[IAEP] New FLOSS Manual "Reading And Leading With Sugar" chapters need review

[Caroline Meeks]

On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM, James Simmons <nicestep at gmail.com> wrote:

> Caroline,
>
> Thanks for your feedback.
>
> Only one Activity supports Text To Speech at the moment: my own Read
> Etexts.  You need a Plain Text file to use that, and I will have a
> chapter on creating those.  In fact, I will have chapters on creating
> books in every format we support, plus I will have a detailed chapter
> on how to scan books and how to make your own home book scanner from
> common household items.  I don't have any text in the scanning chapter
> yet but I do have a couple of illustrations (with many more to come):
>
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages
>
> I agree with everything you've said, mostly.  As far as the
> presentation of contents goes, I'd like to get all the content I have
> to present in the book in a sequence that seems logical to me, then
> get feedback on the ordering of topics.  It may be that I move the
> chapter on book formats after the one on e-book Activities.  It may
> also be that I remove references to Sugar from many chapters so those
> chapters can be shared with another book just about e-books (proposed
> title "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About E-Books But Were
> Afraid To Ask").
>
> Audiobooks *might* be in scope.  Project Gutenberg has them, but most
> are just read by a text to speech program, so the student would be
> better off downloading the e-text and using Read Etexts to get speech
> and highlighting.  I think they have some read by humans too, but
> there's no way short of downloading them and listening to know which
> ones they are.
>
> I worked on scanning a whole book this weekend, plus I wrote most of a
> chapter on how you can easily make PDF's:
>
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs
>
> In the end, I think everything you want will be in the book, plus some
> stuff on copyrights and Creative Commons licensing, plus some other
> stuff I haven't thought of yet.
>
> Thanks again,
>

Thank you for this important work!

>
> James Simmons
>
>
> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Caroline Meeks <caroline at meekshome.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi James,
> > I have just skimmed so far. Looks great!
> > One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well,
> > either from a vision problem or a reading problem.  A great deal of what
> is
> > taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies.  It
> is
> > important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn
> the
> > content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for
> children
> > to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking.  One of
> the
> > wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text
> can
> > still listen to text and learn.  Sugar is for all children, and not all
> > children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal
> > standing as a way to read.
> >  I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different
> > formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech
> and
> > which can't.
> > It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can
> > create documents that can be read to the students.  I'm almost certain
> that
> > for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student
> > read/listen to it, is fair use.  Certainly that is something that the
> > special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing.  I'm sure other
> > teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be
> > interested in doing that.
> > Consider adding sections about where to get free audiobooks to your
> > wonderful coverage of where to get free books.
> > On a separate note, would it work to put the section on book formats
> towards
> > the end of the chapter. I think the sections on how you read the books on
> > Sugar to be more interesting. I'm worried that people won't make it
> through
> > the drier, more confusing, reference materials on book
> formats, until they
> > are motivated and excited by seeing all the things they can do with the
> > books.
> > Thanks!
> > Caroline
> >
> > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM, James Simmons <nicestep at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> I've started work on another FLOSS Manual, this one about how to get
> >> the most out of Sugar as an e-book platform.  It will cover what
> >> Activities are used for e-books, where to get books, pros and cons of
> >> the various e-book formats, and will conclude with instructions on
> >> creating your own e-books in the supported formats and options for
> >> getting the books distributed.  The last part has not been written
> >> yet, but I've got some people interested in helping me put it
> >> together.  I plan to scan in some old books from my own collection and
> >> get them in shape to donate to the Internet Archive and Project
> >> Gutenberg.  The book will document the whole process.
> >>
> >> In the meantime the Sugar-y chapters are pretty much complete and
> >> could use a review.  Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome.
> >> The book is at:
> >>
> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/ReadingandSugar/Introduction
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> James Simmons
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Caroline Meeks
> > Solution Grove
> > Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
> >
> > 617-500-3488 - Office
> > 505-213-3268 - Fax
> >
>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

617-500-3488 - Office
505-213-3268 - Fax
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