davek@peg.pegasus.oz (Dave Keenan) (07/09/90)
Index Number: 9065 Does anyone know of a books-on-disk library or even just individual books which have been scanned and OCRed so as to be suitable for reading from a personal computer? Is there someone willing to start such a library by soliciting contributions? I imagine there could be copyright problems. Dave Keenan, Australia (davek@peg.pegasus.oz)
wtm@bunker.uucp (Bill McGarry) (07/09/90)
Index Number: 9066 >Does anyone know of a books-on-disk library or even just individual books >which have been scanned and OCRed so as to be suitable for reading from >a personal computer? There is the Computerized Books for the Blind and Print Disabled (CBFB), which is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing written information in computer-accessible format to disabled persons. CBFB accepts requests from registered members and attempts to provide the written material in computer format compatible with the individual member's equipment. To become a registered member, a disabled individual or an institution serving the disabled must apply directly to CBFB. We request that the individual applicant provide assurance of their disability to CBFB by having their doctor, counselor, or employer complete and sign the verification section. Additionally, CBFB requires that the applicant sign a statement prohibiting them from distributing the computerized materials in any form to others. There is an initial registration fee of $25.00 which should accompany the application. If prospective members cannot afford the fee, a letter requesting a wavier should accompany their application. Their address is: Computerized Books for the Blind 52 Corbin Hall University of Montana Missoula, MT 59812 406/243-5481 Most (if not all) of their books have to do with computers since that is the area where most of the demand for machine readable books has been. Bill McGarry (203) 337-1518 UUCP: {oliveb, philabs, decvax, yale}!bunker!wtm INTERNET: wtm@bunker.uucp l-hcap@vm1.nodak.edu BITNET: l-hcap@ndsuvm1.bitnet (300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours) Compuserve: 73170,1064
mattioli@took.dec.com (John R. Mattioli) (07/17/90)
Index Number: 9140 In article <12654@bunker.UUCP>, davek@peg.pegasus.oz (Dave Keenan) writes... > >Does anyone know of a books-on-disk library or even just individual books >which have been scanned and OCRed so as to be suitable for reading from >a personal computer? > I don't know of a "library", but I do know of a place you can buy books from. They are called Computerized Books for the Blind and they have a great service. I just got their catalog a few days ago, so here's some information out of it. I hope it will be helpful. The first section is the preface from the catalog and describes the philosophy of the service. The second part discusses the practical stuff such as who can order and what it costs. I would encourage anyone and everyone who is eligible to get books from CBFB to do so. Write or call them and they'll send you a catalog on the media of your choice. They can be contacted at the following address: Computerized Books for the Blind 52 Corbin Hall University of Montana Missoula, MT 59812 406/243-5481 PREFACE Philosophy of Computerized Books for the Blind and Print Disabled All published books and manuals should be accessible to the Blind, Visually Impaired, Orthopedically Impaired and Learning Disabled. With the state of current computer technology this dream can become a reality. The computer is the best vehicle for accessing a book. >From a computerized book a person can use any combination of electronically produced braille, speech, large print, or specialized display modes for the person with dyslexia. The lawmakers in this country should be encouraged to require publishers to make their books accessible to the print disabled. Only when this happens will we have equal educational and employment opportunities. When publishers and computer companies view the print disabled community as a huge market to sell their wares, CBFB will no longer be needed. Until that time comes this organization will attempt to provide the most needed books and manuals. Soft copy books made available through CBFB are primitive compared to what we will have at our disposal in the 21st Century, but we had to start somewhere. As time goes on and the concept of soft copy books catches on, new software will develop that allows sophisticated access to our electronic libraries. Before this becomes a reality the information from books must be stored in machine readable format. From this perspective the soft copy books that CBFB produces are the basis of future software developments. George Kerscher, CBFB Director January 3, 1990 CHAPTER 1 Policies of Computerized Books for the Blind and Print Disabled What is in this Chapter? 