In the April 13, 2009 issue of Publishers Weekly I saw a picture that caught my eye. Protestors with signs saying, "Equal access. It’s the law." And "Don’t disable the Kindle" and "Why don’t authors want to be heard?" Next to the picture is a news brief about the Kindle. A group of approximately 200 people protested in front of the Authors Guild headquarters in New York City. These protestors were people with print disabilities – physical impairments that restrict their ability to read print – and they were protesting against the Authors Guild attempt to disable the Kindle 2’s text-to-speech function.
While I have been thinking of intellectual freedom in terms of books and the Internet, this is something I had not considered. Most of the press about the Kindle that I’ve seen has been more about the copyright issues with the authors and publishers. I am very fortunate not to have a print disability, and this disagreement with the Authors Guild is very understandable. At the library where I am employed we have books on CD that patrons with print disabilities can use. We have not started using e-books yet, though I think that is coming soon. And if various authors do not want to have their books in other formats, I could see that they have the right to do that on an author-by-author or format-by-format basis. But for this Guild to request that a company disable its text-to-print function on its entire stock of Kindles which is part of the product's very reason for existing? I agree with the protestors that that is denying equal access. It is too broad a denial. A new avenue of intellectual freedom issues is here to address.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What's interesting is they disable the feature so the author can sell instead the audiobook. I read an article at Wired about kindle's set font takes away from the "feel" of book, and how the technology needs to improve. This is probably the same for the audio. If you are reading a newspaper, a text-to-speech isn't necessarily a big deal, but with a best-seller the author wants artistic control. I agree with the author, though, I think this technology is going to get better and better.
ReplyDeleteGanapati, P. (2009, May 18). Why E-books look so ugly. Wired. Retrieved from Gadget Lab at http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/e-book-design/
This is a tough issue. I agree that people who rely on audio should have equal access. Having a computer read the text out loud is the same as having a friend or family member read the material to that person. The last time I looked, audiobooks are more expensive than paper books. A person with a visual impairment should not have to pay more to read a book.
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I have a Kindle 2 and it is awesome. It is a great device to anyone with disabilities, especially the text to read feature. I understand the copyright concerns, however, has anyone heard of podcasts, webcasts, and rssfeeds? You know how many people record their own books via podcast? My step dad does it for fun. I think the text to read is an important feature, a little on the line, but great. As for copy issues with the kindle. You have permission from authors to make it a Kindle book and then you have to buy it. Also, the free book are exempt from copyright because of the age. Like "Dracula" is a free book for the kinlde; there is no copyright holder anymore. That is just what I think. The Kindle rocks!
ReplyDelete