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I have seen that many people are hitting the "Panic Button" because of
the notice which appeared last week regarding the discontinuation of the
Web Braille Site. It's so bad that the President of a national
organization has already written an article which will appear in their
June publication.
I, for one, am not one who is hitting the panic button. I believe that
something must have happened which is requiring the temporary closure of
the site while some things are attended to. I do think, however, NLS
could have done a better job with their notice. I think they should
have added the word temporary in the notice so people wouldn't get the
wrong idea. I'm guessing somebody may have hacked the site or
something, but I don't know for sure.
Below is something I saw from another List. Included in this posting
is a note from Frank Kurt Cylke, and even though it's short, I think it
got right to the point.
Dear Mr. Cylke,
I know that you don't know me, so please forgive my barging into your
inbox. I got your address from someone who passed it along on an e-mail
discussion
list pertaining to the use of the BrailleNote note-taker.
I'm writing to you this evening to tell you that I was quite surprised
and
disappointed yesterday to find that the Web Braille service is shut
down.
The
Web Braille service has been my primary source of electronic Braille
books
for the past six years, and, as an avid reader, I can tell you that the
removal
of the service was a shocking blow. It will be sorely missed by all of
us
throughout the country who have derived immense pleasure from being able
to freely download books whenever we get the urge to read. Thus I'm
compelled to write to you this evening, as others undoubtedly will,
imploring NLS to consider reinstating the service. If that's not
possible, for technical or security reasons, it is my sincere hope that
a suitable
alternative, with an even greater wealth of reading material, will be
provided
as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Tom Lange
Mr. Cylke kindly replied:
Mr. LANGE: Web-braille will be back soon. Thank you for your thoughtful
message. Kurt Cylke ... P.S. Please feeel free to "barge in" anytime.
Kurt
Cylke
Frank Kurt Cylke, Director
National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542
202-707-5104
Fax 202-707-1690
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-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Judi Piscitello
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 10:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VICUG-L] Web Braille Petition
Check http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html for list archives
Reasons to sign the online petition (link below article) and to
encourage AFB, NFB and other organizations to advocate as well:
The Mosen Explosion (Blog)
Friday, May 12, 2006
The Demise of Web Braille
By Jonathan Mosen
Since it became known that the US Library of Congress's National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) was closing Web
Braille apparently on a temporary basis, there has been much speculation
as to why. At the time of posting, the only official comment I have read
from NLS is that the sight has been closed for security reasons and that
they hope the closure will be short lived.
My immediate thoughts on this are threefold.
Firstly, I hope that members of both consumer organisations are not just
writing to NLS, which they certainly should be doing, but also writing
to the leadership of their consumer organisation to ask for the maximum
possible advocacy effort on this matter. When it has come to issues such
as promoting Braille and access to blindness services, both
organisations have a good track record of burying what differences exist
and working together for the common good of all Americans. I sincerely
hope that advocating strenuously for the return of Web Braille is an
issue that falls into this category. Both organisations have gifted
blind advocates who serve Americans well. Let's hope that talent can be
pooled for the sake of this important issue.
Secondly, blind Americans are tax payers too. A service they have come
to depend on and value has been taken away from them, with very little
explanation. We need to know more about the nature of the security
concern. Does the security concern relate to the potential to back
translate Braille material? Are accounts compromised in some way? Is it
something else? We don't yet, as far as I am aware, know why the service
was suddenly pulled, and we need to. Surely a Government department
funded by US taxes has a duty to be much more forthcoming with
information. Blind people can speculate all they like on the reasons,
but that speculation is unhelpful and merely adds to the confusion. The
first step to understanding the shut-down is to be informed as to the
reasons for it. Again, if there is an issue, there are many gifted blind
technology experts who'd be glad to lend their expertise to the problem.
Thirdly, while I support wholeheartedly the endeavours of each and every
person who seeks to have this service restored, I would urge those
affected by the Web Braille shut-down to take a moment to reflect on how
much they value the service, and how many people throughout the world
cannot access a similar service. Special format material is a precious
and scarce resource. It seems to me a tragedy that, with the shortage
of special format material that exists as compared with the millions of
titles available to sighted people in print, more isn't done to minimise
duplication of effort in
special format production, and to facilitate the sharing of that
material.
Mechanisms need to exist for greater sharing of special format material
between countries which have similar copyright laws. For example, my
view is that those outside of the US, living in countries with copyright
laws that support the provision of special format material by prescribed
organisations without having to seek the permission of the copyright
holder, should be able to access Web Braille for a fee. Web Braille is
paid for by US tax dollars, and it is not my view that non-US blind
citizens should somehow enjoy a free ride off the US tax payer. It's
interesting to note though that given the huge foreign aid budget of
many western countries, the US included, allowing a few blind people
outside of the US to access the service would be a mere drop in the
bucket, particularly if the processing was handled by an appropriate
blindness agency in the country in question. US citizens should also
have reciprocal rights in countries where similar services are
available.
All of us as blind people know how frustrating it can be to get access
to what we want to read. If the will truly existed, ways could be found
to better facilitate the sharing of special format material. It's the
right thing to do, and it is an area where the US is uniquely positioned
to lead the way. It would mean that five or six copies of the same book
would no longer need to be produced in different countries, which is a
shameful nonsense and a waste of resources.
So let's hope an explanation is forthcoming, the consumer organisations
work together to get the service restored, and that US citizens use this
down time to think about how it is for many blind people around the
world, and perhaps develop a bit of compassion as a result.
Oh and a final thought. Please spare a thought for blind people working
for NLS right now. I have no doubt it's not easy when one would like to
be more forthcoming to one's fellow blind people, but for whatever
reason cannot be.
http://jmosen.livejournal.com/244287.html
Please help us restore Web Braille by signing the online petition at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/braille/petition.html
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