The Final Stage of the Final Project

Let it be known that on December 17th of 2019 at exactly 1:30 in the morning, I, Elise, finished this behemoth of a project. Is it going to be submitted over an hour late? Yes. Am I incredibly ashamed? Also yes. Please forgive me, Jane.

Most tutorials I found on audiobook production had more to do with following publisher guidelines than giving actual tips, though I did find one magical source entitled “How To Make An Audio Book: A Do-It-Yourself Guide.” I chuckled when I first saw, “All recordings must be human-voice” (Bennett), which seems self-explanatory, but then I remembered reading about the (very expensive) OCRs which convert texts into robot voices (Van Gerven), so I’m actually not at all surprised that this rule exists.

Bennett also includes a guide on necessary adaptions for the audiobook form which pertain to all hearing people, whether they are sighted or not. Images/charts must be described or omitted, footnotes create awkwardness, and lists can bore the reader. Even though the narrator chooses how these aspects are changed in the end, I think that writers should keep them in mind. Is there a way to include that footnote in the text so that someone who cannot read your book, but must listen to it, may also glean the information? Is this list really necessary? How descriptive are the captions under your charts? Could you envision the data by only hearing the words? These are all questions that most authors likely do not consider when they write (I know I don’t), but that doesn’t mean they can’t. I know now that whenever I write a footnote I’ll remember it would not work in an audiobook then ask myself, “How might I integrate this fact into my piece?”

In terms of actual reading performance, the best advice I read was to “keep in mind that narrating a book is not the same as singing, casual talking, or public speaking. Reading, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, has an element of acting to it, and nobody likes bad actors.” There is a lot of wry humor in “Geneva Gritz Goes to the Grocery Store,” so it requires the best acting. Because so much of the comedy is subtle, even the slightest change of voice can skew the meaning. I think in some places I did incredibly well, but in others not so much. If I were to actually publish this book in audiobook form, I would definitely cast a different narrator.

A few other notable tips which I used or would suggest using in your own endeavors:

1. “When you make a mistake with the narration, it is important to pause, then go back to the start of the sentence, phrase, or the last verbal pause and start again.”
2. “It is important for your voice to be consistent throughout the book. This means recording the same general time each day (morning voice is usually different from evening voice) and recording only as long as you can without straining your vocal chords.”
3. “Listen to the source file and follow along while reading your book. Very often words are skipped and it still sounds fine (I skipped a whole page once). Only by reading along can you pick up these errors.”

If you would like to delve into formatting audiobooks specifically for audible, I highly recommend reading the rest of the article.

Overall, I am pleased with my “audiobook” (I use quotation marks because my story is not published, nor is it a book). I think the use of sound effects comes off especially well in my final scene of homely warmth, though I do wish I could find more free ambience online for my outdoor scenes, and I hope that the white noise comes across as tension-building rather than just weird. If I were to repeat this project, I would hire someone to read for me, and then I would hire someone else to create original foley tailored to my story. But alas! I am only a poor college sophomore, trying to get by and turn in her final before daybreak.

This project has taught me a lot about the blind community and how literature works within it. In terms of accessibility of literature for blind children, I have a few ideas. First of all, I believe large audiobook companies need to make their products customizable for each individual. Because the reader chooses what to include, I doubt any sighted person would complain, and if they would, they should probably need to spend more time checking their privilege than listening to their sixth Audible self-help book. Secondly, I think we need to understand that people who see differently are just that—they are not special or magic or impeded from basically anything other than “driving or doing surgery” (Pierce). Still, blind people “have a 74 percent unemployment rate,” and “85 percent of the blind adults who are employed are fluent Braille readers.” The fact that Braille literacy is a driving force within acceptance into the workplace (which is slim as it is) shows an added importance for literacy in the blind community. Audiobooks may seem like a counter-intuitive solution to this problem, but they can actually teach people to read Braille if they follow along the words with their fingers as they are spoken. The option to self-teach is especially important in the blind community because “many parents of these youngsters don't want to admit that their children would benefit from being taught [Braille], and many teachers, even teachers trained to instruct blind children, do not know Braille.” Of course, the ideal solution is to educate these educators enough to provide a sufficient education, but I’m sure you’re familiar with the US government and its attitudes toward public education…

Speaking of education, I have a final tomorrow, and I am very sleepy. Good night all, and have a wonderful winter (or summer, if you are from the southern hemisphere).

