Hi Roger,
Well, that’s not true. Early on, when BS staff first started scanning wish list
books in-house, the scans didn’t get any cleanup and they were terrible. It
was embarrassing how terrible they were. When some of us complained we made the
same point as you—volunteers were expected to ensure that scans met some
minimum standards.
They’ve improved a lot, but they do still have problems. But we also have a few
scanners who don’t do any better.
Deborah
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey ;
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 8:51 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Judy <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for other deranged perfectionists
It appears that the Bookshare staff is doing exactly what they encourage us not
to do, submitting raw scans that have not even been looked at before they are
submitted.
___
Carl Sagan
“Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder
and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to
nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will
prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront
the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the
Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will
penetrate its deepest mysteries.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
On 6/5/2020 7:10 PM, Judy wrote:
Hi Lissi,
Bookshare is scanning Wish List books in house. They are intended for all
volunteer proofreaders, not just for sighted volunteers.
I wholeheartedly agree that the wish list book quality is substandard.
The place to complain to is Bookshare, and I would encourage everyone who is
frustrated with the quality of the wish list scans to do so. I've been grousing
to Bookshare about them for at least two years, as have at least two other
volunteers I know of who are equally as frustrated with these scans. There have
been some minor improvements on some specific issues, but they have a long way
to go to match the quality of most volunteer submitted scans
With wish list books the PDF isn't the file that is to be proofread. In
addition to the usual OCR rtf file created, Bookshare is also creating a PDF
file. The PDF file is made by collating all of the scanned images of the book.
Each page in the PDF corresponds to a page in the book, and is an image of that
page.
I've found for myself that these PDFs are helpful in at least 3 ways.
First, if you are a sighted volunteer and you encounter a problem in the book,
you can request the PDF and look at the actual image of the page of the book
and figure out. Obviously that's only helpful if you are sighted.
Second, anyone, sighted or not, can contact Bookshare staff when they encounter
a problem in a wish list book, explain the problem and the staff member can
look at the PDF and find the solution.
Third, if the OCR that was done on the book is awful, which is true for some of
the wish list books, this type of image based PDF can be OCRed again, with
adjustments in the OCR package for better recognition, without rescanning the
book.
Judy
On June 5, 2020 5:20:24 PM CDT, Estelnalissi <mailto:airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Valerie, Judy, Beverly and Booksharian Friends,
First I don’t understand PDF very well because my JAWS doesn’t read it but how
can you proofread that kind of file if it isn’t RTF?
Second, I believe those books are prepared by an out sourcer. Can’t they be
expected to deliver books prepared to a higher standard? Are they paid. Are
they adults? Books I’ve proofread from the wish list are full of invisible
optional hyphens, speak in foreign languages with JAWS, have invisible text
that won’t allow me to delete it in the normal ways using Word 10, Have missing
portions of pages. I’ve had to buy the books I’ve done so Evan could rescan
many pages. The dust jackets aren’t scanned at all and I feel Bookshare members
deserve the right to read the book jacket information like any other sighted
reader.
Our volunteer scanners do a far better job scanning books. If the out sourcers
are paid, then why not pay scanners a nominal sum per book in actual money?
Third, Did I read correctly that wish list books aren’t meant for blind
volunteers? That makes me feel overlooked, and left out as if offering wish
list books for blind proofreaders is too much trouble for Bookshare which was
founded because blind people were sharing their scans of books. So sad.
I remain here, grateful to be able to proofread, which I love doing more than
anyone could believe.
Always with love,
Lissi
If you use
From: Judy <mailto:cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2020 9:24 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for other deranged perfectionists
*grin*
Judy
On June 4, 2020 8:16:44 PM CDT, Evan Reese <mailto:mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Oh well, I didn’t know that.
So I guess my advice to buy the book is kaput. <smile>
Evan
From: Judy <mailto:cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2020 9:01 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for other deranged perfectionists
Hi Valerie,
Every wish list book scanned by staff has a pdf available from staff that
contains a scanned image of every page.
Send an email to volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ,
tell them you are proofreading a wish list book that you'd like to have the PDF
for, and list the title and the author. They will send you a link that lets you
view the PDF online, and that will let you download the PDF as well.
Judy
On June 4, 2020 7:46:44 PM CDT, dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In recent weeks I have picked up a couple of books off the wish list on
checkout. One of them is a YA book set in Hawaii with a lot of dialect. I have
put a ton of work into it already, realizing that the scanning had not only
stripped most of the italics, but had inferred traditional words in place of
dialect words. I guess my question is more often for sighted volunteers, but
how often do people feel the need to have confirmation from the physical print
in trying to achieve high accuracy? I'm debating about the necessity of paying
$6.50 to have the Kindle copy available to continue making corrections. The
first chapter was available as a peek and it made me realize how much was
missing or improperly handled in the scan. Money is tight, and I hate to spend
the money, but I've also already invested so much in getting this to where it
is now that I almost feel compelled.
Everyone's thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Valerie
