[Nfb-history] Proposal and Ideas for Archiving NFB Audio Content

Tue Jun 29 03:50:16 UTC 2010

Hello Mike and everyone,

    I'll second that motion. Let's not forget the work involved in marking 
up text and editing audio for placement on a Web site. Knowing one's screen 
and media player navigation commands goes a long way to managing content 
created in large files. If folks want to avail themselves of Web content of 
this nature it's their responsibility to have the needed hardware, software, 
and computer literacy skills that will allow them to enjoy these offerings.

    I'll also put in a plug to urge folks to consider investing in high-end 
recording equipment if we're to produce content worth listening to. Some 
folks here in Texas got the third degree from me due to having placed 
poorly-produced audio on one of our affiliate Web sites a few months ago. 
And this after turning down an offer from me to record the event in function 
so it would be of high quality. Mary and I took the plunge last year and 
purchased $1000.00 of professional recording equipment. The results of some 
of this investment can be heard on our national site: www.nfb.org with more 
to come.

            In the past year this equipment has been flown to two NFB events 
and will be bused to Dallas for this year's national convention. There are 
lots of events worthy of recording. I hope that others in the group will 
follow our example and invest in similar equipment so the material we 
produce and place on the group and affiliate Web sites will be a pleasure to 
hear. I'll be doing six events at this year's national convention two of 
which will be historic in nature. The trouble is I don't have the ability to 
clone myself and my equipment. This army needs more foot soldiers with 
first-class artillery!

Peter Donahue

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB History Support List" <nfb-history at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-history] Proposal and Ideas for Archiving NFB Audio 
Content

Tina:

I favor the large files. You ought to read the whole book anyway! And you 
can set bookmarks as you go! IMO we should assume some level of computer 
literacy or device literacy. I realize my view may differ from some but 
spoon-feeding people irks me to the extreme! (grin)

Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tina Hansen
  To: Nfb-history at nfbnet.org
  Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 11:40 AM
  Subject: [Nfb-history] Proposal and Ideas for Archiving NFB Audio Content

  I am pleased to see that we're finally beginning to offer some of our 
literature as online audio. Yet there is one problem: the inability to find 
a speech of interest within these large documents. I recognize that if we're 
going to allow better access, some way needs to be done to find an 
individual article within these larger documents. I have a few ideas on what 
can be done about this, based on what I've seen in the general audio book 
market. I want to list the pros and cons of what I've seen and get the 
group's ideas.

  Option 1: User Downloads Large Segments: This is what's being used now for 
the two books on the site: Walking Alone and Marching Together and the book 
on Dr. Jernigan.

  Pros: Each part is a single file, making it somewhat easier to download.

  Cons: Can't find an individual speech or article. For instance, I may want 
to discuss a speech or article with others, but unless I was able to find it 
and set a bookmark, I'd not be able to do so.

  Option 2: Split the material into small files. I've seen this approach 
used by at least one audio book company when offering their titles for 
download.

  Pros: Easier to find an individual speech of interest. For instance, I may 
wish to find a speech by Dr. Jernigan that I want to discuss with others, 
and for the discussion, I could use it apart from the larger book.

  Cons: More files to download, manage and organize.

  Option 3: Zip File. Whichever option we go with, use of a zip archive 
could work. I know that we're doing this for each issue of the Monitor.

  Pros: Whether the archive is a book like Walking Alone or one of the 
kernel books, the whole thing can be downloaded at once.

  This way, if I was to download the material, I could set it to download, 
go do something else, and only check back periodically. Dial-up users could 
get the download started before they go to bed, but those who are broadband 
users would be able to work on it while doing something else.

  Cons: Not everyone knows how to unzip archive files.

  Option 4: DAISY

  There's been a great deal of interest in DAISY access, and I'm surprised 
we've not explored this option, at least, to the extent that we could.

  Pros: Parts don't need to be split up into small files, thus the whole 
thing could be packaged as a zip file for download. Markup could be done by 
someone who knows about DAISY.

  Cons: Even though DAISY players are becoming more common, they're not in 
the mainstream. Many in the blind community still don't have these players.

  What do others think of these comments? Thanks.

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