[bksvol-discuss] Re: Bookshare & PQ submission
- From: "Jackie McBride" <abletec@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 20:02:16 -0700
well, why not weigh in--what the heck?
I think the 1st problem is gonna be that pq books may be given to
Bookshare in formats that may not be particularly conducive to reading
by blind folks, e.g., in columns, without picture descriptions, & a
hole host of other things. Fine for sighted folks--not so fine for
blind folks--& the publishers have no idea what it is that we as blind
readers actually need. I don't know what arrangements they've made
regarding that, but I can foresee a whole host of problems. *If,
however, they will replace books in the collection that have errors
w/those that don't, & do it in a readable format, that is a good
thing. They say that antidisestablishmentarinism is the biggest word
in the English language. I disagree--I say the biggest word is "if". &
that, right there, is a *big* if. Having said that, I do agree that
many of the books in the Bookshare collection, even those rated
"excellent", are not of the best quality, so I hope against hope that
those books really are replaced by superior ones. I know people who
won't join bookshare cuz they object to paying for books that contain
mistakes, sometimes a lot of them, no page numbers that they can use
for research citations, & a whole plethora of objectsions along
quality lines. So if books in the collection really can be replaced
w/perfect books, I say gopher it! But I think the jury is still very
much out.
The next 2 things I'm gonna say are pretty clichet. The 1st 1 is,
"remember to dance w/the 1 who brought you." So, those at Bookshare,
listen up! U got where u are today because u stand on the shoulders of
the volunteers that made it possible w/their hours of work. & after 5
years, if the money goes away, those volunteers are all you'll have
left, provided, of course, that u take 'em along & don't just say "to
heck w/'em--we're bigtime--we got money now." I'm afraid I see a trend
that Bookshare is gonna become another RFB&D. We don't need another
RFB&D. Not that they don't do good work--quite the contrary--they do
great work--but what bookshare has been is principally a library, not
a textbook repository. I fear that because of the way the grant is
forcing them to go, that mission is going to be lost in the shuffle.
If the role of the volunteer is going to be changing, that's fine--but
let the volunteers know what it is the organization needs from them &
make sure they understand u value both their past & future
contributions. Cuz I think what I'm hearing from some volunteers is
that they feel their mission to scan & validate books may soon become
unimportant. & I guess if Bookshare actually does get every book from
every publisher, which I doubt, then they're right. So, if the
emphasis is going to be on pq books & textbooks, what is the role of
the volunteer? Is it going to be to help w/converting the pq books to
a more suitable format, or what?
Lastly, money talks--veritably screams, actually. & w/money comes the
ability to do what it is u wanna do, & also strings. Bookshare right
now, I think, is going thru some real growing pains. They went from
famine to feast literally in a matter of hours. Suddenly they're in a
position to reach a lot of people w/a lot more hopefully better
quality books. It's heady stuff. But w/the money comes terms to adhere
to, goals to reach, folks to whom they're accountable--not just their
subscribers & volunteers, but government agencies, e.g., strings. The
emphasis may shift--a little or a lot. The ways of doing things may
change--a little or a lot. Hopefully Bookshare will find a way to
bring its volunteer community along, because, after all, that's what
it is--a community--& I think that the loss of that community is what
many volunteers fear. If it does, it'll have far more wealth than the
$32 million, which is absolutely nothin' to sneeze at (wish I had it
lol). It'll have both the money *&* a grassroots community, & that, to
my way of thinking, is an unbeatable combination.
There's another clichet--if something doesn't make sense, it's usually
cuz of a dollar sign. I'd actually like to rephrase it & say, that if
somethin doesn't make sense, it's because some1's tellin some1 else
what they gotta do w/the money they're given. Hopefully Bookshare will
find a way to reconcile its grass roots beginnings & mission w/a
bigtime grant & bigtime strings. I sincerely wish them well.
Yall take care.
On 8/8/08, E. <thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Cindy have you ever read a less than excellent rated book yourself?
>
> I mean, since you do not actually have a print disability, have you
> ever experienced what "less than excellent" actually means in real
> life for an entire book? Believe me when I say it is torture.
>
> It is a fact that many books with "excellent" ratings are not in fact
> "excellent" in reality.
>
> E.
>
>
> At 07:14 PM 8/8/2008, you wrote:
>>No, No. I agree with what you say. I have only asked that books that
>>are indeed excellent not be replaced. As someone suggested recently,
>>it would be very nice if we could know when books were added to the
>>collection so that we could know if a title is a BSO that has
>>replaced a Fair or Good book and is now excellent or if it is not so
>>readable. If there were two copies of a book in the collection, a PQ
>>and a volunteer-processed one, if a reader downloaded the latter and
>>it was not as good as the PQ one he/she could tell Carrie or someone
>>and that book could be removed from the collection and the PQ one
>>remain. On the other hand, there have been comments here that the PQ
>>books are not perfect and have problems. If a reader downloaded a PQ
>>book and wasn't happy with it he/she could try the volunteer one and
>>if it was easier to read could read that one. He'd have a choice.
>>
>>It's pie-in-the sky,though--whatever that means--since at the moment
>>it isn't going to happen--but I wish it would, just so people could
>>have a choice and read whatever copy is best and easiest to read.
>>
>>Cindy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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--
Change the world--1 deed at a time
Jackie McBride
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