[Dtb-talk] Bookshare.org, internet archive and other automated DAISY production

[Greg Kearney]

I have been thinking of late about the various attempts to generate DAISY from fully automated systems such as seems to be the case at Bookshare.org, Internet Archive and some other sources.

The issue I have with these books is that their DAISY structure does not reflect the printed book. In most cases that I have seen the book is a single long heading level 1 with perhaps page numbering in place. In many cases these page numbers are again not reflective of the printed book, for example I have found books with duplicate page numbers. For example where there is a page number 4 in the front matter and a page number 4 in the body matter.

More troubling however is the lack of navigation to chapters and other subsections of the books. This is of particular concern in non-fiction text.

Am I just being overly picky here? What do you all think?

Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
Email: gkearney at gmail.com