1. Blind World Magazine: The main home page link is below. Then just below that is a list of links found on this site.
Http://home.earthlink.net/~blindworld/ Sites on the Blind World Magazine Site include: Blindness related Articles in the News http://home.earthlink.net/~blindworld/NEWS/-news.htm Medical News in Blindness Research http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blindworld2/MEDICAL/-medical.htm Links to Additional Resources http://home.earthlink.net/~blindworld/LINKS/-links.htm 2. Blind Bookworm: Accessible Etexts and Ebooks www.panix.com/~kestrell/sources.html This is a link site with an extensive list of reviewed links. It is a good resource for both students and teachers. There is information about E-texts as well as a number of other resources. Here are two samples from the site followed by my comments: . Finding Ebooks On the Internet Currently being revised for publication in 2004, this book is, in my opinion, a book every blind reader should own. It also provides an excellent start for any teacher, parent or service provider for the blind who wishes to learn more about accessible etexts and EBooks. Written by Anna Dresner, a blind editor for the National Braille Press, the book covers a full range of topics, from how to locate and access free etexts to purchasing and using commercial EBooks, to learning more about the accessible Daisy format used by the RFBD and others. (To find out more about this book you can go to the above site and click the link or go directly to National Braille Press at: www.nbp.org) Other links on this page include: Learn more about Accessible eBooks http://www.panix.com/~kestrell/ebooks.html Learn More About Copyright Issues http://www.panix.com/~kestrell/copyright.html Learn more about making Math Accessible: http://www.panix.com/~kestrell/math.html 3. Book ShareOrg This subscriber service offers a growing clearinghouse for both scanned texts of books produced by volunteers (a good way to earn your membership fee and etexts from publishers like O'Reilly. (Book share is a wonderful resource but unfortunately we do not have access to it living in Canada. For more information about Book Share go to: www.bookshare.org.) 4. Disability Resources.org: www.disabilityresources.org/ALTERNATIVE-FORMATS.html This is a link site with links to a number of different resources. The following links have all been taken from this link site. In addition I have explored the links and provided the direct URL. Unless otherwise noted, access to these sites is free and available to all on line. 5. Electronic Text (E-text) Collections on the Internet The following are noncommercial (free) collections of books in electronic format on the Internet. Users should note that the formats vary (e.g. ASCII, html, pdf, etc.); some may be more accessible with adaptive software and hardware than others. 6. Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts = A "collection of digital documents collected in the subject areas of English literature, American literature, and Western philosophy." For: High school, college and university students http://infomotions.com/alex/ 7. Internet Public Library Online Texts Collection = Search the collection's 13,000 titles or browse by author, by title, or by Dewey Decimal Classification. http://www.ipl.org/reading/books/ For: students 13 and under on their kids pages, for high school, college and university students on the rest of the site. 8. National Library of Canada - Electronic Collection = "The NLC electronic collection incorporates formally published Canadian online books and journals. These publications are being acquired, catalogued, and permanently stored at the NLC. Public access is provided on the Internet through the World Wide Web." http://www.nlc-bnc.ca For: High school college and university students. 9. Project Gutenberg: Classic books from the first quarter of the 20th century and before, selected and produced in "plain vanilla" (ASCII) text by volunteers. Search for specific works (or browse) by author or title, or download a complete list in zipped format. Project Gutenberg e-texts are also available via FTP. http://promo.net/pg/ For: High school, college and university students. 10. University of Waterloo Library - Electronic Text Center = "A collection of electronic resources of value to those pursuing scholarly research in the humanities," particularly primary texts in the disciplines of Classics, English, French, German, and Philosophy. Some of the materials are available offline or via other sites. http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca For: College and University students. 11. Infomine is An extensive guide to scholarly and academic resources on the Internet from the University of California-Riverside. Topics covered the sciences, government information, social sciences, humanities, and instructional materials. http://infomine.ucr.edu/ For: University students. 12. Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) - VISUCAT = Search CNIB's collection of materials in braille, print braille, audio, electronic text, and descriptive video. http://www.cnib.ca Accessibility: Individuals who are registered clients of the CNIB have access to the library services. The IRC, Information Resource Center is another service offered by the CNIB that students and teacher should explore. The service can help individuals research and find information on different topics. More information can be found at the web site or by contacting the CNIB. 13. Louis Database of Accessible Materials for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired = Maintained by the American Printing House for the Blind, "Louis contains information about more than 145,000 titles of accessible materials, including braille, large print, sound recordings, and computer files from over 200 agencies throughout the United States." http://www.aph.org/louis.htm Accessibility: Users need to register with this service. It appears to be more for school personelle rather than students and it is not clear if Canadians would have access to this database. It also appears as though there is a fee for use associated with using this service. A tole free number is provided on the web site for further information from APH. 14. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) - OnLine Catalog = Search RFB&D's collection of audio and e-text textbooks and educational materials. http://www.rfbd.org Accessability: accessible to Canadians but students need a membership and there is a fee for membership 15. Note: If you live in a city with a college or university, contact the disability services department or the college/university library. Many schools have collections of E-Texts that they have created for their students and this may be an additional way to find certain books. For example, if materials have been made available in E-text for university courses in English literature or children's literature you may be able to find books that you can use with your high school or grade school students. 16. eyes2eyes.com. A Web Site for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This page has many articles and interesting tip. Infoeyes.org is where you can ask any question anytime. This is for children and adults. One can talk with a librarian live on the internet or email a question. Emails are answered very promptly. The site's address is below. http://www.infoeyes.org/ 17. Microsoft Reader: (a collection of free and charging e-books) You must use the Microsoft Reader to read these e-text. http://www.mslit.com/default.asp?mjr=FRE For a direct link too the main home page of e-text, go to www.mslit.com 18. Accessmylibrary.com This is a site where you can get any periodical or Magazine free and sent to you in a text format via email. Follow the directions for a sample. 1. Open your browser. 2. Press control plus o or alt plus d. 3. Type in the site below or just copy and paste. Www.accessmyylibrary.com 4. Press enter. 5. On the top of the page is a search box. In window-eyes, press enter to enter msaa mode. In jfw press enter to access forms mode. 6. Type in a search. For this example use the search of pc world and press enter. 7. Arrow down to Seagate Breaks World Magnetic Recording Density Record - 421 Gbits Per and press enter. Square Inch Equivalent to Storing 4,000 Hours of Digital Video on Your PC. 8. Arrow down to images/btn_see_full_article and press enter. 9. Arrow down to "change the zip code" and type in 87747. This is an edit box. You will not have to enter the zip code again on future visits. 10. Once you press enter, the article will come up. You can also arrow down and enter your email information and a plain text version will be sent to you. 11. Once you use the service, you don't need to enter the zip code again as mentioned iabove. . You are logged in automatically because a cookie is put into your computer. However if you have cookies shut off, you will have to enter the zip code. This is a superior service and access to any library in the world totally free. It seems to be pretty acccessible. So try it out and let me know if anyone had any problems. 19. Accessible book collection http://www.accessiblebookcollection.org/ FAQ for Accessible Books Collection What is the Accessible Book Collection? The Accessible Book Collection is a non-profit corporation. Our primary mission is to provide high interest/low reading level digital text to qualified persons with disabilities. Government and non-profit schools and others can subscribe to the very affordable Accessible Book Collection and have a large selection of e-books for all their eligible students for one low price. Who is eligible to use the e-books in the Accessible Book Collection? The great majority of students and other individuals using the Accessible Book Collection are learning disabled and, consequently, have a reading disability. Other users are visually impaired and still others have physical disabilities that prevent them from holding books or turning pages. No matter what the disability, individuals are eligible if they have a documented disability that prevents them from reading standard print effectively. Who may subscribe to the Accessible Book Collection? Government and non-profit schools are the primary subscribers. However, not all subscribers are schools. Eligible individuals may subscribe. Government or non-profit rehab centers, hospitals, or similar non-profit facilities that have "a primary mission to provide specialized services relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities" may also subscribe. May we subscribe in order to train teachers in our district on how to use the e-books with their students? Yes. We've recently revised our license to permit this. How much does it cost? The cost of an annual site subscription is $49.95. A school district or similar entity may qualify for a district license. There is a minimum of 10 schools to qualify for a district site license. For 10 to 20 schools the price is $42.00 per school per year. For 21 to 49 schools the price is $35.00 per school per year. For 50 schools and above the price is $28.00 per school per year. You may add additional schools to your license later to take advantage of the lower price. However, all subscriptions will expire one year from the original district site license subscription. Who can certify the user's eligibility? It depends on the nature of the disability. If the reading disability is the result of a learning disability the most appropriate certifier might be a qualified school learning disability specialist, school psychologist, clinical psychologist, doctor of medicine or osteopathy. In cases of blindness, visual handicap, or physical