[Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for directions andpatterns?

Sun May 9 22:42:36 UTC 2010

Hi Marrianne:
There a couple methods of solving those annoying visual captias. It's a 
program called web visum. It is an add on to the mozilla firefox browser. 
You need to sign up for it at www.webvisum.com
 the way it works is that when logged in, which once it is installed will do 
automatically when you open your browser, you press control alt 6. It solves 
the captia and places it into your clipboard ready to paste into the edit 
box. It is much easier than trying to listen to audible captias.   -----  
Original Message ----- 
From: "Marianne Denning" <mdenning at cinci.rr.com>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for directions 
andpatterns?

>I tried to sign up but I coldn't understand the audio that I needed to 
>type. It seems like those are always hard to understand.  I guess I will 
>wait until my husband gets home tonight and try again.  It sounds 
>interesting.
>
> Marianne Denning
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Dixie" <blueherons at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" 
> <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:52 PM
> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for directions and 
> patterns?
>
>
>> Project puts 1M books online for blind, dyslexic
>> By BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer Brooke Donald, Associated Press
>> Writer
>> Thu May 6, 11:14 am ET
>>
>>
>> .SAN FRANCISCO - Even as audio versions of best-sellers fill store 
>> shelves
>> and new technology fuels the popularity of digitized books, the number of
>> titles accessible to people who are blind or dyslexic is minuscule.
>>
>> A new service being announced Thursday by the nonprofit Internet Archive 
>> in
>> San Francisco is trying to change that. The group has hired hundreds of
>> people to scan thousands of books into its digital database - more than
>> doubling the titles available to people who aren't able to read a hard 
>> copy.
>>
>> Brewster Kahle, the organization's founder, says the project will 
>> initially
>> make 1 million books available to the visually impaired, using money from
>> foundations, libraries, corporations and the government. He's hoping a
>> subsequent book drive will add even more titles to the collection.
>>
>> "We'll offer current novels, educational books, anything. If somebody 
>> then
>> donates a book to the archive, we can digitize it and add it to the
>> collection," he said.
>>
>> The problems with many of the digitized books sold commercially is that
>> they're expensive, they're often abridged, and they don't come in a 
>> format
>> that is easily accessed by the visually impaired.
>>
>> The collections are also limited to the most popular titles published 
>> within
>> the past several years.
>>
>> The Internet Archive is scanning a variety of books in many languages so
>> they can be read by the software and devices blind people use to convert
>> written pages into speech. The organization has 20 scanning centers in 
>> five
>> countries, including one in the Library of Congress.
>>
>> "Publishers mostly concentrate on their newest, profitable books. We are
>> working to get all books online," Kahle said.
>>
>> Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, says 
>> getting
>> access to books has been a big challenge for blind people.
>>
>> "Now, for the first time, we're going to have access to an enormous
>> quantity," he said.
>>
>> Maurer, who is blind, said that when he was in college, he hired people 
>> to
>> read books to him because the Braille and audio libraries were so 
>> limited.
>>
>> "That has been the way most students have gotten through school," he 
>> said.
>> "This kind of initiative by the Internet Archive will change that for 
>> many
>> people."
>>
>> Only about 5 percent of published books are available in a digital form
>> that's accessible to the visually impaired, Maurer said, and there are 
>> even
>> fewer books produced in Braille.
>>
>> Ben Foss, a San Francisco man with dyslexia, says having so many more 
>> books
>> available is liberating. He compares it to a million more ramps being 
>> added
>> throughout a city for a person who uses a wheelchair.
>>
>> "For me, it's about access. They have provided flexibility and freedom to
>> get books in a format that I use every day," said Foss, 36, who is the
>> director of access technology in the digital health group at Intel Corp.
>>
>> The digitized books scanned by the Internet Archive will be available for
>> free to visually impaired people through the organization's website. The
>> organization does not run into copyright concerns because the law allows
>> libraries to make books available to people with disabilities, Kahle 
>> said.
>>
>> Jessie Lorenz, an associate director at the Independent Living Resource
>> Center San Francisco who has been blind since birth, said it has been 
>> hard
>> to find controversial or edgy titles in a format she can use, and choices
>> are often dictated by institutions or service groups who have selected
>> certain books for scanning.
>>
>> "For individuals living with print-related disabilities, this is
>> groundbreaking," she said. "This project will enable people like me to
>> choose what we read."
>>
>> Lorenz, 31, has already decided what she wants: Howard Stern's 
>> autobiography
>> "Private Parts," Andrew Weil's "The Natural Mind," and, perhaps most
>> importantly, her grandmother's cookbook.
>>
>> ___
>>
>> On the Net:
>>
>> The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org
>>
>> The National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.org
>>
>> Open Library: http://www.openlibrary.org
>>
>> Copyright C 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.Questions or
>> CommentsPrivacy PolicyAbout Our AdsTerms of ServiceC
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nfb-krafters-korner mailing list
>> Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> Nfb-krafters-korner:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org/mdenning%40cinci.rr.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfb-krafters-korner mailing list
> Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Nfb-krafters-korner:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org/freespirit1%40tds.net 