[Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year
Rik James
montanarikster at gmail.com
Tue Feb 11 17:47:56 UTC 2014
I appreciate all that you folks have been discussing.
My 2 cents on Bookshare is this. It is a subscription deal. And I have been
a member for 10 years now, and have volunteered to earn credits which are
applied to my renewal each year. It is a fun little hobby, to scan the
books, and submit them for approval by the staff and other volunteers at
Bookshare. And the volunteers have a discussion Listserve, much like we do,
and they are all helpful and friendly. Some of them are so absorbed in the
Bookshare thing, I wonder at how they find the time to do all that they do.
And an amazing resource of information on any variety of topics. Dan and I
have had email exchanges were I will tell him I scanned this book, or he has
scanned this book. We have combined to accumulate some Montana authored
books and I don't know what else.
One thing I like about a Bookshare book as opposed to an ebook or an audio
version with a live reader such as you can read and listen to from NLS BARD
or from Learning Alley, or Audible. Is that when there is a word I don't
know, I can stop and spell it, because I am using the Text to Speech (aka
TTS) to read it. Also, I can read more slowly by sentence or paragraph, and
so on like that. The library at Bookshare has been growing rapidly in
recent years, due to the fact that they have now gotten arrangements with a
number of publishers, and so new books are becoming more readily available
from the Bookshare collection. So much so that when I get a fever to read a
newly published book I just heard about, I better check first to see if
Bookshare has it before I go to the library to borrow it for scanning, or to
purchase myself.
I hope my little ramble. I am not favoring any one technology or whatever to
anyone either. But I am finding that so often now I am weary of having to
keep learning and re-learning things.
I am currently trying to learn the new features in JAWS, which has a bunch
of the touch screen cursors and the gestures. All that jazz is not quite
like my comfortable hillbilly bluegrass. I acquired a Toshiba Encore tablet
which has that touch screen stuff, but it also has Windows 8.1. So I am
trying to keep up with the Jones just little bit. But the water is over my
head for sure. At least there is a hole in the ice now and I can get up for
air a little while.
Take care everyone. Hope your Tuesday is a good one.
Rik
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Burke
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 8:32 AM
To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
for One Year
Yep, Bookshare costs money unless you are a student. The student
memberships are underwritten by a Department of Education competitive
grant that also allows Bookshare to push many more textbooks thourgh
its system.
You can also volunteer with Bookshare to pay all or part of your
membership, either by scanning books or by reviewing them to make sure
they are of sufficient quality to be released for general use. You
get $2.50 per book.
Dan
On 2/10/14, sheila <sleigland at bresnan.net> wrote:
> as far as I know booksharefor the first year is seventy fine dollars and
> fifty dollars a year after that unless you are a student.
> On 2/9/2014 7:08 PM, Rebecca Stewart wrote:
>> NLS and Book Share are free though. I love NLS but have not figured out
>> how
>> to get books from book share yet. I'm having trouble with the
>> technology.
>> It's so confusing.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Burke
>> Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2014 3:46 PM
>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>> Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
>> for One Year
>>
>> A follwo-up...
>>
>> Here is a quote taken from the Kindle Store's own page:
>>
>> ... and over 23 million
>> books,
>> games,
>> apps,
>> movies and TV shows,
>> magazines,
>> songs,
>> and
>> audiobooks
>>
>>
>> ... those are the numbers of things you can buy from Amazon for Kindles.
>>
>> "By contrast, NLS's BARD services has yet to break 78,000 titles in the
>> ten
>> years or so since they began to produce and distribute their recorded
>> titles
>> digitally. Bookshare, which has by far the largest collection of
>> accessible
>> books in the US, has in its 12 years of existence amassed 224,586 titles.
>> Kindle's offerings of actual book titles may be substantially less than
>> 23
>> million, but a couple of sources found on Google suggest that it was
>> probabably about two million e-books in 2012 - two years ago, and growing
>> exponentially.
>> The point of the numbers, of course, is that e-books for mainstream
>> consumption are exploding in availability. Increasingly new books are
>> published in print and in electronic formats. And all of those could be
>> accessible to us with minimal or no impact on the cost of their
>> production.
>> And for specialized electronic formats, the numbers of titles grow at a
>> glacial pace by comparison, and all with the help of the taxpayers'
>> money,
>> though Bookshare also generates a substantial amount of its funding from
>> other, private sources.
>>
>> And like Sheila, when my BookPort Plus bites the dust, I want to be able
>> to
>> spend $60 or $70 for an e-reader.
>>
>> Best,
>> Dan
>>
>>
>> On 2/9/14, Dan Burke <burke.dall at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> There was a comment period back in November or December. There were
>>> e-mails to various of the NFB lists, though I can't remember for sure
>>> if there was one that went to all the lists, etc. But the comment
>>> that there are so many things that fly by is a true one. In any case,
>>> the NFB made comments and I put one in myself.
>>>
>>> The companies that wanted the exemption wanted it on a permanent
>>> basis, I believe. Amazon, Sony and Kobo led the way on this. Their
>>> claim was that they shouldn't have to be accessible on devices that
>>> are strictly readers, and don't have other functions, including
>>> internet browsing, e-mail and other social media like Skype and Face
>>> Book capabilities. They are attempting to negotiate a narrow
>>> interpretation of the law. I'm not sure that any device is so limited
>>> anymore, but that's the argument they made.
