Re: diglib: question

[Carol Hixson <chixson@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>]

Wow, you really come up with the tough questions, Bob! Do we set a higher
standard for e-books than we have for print? What's the university
position for providing services for their visually-impaired students? Does
the university provide readers and note takers for their visually impaired
students? I think it would help to know the university context as we
discuss this.

Are there too many files to be downloaded all at once? Could they be
downloaded in smaller chunks over more than one session?

Carol

On Sat, 17 Feb 2001, Robert Felsing wrote:

> e-Asia is working with an author who has translated an important, popular,
> and (unfortunately) hefty classic Chinese novel.  The issue of the
> visually-impaired has come up because the current format of the book is a
> multitude of HTML files available from a web site. There are too many files,
> in fact, for a visually-impaired person to download for a voice reader.
> This is the claim of a blind person. 
> 
> The question is this:  while your standard print book is inherently hostile
> toward the visually-impaired, do we make the effort (which means time and
> expense) for digital materials? 
> 
> Microsoft has two companies under contract to provide sound synchronization
> for the MSReader and MSReader is capable of displaying large print type,
> neither solution may prove satisfactory for the blind.
> 
> Since ebooks hold the potential of providing reading for the blind, do we
> make the effort?  There is the issue of expense and time when it comes to
> conversion, so the appropriate answer may not be a cost effective answer.
> My gut reaction is to provide voice-readable files for popular items at
> least, but I have not a clue about the potential costs involved.
> 
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bob Felsing
> 
> 
>