handicap, certification may be made by doctors of medicine or osteopathy, ophthalmologists, optometrists, registered nurses, therapists, professional staff of hospitals, institutions, and public or welfare agencies. In the absence of any of these certification may be made by professional librarians. Are subscriptions for a school year or are they for a full year? Subscriptions are for a full year. For example, if your subscription is activated on June 3, 2002 it will expire June 3, 2003. What is digital text? Digital text is a computer file of text that can be displayed on a computer monitor and be read. Currently we are supplying digital text in HTML that is specially formatted for people with disabilities. For example background color is easily changed and fonts are consistent throughout the book. This permits a relatively easy way to change the size of the font. Also it is usable by both Windows and Macintosh operating systems and any Internet browser can be used to read the text. The HTML text can, however, be easily converted to other formats for use in text-to-speech software. Why and how do I use the digital text with my students? Digital text is another tool in your bag of tricks to help students learn to read. With digital text you can do things you simply can't do with printed text including change font size, font or background color, and use text-to-speech software. Digital text can be a real boon for students who are vision impaired, have difficulty tracking, can't turn pages, or who need to increase their reading speed. The digital text we distribute is in a special HTML format. This is the same format that is used on the Internet. You can use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape to display the digital text. There is also text-to-speech software such as Cast eReader, Kurzweil Reader, Wynn Reader, and eText Helper. Screen enlargement software is available for vision impaired students. Braille printers are available that allow digital text to be processed and embossed. Is there a limit on how many e-books can be downloaded? There is no limit. We do ask that you try to limit downloads to one download per book and make copies to distribute to your eligible students. Do you plan to add more e-books to the Accessible Book Collection and do you accept suggestions? Yes, we will continue to add more e-books and we are always looking for high interest/low reading level titles so suggestions are very welcomed. Can Accessible Book Collection e-books be loaded onto a Rocket e-Book? Yes, but keep in mind that the graphic reproduction will be poor on a Rocket eBook. For instructions on using the REB 1100 email us. What is the legal authority for Accessible Book Collection to provide digital text? Added to the Copyright Law was a new section 121 by the Act of September 16, 1996, Pub. L. 104-197, 110 Stat. 2394, 2416. In brief this new section permits "an authorized entity to reproduce or to distribute copies or phonorecords of a previously published, nondramatic literary work if such copies or phonorecords are reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities . " The Accessible Book Collection is such an authorized entity and digital text is one of the specialized formats. Schools may provide these digital texts to only eligible students within the terms of our agreement . Is it a copyright infringement if non-print impaired individuals have access to these digital texts? Yes. Care must be taken to restrict distribution of these texts to eligible students only. It is important that book publishers and authors support the use of digital text for students and adults who have print related disabilities. Recent examples of copyright infringements in the music industry need to be avoided Do my students have any legal responsibility when they receive digital text from Accessible Book Collections? Yes. They must understand they cannot further distribute the digital text to anyone else. To do so is a copyright infringement. What other legal responsibilities do I have? Accessible Book Collection subscribers must establish a procedure to verify the students' disability in order to use our digital text. It is the school's or other similar facility's responsibility to maintain a copy of a completed eligibility application or the equivalent for each individual that uses our e-books. Must I have a hard copy of the book? No. However when a hard copy is currently in print and you wish to purchase a copy we hope you will purchase it through our link with Amazon.com. Amazon will in turn pay us a commission that will help defray some of our expenses. Furthermore, by purchasing through our link we will be able to demonstrate to book publishers and authors that providing digital text to students with disabilities is not only the right thing to do, but also profitable . The Amazon link will also frequently give you a more complete description of the book. May eligible students take home the e-books to use on their home computers? Yes. Be sure to emphasize with your students that it is a violation of copyright law to make copies of the e-books and distribute them to other people-even if the other person has a print related disability. May eligible students use the e-books over summer vacation? So long as the student is enrolled in the subscribing school student may use our e-books anytime and anywhere. Why do you keep emphasizing only eligible students may use your e-books? Congress changed the Copyright Law so as to benefit print-impaired persons with disabilities. If this new right is abused Congress could react so as to take this important benefit away. While it is important to be cautious, be sure your students take advantage of these e-books. A right unused is a right not worth having. Books from Accessible Book Collection To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
