Just and idea

MonicaV · Post by **MonicaV** » January 15th, 2007, 11:42 pm

I know that the way things work is that people volunteer for certain chapters, and that if it isn't in for a certain amount of time, or if he or she can't do it for another reason others can volunteer for that chapter, but what if we have something in which multiple people volunteer for a section, then people vote on whose version to use? Would help keep quality readings on librivox!

Silver · Post by **Silver** » January 16th, 2007, 2:39 am

Hmm. I can see how this would be fun if everyone involved doesn't see it as a competition.

However, there are always people who will do that, and I think many new readers might not sign up in fear of getting no votes. These things always tend to turn into popularity contests.

I know that I, English being my second language, would be hesitant if I knew I was compared to native speakers.

One thing I love about librivox is the diversity and the acceptance of every dialect, accent and way to read. I'd be afraid that would be compromised.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 16th, 2007, 5:06 am

That would be many MANY recordings done in vain, no? Who likes to spend one hour recording and one hour editing if the file doesn't get used because its not voted for? What a waste of motivational energy! I don't understand you properly i think.

MonicaV · Post by **MonicaV** » January 16th, 2007, 5:26 am

It's not about competition, but about quality. There are many quality audiobooks on here, but many are of poor quality. Some things the person can work on, while others it is not necessarily his or her fault, but but could be done better by someone who may give the author's book a better voice. There are many works out there that can benefit from the natural accents of non-english speaking people. I like quality, even if that leads to competition, and if people can't handle competition, then there is something wrong with our society. This world isn't perfect and we can't coddle everyone. No one is great at everything, and it's time people of all ages learn to lose. Maybe we'll get more quality if people ARE trying to compete. Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but that's just how I feel. We've become too much of a "that's okay, we're all winners" society that when people do lose, they don't know how to lose gracefully. Also, it may get certain works done faster. Not because the first work will get in to the final, but because people may turn work in sooner.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 16th, 2007, 5:41 am

Monica, the discussion about quality in the librivox audiobooks has naturally been aroused and discussed douzens of times since the beginning of librivox, as you might imagine, as it is such a basic decision to be made.
Every now and then someone comes and questions the way librivox works and keeps on working with (so called) lower quality.
The question about quality has been satisfiably concluded early on and Librivox works well since then, better than anyone could have imagined, to record ALL books in the public domain.
Please undertake a little a effort to search the forum for the quality topic and you will find countless bigger or smaller discussions, arguments pro and con and answers, why Librivox is set on working this way.

MonicaV · Post by **MonicaV** » January 16th, 2007, 5:46 am

Stephan wrote:monica, the discussion about quality in the librivox audiobooks has naturally been aroused and discussed douzens of times since the beginning of librivox, as you might imagine.
Every now and then someone comes and questions the way librivox works and keeps on working with (so called) lower quality.
The question about quality has been satisfiably concluded early on and Librivox works well, better than anyone could have imagined, to record ALL books in the public domain.

Please undertake a little a effort to search the forum for the quality topic and you will find countless bigger or smaller discussuions, arguments pro and con and answers, why Librivox works this way.

I was expounding an idea, which then someone made a comment about. I apologize, but not everyone has time to go through the forums when an idea goes in his or her head. If it works well, then why do we have people who insist on detracting from the reading to read the footnotes, which completely distract the listener. I'm sure I'll be banished for saying what I just said, but that happens. Oh, well.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 16th, 2007, 6:01 am

In a solo project, reading the footnotes is a personal decision made by the reader. You may read the footnotes or not, depending on what you think does the text justice. It is always a very hard decision wether the footnotes would be too distracting or just too wonderfull an addition to miss. In a group project the book coordinator decides wheter the footnotes need to be read or not.
Obviously you'd subjectivly decide to not read footnotes at all. Thats totally ok.

Please excuse me for not giving you straight answers to the quality question. But it really has been discussed in length, again and again, as it is, you are right, very important for librivox. Please understand that we don't like to have the discussion over and over again.

