Skip to content

Category: DIAGRAM

Meet An Image Description Volunteer

Bookshare volunteer, Steven Obenour, lives in Jacksonville, FL. He currently supports the Poet image description project with a special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) texts. Steven has worked more than 32 years in various technical occupations including manufacturing and process engineering, software development, and the robotics industry. Technical writing is always a big part of his work responsibilities. Steven continues to work in temporary and contract employment positions. He says the volunteer opportunities with Bookshare improve his creativity and writing skills. He enjoys setting daily goals and targets for completion of image descriptions and finds that even…

1 Comment

GoogleServe Volunteers Write Image Descriptions

On June 14, Google invited Bookshare to participate in their annual GoogleServe volunteerism week.  We were warmly welcomed by Googlers, Seth Marbin and Kat Pham-Ouyang, who set us up in a computer lab. Before I had read through the instructions, our highly astute group of volunteers had already registered on the Poet image description tool and delved into the guidelines. Nineteen Google employees participated in the highly successful event (two remotely).  In just four hours, Google volunteers wrote over 1,200 descriptions for images in four different text books!  With the great success of this event, we plan to host many…

1 Comment

Publishers, Industry Moguls, and Disability Advocates Gather to Discuss Access

Saturday, June 9, 2012 wrapped up the first Inclusive Publishing conference hosted by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) at Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, MD, and the DAISY Consortium. NFB and DAISY teamed up with representatives from 20 countries, including Benetech/Bookshare, U.S. K–12 and higher education publishers (Pearson, Cengage, and SAS), and industry moguls (Apple, Google, and Adobe) to collaborate on issues of access affecting millions who cannot read print. Participants met to: Discuss current levels of accessibility in global and U.S. markets Share the landscape of today’s eBook evolution in publishing and education Collaborate and exchange ideas on…

Leave a Comment