At 22:12 2003-01-22 -0500, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Steve Pattison" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Access-L" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 6:38 AM
>Subject: Fwd: Large-print Books Have A Big Future
>
>
>From: John Rae [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Large-print Books Have A Big Future
>...Indeed, audio books are so popular, you wonder why they haven't just taken
>over from large-print books altogether. The answer, it appears, is that many
>people still prefer the physical experience of reading - the book in the
>hand, the eyes scanning the lines, the turning of pages - to a disembodied
>voice on a tape or a CD. They will read for as many years as they can, and
>only seriously failing eyesight will drive them into the audio market.
Audio books are most conveniently listened to linear, with non-linear
navigation difficult unless
those books are specially organized/indexed for that purpose. The tape
cassette makes
non-linear reading awkward -- fast forward or reverse. The CD player may
provide some better
indexing -- for example, jump to selected section.
>I like audio books but on the whole I'm with the readers. There's something
>about the intimacy, the concentration and the silence required to devote
>yourself to words on paper that makes me an undying book fan. Large print or
>small, I'll be reading for as long as my eyes will let me.
Some significant advantages of reading text include:
control reading rate -- not all material need be read at the same rate,
ability to skim,
use organizing/navigation tools: table of contents or index.
read selectively (for example ignore footnotes/endnotes)
Many players of audio books don't have that option.
Availability of the text of a book allows:
text-to-speech or text-to-braille reading at accelerated rate.
text search
If that text has content embedded in structural markup, that markup, (including
metadata in attributes) allows corresponding structured navigation.
The players for digital talking books that include professional narration
allow speeded
reading. Many may choose to read at over twice normal speaking rate
(legibly) and
possibly slow down and possibly replay content that is worthy of deliberation.
For more information, see the approved ANSI/NISO Standard ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002
http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39-86-2002.html ISSN: 1041-5653
>[log in to unmask]
>
>Bolinda Publishing:
>www.bolinda.com/largeprint/
>
>Regards Steve
>mailto:[log in to unmask]
>MSN Messenger: [log in to unmask]
Regards/Harvey Bingham
http://www.hbingham.com/
|
