Reading in the dark
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Kestrell" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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10:49 am
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Demo of NetEcho, an accessible phone-based Web application
News Wire:
On Monday, November 23 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time, Larry Lewis, President, Flying Blind LLC www.flying-blind.com will be demonstrating netECHO, an accessible, phone-based web application that enables individuals who are vision impaired to perform a number of tasks using the world wide web.
netECHO, developed by InternetSpeech www.internetspeech.com allows its subscribers the ability to use either a land or cellular phone line to access its server and issue commands through the sound of one’s voice or via the telephone keypad. netECHO is the perfect solution for users who do not own a PC or mobile device as well as a desktop or mobile screen reader, or for users who do own such devices, but wish to have a secondary alternative for dealing with the complexities of a graphical operating system.
( more details below cut )
Tags: accessible browsers, accessible cell phones
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10:42 am
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I have a bad feeling that this is excessively cute but...
what is it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwl8WZHy9z4
The link was posted to the IGDA access sig with the subject "Stuffed animal game controller."
Tags: game design-accessibility
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09:03 am
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There is a new edition of Green Man Review online
at
http://greenmanreview.com/whats_new.html
and I have four new reviews:
1. _Hellbound Hearts_, an anthology of stories set in Clive Barker's Hellraiser universe written by many of our best contemporary horror writers
http://greenmanreview.com/book/book_kane_hellboundhearts.html
2. Lucy A. Snyder's new novel _Spellbent_, a dark urban fantasy in hwich the female protagonist practices a sort of magic for hackers
http://greenmanreview.com/book/book_snyder_spellbent.html
3. For those who like their horror mixed with more than a little bit of humor, there's Seamus Cooper's The Mall of Cthulhu, a story of one Boston barista's battle with the forces of darkness
http://greenmanreview.com/book/book_cooper_mallofcthulhu.html
4. The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One, edited by Ellen Datlow
http://greenmanreview.com/book/book_datlow_besthorror_volumeone.html
block quote start
There is a lot to be excited about in regard to this new annual which will hopefully attract many new readers who, like myself, tend to be more interested
in horror than fantasy. The quality and variety of stories, along with the depth and breadth of Datlow's summary of the year in review, makes The Best
Horror of the Year informative as well as entertaining, and any horror fan who wishes to keep current with the state of the genre will want to have a copy.
block quote end
Tags: book blog 09, horror
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12:08 pm
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word of the day: parahawking
http://www.wordspy.com/words/parahawking.asp
Tags: raptors, words
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09:14 am
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Little Cthulhu
Kes: Via The Art of Darkness blog; if you wait through the quiet bit the next video will cue up
http://www.shadowmanor.com/blog/?p=5159
Tags: lovecraft
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04:36 pm
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How to know when you should probably knock off reading the Shirley Jackson fiction for a while
When your neighbors have been having a band practice for the past hour, the purpose of which you can only suppose is to advertise their existence as the least musically-talented band ever tot he entire world, because they insist on amplifying their practice at 11, and you realize that you have spent the last ten minutes thinking that, if you were a werewolf, you could knock on the front door and when someone answered the door dash inside and rip out everyone's jugular with your fangs, all the while howling your rage and sense of release to the world until finally you were done and it was silent and you could go back to your nice quiet aerye, bathed in still-hot human blood but happy.
Current Location: aerye
Current Mood: feral
Current Music: make the drums stop!!!
Tags: horror, writing
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01:36 pm
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WGBH provides guidelines for making educational media accessible
Posted to the NCAM announcement list
The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM) has written guidelines for content providers who would like to create accessible iTunes U media via captions, subtitles and audio descriptions. This guidelines document provides step-by-step documentation on creating fully accessible media, including:
- Closed captions and audio descriptions that the user can turn on or off as needed.
- Open subtitles and descriptions that are available to everyone watching or listening.
- Closed subtitles for adding multiple language tracks to video files.
- Accessible PDFs.
Also included with the guidelines are links to eight video and audio clips that illustrate the various forms of accessible media discussed in the document. Using these guidelines, iTunes U content providers can create content that all people can learn from including people with vision and
hearing loss.
To access the Creating Accessible iTunes U Content guidelines document and related media, see Creating Accessible iTunes U Content on Apple's iTunes site,
<http://deimos3.apple.com/webobjects/core.woa/browse/wgbh.org.2010579900>.
About NCAM and WGBH
The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH is a research, development and advocacy entity that works to make existing and emerging technologies accessible to all audiences. NCAM is part of the Media Access Group at WGBH, which also includes The Caption Center (est. 1972), and Descriptive Video Service® (est. 1990). For more
information, visit http://access.wgbh.org.
