On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM, James Simmons <nices...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Caroline, > > Thanks for your feedback. > > Only one Activity supports Text To Speech at the moment: my own Read > Etexts. You need a Plain Text file to use that, and I will have a > chapter on creating those. In fact, I will have chapters on creating > books in every format we support, plus I will have a detailed chapter > on how to scan books and how to make your own home book scanner from > common household items. I don't have any text in the scanning chapter > yet but I do have a couple of illustrations (with many more to come): > > http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages > > I agree with everything you've said, mostly. As far as the > presentation of contents goes, I'd like to get all the content I have > to present in the book in a sequence that seems logical to me, then > get feedback on the ordering of topics. It may be that I move the > chapter on book formats after the one on e-book Activities. It may > also be that I remove references to Sugar from many chapters so those > chapters can be shared with another book just about e-books (proposed > title "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About E-Books But Were > Afraid To Ask"). > > Audiobooks *might* be in scope. Project Gutenberg has them, but most > are just read by a text to speech program, so the student would be > better off downloading the e-text and using Read Etexts to get speech > and highlighting. I think they have some read by humans too, but > there's no way short of downloading them and listening to know which > ones they are. > > I worked on scanning a whole book this weekend, plus I wrote most of a > chapter on how you can easily make PDF's: > > http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs > > In the end, I think everything you want will be in the book, plus some > stuff on copyrights and Creative Commons licensing, plus some other > stuff I haven't thought of yet. > > Thanks again, > Thank you for this important work! > > James Simmons > > > On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Caroline Meeks <carol...@meekshome.com> > wrote: > > Hi James, > > I have just skimmed so far. Looks great! > > One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well, > > either from a vision problem or a reading problem. A great deal of what > is > > taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies. It > is > > important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn > the > > content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for > children > > to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking. One of > the > > wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text > can > > still listen to text and learn. Sugar is for all children, and not all > > children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal > > standing as a way to read. > > I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different > > formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech > and > > which can't. > > It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can > > create documents that can be read to the students. I'm almost certain > that > > for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student > > read/listen to it, is fair use. Certainly that is something that the > > special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing. I'm sure other > > teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be > > interested in doing that. > > Consider adding sections about where to get free audiobooks to your > > wonderful coverage of where to get free books. > > On a separate note, would it work to put the section on book formats > towards > > the end of the chapter. I think the sections on how you read the books on > > Sugar to be more interesting. I'm worried that people won't make it > through > > the drier, more confusing, reference materials on book > formats, until they > > are motivated and excited by seeing all the things they can do with the > > books. > > Thanks! > > Caroline > > > > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM, James Simmons <nices...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > >> I've started work on another FLOSS Manual, this one about how to get > >> the most out of Sugar as an e-book platform. It will cover what > >> Activities are used for e-books, where to get books, pros and cons of > >> the various e-book formats, and will conclude with instructions on > >> creating your own e-books in the supported formats and options for > >> getting the books distributed. The last part has not been written > >> yet, but I've got some people interested in helping me put it > >> together. I plan to scan in some old books from my own collection and > >> get them in shape to donate to the Internet Archive and Project > >> Gutenberg. The book will document the whole process. > >> > >> In the meantime the Sugar-y chapters are pretty much complete and > >> could use a review. Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome. > >> The book is at: > >> > >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/ReadingandSugar/Introduction > >> > >> Thanks, > >> > >> James Simmons > >> _______________________________________________ > >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax
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