Category: book Nook
below is an e-mail message I wish to discuss here :)
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Hello there!
We come in peace, so listen up :)
BookBole.com (pronounced book-bolay) makes it possible for persons with visual impairments to connect and share with each other their personal libraries of accessible material i.e. books, journals, notes, articles and other stuff, all in formats that are screen-readable for the visually impaired. From books to class notes, journals to cooking tips, product reviews to personal stories, Bookbole is all about the small stuff, but on a really large scale.
We believe that BookBolé can make a difference to the lives of millions over the world. And when a tiny outfit does something like this the only way it can reach out and spread the word is by relying on that age-old mantra - if people like something they will tell others, and so the word will spread.
So put some love into it and send this email to as many people as you know - not just your friends with visual impairment. No one will mind getting this mail from you - and for some it might be the best thing to happen in a long time. This way, as the mail spreads across the world, so do the chances of persons with visual impairments finding out about BookBolé.
Nothing terrible will happen if you choose not to spread the word :) But then again, something great might not happen as well :(
Alright then - have a fantastic day!
Team BookBolé
www.bookbole.com
Together, there are no barriers
This is so amazing! I must check this out and pass it along. Thanks for posting. *smile*
I saw this on an email list recently, and I'm going to check it out, despite the owner of that particular list's distaste for the post being put on there...
Anyway, do you have to submit proof of your disability and all that stuff to get access to it? And is it free? I scanned the email briefly and can't remember.
hi,
no, they don't want proof of disability.. I guess they really should implement something, but the problem is that this site (unlike bookshare) is open to the world. While it was mainly started in India to battle Indian copyright laws (currently they don't allow books to be digitalized), the site is of course open to the anyone. So the problem is that some countries don't keep records as detailed as in the US, + if they would require a proof of blindness document you'd have to account that there are over 180 languages around the world and getting medical forms changed into English or a common language could cost up to $100 - again in developing countries where people can only afford a computer barely that is a lot of money.
So I'm not sure what they'll do about that... Of course technically in the US it's illegal because under copyright law documents can be stored in retreval systems with PUBLISHER PERMISSION- although the problem is again that people share books and files, so there is no publisher permission granted, which I can imagine could cause a quarry over laws.
I see it as a good service. I submitted 3 books to bookshare a few months back and they are still being proofread. The problem Bookshare faces is that (a) it is only in the US., (b) that proofreading is required which is highly dependent on how much time the volunteer has on their hand and (c) only English /a few other languaged books can bbe added because it's harder to get international publisher's permissions to books.
So Bookbole is really an international solution to try and solve these problems. I really hope laws won't shut it down, but then again...
Thanks for clarifying that. I'll check it out.
While this does sound promising, I don't see it sticking around.
Book share may be only available to the US, but they are at least doing things legally.
Is anything about this site legal?
I have a feeling that it isn't.
Then we should go underground. Someone should think of a way for blind people to unite and share books etc. In the meantime, let's use this while we can and get and give what we can from/to it. Then again, there might be a country where it could move to where all of this won't be an issue. Who knows?
I'm not a person who is for the whole "blind people should be advantaged" over the sighted.
However there are cases, such as access to books and other publications, where we are for certainly at a drawback - at least those of us who have no sight at all, and even those who can only read large print - using magnifiers can be tiresome especially when reading a 500 page book.
Couple this with the even worse access to materials in other foreign countries (like my homeland Hungary), and it is a serious problem. I wish there could be international copyright laws in place which would specifically grant all blind peoples access to materials in all countries digitally. Clause could be in place which would prevent any nation from overriding that law, and make it a duty to have all publishers provide accessible materials, regardless of country, accept those where computers and digital information systems are not yet developed (yes there are nations like that still).
Of course, I don't see this happening because it would take decades to have every country ratify and aproove that law, so...
The only "disagreement" I have with bookbole is that there is no way they check if a person is blind. I could be sighted and sign up. While you'd hope that people have a conscience and descent honesty not to sign up for something designed only for the blind, there are lots of people who still would. I'm still thinking of a system they could devise which would allow some kind of "verification of disability", but this system would have to be universal - that is, I could be a blind teen living in Lebenon and be able to verify my blindness officially. Sadly, though, I don't see a way to verification without an official legal document from a doctor, and you'd need hell of a lot of volunteers to be able to read over 180 languaged legal documents.
I think this brings up a very ethical issue: Even though it is not "legal" as a poster above said, would you put access to information above legality when it comes to the blind? Should the blind pay $9.00 per book like the sighted do, accept it'd be in a digital format? If no, what kind of system can be made which is universal across the world and still allows verification of blind members. If we were to open up the service for every single person in the world, then no doubt bookbole wouldn't be any different from any other file sharing website 0 like rapidshare and torrenting, which are all of course 100% illegal. Think about all that...
It is very possible that sighted people are using this as we speak. But then, it's also possible they won't, because they would want their books to have pictures and all that, a superficial reason yes, and one that might not matter in the long run, but still...
As far as legality goes, while it might be illegal, and so are torrents as you said, they're still alive and well, are they not? It's because these people have found loopholes. I don't agree with that, but as a previous poster said, we might as well take advantage of it while it lasts. But I do find it disconcerting that you don't have to prove your disability. I would be a little wary of trying a service like that, but, as I said, I'm going to take a look at it anyway if only out of curiosity.
There are free services such as Bard that you can sign up for to download audio books, but you have to have an account with NLS which is also free. So there are alternatives, you just have to look in the right places.
People worry too much. That's why things hardly ever get done. Just enjoy it. It's our's, it's free and it opens up a whole new world. Besides, I can't possibly believe that none of us have ever used torrents or file sharing sites. If anything, my only concern would be viruses, spyware and malware. That's something that we need to seriously consider. And if a sighted person does happen to join, so be it. We join their sites all the time.
That's true, but the difference is that we have just as much right to join a site like Facebook. That's not a specific community for sighted people, and no one's gonna kick us off the site if they somehow find out we're blind. Some sites (not Facebook by any stretch of the imagination though, lol) do make an effort to make things accessible to us. But for a sighted person to join a site that creates an oppurtunity for them to take advantage of a right that to them is a privilege, reading, I see a problem with that. But that's the way of the world, people are always wanting whatever they can take advantage of, so they'll do it. It's inevitable. That doesn't really bother me, it's just that stupid people who don't belong there are gonna be the downfall of that site, and that would be a shame.