[bksvol-discuss] Re: email from an author of a book I scanned, additional comments
- From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:59:01 -0400
Hi all,
After attending the Victor Reader Stream webinar last night for an
hour, I was reminded again of the huge difference digital books have
made in our lives. As one who is totally blind and has been so for
fifty-five years, I can attest to the truth of this simple statement.
When I was a child, the only books I could read myself were either
huge, bulky braille volumes that took a long time to read for me, or
the talking books that came on huge big 33-1/3 records. There weren't
that many books. I never got to read best sellers until two or even
three years after the books came out.
My parents had books, lots of them. Every room in the house had print
books in it, even the bathrooms, but those books were closed to me. I
couldn't read them.
Today, with the advent of Bookshare and the NLS and the other digital
books, I now have a library at my fingertips. I can choose to read a
book any time of the day or night. I can choose to read a book at
03:00 in the morning if I want to do so. If I don't have that book on
my computer, I can go to Bookshare and if it is available, I can
download it in seconds! I can download a daily newspaper, something I
couldn't do up until about ten years ago.
The bottom line is that finally, a blind person can do just like every
other self respecting child or adult in the world, go to a bookshelf,
scann it, and pull out a book and start reading it whenever the Hell I
want to do that; at 03:00 in the morning, at noon, at 4:30 in the
afternoon; on Christmas Eve, on March 3rd, on July 9th, or on October
10th. If bookshare makes this possible for me, then, that's not
stealing, that's access!
Ann P.
--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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