
> · Quality improvements. Improving quality on older, lower quality
> books.
>
> · Image description. A huge challenge that our field has barely begun
> to scratch the surface of. Our publisher contracts do allow us to add them
> to the publisher-supplied books and we recently received a major award over
> five years from the Department of Ed for the DIAGRAM Center, to research and
> then develop technology to reduce the cost of doing image descriptions. The
> centerpiece is developing tools for better and faster volunteer image
> description. Stay tuned!
>
> The list goes on. While the need for volunteer work on major trade books of
> the last five years is going down as these come in directly from publishers,
> these other needs are acute.
>
> Our responsibility is to get better at communicating with volunteers about
> our needs, and about what’s going to be happening. Our technology roadmap
> has numerous improvements planned around improving visibility on these issues
> so that you can avoid doing those books that are likely to come in directly
> in from the publisher. But, there are and will be thousands of opportunities
> for volunteer tasks that are unlikely to ever be done any other way than
> through volunteer efforts. We really want to create systems where having
> volunteer work displaced quickly by publisher supplied content is a rarity.
>
> We hope you’ll find personally rewarding volunteer opportunities now, and in
> the future, with Benetech. For those of you who aren’t excited about the
> changes, we understand. But, please be 100% clear: Bookshare volunteers
> have been the primary force for revolutionary change in accessibility of
> books. There are many thousands of students and adults with disabilities
> that have far greater access to the printed word thanks to your past efforts.
> But, the revolution is far from finished: we’re serving 100,000 people today
> and there are over 100,000,000 who need Bookshare on the planet. We hope
> you’ll continue to volunteer your time in helping realize the vision we all
> share of equal access for everyone who needs it!
>
> Jim Fruchterman & Betsy Beaumon
>
> ************************
> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Candice Attrill
> [candicat87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 5:52 PM
> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Elegible books for bookshare
>
> I cirtainly hope this is not true for the reasons that Kim
> statedabove. What would be defined as accessible? What's accessible to
> you or me might not be accessible to every blind person due to
> disability. For example there are allot more audio books available
> from NLS than braille books, and even the daisy versions of these
> books could not be read by a deaf blind person unless they have some
> remaining hearing and a loop. RFB and D dispight many arguments also
> does not make the text of a book match up with audio so it could be
> read on a braille display.
> Candice
>
> On 8/14/10, Kim Friedman <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I think there's a lot of audio that deaf-blind people find inaccessible,
>> hence putting in accessible text copies in Bookshare if the only copies
>> available in NLS is in audio. Regards, Kim Friedman.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
>> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 9:59 AM
>> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Elegible books for bookshare
>>
>> That's what I was thinking. It has never been true and I would be interested
>> in knowing where that guideline was found. I think something must have been
>> misinterpreted about it. In any case, though, let me add that it might not
>> be a bad rule to follow. That is, if a book exists in accessible format
>> elsewhere I think it should be given a lower priority for adding to
>> Bookshare. Note that I did not say that it should be entirely avoided. It is
>> a simple matter that it is already in accessible format somewhere and there
>> are other books that are not in accessible format anywhere. It is those
>> latter books that should be given priority.
>>
>>
>> _ _ _
>>
>> "Those who produce should have, but we know that those who produce the most
>> - that is, those who work hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial
>> tasks, have the least." - Eugene V. Debs
>>
>>
>> The Militant:
>> http://www.themilitant.com
>> Pathfinder Press:
>> http://www.pathfinderpress.com
>> Granma International:
>> http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "EVAN REESE" <mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 10:10 AM
>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Elegible books for bookshare
>>
>>
>> MessageThis is certainly not true. To the best of my knowledge, it has never
>>
>> been true.
>>
>> Evan
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Andy B.
>> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 8:37 AM
>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Elegible books for bookshare
>>
>>
>> From what the guidelines say, the book can't be in any other "book
>> accessibility" format at another place like RFB&D, NLS/BARD and so on. Is
>> this still true? If it is, I fear that a lot of bookshare books need to go
>> away then.
>>
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