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of fully one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup, along with some of public television's best-known lifestyle shows and children's programs and many public radio favorites. For more information, visit http://www.wgbh.org.
Tags: accessible education, accessible media, wgbh
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12:38 pm
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Is the Kindle for the PC accessible? +Access in higher education
1. I just downloaded the free Kindle for PC
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311
and it installed fine but a final window comes up for registering the program, and that step seems to be totally inaccessible, with no links I can locate with a screen reader.
Have other people had a better experience?
And speaking of the Kindle and access:
2. A couple of universities have rejected using the Kindle for textbook use until Amazon improves the accessibility
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jEvsVQEnfo1Y-ibxGgcsCqTzjOJwD9BT4BD81
By RACHEL METZ (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon's Kindle can read books aloud, but if you're blind it can be difficult to turn that function on without help. Now two universities say they will shun the device until Amazon changes the setup.
And two more links to articles which reflect the state of accessible education at the university level
3. University's disabled population increasing: Students worry about lack of support staff.
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/university-s-disabled-population-increasing-1.863397
block quote start
The number of students with disabilities at [U of Maryland] has increased 18 percent over two years, echoing a nation-wide trend, but disabled students worry they may not have sufficient support on the campus.
Enrollment among disabled students nationally jumped 49 percent from 2000 to 2008, compared with a 27 percent increase in total students, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Despite the increases here and nationally, the campus’ Disability Support Services only has four counselors to advocate for and help more than 1,400 students. Of the four, two are part-time graduate students, and one exclusively advises those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
4. Higher Education and Disability: Education Needs a Coordinated Approach to Improve Its Assistance to Schools in Supporting Students
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-33
Summary
Research suggests that more students with disabilities are pursuing higher education than in years past, and recent legislative changes, such as those in the Higher Education Opportunity Act and Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, have the potential to increase the number and diversity of this population. GAO was asked to examine (1) what is known about the population of postsecondary students with disabilities; (2) how postsecondary schools are supporting students with disabilities; (3) what challenges, if any, schools face in supporting these students; and (4) how the Department of Education is assisting schools in supporting these students. [...]
Tags: accessibility-education, kindle-pc
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11:45 am
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Are vampires really gay?
a fabulous essay by Hal Duncan on whether vampires can really be interpreted as gay
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/notes-from-new-sodom-on-blood-bad-boys-and-bottoms/
Vampires have pretty much bored me since the '90s, and now I think I have some insight as to why. Also, I found some parts of this roll-on-the-floor funny.
Tags: horror, queer
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09:12 am
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Henry Jenkin's introductory essay to Interfictions 2
I found this essay to be one of the most exciting pieces written on the subject of genre, and I don't just say that because I am one of Henry's former media studies grad students. I can't recall the last time an introductory essay got me so revved to read the rest of the book. Seriously, I think this is an essay that everyone who reads genre fiction should read, and now you can.
http://www.interstitialarts.org/essays/jenkins_on_not_belonging.php
Tags: henry jenkins, interstitial
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09:41 am
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Free Kindle for PC app available next month
Kes: If this turns out to be accessible, it would be really awesome
http://www.dailybits.com/amazon-to-bring-e-books-to-pc-users-thanks-to-competition/
Tags: ebooks, kindle-pc
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06:04 pm
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Typo of the day
Not mine, but this one will haunt me for a while:
pubic transportation.
And this showed up in a very pubic announcement e-mail.
Tags: spellcheckers are your fiend
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01:28 pm
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Further thoughts on the horror genre: is horror even the right word anymore?
Dead Air 2: The Genre on the Doorstep by Nicholas Kaufmann
http://irosf.com/q/zine/article/10599 ,
the second part of his interview/discussion with Jack M. (Haringa LJ user mssrcrankypants), is now online at The Internet Review of Science Fiction Web site.
My own thoughts: while I often rant about my loathing of such phrases as "literary horror" and "psychological horror," I have to reluctantly agree that some phrase that distinguishes the more intellectually-challenging variety of horror might be necessary, as the images which have come to be frequently associated with horror as a genre do service to neither the genre nor its more discerning fans. The increasing prevalence of torture, gratuitous gore, sadistic and ever-less-likely methods of slaughter, and (an element which was not mentioned in the article but which I maintain has become more rampant in the genre) the victimization of women and children: these are the features of contemporary horror which I spend a lot of time and effort attempting to sift through in order to get to "the good stuff," namely, horror stories which use the tropes and conventions of horror to reflect upon the shadowy spaces of our modern world, our sense of reality, our own psyches.
