[bksvol-discuss] Re: Awesome - 151,663 Titles on Bookshare

  • From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2012 23:11:17 -0700 (PDT)

I must take issue with your comment that "no" words can cover all the detail in 
a picture that an eye can take in a single glance. It does,however, take a 
great many words. If you look at some of the early children's books for which I 
described pictures, you'll see they are very detailed--including the pictures 
on the walls, the furniture  in rooms, the clothes the people wore, what the 
people looked like, what food was fallng from the sky, and more; I was so used 
to being very detailed in my picture descriptions that I kept on when I 
described the various photos and pictures in Medals of Honor; especially when 
it was pointed out that many blind people had no idea what the medal of Honor 
was or what some of the statues and locations that I identified looked

It occurred to me, later that it was not necessary in adult books that I later 
proofed that I had to describe the illustrations; I could just identify them. 
When I began describing images for the Poet Project, I continued being detailed 
in my descriptions; check the descriptions in the the early pages  of Glencoe 
Health book. Then I was told that the image descriptions should be *short* 
complete sentences; so I stopped describing what the person looked like and 
what he/she was wearing and the surroundings. I wish I could remember which 
history book the textile mill photo is in. That description took a great many 
words (and time) to describe.
Cindy




>________________________________
> From: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
>To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 5:20 PM
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Awesome - 151,663 Titles on Bookshare
> 
>Actually, I think a picture is worth so many times a thousand words that the 
>count is unimaginable. That is, no description can possibly cover all the 
>detail in a picture that a single glance can take in.
>On 6/22/2012 6:05 PM, Chela Robles wrote:
>> And, you do know a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
>> 
>> -- "Passion is a great motivator. Music is a life-long learning experience."
>> -- Chela Robles
>> Facebook/Linked-In/E-mail/AIM/GoogleTalk: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx
>> Windows Live Messenger: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> E-Buddy ID: cdrobles693
>> Skype: jazzytrumpet
>> Learning Ally Blog A Lady And Her Trumpet feel free to post comments by 
>> filling out the form on the page at: http://tinyurl.com/84tucwv
>> I volunteer for Bookshare, to find out more and to volunteer with us,visit: 
>> http://www.bookshare.org/
>> Join us in celebrating our 10th Anniversary!
>> http://tinyurl.com/752cyrs
>> Need more space, come join dropbox and start with two gigs of free space as 
>> is this is my referral link to you: http://db.tt/XpUTe0E
>> -- 
>> On 6/22/2012 3:00 PM, Ali Al-hajamy wrote:
>>> It may sound odd, but even as a blind participant who has never had sight 
>>> of any sort, illustrations are important to me because I read many fictions 
>>> which use illustrations in an effort to produce a certain desired effect 
>>> with pictures, and even just knowing what is on the page is enough to get 
>>> me involved enough in the book to feel the effect they're trying to 
>>> accomplish. Two examples are The Raw Shark Texts, by Steven Hall, and The 
>>> Tunnel, by William H. Gass. In the former case, at one point, the main 
>>> character falls out of a ship and into water, and a giant shark made 
>>> entirely of words and information (it's complicated) begins to swim through 
>>> the water twoards him. For maybe forty pages, the picture of the shark is 
>>> printed on the page, and it keeps getting larger and larger. Because each 
>>> page had a description of the shark swimming
 twoards the character, growing with each page, my experience of the book was 
more enhanced than if I didn't have those descriptions. My reaction to the rest 
of the book was mixed, but that was one trick which I thought worked very well. 
It was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
>>> The Tunnel is a more complicated case.
>>> (SPOILERS AHEAD! It doesn't matter since I can't think of anyone here [or 
>>> anywhere, really] who would be interested in reading that book, but just in 
>>> case...)
>>> It is about a college professor, called William Frederick Kohler, who is 
>>> working on his hypothesis concerning the Germans, called Guilt and 
>>> Innocence in Hitler's Germany. he has almost completed it, save for the 
>>> introduction, but cannot manage to write those final pages:
>>> "It was my intention, when I began, to write an introduction to my work on 
>>> the Germans. Though its thick folders lie beside me now, I know I cannot. 
>>> Endings,
 instead, possess me. all ways out.