Hang on, i am sure other admins will jump by to this thread shortly and give you pointers.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 16th, 2007, 6:20 am

These two discussions are about quality:

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=454
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2743

MonicaV · Post by **MonicaV** » January 16th, 2007, 6:20 am

It's just that I have ADD and read along to keep my focus on the story. There are a lot of people like me, and there is also a reason that the footnotes are at the end of the page or book, and not within the actually story itself. Another thing to do is to add a separate installment for footnotes after all the chapters, for those who want to listen to it.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 16th, 2007, 6:28 am

That's a good idea. Wouldn't you have to enter something like "he welded the door shut [footnote: please listen to the footnote-file at minute 16, second 42] and went back"? Personally i like your idea for works where footnotes take up half a page or more.

Interesting threads about footnotes:
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=607
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2236

MonicaV · Post by **MonicaV** » January 16th, 2007, 6:34 am

I don't mean announcing it, or maybe announcing it at the end of the chapter."

trioptimum · Post by **trioptimum** » January 16th, 2007, 6:53 am

Hi MonicaV,

As Stephan has pointed out, this is a regular subject of discussion and in a sense it's long-concluded.

However I also think that the fact that the quality issue comes up so frequently from different sources must mean it's a genuine and common concern.

But it doesn't need to be. LibriVox deals with this issue in its own way and it's not through competition, but through plurality. Instead of one canonical 'LibriVox version' of a work as you suggest should be voted on, multiple recordings are allowed and encouraged, so where available, the listener can pick the rendition they like the sound of most.

There are bound to be some recordings you don't like as much as others, but this preference is a subjective one, and someone else might have the opposite opinion. Voting isn't a good way to decide matters of taste and, more than that, is likely to disappoint the person who believed and argued passionately that reader B did the best recording when the majority voted for reader A. Not to mention disappointing reader B! Better to publish both A and B.

The fact that somebody doesn't like a given LV recording isn't an indictment of our process, but an invitation to arrange an alternative one.

This is how it works in theory. Personally I wish there was more effort spent on re-recording already recorded works to provide multiple interpretations, but many volunteers, quite justifiably, see it as not the best use of time when there are so many still-unrecorded classics. I suspect that the practice will increase as we read our way through the public domain. Nevertheless, it does go on, and in my opinion it's anything but duplication of effort. Every reading is individual, and the promise of the project (at least how I see it: I'm a relative newcomer, and can't speak for the project founders) is to have a catalogue that grows in depth (readers per work) as well as broadness (distinct works catalogued).

Silver · Post by **Silver** » January 16th, 2007, 7:04 am

Beautifully said, trioptimum. That's one of the things I love about librivox - no one will jump up and down and wag their finger if the work that you want to record has been done before. People seem to be enthusiastic and helpful anyway.

I remember a post by Hugh on quality and how librivox works which made an impression on me, but I can't seem to find it. Must. Stop. Browsing. Forums. At. Work.

jimmowatt · Post by **jimmowatt** » January 16th, 2007, 7:12 am

Regarding the quality debate:
I think the style that Librivox has formulated is a good one and it works well.
I don't think something that works so well should be changed as long as it continues to work well.
I think there is room for a similar site with a more rigorous quality control.
I am not prepared to put in the hard work to set up such a site(I'm far too lazy) but would support such a site and do recordings for such a site if one appeared.
That's a lot of I's
Perhaps I'm becoming egotistical.

My two penn'orth

GordMackenzie · Post by **GordMackenzie** » January 16th, 2007, 7:20 am

Monica,

You may want to look into other sites/organizations that put an emphasis on "quality" (e.g. using professional actors, editors, and sound studios). One site that comes to mind is:

http://literalsystems.org/

They release their works under a creative commons license and the recordings are "free" to distribute and listen to. Their catalog, of course, is not as extensive as Librivox.

As others have mentioned, Librivox takes a different approach.