[Promotion-technology] Fwd: The Bookshare Bulletin
Susan Tabor
souljourner at sbcglobal.net
Fri Oct 2 03:46:29 UTC 2009
Hi, Everyone:
I am new to this list. My name is Susan Tabor. I'm from Lawrence, Kansas. I
see this list as a good way to get a hefty amount of good technological
information in one place!
I have a question--well, more than one. First, I use Gold Wave at work for
sound editing. If anyone here uses it, I'd like to know if there is a way
for speech users to do a sort of scan edit of a file. In other words, my
sighted colleagues, with a click of a mouse, can scroll from line to line
and see if any of the lines of sound look "irregular so they then then can
click right onto that specific area and edit it without having to listen to
every single thing." I'm wondering if there is a way for us to do something
like that. If not, editing hour-long broadcasts will be a bit tedious, I'm
thinking.
Next, I'm looking for user manuals for MegaDots 2.2 and for Duxbury 10.5. I
looked on Duxbury's website and couldn't find them. Maybe I missed the right
area. I have installation manuals for both but no operating/editing manuals.
Lastly, I'm asking every blind person I know this question; Dave Andrews,
please bear with me! I know I've already bugged you about this and you've
been very helpful!
I'd like input from any of you who'd like to respond what you think is the
most accessible CD burner out there. A lot of the info I have gotten has
been kind-of vague, some involves things to which I don't have access.
Thanks a lot!
Susan Tabor
-----Original Message-----
From: promotion-technology-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:promotion-technology-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David B
Andrews
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 9:20 AM
To: dtb-talk at nfbnet.org; promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Promotion-technology] Fwd: The Bookshare Bulletin
David Andrews
Chief Technology Officer
Minnesota State Services for the Blind
2200 University Ave. W., #240
St. Paul, MN 55114-1840
(651) 642-0513 Office
(612) 730-7931 Cell
(651) 649-5927 Fax
>>> "Bookshare" <Bookshare at mail.vresp.com> 9/30/2009 7:21 PM >>>
Issue 4 :: Fall 2009
The activity at Bookshare this Fall is non-stop and we're busier than ever
with new books, features and software. We're excited to announce additional
publishers and universities as well as conferences and webinars. Membership
is now over 60,000 and we have 57,000 books in our collection.
Connect with Bookshare
Come friend us on Facebook, or follow us on both standard Twitter and
Accessible Twitter. Also, look for our new Bookshare Blog, launching soon.
In This Issue
A Fall Update
Bookshare Volunteers
Professional Development Workshops
University Partnerships Growing
International Program Expands
Readers Voice Contest Extended
Upcoming Events
Unsubscribe
The Bookshare Bulletin was sent to you because you wished to receive
information about Bookshare or you subscribed at our web site.
If you no longer want to receive The Bookshare Bulletin, please click the
unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. A Fall Update: New Software
for Bookshare
By Betsy Burgess
Can the Bookshare you already know and love get any better? The short answer
is yes. We've added some exciting new capabilities in the last few months
and have more planned. There's something for everyone.
Textbook Search Improved
Are you a K-12 educator looking for NIMAC (National Instructional Materials
Access Center) textbooks? You probably remember how hard it was to just
figure out how to find out which textbooks were available.
Now, it's much easier; you just go to Bookshare. Any Bookshare member
authorized to download NIMAC books can now use our new "one-step" search
that allows you to simultaneously search through Bookshare and the NIMAC. If
the book is in the NIMAC, you'll get a "Request Book" button or guidance on
how to get the book - depending on which state you're from. One-step search
should get textbooks to students much more quickly: in under a week in some
cases or no more than two weeks.
Digital Images
Many Bookshare Members told us that digital images topped their wish lists.
Well, wish no longer. Digital images are here. All NIMAC textbooks are
available for download as a DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System)
file with - or without - images: your choice. We'll also start including
image descriptions in other books.
Don Johnston's Read:OutLoud and Dolphin Easy Reader text to speech software
already display the images but do not include descriptions. If you want to
know how the assistive technology you use will support images, please
contact your vendor. Have faith - assistive technology is increasingly
incorporating digital images.
More Powerful Search
Have you ever wished you could search Bookshare for all references to a
certain topic? Maybe you've been baffled about the source of a famous
quotation. This fall, Bookshare is launching full-text search.
When students need to conduct research for a school report, they can now
search all books in our collection simultaneously.
A search for "William Shakespeare," for instance, will return all books with
William Shakespeare in the title or in the text of the book - as well as
Shakespeare's works. Watch for the Bookshare Blog to learn how to use full
text search and for more information. Note that you still will be able to
search by author, title, or ISBN.
Software for Bookshare
Don Johnston has introduced a Macintosh version of its Read: OutLoud
Bookshare edition software. The program is specifically designed for people
with learning disabilities.
Humanware has upgraded VictorReader Soft Bookshare edition to version 2.6.
We're encouraging everyone who uses this software to download the latest
version.
