[bksvol-discuss] Re: Headers, pages, and the future

  • From: "Charlene" <caota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 11:13:21 -1000

So, wouldn't it be in the best interests of everyone to not strip the
books?  And, I keep meaning to mention this, if the stripper is retired
and sent elsewhere, then the books should be uploaded again with their
old headers, chapter titles, page numbers and the like intact again.  It
seems like I read recently that bookshare still has the files after
validation and before they were stripped.  I'd like to see that included
in our request.
 
Charlene
 
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rick Ely
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 9:42 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Headers, pages, and the future


Though this is not a comment on what the stripper does or does not do at
any given time, I do want to comment on the long discussions regarding
the presents of headers and page numbers for the future. Though as users
we can elect to download a Daisy copy of a book, those copies are not
examples of fully implemented Daisy books. The DAISY/NISO Standard is a
means for creating accessible media that may or may not include human
voice recordings. If actual text is use, it can be marked up to greatly
enhance its delivery and accessibility. Headers, footers, page numbers
and many types of text structure can be indicated. With a fully
functional player or reader, one could choose to show headers 
or page numbers or to effectively turn them off. Someone wishing to read
through a book ignoring pages or footnotes could do that, while a
student needing to know a page number of a particular quotation could
have access to that structural information. 
 
If the books that volunteers produce have no headers or page numbers,
then obviously no one now or later can determine just where they are in
the print equivalent of that book. When, in the near future, there is
full implementation of the DAISY/NISO Standard, the value of a
collection like that of BookShare or the Gutenberg project  will be
determined by how much structural data is present in the digital text.
If there are no page numbers, then they cannot be marked and it will not
be possible to jump to page 247. For any of you who have found the
correct page in a book by listening to little beeps, then the notion of
entering a page number and accurately landing there must seem magical.  
 
As readers, we are at a very early stage in digital access. I am sure
that BookShare wishes they could fix that stripper this Monday  and use
all of the DAISY/NISO  features next week. What is important to remember
is that the "Halfblood Prince" was available the same day it was
released in print. In the days when NLS was the primary source for
accessible books, that production would have taken nine months to a
year. It is volunteers who have changed all that. If those volunteers
allow  the annoyance of the stripper, to stop them from submitting, then
we, at some level, surrender our rights to timely, broad, access to
information.
Rick

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