I just got this off of a blind friend's website.<div><br></div><div>Press Release - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; ">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. </span><br> <div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=305502">http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=305502</a></div><div><br></div><div>Not clear to me how completely open this is. I see references to qualified people needing a key. :(</div> <div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 5:59 PM, Caroline Meeks <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:caroline@meekshome.com">caroline@meekshome.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div class="h5">On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM, James Simmons <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nicestep@gmail.com" target="_blank">nicestep@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Caroline,<br> <br> Thanks for your feedback.<br> <br> Only one Activity supports Text To Speech at the moment: my own Read<br> Etexts. You need a Plain Text file to use that, and I will have a<br> chapter on creating those. In fact, I will have chapters on creating<br> books in every format we support, plus I will have a detailed chapter<br> on how to scan books and how to make your own home book scanner from<br> common household items. I don't have any text in the scanning chapter<br> yet but I do have a couple of illustrations (with many more to come):<br> <br> <a href="http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages" target="_blank">http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages</a><br> <br> I agree with everything you've said, mostly. As far as the<br> presentation of contents goes, I'd like to get all the content I have<br> to present in the book in a sequence that seems logical to me, then<br> get feedback on the ordering of topics. It may be that I move the<br> chapter on book formats after the one on e-book Activities. It may<br> also be that I remove references to Sugar from many chapters so those<br> chapters can be shared with another book just about e-books (proposed<br> title "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About E-Books But Were<br> Afraid To Ask").<br> <br> Audiobooks *might* be in scope. Project Gutenberg has them, but most<br> are just read by a text to speech program, so the student would be<br> better off downloading the e-text and using Read Etexts to get speech<br> and highlighting. I think they have some read by humans too, but<br> there's no way short of downloading them and listening to know which<br> ones they are.<br> <br> I worked on scanning a whole book this weekend, plus I wrote most of a<br> chapter on how you can easily make PDF's:<br> <br> <a href="http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs" target="_blank">http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs</a><br> <br> In the end, I think everything you want will be in the book, plus some<br> stuff on copyrights and Creative Commons licensing, plus some other<br> stuff I haven't thought of yet.<br> <br> Thanks again,<br></blockquote><div><br></div></div></div><div>Thank you for this important work! </div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> <font color="#888888"><br> James Simmons<br> </font><div><div></div><div><br> <br> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Caroline Meeks <<a href="mailto:caroline@meekshome.com" target="_blank">caroline@meekshome.com</a>> wrote:<br> > Hi James,<br> > I have just skimmed so far. Looks great!<br> > One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well,<br> > either from a vision problem or a reading problem. A great deal of what is<br> > taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies. It is<br> > important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn the<br> > content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for children<br> > to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking. One of the<br> > wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text can<br> > still listen to text and learn. Sugar is for all children, and not all<br> > children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal<br> > standing as a way to read.<br> > I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different<br> > formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech and<br> > which can't.<br> > It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can<br> > create documents that can be read to the students. I'm almost certain that<br> > for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student<br> > read/listen to it, is fair use. Certainly that is something that the<br> > special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing. I'm sure other<br> > teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be<br> > interested in doing that.<br> > Consider adding sections about where to get free audiobooks to your<br> > wonderful coverage of where to get free books.<br> > On a separate note, would it work to put the section on book formats towards<br> > the end of the chapter. I think the sections on how you read the books on<br> > Sugar to be more interesting. I'm worried that people won't make it through<br> > the drier, more confusing, reference materials on book formats, until they<br> > are motivated and excited by seeing all the things they can do with the<br> > books.<br> > Thanks!<br> > Caroline<br> ><br> > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM, James Simmons <<a href="mailto:nicestep@gmail.com" target="_blank">nicestep@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br> >><br> >> I've started work on another FLOSS Manual, this one about how to get<br> >> the most out of Sugar as an e-book platform. It will cover what<br> >> Activities are used for e-books, where to get books, pros and cons of<br> >> the various e-book formats, and will conclude with instructions on<br> >> creating your own e-books in the supported formats and options for<br> >> getting the books distributed. The last part has not been written<br> >> yet, but I've got some people interested in helping me put it<br> >> together. I plan to scan in some old books from my own collection and<br> >> get them in shape to donate to the Internet Archive and Project<br> >> Gutenberg. The book will document the whole process.<br> >><br> >> In the meantime the Sugar-y chapters are pretty much complete and<br> >> could use a review. Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome.<br> >> The book is at:<br> >><br> >> <a href="http://en.flossmanuals.net/ReadingandSugar/Introduction" target="_blank">http://en.flossmanuals.net/ReadingandSugar/Introduction</a><br> >><br> >> Thanks,<br> >><br> >> James Simmons<br> >> _______________________________________________<br> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)<br> >> <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a><br> >> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a><br> ><br> ><br> ><br> > --<br> > Caroline Meeks<br> > Solution Grove<br> > Caroline@SolutionGrove.com<br> ><br> > 617-500-3488 - Office<br> > 505-213-3268 - Fax<br> ><br> </div></div></blockquote></div></div></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div><div></div><div class="h5">Caroline Meeks<br>Solution Grove<br>Caroline@SolutionGrove.com<br><br>617-500-3488 - Office<br>505-213-3268 - Fax<br> </div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Caroline Meeks<br>Solution Grove<br>Caroline@SolutionGrove.com<br><br>617-500-3488 - Office<br>505-213-3268 - Fax<br> </div></div>