For more information on software tools, go to www.bookshare.org/readingTools
- Back to Top -
Bookshare Volunteers
By Pavi Mehta
If you thought volunteering at Bookshare only meant scanning and proofing
books, you haven't met our summer volunteers. Of course, our crew of nearly
30 in-person volunteers did some scanning and proofing, joining the ranks of
some 1,700 virtual volunteers. But this summer, those visiting our cozy Palo
Alto, California offices, also helped us market, develop our business and
engineer our services. You name it - they did it.
Volunteers have now scanned and proofed more than 23,500 books.
Here are three snapshot profiles of individuals who lent us their time and
skills over the summer.
Satej Soman Satej Soman will be a high school senior this fall. His
previous experience proofreading scanned books for the National Institute
for the Blind in Mumbai, India, led him to Bookshare. He pretty much hit the
ground running, assisting us with processing books submitted by our
outsourcers and helping with inventory checks.
When Satej is not volunteering, he is listening to music, biking or reading.
He plans to volunteer with us again next summer.
Vonn Xavier Vonn Xavier, a Stanford University communications student, spent
her summer helping us process vendor submissions and working on a draft of a
manual for vendors assisting with Bookshare's collection development. When
Vonn is not volunteering with Bookshare she's finishing up her senior year
at Stanford. Her impetus for volunteering? "I believe in Benetech's mission
to serve humanity with technology," she says. "And, I love books."
Kartik Gopal Kartik Gopal just graduated with a master's degree in
management from Stanford and is currently involved in a start-up venture of
his own that seeks to put technology to meaningful use for people with
visual disabilities. Kartik is working with Bookshare on a launch plan for
Route 66 - an exciting Internet-based initiative that will provide reading
and writing instruction to adolescent and adult beginning readers with
developmental delays. With his 13 years of semiconductor engineering and
management experience across India, Germany, Singapore - as well as his
skills as an amateur bike racer, a marathoner and a mountaineer - Kartik
brings a unique blend of skills with him.
- Back to Top -
Professional Development Workshops
By Terri Icasiano
Educators: you told us in our recent survey that you want professional
development to help you understand how to use Bookshare and assistive
technology. When asked about your plans for spending stimulus funds, you
told us that you want to know how to improve education for students with
print disabilities. You also told us you'd be interested in professional
development from a non-profit such as Bookshare.
In response, we are developing professional workshops that qualify to be
funded under the stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA). Here is information about our first two workshops.
Aligning Assistive Reading Tools to Student Needs
This course is designed to review a broad range of assistive technology
software and devices available for students with print disabilities. The
goal is to identify the appropriate technology to meet the unique needs of
each student.
Through an interactive curriculum, course participants will learn how to use
software and devices from a variety of vendors. They will then be able to
use their knowledge to make educated decisions about matching the right
devices and software to individual students. In addition, every participant
will leave with action plans they can take back to the classroom to ensure
lasting results after the workshop is over.
Bookshare in Depth
In this workshop, participants will learn how to use Bookshare with their
students.
This course is designed to cover all levels of use. Through labs and
exercises, participants will learn how to create and manage class rosters as
well as how to search, request, and download books. In addition, every
participant will leave with lesson plans they can take back to the classroom
to ensure lasting results after the workshop is over.
Bookshare's support extends beyond the workshop. We include online follow-up
coaching after each course. Coaching will focus on each participant's
progress and his or her implementation of action plans.
Watch www.bookshare.org for more information. Remember these workshops
qualify for ARRA funds.
- Back to Top -
University Partnerships Growing
By Cherie Miller
When a student at Michigan State University needs a book transformed from
pulp into a flexible electronic format, the staff at the Resource Center for
Persons with Disabilities jumps into action.
Tom Hwang They search the Internet - including Bookshare - to see if the
book already exists or if they need to process it themselves, says Tom
Hwang, specialist with the Resource Center.
Normally turning a book into an accessible electronic form involves cutting
the spine off a book, scanning it and then making sure that the scan is
correct. That's something that can only be done by humans. The process can
take an hour for a super clean, very simple book.
Complex books, on the other hand, take much longer. A scientific textbook
can take up to 200 hours to produce with descriptions of all of the tables,
charts and graphs.
So it's a big time saver when Bookshare already has a book in its
collection.
Bookshare is "a treasure," Hwang says. "I feel it's quite a blessing for
students to have the Bookshare resources available."
Until recently, the process of sharing went one way. University students
with qualifying disabilities have always had access to Bookshare's
57,000-plus book collection. Now, books are flowing two ways, thanks to
Bookshare's growing university partnership program.
When a university partners with Bookshare, it shares its accessible
materials with Bookshare, as appropriate under the terms of U.S. copyright
law. The partnership helps other universities. If one university scans and
contributes a book, other universities don't have to duplicate the effort.
However, the real beneficiaries of the university partnerships are the
students who have access to a much larger collection of books that they can
use in their classes.
Currently, Bookshare has 14 university partners with more universities
expressing interest in the program all the time. These partners are Alliant
University, Indiana University, Arizona State University, Hadley School for
the Blind, De Anza Community College, Michigan State University, George
Mason University, Landmark College, Monterey Peninsula Community College,
Texas A&M, University of California, Berkeley , University of Idaho, the
University of Montana and Ohio State University, which boasts the largest
population of students with disabilities.