Signed,

The Writer

SLOTH

Works Cited:

1. Bennet, Bo. “How To Make An Audio Book: A Do-It-Yourself Guide.” EBookIt!, 13 July 2016, 11:47 a.m., www.ebookit.com/tools/bg/Bo/eBookIt/ucHgoPMz/How-To-Make-An-Audio-Book--A-Do-It-Yourself-Guide.
2. Pierce, Barbara. “No Such Thing as Blind Culture.” Braille Monitor, The National Federation of the Blind, Nov. 2008, www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm08/bm0810/bm081007.htm.
3. Van Gerven, Clara. “Optical Character Recognition and High-Volume Book-Scanning.” Braille Monitor, The National Federation of the Blind, Nov. 2008, www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm08/bm0810/bm081010.htm.

Write-house for the Blind

I began my research into literature and accessibility for the blind by first reading up on what blindness actually is.

I first tried to find anything I could on blind culture; I was hoping that I might discover an book club which employed techniques useful to my project, or a list of things blind people wished were in their books. What I discovered instead was that I was already making assumptions. According to Barbara Pierce, 2009 president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, there is “No Such Thing As Blind Culture.” Her explanation is that “culture develops when barriers exist interrupting the communication between members of the group in question and the larger society.” Deaf culture exists because “Deaf people frequently use American Sign Language as their preferred method of communication. They recognize this as a distinct language,” so since most blind people can speak, and since Braille is a code, not another language, blind people have had no need to develop their own specific culture, but instead have relied on community.

As I described in my earlier blog post, to be considered blind in the court of law, your vision must be 20/200 or less with and without visual aids (Boxer Wachler). Through my recent research, I learned that a Swedish study on blindness conducted over two decades found that “[s]eventy-two per cent of the [studied] children (108/150) had at least one diagnosed additional disability, the most common being ID, ASD and motor disabilities” (de Verdier 297), which meant that a mere “22% (33/150) had only blindness and no reported coexisting disorder.” At least in Sweden (though I assume it is similar throughout the US and regions within Europe), “[m]any children with blindness […] attend inclusive education in local schools around the country, also blind children with additional disabilities. This places high demands on the school system and the individual teachers [… T]he pedagogical support provided to the schools is not always sufficient, according to teachers and parents” (299).

This seems to be a trend within the blind community: resources exist, but they are either unavailable or in short supply. For example, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) machines, which “[convert] print to text readable by a text-to-speech engine,” range from $995-$3500 (Van Gerven), so not all families with visually impaired members can afford them. “[E]xisting teaching methods for children with ASD are often difficult or even impossible to apply, as these methods to a high extent are based on visual skills” and blind people cannot see (de Verdier 299). Even a study on video games notices “a few mainstream games are playable but not optimized for blind users; most audio-games are too simple or too old to offer an intriguing experience and may not offer an intuitive introduction to the game” (Giannakopoulos 609).

This experiment on the creation of video games for blind children has become a beacon of light for my project. The experiment begins with the interview of multiple sight-impaired children and finds that “[t]he need to play electronic games is great. Blind children try to play with any available device, even if it is not designed for them, even if they keep losing” (612). Additionally, “[c]hildren and young people with low vision want to use whatever visual ability they have.”  Because some children have more sight than others and can see colors or light, the scientists created two types of games: “(1) Audio-Based Games, where some visual content exists that has a rather non-essential supportive role (2) Audio-Only-Games, where the visual stimuli is completely absent” (609). From their research and testing, the scientists eventually concluded that a good video game for blind children

(1) provides modern sonification allowing for the efficient perceptual representation of the game-play; (2) evolves software design and realization models that employ iterative subjective evaluation and feedback phases, supporting accessible tutorials integrated into the gaming environment; (3) creates a software platform that offers the ability to any interested user, blind or sighted (even with minimal digital skills) to contribute to the development of accessible games; (4) supports the easy translation of games into the users’ mother tongue; (5) increases the replayability of video games for blind children, by allowing children with and without visual impairment to play together, side by side or remotely and (6) allows blind children to bring their voices and topics of their interests into the games they create, increasing their engagement. (609-610)

While many of these requirements are video game specific, I saw a few that resonated with my project. Requirement (1) emphasized a use of sound to represent gameplay; I could use sound effects within my audiobook to represent pictures and imagery. Requirement (2) called for translatability. While my project is conducted solely in the English language, I think it is important to note that it the methods can be translated into any language (quite roughly if you use the widget to the right) then applied to literature either already in your language or stories ready for translation.

Additionally, I’d like to call back to the experiment’s earlier claim that because some children children have better vision than other, the games should be customizeable. I think this can be applied to audiobooks easily. To begin, audiobook reading speeds are adjustable on most platforms already. Furthermore, audio files are some of the easiest to manipulate because of their nature of blending many different tracks. When making a fiction podcast (basically a radio drama), sound effects are placed on a different track as character voices are place on a different track as ambience… You get my point. If one child abhors sound effects, they should have the ability to mute them and vice versa. This same methodology can be applied to books which teach the skill of reading with page turn indicators (you know, the ones you or your mom listened to on vinyl). If a child is just beginning their journey of reading Braille, it might be helpful to hear that oh-so-familiar ding. However, if they can read Braille just fine and are simply in the mood to hear someone speak to them, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to toggle the feature at will.

The video game experiment also emphasized “the need to give teachers and health professionals the appropriate tools to create their own game variations” (617). Now this is an excellent idea, but it presents specifically difficult problems within the industry of literature. As nice as it would be to have a fully customizable online database of books read out by teachers around the world, available to anyone with a keyboard and a mousepad, copyright law exists. I am sure that plenty of people would be willing to make separate tracks and create a software in which young blind readers can choose how they hear a story on a whim, but as soon as the law is involved people like to back out, and I don’t blame them. It’s a tedious journey soliciting permission from authors (and their agents and their publishers). Right now, the best idea I can think of is for already established companies (such as Audible) to convert their existing audiobooks into customizable ones and continue the practice in all new publications.

Anyway, I have a story to record. I’ll be back with reflections when I’m finished.

Signed,

The Writer

SLOTH

Works Cited:

1. Boxer Wachler, Brian S. “What Does It Mean to Be Legally Blind?” WebMD, WebMD, 7 Nov. 2019, www.webmd.com/eye-health/legally-blind-meaning.
2. de Verdier, Kim, et al. “Children with Blindness - Major Causes, Developmental Outcomes and Implications for Habilitation and Educational Support: a Two-Decade, Swedish Population-Based Study.” Acta Ophthalmologica, vol. 96, no. 3, May 2018, pp. 295–300., doi:10.1111/aos.13631.
3. Giannakopoulos, George, et al. “Accessible Electronic Games for Blind Children and Young People.” British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 49, no. 4, 4 July 2018, pp. 608–619., doi:10.1111/bjet.12628.
4. Pierce, Barbara. “No Such Thing as Blind Culture.” Braille Monitor, The National Federation of the Blind, Nov. 2008, www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm08/bm0810/bm081007.htm.
5. Van Gerven, Clara. “Optical Character Recognition and High-Volume Book-Scanning.” Braille Monitor, The National Federation of the Blind, Nov. 2008, www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm08/bm0810/bm081010.htm.

Writing Corey in a Grocery Store

As you can tell from the time stamp, I didn’t exactly get to finishing my story last night. In fact, I didn’t even start it, but luckily today existed so I did it then.

As of now, “Geneva Gritz Goes to the Grocery Store” is unedited but complete. Corey discovers that she no longer likes Planter’s Peanuts and decided to give potatoes a try, so Geneva deals with it. That is basically all that happens, but I think that the story gives background for Corey that the collection insofar has otherwise lacked. In writing today, I decided that Corey is not ditzy, but instead is entirely enthralled by her own world. I hint at her elusiveness with comments which show she has a complicated life outside of the space contained within the stories. Corey is generally disconnected to Geneva, and she’s rather apathetic to the majority of her and Tinny’s endeavors with exception of this particular grocery trip. Also, in this story I decided that Corey was raised by intelligent slugs, so I think I’ll definitely have to play with that in the future (maybe she likes to slither around the floor or lay on the ground when it’s raining? Maybe she’s terrified of salt?).

For story purposes, I know I need to edit my ending (right now it is rather abrupt) and include more of Tinny (the ram) since he is such a central character in the rest of the stories. Also, I need to figure out what he eats, because before I had him dining on hemp from Whole Foods but now I realize that as a ram, Tinny would likely be eating from bales of hay or something like that. I don’t know because I am not a farmer, but I will certainly research more to figure it out.

I will also be editing the story to better fit an audiobook format and cater to blind children. Tomorrow I’ll post my research and comment on how it factored into my edits.

Signed,

The Writer

SLOTH

Who is Geneva Gritz and Why Do I Care About Her?

According to twelve year old me,

Geneva Gritz is a young girl, at the age of ten. She has curly strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. There is a gap between her two front teeth, and freckles dot her beneath the eyes.  She is short for her age at 4’ 3”. She has a pet ram named Tinny (short for Tin Can) and enjoys trying the impossible. She lives by herself in an abandoned warehouse with her best friend Corey (she’s a girl) and Tinny (the Ram). She gets all of her money from her Aunt, who is rich and couldn’t care less about her.

