Hello again listers,
Once again we're placing another call for translators to help us produce
more books for the New IBRC
Braille Depositorry slated to go on-line later on this spring. It will
deffinitely be up and running by summer; the convention season for many of
us. As for what's the latest news on the progress we're making the news is
great. As was announced last September we wanted to open the site with
at least 100 titles for reading and downloading. I told folks at the IBRc
and with The National Association to Promote the Use of Braille, (NAPUB)
that we could stretch a little and if we all worked at it we could open
the site with a minimum of 1000 titles. Well guess what? We're wellll on
our way to making that happen. We presently have in excess of 500 titles
but we still have a ways to go. Many of these books are for very young
children. Others are favorites you may remember from your own childhood.
In edition we'll have offerings spanning the centuries available for
readers of all ages.
Construction of the site has all ready begun in ernest. In fact I was
uploadingsome book files earlier today and expect to upload some more
bookmodules next week. And as was mentioned last September readers will be
able to read the books on-line or they will be able to download them and
read them off-line. We were doing some testing with the Bible reading it
with a Braille display last Tuesday evening and this project shows every
sign of succeeding.
Now here's where you all come in. We have over 500 titles ready to ggo but
we still have a ways to go if we're tto meat this goal of 1000 titles
on-line at start-up, and if we put our noses to the grindstone we'll make
it happen. I currently have a back-log of books that were sent to someone
for translation but were never completed and I would really like to clear
that out during the next few months as well as secure new titles for
translation. Witht that in mind we are once again asking for your help
with translation of books for this site. And we can use all the help we
can get in completing this task in order to achieve our goalfor the launch
of the site this spring. Those of you who want to help should contact me
privately and we'll put you to work. Those of you on the blind-x and the
blindfam lists please make it a point to correspondwith me in that way as I
don't receive mail from those lists but want to post announcements there
for the benefit of those on those lists. I would also ask you to please
feel free to post this announcement where appropriate. And for those
newcomers to these lists I'm including the orriginal announcement for your
benefit. The only other thing I would ask of those who wish to assist us
in this endevor isthat you have stickability and are willing to see the
books through to completion. I might also mention that we'll recognize
thosewhoassist us with translation and scanning in appreciation of their
efforts and time. We hope to hear fromm those of you who can help us out
over the next few days. Let's band together and working as one we'll make
it happen.
The International Braille Research Center, (Ibrc), an organization with
offices in the United States and Canada, announces its plans
to construct an exciting new Internet Resource for Braille
users. During the coming year the IBRC plans to build an
on-line Braille Book Depository. The depository will contain
material in grate Ii Braille. These materials can be read on-line
or can be downloaded and produced in Hard Copy Braille or read
with a Braille-aware device such as a paperless Braille Display
or a Braille notetaker such as the Braille-n Speak. This resource will
supplement
other collections of on-line Braille materials such as that being
established by the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped, (NLS.) The NLS beta tested this concept
earlier this near and plans to expand its offerings. For the first year or
so many of the selections
will be literary titles but we also plan to add specialty
materials as time and resources permits. To assist in the
development of this depository we would like the following
types of assistance:
1. Translators:
Books, magazines, and other types of information will be
gathered from Internet sites such as Project Gutenberg, and from
other sources and translated in to electronic Grade ii Braille. Those
wishing
to help with translation will be sent titles via either snail
mail or e-mail: and will be expected to return them when translation is
completed. These title will then be placed in the depository. To
volunteer to translate materials please contact Peter Donahue, the
Project Coordinator, and Webmaster for the Braille Book Depository at
the address, phone number, and e-mail address given below:
Peter Donahue
100 Lorenz Road APT. 1205
San Antonio, Texas 78209
Phone: (210) 826-9579
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
If you want to volunteer to help translate books in to Braille
please let us know what types of material you like to read so we can send
you books that will be of interest to you. In
addition this will also help us develop a cross section of
materials that will be of interest to many blind people the
World over. This should be a fun and enjoyable project to carry
out and we want to help make it so for those who will help
with the translation of materials in to Braille.
Also please let us know if you want to receive material for translation
via E-mail or snail mail.
2. Sources of
Material in Grade II format:
It is our belief that a certain amount of material already
exists in Grade II Format and we would like to include it in the
depository. If you know of any sources of materials available
in electronic Grade II Format please let us know where it can be
found so we can download it for placement in the depository or
you can send us the URLS where this information is located so
we can link to it. If you have any materials in electronic
Grade II Format and would like them to be added to the
depository please send them to us via snail mail or via e-mail
at the addresses given above. Electronic Grade II Braille
files usually can be identified by their extensions. The most
commonly used Braille file extensions are .brf, .bfm and brl. These
materials can include, but are not limited to literary titles, appliance
manuals, computer and software manuals, Crafts books, how-to titles, cook
books, maps, Braille graphics, text books, music scores just about anything
you can imagine and would like to contribute to this resource. We will
accept contributions from anywhere in the World thus giving this
project an international scope.
3.
Financial Assistance:
Since there are many types of materials that could be included
in a resource such as this we would like to be able to pay for
translation of materials as well as for the general maintenance
of the BRAILLE Book Depository. Any and all contributions
to this project are welcomed and should be sent to the following
address:
Dr. T.V. Cranmer
President, International Braille Research Center Office
4424 Brookhaven Avenue
Louisville, Kentuckey 40220
Your contributions are tax deductable and should be made payable to The
International Braille Research Center and must be marked for deposit only.
WHEN will it be on-line:
We plan to launch the site and make it available to the blind
community as soon as we have a minimum of at least 100 titles in
Grade II, Braille but an enthusiastic response, and
contributions of materials already in Grade Ii Format will
boost this number significantly. You can learn more about the
activities of the International Braille Research Center
by visiting: http://www.braille.org. This new and exciting
resource promises to revolutionize the availability of Braille
to the blind World-wide in the next millennium and represents a
cutting-edge solution to access to material in Braille. With
this new venture we're headed for the future and the future is
now!
Peter Donahue
1
We're headed for the future and the future's Now!
"We're headed for the future"
"Dreamer"
Peter donahue
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