Chris Stephen, Founder, ReadHowYouWant
Interview on NCTI web site.
This is a fascinating interview with the founder of ReadHowYouWant, the company for which I am now developing a library and institutional services program. Chris had a strong background in publishing and marking up electronic text when his sister developed MS and began having trouble reading. To help her, he applied his publishing and markup skills to create special fonts that her eyes could track on, as well as a software system for converting normal text to these fonts.
From the NCTI web site home page:
The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) advances learning opportunities for all students, with a special focus on individuals with disabilities. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education, NCTI offers technical guidance to facilitate growth and sustainability of assistive and learning tools by fostering innovative technology solutions.
Please note that the font examples giving in the interview are some of the more specialized ones that RHYW uses. Most of their books are printed in fonts that look quite conventional, except for being larger and darker, so they are perfect for public library large print sections.
The big thing that ReadHowYouWant does for most libraries is to produce these large font editions of books that previously were available only in smaller type.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work) - New York Times
He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work) - New York Times
This is one of the most brilliant applications of search and AI technology I have ever heard of. If you read the article, you will see that there are definite limits in terms of how well the computers can interpret the data that they gather, but on the other hand, if computers can be used to gather the data and present it in graphical format (with limited instruction from human editors) then much of the drudgery of locating and compiling statistics can be eliminated. The article gives the example of a book on market projects for bath mats in India, which would be of limited interest, but if you were in the bath mat business this book might be extremely useful considering the size and population of India. Fascinating!
This is one of the most brilliant applications of search and AI technology I have ever heard of. If you read the article, you will see that there are definite limits in terms of how well the computers can interpret the data that they gather, but on the other hand, if computers can be used to gather the data and present it in graphical format (with limited instruction from human editors) then much of the drudgery of locating and compiling statistics can be eliminated. The article gives the example of a book on market projects for bath mats in India, which would be of limited interest, but if you were in the bath mat business this book might be extremely useful considering the size and population of India. Fascinating!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
isbndb.com - free ISBN database
isbndb.com - free ISBN database
I ran across this fascinating tool when one of my Google alerts picked up a title from one of the publishers I work with. Tracking down books by ISBN has always been a challenge, and here is a web-based tool that will help. Probably of most use to Tech Services people. Since other people seem to be quoting me about it, I thought I'd better mention it here.
I ran across this fascinating tool when one of my Google alerts picked up a title from one of the publishers I work with. Tracking down books by ISBN has always been a challenge, and here is a web-based tool that will help. Probably of most use to Tech Services people. Since other people seem to be quoting me about it, I thought I'd better mention it here.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Swiss Army Librarian » Another Announcement from OverDrive :: Brian Herzog
Swiss Army Librarian » Another Announcement from OverDrive :: Brian Herzog
This was an April fool spoof on the idea of large print audio books form OverDrive. I don't think it's that far-fetched if you are looking for large print ebooks, rather than over-enunciated audio (though I would love over-enunciated audio so I could hear words clearly over the road noise in my car).
This was an April fool spoof on the idea of large print audio books form OverDrive. I don't think it's that far-fetched if you are looking for large print ebooks, rather than over-enunciated audio (though I would love over-enunciated audio so I could hear words clearly over the road noise in my car).
Outsell Issues Forecast Report on Libraries
Outsell Issues Forecast Report on Libraries
Outsell is a research and consulting firm that specializes in publishing. They just issued a report on the global market for information spending by libraries. Well worth reading the article in Info Today if you don't want to pay for the full report.
Outsell is a research and consulting firm that specializes in publishing. They just issued a report on the global market for information spending by libraries. Well worth reading the article in Info Today if you don't want to pay for the full report.
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