[bksvol-discuss] Re: Adult Content
- From: "Lisa Gorden-Cushman" <crysania@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:03:59 -0800
When I was a kid, I would keep reading a book if there were sexual content,
and laugh a little at the adults who didn't know what I was reading.
Perhaps it would be good to have a little look out for parents.
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 11:28 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Adult Content
I don't see the relevance either. I have never either read or not read any
book because it either did or did not contain sexual content. Again, if you
don't like the book, whether it is because of the presence of certain words
or descriptions of virtually anything or for any other reason, you can just
stop reading it. It is completely beyond reason to expect other people to
read your mind and to pick and choose and label books for you so that you
will never get one that you do not like,. That goes for teens and kids too.
If a child picks up a book that contains something that the child does not
like or finds objectionable then the child will most likely get bored and
just stop reading it. The whole idea that adults need to decide for children
what they can and cannot read is offensive to me.
On 11/10/2012 1:09 PM, Sandi Ryan wrote:
I have read BARD books since I was ten, and have never once picked a book
simply because it did or did not have the symbols indicating "Explicit
descriptions of sex, strong language, or violence." I suspect some people
use those designations as a positive reason for choosing certain books, but
I have always believed that if I chose only those books without such
designations, I'd miss out on an awful lot of real life.
Your choice is your own, but I see no reason for Bookshare (or the BARD, for
that matter) to judge the contents of books. It might be helpful for kids
and teens, but in those cases, if the parents are concerned, they should
pick what books their kids can read.
Sandi
----- Original Message -----
From: Ali Al-hajamy <mailto:aalhajamy@xxxxxxxxx>
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 12:02 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Adult Content
In addition, there is no way that we can relabel all 170000 books currently
in the collection to reflect what kind of language they contain or if there
is violence and sex. I suppose, if you really, really cared, you could
create a program that counts every instance of swear words, and would insert
some kind of label such as "strong language" into the book's metadata, say
the short or long description, based on the number of times it found
"obscene" words in the text, but why do that? If our experience is to mirror
that of the able-eyed user at a bookstore or library, adding such labels
would be counterproductive to that goal, since the sighted don't have giant
stickers on their books that say that a book has swearing and sex. And such
a program would only work for strong language, since different writers use
different words to describe violent and sexual situations. Your best bet if
you're sensative and want your books to be free of that kind of thing is to
read reviews and excerpts rather than make everyone else do the work for
you.
On 10-Nov-12 12:51, Roger Loran Bailey wrote:
I will say this again. There is no way possible to know that you will not
like a book until you read it. You might get an idea by reading reviews and
listening to people discuss books, but you will not actually know until you
try it. You should also not expect other people to filter your books for
you. Their opinions of what you will or will not like may not be the same as
your own opinions. For that reason I would suggest that books just be
submitted in the same manner as any other book no matter what kind of
language they might contain. If a proofreader turns out to not like it then
that proofreader can just release it.
On 11/9/2012 8:03 PM, Cindy Rosenthal wrote:
Hmmm. But what about our sensitive members who don't like to read books
with profanity or explicit sex; should we, raher than label them AC, put
some kind of warning somewhere? Does what we put in the Comments section
get attached to the book fle? I'munder the impression that those comments
are only for the book share administrators, e.g. like errors in punctuation
and spelling are as they are in the print book.
I think I have in the past put such "warnings" in the synopsis or somewhere
but told it didn't belong there.
Cindy
On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 2:53 PM, Madeleine Linares <Madeleinel@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi everyone,
I thought it was about time for a refresher course in what we mean by Adult
Content (also known as "AC"). There has been some confusion (off-list) and
I've noticed it incorrectly marked in the Approval Queue.
Here is a note from our Collection Development Manager on our definition:
"Our policy, developed in conjunction with our OSEP funders, is that there
are certain kinds of content -- explicit depictions of sexual acts with no
redeeming social value, as well as extreme and gratuitous violence -- will
require a minor to get an adult guardian's permission to access. As a
"content-neutral" collection, we will never exclude a title for any
potentially controversial or distasteful content, but we will tag some
content for adult (or minors with a guardian's permission) use only. The
idea is that parents can control the access their kids have to content
deemed potentially inappropriate -- but they don't have the right to control
or limit access to anybody else's kids.
The "walking into a bookstore or library" test continues to be a good one.
Could a non-print-disabled kid walk into a good bookstore or public library
and get a copy of this book without an adult being involved? If the answer
is yes, a print-disabled kid should be able to do the same on Bookshare. We
are not interested in placing additional barriers to access for our members
that their peers do not experience. This means we do have stuff available
to members under 18 that has sex, and swearing, and violence, and substance
abuse in it, and that is okay and in keeping with the generally recognized
standards of "freedom to read" policy in this country.
We don't have a perfect implementation of this policy yet -- I see evidence
that we were a little more strait-laced in the early days (and fix it when I
come across it), and our automated filtering from publisher feeds still
needs some fine-tuning. When I'm trying to navigate something particular
"gray area-y" like the steamier of the romances coming in, I ask myself
about the intent -- is the action (even if hot and heavy) designed to move
the characters towards relationship, or is the plot driven only by the need
to get body parts intermingling again? It's the latter that's clearly AC,
while the former continues to be ambiguous. Author intent is, alas, pretty
gray-area-y and subjective itself, but I think it can help separate the
sheep from the goats."
Adult content is confusing and clearly not black and white. Many romances
(such as a lot of the Harlequin ones), though certainly racy, should not be
labeled as AC. A 16-year-old could walk into a book store and buy ones of
those books just as easily as a 38-year old, although his or her parents
might not approve and might consider the content inappropriate. Anyway, just
thought it couldn't hurt to remind everyone!
Feel free to contact me with questions, as always.
Best,
Madeleine Linares
Volunteer Coordinator
Bookshare, a Benetech Initiative
650-644-3459
madeleinel@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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