>>>
>>> Of course, these are the cheapest of devices. Victor Streams and
>>> BookPort Pluses and Pockets, for example, all offer some wi-fi
>>> capabilities, but they too are limited to getting access to reading
>>> material; whether it's NLS books or Bookshare or NFB Newsline. Yet
>>> they are all $300 or more. As Sheila points out, most of the blind
>>> people in the US, with more than 70 percent unemployment, have
>>> difficulty getting these devices unless they are active VR clients in
>>> a training program. And while I am a big fan of Bookshare and BARD,
>>> for example, I see that there are more and more new books coming out
>>> in e-book formats. With the credo "What is born digital must be born
>>> accessible" on my tongue, I want to go out and get the book I want
>>> right when it comes out in an accessible digital format. That is how
>>> the market is supposed to work, and does for anyone who is sighted.
>>>
>>> Hopefully, the extension of only one year may prove fruitful time for
>>> us in the NFB and others advocating for access to mainstream e-books
>>> and devices. I don't know the whys or wherefores of this decision as
>>> yet.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Dan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/9/14, Breslauers <bjb5757 at bresnan.net> wrote:
>>>> I wonder what went into their decision. Was there a comment period
>>>> that we missed? It's hard to keep track of everything that affects
>>>> our lives. I think it would be ideal to be able to work a mainstream
>>>> product right out of the box with little or no adaptation necessary.
>>>> We do have access to some companies who cater to our needs, for a
>>>> price, often one most individuals can't pay. And then there's the
>>>> cost of upgrades and maintenance agreements. Whether we like it or
>>>> not, we are a minority and our spending power and influence is
>>>> limited. Companies don't need us to succeed financially, and they
>>>> won't include us in their buyer base unless it's the law. I'm
>>>> disappointed in this decision because I don't see the sense of it; I
>>>> don't know what they hope to gain by waiting a year.
>>>>
>>>> I remember in 1990 when I was laid off from AT&T along with about 120
>>>> thousand other workers, one of the supervisors said that we were a
>>>> minority and, as such, the best ones to advocate for ourselves; no
>>>> one else could or would do it for us as effectively. That was right
>>>> before the ADA went into effect. That year the CEO was in the news
>>>> bragging about how much money they were saving by laying all these
>>>> people off. It is true that technology had improved enough by then
>>>> that one automated computer could do the work of ten thousand
>>>> operators, and that was a big savings for the company. But it
>>>> impacted all the lives that were laid off. To put it in perspective,
>>>> I remember hearing about a protest that the telephone workers had in
>>>> probably the early 1900s or so when they were introducing dial phones
>>>> and wouldn't need the operators to dial the numbers for people any
>>>> more. That laid off people, too. Oh, the progress of progress. Joy
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of sheila
>>>> Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 8:53 PM
>>>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>>>> Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book
>>>> Readers for One Year
>>>>
>>>> I agree completely dan When the kendle first came out and happened to
>>>> be featured on Oprah, I was thrilled until I found out the thing was
>>>> completely inaccessable to me as a blind person. If my plextalk dies,
>>>> I'll have to save money for a while before replacing it while it
>>>> would be easier to come up with a hundred dollars.
>>>> On 2/8/2014 6:59 PM, Dan Burke wrote:
>>>>> True, except that Kindle has tens of thousands more books than we
>>>>> can ever get on our Streams, and the e-book readers sold to the
>>>>> mainstream are about $100 or less, instead of $380. I want the
>>>>> free market that everyone else has access to. I want to pay those
>>>>> same prices and get accessible mainstream readers and books.
>>>>>
>>>>> The FCC's decision is indeed a big disappointment..
>>>>>
>>>>> Dan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/8/14, Rebecca Stewart <becca33 at bresnan.net> wrote:
>>>>>> Well, that's bad news of course but it can only create more
>>>>>> business for companies who have chosen to cater to our needs,
>>>>>> companies like the one that makes the Victor Stream. If these
>>>>>> companies show a great profit by catering to the blind, then other
>>>>>> companies who are not forced to will make the choice to become
>>>>>> accessible in order to get our business, that's how the free market
>>>>>> works:)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rik
>>>>>> James
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, February 7, 2014 11:53 PM
>>>>>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>>>>>> Subject: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book
>>>>>> Readers for One Year
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello, list members. This is Rik.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I read this as a bit of disappointing news. Maybe some of you
>>>>>> already had heard about it.
>>>>>> I found it as one of the items in Blind Bargains today, which is a
>>>>>> pretty neat place to find stuff for sale in addition to news bits,
>>>>>> and
>>>> what not.
>>>>>> http://www.blindbargains.com/
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Back in August, we told you about the Coalition of E-book Reader
>>>>>> manufacturers asking the FCC to waive the requirements to make
>>>>>> their basic e-book readers accessible. Then in October, we let
>>>>>> you know that a temporary waiver had been granted to the Coalition
>>>>>> while the FCC reviewed the case. Today, we're sad to announce that
>>>>>> the FCC has decided to grant the waiver, granting these companies
>>>>>> the right to not have to make their basic e-book readers accessible
>>>>>> to people with disabilities. According to the Digital Journal, here
>>>>>> are some of the requirements that the FCC laid out for which
>>>>>> devices would qualify for the waiver: the device must not have an
>>>>>> LCD screen, the device must not have a camera, and the device must
>>>>>> be marketed as a reading device. The waiver that was granted will
>>>>>> last
>> for one year.
>>>>>> Posted by Alena Roberts Sunday, 02-Feb-2014 2:02 PM ET in
>>>>>> Books/Movies/Music
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If your email is in rich text and not plain text then you can TAB
>>>>>> down to this link below and hit ENTER, and it should open the full
>>>>>> story in your
>>>>>> browser:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year
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>>>
>>> --
>>> Dan Burke
>>> My Cell: 406.546.8546
>>> Twitter: @DallDonal
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Dan Burke
>> My Cell: 406.546.8546
>> Twitter: @DallDonal
>>
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--
Dan Burke
My Cell: 406.546.8546
Twitter: @DallDonal
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