[bksvol-discuss] Volunteer Poll: Cookbooks

  • From: Scott Rains <scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 15:23:31 -0700

Volunteers,

The strategy for adapting to the PQ influx that we have discussed  here 
recently has emphasized looking at small publishers. The assumption has been 
that volunteers would continue to work on books of Level 1 and Level 2 
difficulty. Yet Bookshare will continue to have books of greater difficulty.

Recently we have heard from volunteers celebrating their first cookbooks - real 
skill stretchers. Maybe cookbooks can be an enjoyable Level 3 and beyond 
training ground for some?

I would like to evaluate the level of volunteer interest in working explicitly 
on cookbooks. I am raising this on-list because there are multiple issues to be 
resolved, such as fractions, and multiple perspectives are helpful in resolving 
them. 

Keep in mind that raising the issue do not necessarily mean that we will take 
cookbooks on as a volunteer project. Cookbooks come to mind because of the 
recent celebrations on the list.  From Bookshare's perspective it would be 
valuable to see a pioneering group organize itself around developing the 
techniques for tackling the toughest books whatever their content. You may find 
that cell phone or refrigerator repair manuals hold greater interest for you as 
a place to stretch skills and techniques but let's see if there is something 
for us to learn from cookbooks as a first example.

A couple questions for the list or privately to me:

If you have done a cookbook what difficulties did you encounter?
Were you able to complete the book or did you team up with someone or have to 
give up on it?
If you teamed up what did that involve?
What good scanning or proofing solutions did you invent or discover in working 
on a cookbook?
Do you have advice for others who might want to tackle their first cookbook?

Thanks

Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
 To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line.  To get a list of 
available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.

Other related posts: