Little Miss Chatterblog
Friday, November 2, 2007
(Audio)Book 'em, Danno!
Yes, that is indeed a pitiful pun. I blame it on the fact that - okay, it's about audiobooks, so not really a whole lot of scope there for wordplay and, also, it's 12 o'clock at night and some idiot is screaming around the streets on a dirt or motorbike of some description. I ask you!
Lucky for me, of course, I've been listening to the abovementioned via the World eBook Fair site, so I might have missed most of it.
I've never been much of a talking book person - I like my books in hard copy. With paper. But when we were growing up, my younger sister used to have trouble getting to sleep, so she would always have a talking book on to help her do so. And, naturally, working in libraries over the years, I've seen their popularity increase exponentially - and across many demographics. You will often have the more elderly borrowers taking them out - their sight may not allow for them even to read large print, so this is a means by which they are still able to enjoy books. The other big group has been people who commute - spending a lot of time in vehicles gets tedious, so these are a way to break up the monotony.
Now they are more widely available in CD format, which is excellent - as not many people tend to have cassette recorders anymore...mind you, this doesn't help the elderly borrowers, who may not have a CD player! But! If a kindly relative was to give them an MP3 player or something of that ilk, they could load it up for them with loads of talking books to listen to, in MP3 format! I'm actually seeing this as being something that will likely take off in the near future - cassette recorders are virtually outmoded, and MP3 players are pretty inexpensive now. So places such as the abovementioned site, could make a big difference for borrowers the likes of these.
Another site I've investigated before is LibriVox, where civilians can actually volunteer to read a chapter of public domain books, which are then uploaded for people to download and listen to themselves. When I think about it, it's almost a wiki itself - input from lots of different people (although I'm sure they're vetted somehow!). It's got an amazingly comprehensive collection - probably by virtue of the fact that volunteers are behind the recordings - and the ones I've listened to are really good! I really like the ecumenical feel of the project - and I'm a bit tempted to have a crack at it myself. I have the set-up to do it, so perhaps I ought!
From a library perspective, I'm actually thinking about these online audiobooks as being utilised the way I describe the elderly borrowers doing so above. MP3 players could be issued with audiobooks and used in the library (or perhaps out of it - logistics would have to be considered there!) - a moveable listening post, if you will. Down the track, I'm quite certain they'll come into play in our arena in some capacity.
In any event, I'm getting into the audiobook thing. Now I have my Ipod, it works out really well to get books on there to listen to. I go with the self-help ones a bit...perhaps the information will sink in via osmosis, if nothing else. ;-)
No more motorbike riding now. I can sleep!
Night! :-D
Emma.
Lucky for me, of course, I've been listening to the abovementioned via the World eBook Fair site, so I might have missed most of it.
I've never been much of a talking book person - I like my books in hard copy. With paper. But when we were growing up, my younger sister used to have trouble getting to sleep, so she would always have a talking book on to help her do so. And, naturally, working in libraries over the years, I've seen their popularity increase exponentially - and across many demographics. You will often have the more elderly borrowers taking them out - their sight may not allow for them even to read large print, so this is a means by which they are still able to enjoy books. The other big group has been people who commute - spending a lot of time in vehicles gets tedious, so these are a way to break up the monotony.
Now they are more widely available in CD format, which is excellent - as not many people tend to have cassette recorders anymore...mind you, this doesn't help the elderly borrowers, who may not have a CD player! But! If a kindly relative was to give them an MP3 player or something of that ilk, they could load it up for them with loads of talking books to listen to, in MP3 format! I'm actually seeing this as being something that will likely take off in the near future - cassette recorders are virtually outmoded, and MP3 players are pretty inexpensive now. So places such as the abovementioned site, could make a big difference for borrowers the likes of these.
Another site I've investigated before is LibriVox, where civilians can actually volunteer to read a chapter of public domain books, which are then uploaded for people to download and listen to themselves. When I think about it, it's almost a wiki itself - input from lots of different people (although I'm sure they're vetted somehow!). It's got an amazingly comprehensive collection - probably by virtue of the fact that volunteers are behind the recordings - and the ones I've listened to are really good! I really like the ecumenical feel of the project - and I'm a bit tempted to have a crack at it myself. I have the set-up to do it, so perhaps I ought!
From a library perspective, I'm actually thinking about these online audiobooks as being utilised the way I describe the elderly borrowers doing so above. MP3 players could be issued with audiobooks and used in the library (or perhaps out of it - logistics would have to be considered there!) - a moveable listening post, if you will. Down the track, I'm quite certain they'll come into play in our arena in some capacity.
In any event, I'm getting into the audiobook thing. Now I have my Ipod, it works out really well to get books on there to listen to. I go with the self-help ones a bit...perhaps the information will sink in via osmosis, if nothing else. ;-)
No more motorbike riding now. I can sleep!
Night! :-D
Emma.
Labels: #22 Audiobooks, Learning 2.0
posted by Emma. at 11:59 PM
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