1. Eligible Parties 2. Information Regarding Book Reproductions 3. Institutional Purchases 4. Fee Waivers 5. Pricing (1) All print disabled individuals and institutions serving these persons, completing proper documentation, are eligible for our services with proper documentation. (2) Books provided by CBFB may not be reproduced for distribution to other individuals or groups because the information contained was donated by authors, publishers or hardware/software manufacturers and remain the property of the copyright holder. (3) Any institution, school, library, or state agency serving the blind must purchase each copy of the book from CBFB. Precautions must be taken by these organizations to prevent the use of these books by the non-print disabled individuals. (4) CBFB is a not-for-profit organization but must remain at a break even point to insure future service levels to our print disabled members. Therefore, our production and distribution costs are being offset by the charges listed in the book price list. Each book has an individual charge based on it's length. Individuals who cannot afford the charges associated with a particular title may request that a foundation, employer, agency, etc., assist them with the costs. At this time we have a charitable group that is willing to buy a few books for those unable to afford them. This is precisely what foundations are set up to do. This procedure, operated successfully, insures members their book fees are not used to subsidize the production of unprofitable titles. (5) It is our overall feeling that the blind and print disabled community is ready and willing to pay for what they need as long as what they get is a good usable product. When the publishing industry views this group as a viable market for the sale of their titles, all books will be accessible. Until that time comes, CBFB will try to produce as many titles as possible. Encourage all of your print disabled friends to join CBFB because it is through growth that more and more titles will be made available. The fee schedule we have established is a function of book size. The first disk of a book is 10 dollars and each additional disk is 5 dollars. This places the majority of our books in the 10 to 20 dollar range. The price of each book will be found on the current book list located in Appendix A. For books requiring more than 5 disks, we will set a separate price less than the 5 dollars per disk charge. NOTES: A disk is considered to be a 5.25 DSDD formatted in MS-DOS which stores 360k of data. The Borland Software Documentation falls into a class of its own. Borland provides us with super clean files that require little preparation. Some of the documentation associated with their software is just one disk; these are manuals that fall into the 10 dollar range. Other software packages, such as Turbo Pascal 5.5 have two or three books and require up to seven disks. The most a person would pay for the entire documentation package is 30 dollars. Finally, regarding your book purchases. I attended several conferences and met purchasing agents that dealt with their disabled employee's needs. I told those people about many of the titles that we have and asked if that agency could make donations toward the production of new titles that their employees would need. The response was that the agency could not make donations. All they can do is purchase products. Try to have your employer purchase the books you need for your job. If you are going to school on a rehab program sponsored by SRS, have them write your book needs into your plan. Donations are still welcome and encouraged; refer to Chapter 9 about donations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Mattioli Most improved skier (american blind skiers association 1989) and humble to! (DEC E-NET) TOOK::MATTIOLI (UUCP) {decvax, ucbvax, allegra}!decwrl!TOOK.dec.com!MATTIOLI (ARPA) MATTIOLI@TOOK.dec.com MATTIOLI%TOOK.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com (US MAIL) John Mattioli 550 King St. LKG2-2/BB9 Littleton, Ma. 01460
Dennis.Asher@p0.f626.n690.z3.fidonet.org (Dennis Asher) (07/25/90)
Index Number: 9500
Dave Keenan wrote:
DJA>Does anyone know of a books-on-disk library or even just
DJA>individual books which have been scanned and OCRed so as to be
DJA>suitable for reading from a personal computer?
DJA>Is there someone willing to start such a library by soliciting
DJA>contributions? I imagine there could be copyright problems.
This is an area I am very interested and I am certain there would be
a market for some enterprising group (or several) to start production
of books on disk, not only for the visually impaired, but for anyone
with a physical disability which prevents them from turning the pages
of a standard publication. Page turners are are usefull but not portable
and a book or two on the hard disk of a laptop computer would be very
handy.
There are 2 possibilities:
Public Domain Classics: The text of any publication is free of copyright
50 years after it's first imprint date (or 50 years after the death of the
author, I'm not sure which. (If anyone knows the correct definition please
let me know). This means that any of the old classics can be typed or
scanned to disk (perhaps by volunteers) and distributed freely in the
public domain. If it is distributed as pure ascii code then it can be
displayed by any suitable viewing program.
Commercial production: This would involve negotiating with the copyright
holder of a publication for the rights to produce it in disk form. The
contents of the disk would then be subject to standard software copyright
(perhaps) and could be sold commercially. I am sure there would be
sufficient demand (worlwide) to make the a commercially viable option.
Perhaps we can get some feedback on ABLED.
Dennis Asher
Project Officer
Recreation Computing Project
Noah's Ark Toy Library and Resource Centre
Perth, AUSTRALIA
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