One thing which strikes me is that, unlike fans of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and other such genres, many horror fans such as myself seem to be expressing a certain ambivalence toward the very name used to signify the genre. How can I resent the reluctance on the part of publishers to put the word "horror" on a book when I have to agree with them that it is likely to turn off a large number of potential readers who are not interested in the level of gore and violence which currently runs through the genre? (Refer to Deb LeBlanc's comments about describing her books as "horror" to potential readers in this interview
http://jonathanmaberry.com/still-scary-after-all-these-years ).
I'm not talking about being transgressive here, something which I have always loved about horror--I'm talking about the way most horror at this point seems to merely go for the gross-out and the buckets of gore. If I read one more story where the big surprise is supposed to be that the protagonist is a cannibal *yawn*. Or twins *yawn*. Or cannibal twins (okay, I haven't actually read one of those stories yet).
The point of many of these stories seems not to be to present things like a moral, a theme, or even a new and interesting insight into the human psyche and its sense of reality , no, the big idea of many of these stories seems merely to be able to shock, to go one step further than previous incarnations of the same story, and basically, I believe the true sensation of shock requires making an intellectual, emotional, or psychological connection. People whose sole aim is to be intentionally offensive or shocking are, in my mind, rarely creative, just good at pressing all the buttons until they get a reaction. Do they have anything new or interesting to say? No. Do they have any point in what they're doing, other than their own vicarious amusement? No. Are they transgressive in the sense of changing or challenging the status quo? No. So what's the point?
My point is: I want my horror fiction to have a point. I want to get to the end and have the desire to go back and examine how the good parts fit together, how it says something about human nature, how it provides commentary and/or variation on what's come before. Basically, how it takes for granted that I, as a reader, am an intelligent and curious reader who is knowledgeable about the genre and is expecting--or at least hoping for--something original.
Tags: horror
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10:22 am
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The state of the ebook
A post
http://followthereader.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/the-day-it-all-changed/
about Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive Founder and Chief Librarian, and his
“BookServer” project
http://www.archive.org/bookserver
Notable quotes:
1.
block quote start
• Next he announced that not only were these files available in ePub form, but that they were available in the “Daisy” format as well. Daisy is the format
used to create Braille and Text to Speech software interpretations of the work.
block quote end
and
2.
block quote start
• Next up, Mike McCabe of IA, came up and demonstrated how files in the Daisy format could be downloaded to a PC then downloaded to a device from Humana,
specifically designed for the reading impaired. The device used Text-to-speech technology to deliver the content, but what was most amazing about this
device was the unprecedented ease at which a sight impaired person could navigate around a book, moving from chapter to chapter, or to specific pages in
the text.
• Brewster took a break from the demonstrations to elaborate a couple of facts, the most significant of which was the fact the books in the worlds libraries
fall into 3 categories. The first category is public domain, which accounts for 20% of the total titles out there – these are the titles being scanned
by IA. The second category is books that are in print and still commercially viable, these account for 10% of the volumes in the world’s libraries. The
last category are books that are “out of print” but still in copyright. These account for 70% of the titles, and Brewster called this massive amount of
information the “dead zone” of publishing. Many of these are the orphan titles that we’ve heard so much about related to the Google Book Settlement –
where no one even knows how to contact the copyright holder.
block quote end
Tags: daisy, free ebooks, online libraries
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07:12 pm
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The continuing epic of Kestrell's right eye
Yesterday I was all psyched for my appointment with the ocularist who makes my prosthetic eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB5wTYNscWs
and as soon as I sat down in the chair I announced "I want to change my eye colour!" and he said, "Why am I not surprise? I was saying earlier 'She'll probably want green eyes or reptile eyes or something,' " to which I replied "Well, only one green eye, the right one, but the left eye should be blue."
Into the resoudning silence I began to explain about Delirium which, okay, I can't blame him, that part is kind of hard to absorb all at once, but then he started to argue that mismatched eyes reflected badly on the ocularist so I countered with an explanation of fandom and how mismatched eyes were far from the weirdest thing going on there and he should really familiarize himself with the "Pimp my gimp" movement (man, I hate it when the humans try to stomp on my cyborg dreams).
But it all turned out to be moot.
It seems the ongoing eye problem I have been having with the eye healing (more about the squicky details below the cut) mean that I couldn't really have an impression made of the eye socket, which was the entire purpose of the appointment.
Instead I get to go back to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington and have another eye procedure done, and for some reason this is really depressing me. It's not life-threatening or even horrifically painful but it is going to mean another month or so of healing and so on and of course, my head hurts after being poked in the eye a few more times.
( squicky details about eye surgery )
Tags: health, prosthetic eyes
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10:21 am
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Mythbusting the ISBN
block quote start
And I have been in more than one meeting where I have heard these exact
words (and I am not making this up), "If only we had some kind of system
to deal with this, some way of identifying content!"
block quote end
<http://www.ljndawson.com/permalink/2009/11/04/mythbusting_the_isbn.html>
Tags: books, cross-referencing
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04:15 pm
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Go green!