>>> 
>>> Embarrassed, I'm compelled to smile. I was going to extend my sympathy to 
>>> my opponents. Here, in my introduction, raised above me like an arch of 
>>> triumph, I meant to place a wreath upon myself. But each time I turned my 
>>> pen to the task, it turned aside to strike me.
>>> 
>>> As I look at the pages of my manuscript, or stare at the books which wall 
>>> my study, I realize I must again attempt to put this prison of my life in 
>>> language."
>>> 
>>> He begins to write an extended meditation about his own life instead of the 
>>> introduction to the book he thought he had to have. Around two hundred 
>>> pages in, he also begins to dig a tunnel out of his basement, creating his 
>>> own physical metaphor and giving the books title duel meanings. We, the 
>>> readers, are tunnelling into his thoughts, he is tunnelling out of the life 
>>> he hates, with the new book he is writing about himself he is
 tunnelling away from the hypothesis he can't finish. And all the tunnels lead 
to a dead end. (There's a point to this, I swear). Gass uses numerous graphical 
tricks to immerse you in the experience. Drawings, cartoons, at one point, a 
page that is made to look like a crinkled grocery sack, ETC. I haven't read the 
entire book yet, but one that stands out at me is the very last page. Kohler 
has created his own imaginary political group, called the party of the 
Disappointed People, yet he knows that this, like everything else, would be a 
failure because it's the type of party few would want to admit they've joined. 
At the end of the book, he is in ruins. His wife is leaving him, he has nearly 
been buried alive by his tunnel, he doesn't know what the point to both his 
books was:
>>> "Write no more propaganda for the PdP. Achieve dignity Sport a swatch of 
>>> Shawwhite beard bleached to remove cig stains, and trimmed square to greet 
>>> the face of its
 maker. In short, to abide. In the last hamlet of feeling. I'm inclined to say 
why not? Sure. Or dump every dirty drawer onto my desk--wasn't that really 
Martha's suggestion?--till the desk's hid, as well as Tabor's turning chair and 
the floor which firmed our feet, covering the pages of my History as my History 
sheeted me; there to let my words wait, like the disappointed people bide, 
before they try life again. Meanwhile carry on without complaining. No arm with 
armband raised on high. No more booming bands, no searchlit skies. Or shall I, 
like the rivers, rise? Ah. Well. Is rising wise? Revolver like the Führer near 
an ear. Or lay my mind down by sorrow's side."
>>> 
>>> The final page simply contains the symbol for the PDP. I've likely mangled 
>>> everything in my description, because I haven't read the entire book, I've 
>>> never had to put my admiration for it into words like this, and there's so, 
>>> so much more to it than what I've just
 described here, so the effect is always diminished if you haven't read the 
entire thing first, but to have gone through everything we have with Kohler for 
651 pages, to have tunnelled with him, so to speak, and then to read his final 
declaration, followed by that reminder of his final failure...It's quite 
devistating. And I don't think I would have experienced the book in that manner 
if the images were not described. I don't even need an especially detailed 
description, though it helps, just something to signify what is on the page. 
And Bookshare staff and volunteers do both wonderfully.
>>> 
>>> Tl;dr (too long; didn't read) version (since I think there might be one 
>>> person who has read this entire message):
>>> I REALLY LIKE THE DESCRIPTIONS THEY'RE VERY HELPFUL AND MAKE THE 
>>> BOOK-READING EXPERIENCE BETTER!
>>> 
>>> On 22-Jun-12 15:40, Judy s. wrote:
>>>> I just looked at the new version of Bookshare's
 entry page on the website (http://www.bookshare.org). I love the new feature 
on the right hand side of the page that's a counter of how many books are in 
the collection.  As of today, there are 151,663 titles.  That is totally 
awesome.
>>>> 
>>>> As a sighted but disabled member, I'm also grateful for and thrilled by 
>>>> the number of publisher quality books that have entered the collection in 
>>>> the last 18 months with the original illustrations intact.  I haven't read 
>>>> a book where I can look at the illustrations for over 20 years.  Way to 
>>>> go, Bookshare!  I'm psyched about the POET project to get illustrations 
>>>> described. It gives me hope that eventually everyone can have access to 
>>>> both illustrations and good descriptions of the illustrations in the 
>>>> future.
>>>> 
>>>> Judy s.
>>>> 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.
>>>> 
>>> 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.
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
>
>
>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:

  1. Home
  2. bksvol-discuss
  3. Archive
  4. 06-2012