[bksvol-discuss] Re: picture description bog down
- From: "Lori Castner" <loralee.castner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:21:33 -0700
Hi, Lissi,
That is a tough call. I love to have picture descriptions in books, and
there being there is one of the glories of Bookshare. In addition, your
descriptions of things are so detailed and absorbing that they are a true
benefit. If I were to read the Jane Austen book--which I will when it gets
into the collection--the descriptions would add to the book and be a whole
other dimention to the text.
However, of equal significance, you should not over do; you should do what
you can do and if adding detailed descriptions is a strain and if no one can
assist with the project, then let the descriptions go. Submitting and
validating for bookshare prompts us to provide the best work possible, and
in this case possible for you may mean no detailed picture descriptions.
Bottom line: do what you can do.
Cat Lover Lori
----- Original Message -----
From: "Estelnalissi" <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 11:22 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] picture description bog down
Dear Booksharian Friends,
I'm moving slower than road construction in two books. After so much time
and work I would be sorry to give them up, but I have to face facts that I
don't have the ability to see details or the visual endurance to continue
trying to describe the pictures and both are very picture rich.
The first is a Portrait of Jane Austen by David Cecil. The title means
portrait in two senses. It's a portrait in words based on extensive
research and use of letters of the people involved, and literally a visual
portrait as it is heavily illustrated with portraits of the people in
Jane's life and the places where she and her family lived and visited.
After months I'm only up to page 79. I've spent so many hours that I don't
want to give up, but without help maybe I should. The illustrations show
so much about that time, the late 18th and early 19th centuries. For
example, there's a vast room, which I'm guessing, is 20 feet high. I can't
imagine how they heated such a room, but I think it's there. I think there
are 2 or 3 tiers of windows separated by impressive vertically ridged
pillars with ornate carving at the tops. This is a beautiful book. The
prose are fascinating to a fan of Jane Austen's writing, but the pictures
lend a reality the text never touches.It is 206 pages long. Maybe someone
with sharp vision could pick and choose some which pictures to describe.
The other book is Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure Secrets of Ancient Egypt by
Lila Perl, for middle grade children. Here again I think the pictures show
wonders not described in the text like how mummified bodies and Egyptian
art looks. It's a Scholastic oversized soft cover book which is 120 pages
long. The print of the captions for photographs is smaller than the text,
too small for me. I'm only on page 12.
If anyone will volunteer to help with picture descriptions, I can validate
the text in a few days.
And if no volunteers have time or the interest to take on these, what seem
to me to be demanding books, then I'd be interested in what what those of
you who can't see pictures think I should do. If enough of you don't think
it's awful for me to skip the picture descriptions and get on with
validating, then that's what I'll do, relieved of guilt and glad to
complete validating within a short time from posting this letter.
At its best my corrected vision was 20/200 but as well as I was able I
used to love art and described pictures to my students.In some books the
pictures aren't that important, but when they are, I feel a void leaving
them out or not being able to interpret them myself.
Advice and or help are welcome.
Always with love,
Lissi, suffering from over-renewal syndrome
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