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

[Caroline Meeks]

I just got this off of a blind friend's website.

Press Release - More than doubling the number of books available to print
disabled people of all ages, today the Internet Archive launched a new
service that brings free access to more than 1 million books — from classic
19th century fiction and current novels to technical guides and research
materials — now available in the specially designed format to support those
who are blind, dyslexic or are otherwise visually impaired.

http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=305502

Not clear to me how completely open this is. I see references to qualified
people needing a key. :(



On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 5:59 PM, Caroline Meeks <caroline at meekshome.com>wrote:

>
>
> 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
>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

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