Sarah Terry, auxiliary services administrator for the Office for Disability
Services at Ohio State University, says Bookshare and programs like it
represent the future.
"I have no reason to believe that Bookshare will not become an extremely
viable component to students having accessible materials, whether they are
textbooks or supplemental course materials in the future," Terry says. "They
won't be the only player in the field but they'll probably be one of the
biggest ones supporting students."
- Back to Top -
International Program Expands
By Viji Dilip
Before Bookshare came to India, Balasubramanian Kannan would painstakingly
chop and scan his own books - 20 pages at a time.
Balasubramanian Kannan "It took 15 to 20 days to complete a book," says
Kannan, a stenographer from Chennai, India.
In October 2008, not quite a year ago, Bookshare came to India and now
Kannan. Who is blind, can often find the books he is seeking already
transformed in to an accessible formats. He is full of gratitude -
especially because Bookshare is giving him access to computer programming
books, which he needs to make a career change.
"We appreciate your efforts to bring popular books," says Kannan. He adds a
humble request: He wants "more and more books in the Indian section."
In fact, this is exactly what Bookshare is trying to do. Not only is
Bookshare now in India, but it is making inroads to other countries as well,
including Kenya and Nigeria. Unfortunately, bringing books to countries
outside of the United States can sometimes be a complicated process.
In the United States, an exemption in the copyright law allows authorized
entities to reproduce or distribute electronic copies of published books for
use by people with qualifying disabilities such as blindness. There is no
such law in India. In fact, in India, you cannot just take a book, chop it
and scan it and put it online. Instead, you have to talk to every single
publisher and author to get permission. The process is slow, but working.
Bookshare is growing every day. We now work with many big publishing houses
and an equal number of small publishers. About 70% of our current Members in
India are visually impaired and the remainder have physical and learning
disabilities.
In addition, Bookshare recently partnered with the DAISY Forum of India to
reach out to even more Members. Anyone who has a membership in Bookshare's
India program also automatically becomes a member of The DAISY Forum of
India. Member organizations of the DAISY Forum of India produce and maintain
libraries of digital talking books, Braille books or ebooks. Bookshare
Members will automatically have access to their collection.
We've had some major wins. Recently, one of the biggest publishers of Indian
literature, Sahitya Akademy, gave us permission to reproduce all of their
books. In addition, we have books from Oxford University Press, Orient
Blackswan, Seasons Publishing, Westland Publishing, Sheth Publications,
Zubaan books, Leadstart Publishing, Book Box and Pratham. We have more than
300 books published in India that have been added to our global collections.
- Back to Top -
Readers Voice Contest Extended
By Mario Oliveros
Calling all Kindergarten through grade 12 readers! The Bookshare Reader's
Voice Contest has been extended. You now have until Halloween, Saturday,
October 31, to enter.
Don't be afraid. This is not a Halloween trick - and you could get a huge
treat. The prizes are a choice of the Victor Reader Stream or a ClassMate
Reader, both portable, digital audio book player, from HumanWare. You just
have to be a Bookshare member in elementary through high school.
To participate, download books and write short reviews (about 100 words),
telling us why you liked (or didn't like) the book, discussing your favorite
character and letting us know if you'd recommend the book. We know you've
been doing some summer reading. So now is your chance to have it pay off.
Winners will include those who read the most books and write the most
reviews.
All Bookshare Members, from kindergartners to high school seniors, are
eligible. Please help us spread the word. If you have not registered, sign
up! If you know a U.S. student in grades K-12 who is a Bookshare member and
loves to read, let them know about the Reader's Voice Contest. Learn more.
- Back to Top -
Upcoming Events
By Inga Zukin
Webinars
Bookshare Reading Series: How to read on Macs with Read:OutLoud
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 12:00 PM PT
Register here
Bookshare and the University Student - What's New for Fall?
Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 1:00 PM PT
Register here
To see archived Webinars, go to:
www.bookshare.org/about/training#Pre-recorded_Webinars
Conferences and Events
October 7-9, 2009
Bismarck, ND - Title I/Special Education Fall Conference
October 15-17, 2009
Bloomington, MN - Closing the Gap
Oct 17-20, 2009
Salt Lake, UT - The National Association of State Directors of Special
Education
Oct 18-20, 2009
Alberta, Canada - Canadian Vision Teachers' Conference
Oct 18-21, 2009
San Diego, CA - California Association for Postsecondary Education and
Disability
Oct 23-24, 2009
Niagara Falls, NY - 2009 New York State. Council for Exceptional Children
annual convention
Oct 28-31, 2009
Schaumburg, IL - Assistive Technology Industry Association, conference,
Chicago
Oct 28 - Nov. 1, 2009
Portland, OR - Council of Great City Schools annual fall conference
Oct 30-31, 2009
Harrisburg, PA - Pennsylvania Learning Disabilities Association of America
- Back to Top -
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