[bksvol-discuss] Re: paragraphs for validators, general question

  • From: "Estelnalissi" <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 00:46:38 -0500

Dear Natasha,

I sense that you understand my point in preserving the paragraphs. They have a 
structural and literary story in a book, too. If  you read with a club or 
class, people often start at the third paragraph, or notice what the author 
wrote in the fifth paragraph.

Though I think it didn't work, I was going for the three space indent as the 
nearest approximation of keeping the author's form in tact, not forcing braille 
readers to have to skip blank lines on their e readers and because a 2 cell 
indent is standard for braille and a 5 character indent is common in print 
indentation. 5 spaces is kind of a chunk of wasted space for a braille reader, 
but indenting only two spaces might be a little murky for all sighted readers 
to pick up easily. I thought 3 spaces saved some space for braille readers and 
was quite for print readers. Paragraphs as used by authors with lyrical writing 
establish a rhythm and pacing in a story, too.

My goal is to submit a book as conceived by the author, editors and publishers 
with changes intended to keep the format in tact and most easily perceived by 
braille, visional and auditory readers.

I don't understand everything about page breaks, either, but I make sure page 
breaks divide the pages in the same places they begin and end in the scanned 
text. 

You know we repair broken words including those where part appears at the end 
of a page and the rest begins the following one. we're going for the smoothest 
reading for the most readers and for respecting books as they were copyrighted. 

Grab those Narnia books. The movie is out tomorrow.

Always With Love,

Lissi
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Natasha 
  To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 5:00 PM
  Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: paragraphs for validators, general question


  Cindy makes a good reminder here all, while the population of bookshare users 
who are blind/visually impaired far outnumbers those users of bookshare with 
other print disabilities (or at least it would seem that way by the 
participants on this list and my own encounters) there are still bookshare 
patrons who are sighted and may have a learning, reading, or even physical 
disability that prevents them from being able to read printed books. I'd think 
that it would be rather annoying/inconvenient to some of these sighted users to 
receive a book that had zero indication of paragraphs. I think since a majority 
of us booksharians are blind/vi, we tend to forget that there is a whole 
additional population out there that also use/benefit from bookshare's 
wonderful e-texts. As a courtesy to them, i always try to include some kind of 
indication of new paragraphs, graphs and pictures, etc. These same things may 
also benefit low vision users of bookshare who may even just use a screen 
magnifier to read bookshare materials. Too much uninterrupted text was very 
overwhelming to me as a high partial reader and often caused my eyes to tire 
more easily/quickly. 
  So, my point is, let's be just as conscious of the needs of the other 
individuals who use bookshare as we are of the needs of the blind/vi users. 
After all, we never know when our own needs and the abilities of technology 
will change. *smile*

  Natasha & Fossey
  guidingpaws@xxxxxxxxx

  "Footsteps in the snow 
  suggest where you have been, 
  Point where you are going,
  But where they suddenly vanish,
  Never dismiss the possibility of flight."
    ~Book of Night With Moon, ch. 11, V. 3
       ~ as quoted in A Wizard Alone, by Diane Duane

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