[Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for directionsandpatterns?

Sun May 9 23:57:09 UTC 2010

Thanks!  I use Outlook but my family thinks Firefox is better.  You give me 
another reason to switch.

Marianne
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Laurie Porter" <freespirit1 at tds.net>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 6:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for 
directionsandpatterns?

> 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 
> ptias.   -----  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
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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