[Nfb-krafters-korner] book share

Fri Jul 29 18:29:04 UTC 2016

Yes, I'd love to help with a bookshare chat. And for the next few 
Mondays, August 8, 15, 22, 29 and Labor day, I'll be on vacation. I 
start up working again after that so can't guarantee I'll be home on 
time for a chat after that.

As for all you have is your computer,the short answer is, I prefer to 
read bookshare on my computer. Most of the college students like to use 
their phones or tablets, but it's actually easier I think on a computer.

My experience however is only with Windows. If your computer is a Mac, I 
need to chat with a few friends first before being comprehensive.

Basically, the books are in a format called Daisy (Digital Accessible 
Information standard) which has hit the blindness world like a storm. 
The idea is that it's a format we all can access and move quickly to any 
portion of the book we need. There are several free Daisy players for 
Windows, and one comes bundled with JAWS, even the demo version.

You can also download the books in Braille, but unless you have a 
Braille display or notetaker you are familiar with, don't try this. 
Stick with Daisy.

Bookshare is free to students and you self-certify. actually you say you 
are a student and they don't really check. Or you can pay $50 a year to 
support them and not be a student.

The reason they are so liberal about who is a student is because they 
got a huge grant from the U.S. department of education which requires 
they give free accounts to

anyone claiming to be a student. It is in their best interest to have as 
many students as possible signed up so the grant will continue to be 
funded.

In the beginning, most of bookshare's library was composed of books 
scanned by volunteers. Today, it's about half and half-- many of the 
books come from publishers. When the publisher makes an ebook version, 
if they have an agreement with Bookshare, they ship it off to bookshare 
-- bookshare converts it to Daisy and it's ready for us to download.

All Bookshare books are ebooks -- readable on a Daisy player, or other 
electronic reading device. But you can also tell Bookshare to convert 
the file to MP3 or daisy that can be listened to on the NLS player. 
Those audio files have a synthesized voice reading out loud. Unlike NLS 
or Learning Ally, or the national libraries for the blind in Canada, the 
U.K. or Australia, these books are not read out loud by human narrators.

--Debee

On 7/29/2016 6:07 AM, Becky Frankeberger via Nfb-krafters-korner wrote:
> Yes, please explain book Share. I got a free membership through a beautiful
> deaf blind person in OR. I signed up the first page and just feel
> intimidated to continue forward. All I have is my computer, how do I get
> books?
> Becky and her dunce cap
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Nella Foster via Nfb-krafters-korner
> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 9:58 PM
> To: 'List for blind crafters and artists' <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Nella Foster <jellybeanfarm at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] book share
>
>
> I wonder if we could have a Monday night chat about using book share?
>
> It seems like a good resource and I have no idea how to use it.
>
> Nella
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via Nfb-krafters-korner
> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 8:00 PM
> To: List for blind crafters and artists
> Cc: Deborah Armstrong
> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Trying again with my Horizons query
>
> So, this discussion drifted off in to a thread about bookshare. I want to
> get one thing straight: I know a lot about bookshare. I was one of the first
> twenty members. I have contributed over a thousand books to bookshare in my
> job as an alternate media specialist. I am happy to help anyone with
> questions about bookshare, as I do a great deal of this
> already: I'm responsible for helping learning disabled college students gain
> reading independence.
>
>
> But I know nothing about Horizons for the blind, and I see a lot of craft
> books listed. My question is about the books Horizons sells, not their
> equivalents on bookshare.
>
>
> Especially for beginning loom knitting and beginning crochet, does anyone on
> the list know if when they transcribed the books in to Braille if they
> described the visual elements in the books? If they did, it is worth the
> purchase. If not,then for sure it's better for me to get the same thingfrom
> bookshare.
>
>
> Also, several of the books are not on bookshare, and I am curious about
> those as well. There are several pamphlets produced by Red Heart; bookshare
> doesn't do pamphlets. And Horizons also has "Opening the Sewing Basket" also
> not on bookshare, plus the instructions that come with beginner loom kits.
> Bookshare doesn't do manuals.
>
>
> Some advice would be great. Like I said, I'm happy to help out withbookshare
> questions too, but just give it an appropriate subject.
>
>
> --Debee
>
>
>
>
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