I began the Geneva Gritz chronicles with my mother while we waited in the urgent care center to either fix my broken arm or cure my scarlet fever—neither of us can really remember why we were there. We can remember, however, that it was taking forever, and Candy Crush just wasn’t cutting it. As to avoid death by bureaucracy lethargy, my mother opened the pages application of her iPad and started typing. I instinctively added details, and so Geneva Gritz was born.

The story was about Tinny (the ram) getting his horns stuck in a popcorn bowl. He too was waiting in the urgent care center with annoyance parallel to our. We used Geneva’s orphanhood and Tinny’s pageant career as context. Corey acted as the lax roommate. Geneva became fluent in Japanese.

My mother told me (and continues to tell me to this day—seriously, she said it last week) that my career is in Geneva Gritz. Because of this, I have jumped at any opportunity to write her. In high school, when the creative writing majors were assigned children’s comedies, I wrote of Geneva’s short-lived career in the shrimp and blimp industry. When we were asked for children’s books, I introduced Dame Judith Gritz, the dreadful aunt with too much money. Now, in a college-level children’s literature course, I figure I should flesh out my supporting character, Corey. I mean, what is she even doing?

Throughout the stories, Corey is ditzy or dumb or apathetic. She never knows what’s going on, but it’s always in a different way. In “Geneva Gritz Goes to the Grocery Store,” (the story I will be using for this project), I plan to solidify her character as a foil which demonstrates the brilliance that is Geneva. I also think Corey invited a lot of room for comedy, so I hope that will help.

Anyway, tonight I am writing. I might update after I’m done. I might not. I guess it will be a surprise.

Signed,
The Writer

SLOTH

A Project. A Final Project.

Okay, if you’ve been reading backwards I’d just like to stop you here. Every post before this was written when I was in middle school, and though many of them are entertaining, they probably won’t convey any real information. But hey, if you want to read about why I once believed giraffes were the most useless species on Earth, by all means go ahead.

Anyway, I am beginning a project. A final project. A final project for a Bard College at Simon’s Rock course on children’s literature taught by the lovely Dr. Jane Wanninger. Hi Jane!

In this class, we read a series of books, most of which I enjoyed, some of which I didn’t. One that particularly stood out to me was El Deafo by Cece Bell.

El Deafo is a memoir which details Bell’s childhood as a deaf individual. In an article she wrote, Bell says,

“The main reason that I believed the graphic novel format was the best format for my story is: SPEECH BALLOONS. They are awesome. They let me show the reader exactly what my character is hearing, or not hearing—a very important thing to show in a story about deafness.”

In a regular book, deafness can only be shown by saying “I can’t hear”—the reader cannot tell whether or not other people are talking if the main character is not looking at their mouth. In the graphic novel, however, the reader experiences the events of the story as a deaf person would: through sight.

This use of medium to cater to specific needs inspired me. I developed a plan to write a story designed to be specifically accessible to blind children, and what better way to do so than through an audiobook?

Side note: To be considered blind in the court of law, your vision must be 20/200 or less with and without visual aids (Boxer Wachler). According to WebMD, “[t]hat means if an object is 200 feet away, you have to stand 20 feet from it in order to see it clearly.” I have terrible eyesight and wear glasses every day, but my vision is entirely correctable. For this reason, I will not be writing about the blind experience, but will simply be making my own work accessible to the blind community.

As of now, my plan has five parts:

1. Write my story.
2. Research into blindness. How are blind children taught? What is the blind community like? How do blind people experience the world?
3. Change my story with this information in mind. I am writing the story first and then researching because there are way more authors who write without accessibility in mind than those who do. The methods used to adapt a story can be applied to any already existing work, which means that authors have not been using accesible practices can correct retrospectively.
4. Research into the audiobook format. Are there ways I should change my story to better work within the form? Is this an easy or difficult process?
5. Convert the story into the audiobook format.
6. Reflect.

So here I go.

Signed,

The Writer

SLOTH

Works Cited:

1. Bell, Cece. “Cece Bell: How I Made El Deafo – in Pictures.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Aug. 2015, www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2015/aug/04/cece-bell-el-deafo-in-pictures.
2. Boxer Wachler, Brian S. “What Does It Mean to Be Legally Blind?” WebMD, WebMD, 7 Nov. 2019, www.webmd.com/eye-health/legally-blind-meaning.