Gina: Part of the rationale for putting BookShare up is based on what you just described. You gave the cost of having a title prepared for you. It sounds like an expensive effort. Yet, if someone else, somewhere else needs that same title, without a service like BookShare, they'd have to incur the same expenses all over again. The people who are behind BookShare, are the same people who gave us Arkenstone products up to the point that Freedom Scientific bought Arkenstone. In fact, the money from that purchase went into putting BookShare together--along with some other projects at http://www.benetech.org. It had to. Arkenstone was one of those 501(C)3 nonprofitI wrote you about the other day. By U.S. law, the money from the sale of Arkenstone had to go to another nonprofit and not into people's pockets. So, the point of this story, is that these former Arkenstone and now Benetech people are on to what you've described. They've seen people using technology to meet their needs. And, they've seen many people scanning the same title independently, at great expense, with no ability--except happenstance--to share with others who need that title. Ergo, BookShare. Is it nabster? Not really. U.S. Copyright law allows any individual who is blind to take published content and make it accessible for themselves, or to get someone else to do it for them. And, it allows agencies whose mission is to make published information accessible to publish to blind users without asking anyone's permission. So, maybe nabster copied the U.S. copyright law's provisions for blind people. Maybe it's that other way around. On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Georgina wrote: > Hi > > Although, this aspect is off topic, I thank those who have attempted to > clarify these matters. But I do feel that there is an important issue > of us giving up control and just following the majority that we need to > consider. > > The pricing is a very important one. I as a student paid support > workers to scan and correct books and Jernal articles. Because books > vary so much its difficult to find an average but the following costs > were quite common during the pas five years of my studies: > > The book would cost twenty pounds. A support worker would take six > hours being paid five pounds an hour to scan it. If I was lucky, they'd > correct the majority of errors in ten hours at five pounds an hour. > Thus this twenty pound book has cost one hundred pounds to access. > > Gena > > > > >You also receive 50 cents credit per each book that you apply the Basic > >Publish procedure on. Do 100 of those per year and you cover your > >subscription. > > > >I suppose they don't think that all persons will participate in this effort > >and perhaps if so, they will enact different requirements. > >I don't have a lot of time to scan books at the moment but in time I will > >for various reasons. believe in the longrun, it will be a worthwhile > >service provided it will be able to thrive. > > > >Amanda Lee > > > >Alexandria, VA > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Ann Parsons" <akp at eznet.net> > >To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> > >Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 8:11 PM > >Subject: sideways look! Was: USA: Online book-sharing service > > > > > >Hi all, > > > ><smile> Gena, it is my understanding that if you contribute books, > >you get $2.50 knocked off your next year's fee. So, if you scanned 20 > >books, then your next year's subscription would be free. the money > >should go to pay for the server and so on. I don't know about > >salaries for other stuff. I think this is a worthwhile project, I > >just wish it were slightly more accessible. > > > >Ann P. > > > >-- > >Ann K. Parsons > >email: akp at eznet.net ICQ Number: 33006854 > >WEB SITE: http://home.eznet.net/~akp > >"All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost." > >JRRT > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina at afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org
