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

Sat May 15 21:36:12 UTC 2010

Eileen,

It is at the very bottom of the article just before the copyright
information.

But I will paste it here again:
:
>
> The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org
>
> The National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.org
>
> Open Library: http://www.openlibrary.org
>

Dixie

~ @-> ~ <-@ ~

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 1:17 PM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] A Possible Source for directions and
patterns?

Dixie:

I meant to email you sooner about the below article.  Do you have a web site

for the project, or do you know its formal name?  The below article does not

indicate how to find out more information about it or where to go to contact

those in charge of the project.

Thanks.

Eileen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dixie" <blueherons at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:52 PM
To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
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
>
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