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Programs (OSEP) to demonstrate just how Bookshare is using the first year of their second $30 million grant from the US Department of Education. I posted the following comment which the folks at Bookshare have thus far deemed not worthy of positive moderation. http://blog.bookshare.org/2012/09/14/it-takes-a-villageand-this-is-what-it-looks-like/ It Takes a Village and This Is What It Looks Like September 14, 2012 by Bookshare Team September 14, 2012 3:33 pm (and as of September 18 still awaiting moderation) Please Note: Your comment is awaiting moderation. The following is an excerpt from Resolutions at the NFB Convention in Dallas this past summer: Resolution 2012-03 Regarding the Presumption of Braille Instruction WHEREAS, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that, when developing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for a child who is blind, the IEP team shall provide for instruction in Braille and the use of Braille unless the IEP team determines, after an evaluation of the childs reading and writing skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media (including an evaluation of the childs future needs for the instruction of Braille or the use of Braille), that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for the child
So how can the Bookshare team and OSEP personnel get together and not one mention of Braille in the above article?
This is not the first time I have broached this topic about the quality of and attention to Braille at Bookshare.org. Before the awarding of the second Bookshare/Benetech DoEd OSEP grant I sent the following letter to those persons mentioned in the Federal Register Notice soliciting proposal requests: (Begin Letter to OSEP 13 APRIL 2012) My name is John Edwin Miller. I am a US Library of Congress Certified Braille Transcriber. I am the Director of the (very) small 501c3 Non Profit 121Authent.org, Inc. You will most likely be receiving a proposal from Benetech/Bookshare.org on the Department of Education 'Technology and Media Services for Individuals With Disabilities Educational Materials in Accessible Formats for Students With Visual Impairments and Other Print Disabilities' project. On page 11500 of the Vol. 77, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 2012 Federal Register notice it states Project Activities (c) Produce high-quality, user-friendly educational materials in accessible formats including, digital text, brailleready files, and audio formats. Mr. Jim Fruchterman stated on 8 SEP 2011 in the transcript of the AIM Commission hearings: http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/September_8_2011_PSC_ Transcript_FINAL.doc
Page 123 -- And in many cases more and more the books are there in Bookshare because the publisher gave as you high-quality XML version of the book in EPUB, and we pushed a button, and its not perfect Braille, but in many cases its good enough. Also, the NFB at their Dallas 2008 annual convention noted that Bookshare.org produces automated Braille translation files without further manual editing. There is little to indicate -- at least for the public domain BRF Braille files to which I have access -- that anything has much changed. http://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm08/bm0808/bm080812.ht m at 2008-03 including: WHEREAS, Bookshare.org has an obligation to indicate clearly to all concerned that the Braille textbooks made available on its Website have not been proofread and are therefore not student-ready; and WHEREAS, the economics of special education, combined with the unfortunately pervasive lack of knowledge about Braille production even in the special education field, leads some people who work with blind children simply to download the Bookshare.org files and provide them directly to the students rather than paying for professionally transcribed books; (and) The Colorado Department of Education on its current website states: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdesped/NIMAS.asp
Braille Ready Format files should not be ordered through Bookshare unless the person who is ordering the book is a Colorado certified teacher of students with visual impairments and/or a Colorado administrative unit braillist. This policy is to ensure that the individual receiving the file has the needed full Braille competency to ensure that the Braille product is of high quality.
I would suggest that should Bookshare.org be considered for this additional OSEP contract, that provisions be made for some Non Profit organization or commercial entity with the appropriate Braille skills be engaged to conform to your requirement of producing high quality BRF Braille and not -- in Mr. Fruchterman's own words -- Braille that is 'good enough'. Thank you. JEM
http://www.scribd.com/doc/87615019/BOOKSHAREGoodEnough4Braille (End Letter to OSEP) That letter received no reply or acknowledgment. And once again, Mr. Fruchterman is all for transparency and free speech on the Internet except when it comes to his own blog site. However -- Stay Tuned