Kes: Although I must say, my perfect mate is a lot more precise regarding the use of a spellchecker and, while there's nothing wrong with the screaming part, I don't see any reason why one should feel compelled to take sex out of the laboratory (or maybe I've just listened to Paul and Storm's "Live" a few too many times).
Who is your Harry Potter Mate
http://www.gotoquiz.com/who_is_your_harry_potter_mate
Your Result: Severus Snape
You like your mate with a dry wit and a sharp tounge. You do not mind the emotional baggage that comes with him. You may have to drag him kicking and screaming
from the potion lab, but once his love is given, it will never waiver.
Tags: everyday is halloween, evil, quizzes, slytherin
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08:29 am
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Small Beer Press giving away free copies of Interfictions 2
Small Beer Press is giving away free copies of Interfictions 2
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/
to people who will blog about or review the book. This is a really wonderful book that demonstrates just what all the hubbub is about interstitial fiction. It also has introduction by Henry Jenkins which is one of the most thought-provoking pieces I have ever read on the subject of genre, and why we all seem to have such a love-hate relationship with the word.
Tags: book blog 09, interstitial
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09:22 am
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Macmillan lowers ebook royalties to its authors in new contract
Kes: The bottom line seems to be that the publisher believes that if people can purchase a $9.99 ebook, they are less likely to purchase a $25 hardcover. As far as I am concerned, I am highly unlikely to purchase a $25 hardcover mainstream book at all, but will feel much more receptive to a $9.99 ebook. I am even less likely to purchase books from a publisher who seems to be punishing its authors because ebooks are finally gaining serious sales.
Posted yesterday to
Publishing Perspectives
http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=7336
block quote start
Publishers Marketplace broke the news
earlier today of a new contract being pushed out by Macmillan (parent company of St. Martin's, Farrar Straus and Giroux, Henry Holt, Picador, and
Tor among others) to agents in the United States that asserts the company will only offer a 20% royalty rate
for e-books, down from the typical 25% and would be applicable to “all exploitation of the content of the book in digital form.” Agent Richard Curtis,
who posted the letter from Macmillan’s John Sargent to
his blog
http://ereads.com/
, suggested to the
New York Times
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/macmillan-lowers-e-book-payments-for-authors/#more-17493
that the move was entirely in the wrong direction: “The point is whether we should be playing on such a low ballfield at all and whether the industry should
not really be thinking about a 50 percent royalty of net receipts.”
block quote end
and this quote from the NY Times article:
block quote start
E-books still represent a sliver of the overall book industry — estimates range from 3 to 5 percent of total sales — but the sales are the fastest growing.
While publishers rush to embrace the new format, they also fear that massive discounting by retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony
could ultimately devalue what consumers are willing to pay for books.
Currently, most popular retailers of digital books sell new releases and best sellers for $9.99 apiece, far below the typical $25 to $35 list price on hardcovers.
For now, the retailers still pay publishers a standard wholesale price that is equal to half the list price of a hardcover book, but publishers fear that
as e-books grow to a bigger share of the total market, the retailers will pressure publishers to cut their wholesale prices.
Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said that Macmillan was anticipating a time when Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-book retailers
would try to push down wholesale book prices. “This is Macmillan’s attempt to pre-emptively squeeze authors.”
Mr. Sargent declined to comment.
Richard Curtis, a literary agent who posted Mr. Sargent’s letter on his blog,
ereads.com
, said the difference between Macmillan’s standard e-book royalty and other publishers was not the point. “The point is whether we should be playing on
such a low ballfield at all,” Mr. Curtis said, “and whether the industry should not really be thinking about a 50 percent royalty of net receipts.” He
argued that because the cost to publishers of producing e-books was so low, authors should get a higher proportion of sale proceeds.
Indeed, Laurence J. Kirshbaum, a literary agent and former publishing executive, said: “I don’t really understand the logic since e-books really do not
require any additional work on the part of the publisher.” He added that e-book royalties should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
block quote end
Tags: ebooks
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01:21 pm
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Scare Tactics, book on American women writers of supernatural fiction, now on sale
_Scare Tactics: Supernatural Fiction by American Women_ by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock(Fordham University Press, 2008)
30% discount available through Web site
http://www.fordhampress.com.
You can read my Green Man Review of the books here
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_weinstock_scaretactics.html
but basically the book Focuses on supernatural fiction written by women Between the end of the Civil War and roughly 1930. The book makes the point that many fo thse stories focused upon women's issues such as female agency or the idea of "a room of her own," even if it is a haunted room, as in Madeline Yale Wynne's story
"The Little Room" http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/littlerm.htm .
Tags: supernatural fiction, women horror writers
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