FEATURED SPONSOR
of the 2009 TAA Conference Roundtable Discussions Luncheon
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FEATURED SPONSOR
of the 2009 TAA Conference Networking Hospitality Hour
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2009 TAA CONFERENCE SPONSORS
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Subscribe to TAA Listservs
Subscribe to one or both of TAA's Listservs, one on textbook authoring and one on academic authoring.
Subscribe to the Textbook Authoring Listserv by sending an email to TAATextbookAuthoring-on@mail-list.com
Subscribe to the Academic Authoring Listserv by sending an email to TAAAcademicAuthoring-on@mail-list.com
You can switch to the Digest version of the Textbook Authoring Listserv, in which you receive only one email message per week with all that week's posts contained within it, by sending an email to TAATextbookAuthoring-switch@mail-list.com
once you have been subscribed.
To switch to the Digest version of the Academic Authoring Listserv, send an email to TAAAcademicAuthoring-switch@mail-list.com once you have been subscribed.
After you are subscribed to the Textbook Authoring Listserv, send messages to TAATextbookAuthoring@mail-list.com
After you are subscribed to the Academic Authoring Listserv, send messages to TAAAcademicAuthoring@mail-list.com
Read the archives for both Listservs here
If you have any questions, please email Kim Pawlak
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Greetings!
We at TAA are getting ready to leave for the 2009 TAA Conference in San Antonio, June 25-27. We are looking forward to seeing everyone who will be joining us there.
For those of you who could not attend, you can follow what's happening at the conference on TAA's Twitter page at https://twitter.com/TextandAcademic
TAA headquarters staff willl be away from the office June 24-28, but you can still reach them by e-mail.
Sincerely,
Kim Pawlak
Associate Executive Director
kim.pawlak@taaonline.net
(608) 687-3106
(507) 459-1363 cell
www.TAAonline.net
P.S. TAA Conference attendees: I sent you an email on June 3 containing information about the upcoming conference. If you have not received this e-mail, please let me know.
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TAA's 2009 Fall Teleconference Series shaping up
Five teleconferences have been scheduled so far for Fall 2009. They are:
Generating & Refining Research Ideas, Part One
Monday, October 5th, 10 -11 a.m. CT (8-9 a.m. Pacific; 9-10 a.m. Mountain; 11-12 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Dr. Sonja Foss, Professor of Communication, University of Colorado, and Dr. William Waters, an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown
This two-part teleconference, each one hour, will present a practical and concrete process for generating and refining original research ideas.
Part One will focus on how to find a possible research idea from the texts and data that surround you. This teleconference will cover these four steps:
- Finding a curious text or data that warrants a new disciplinary explanation
- Coding the data broadly to discover the principal pieces needed to develop a new disciplinary explanation
- Searching for an explanation that holds the pieces together and makes a contribution to your discipline
- Developing and testing the explanatory schema.
Textbook Supplements: The Big Three, Part One
Monday, October 5th, 12 - 1 p.m. CT (10-11 p.m. Pacific; 11-12 p.m. Mountain; 1-2 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Mary Ellen Lepionka, Higher Education Developmental Editor, and Founder of Atlantic Path Publishing
This teleconference begins with a discussion of how and why you should be involved with the free and for sale supplements that accompany your textbook, the role of supplements in the publisher's marketing and sales plans, and industry responses to bundling and pricing issues. A downloadable pdf document will offer basic definitions of the diverse types of supplements and ancillaries, which go by a bewildering variety of names for elhi and higher ed textbooks and include annotated, alternative, and custom editions. The Part One teleconference then focuses on the three most essential traditional supplements for textbook success: the instructor's manual (or teacher's guide), the test bank (or test item file), and the study guide (or equivalent product for students). What should (and should not) be in these supplements? What is their function? How are they constructed? How should they be written? What are the features of successful textbook packages?
How Authors Can Navigate Successfully Through Copyright-Related Issues
Monday, October 8th, 12 - 1 p.m. CT (10-11 p.m. Pacific; 11-12 p.m. Mountain; 1-2 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by C. Jeffrey Belliston, Scholarly Communications Librarian and Chair, Office of Digital Content Management, Brigham Young University; and Elsa Peterson, a freelance editor with 25 years of experience in permissions editing, picture research, and manuscript development
Are you entirely clear on what copyright is, how long it lasts, and what it does and doesn't protect? Do you know the difference between public domain and fair use? How do you decide whether something is fair use? Where do you draw the line between legitimate paraphrasing and plagiarism? If you need permission to use copyrighted material, how do you get it? When you submit an article to a journal publisher, what are your rights as author? What's the latest on the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act and related legislation? This teleconference will provide food for thought on these and other copyright-related issues.
Generating & Refining Research Ideas, Part Two
Monday, October 12th, 10 -11 a.m. CT (8-9 a.m. Pacific; 9-10 a.m. Mountain; 11-12 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Dr. Sonja Foss, Professor of Communication, University of Colorado, and Dr. William Waters, an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown
This two-part teleconference, each one hour, will present a practical and concrete process for generating and refining original research ideas. Part Two will pick up where the first teleconference left off and will focus on the remaining steps:
- Using the explanatory schema to create a solid research question
- Performing a more detailed coding of the data to generate evidence for your claims
- Conducting a literature search to connect your explanatory schema to conversations in your field
- Framing the study
Textbook Supplements: Electronic Products, Part Two
Monday, October 12th, 12 - 1 p.m. CT (10-11 p.m. Pacific; 11-12 p.m. Mountain; 1-2 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Mary Ellen Lepionka, Higher Education Developmental Editor, and Founder of Atlantic Path Publishing
This teleconference begins with a discussion of the mushrooming role of digital media, social media, and the Internet in learning today and their impacts on the business of textbook publishing as well as on the form, content, and delivery of instruction. How do ebook publishing, electronic supplements, and online courses affect you and your textbook? How do alternative publishing models affect prices and sales? A downloadable pdf document will offer basic definitions of the types of electronic supplements and hybrid products being developed for instructors and students today. The Part Two teleconference then focuses on four successful electronic applications for textbooks: digital media and image archives, companion web sites, interactive learning objects, and wikis. What have we learned so far about how these electronic applications should be done? Who should create them? What should be their role in your textbook package?
Making the Most of the Author-Editor Relationship: Insights From An Author & Editor
October 19, 10-11 a.m. CT (8-9 a.m. Pacific; 9-10 a.m. Mountain; 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Elsa Peterson, a freelance editor with 25 years of experience in the college textbook industry; and Bruno Dyck, Professor at the I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada and lead author of Management: Current Practices and New Directions (Cengage, 2010)
As a first-time textbook author, what can you expect from the editorial process? From the editor's viewpoint, how does a publisher decide what kinds of editorial support a given book needs? What can an author do to get maximum benefits from the editors he or she works with? If you think of "editor" as someone who corrects grammar and punctuation, this teleconference will surprise and enlighten you.
Learn more about these and other TAA Teleconferences here.
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TAA Foundation seeking mentors to participate in Governor's Summer Program
The Text and Academic Authors Association Foundation (TAAF) is seeking a select number of college/university faculty and/or advanced graduate students to participate as mentors in the Governor's Summer Program (GSP). GSP is a prestigious grant award designed to advance the cause of Diversity in Education for newly developing scholars.
"GSP is a short term commitment providing mentors with an ideal opportunity to receive knowledge in the practice of the authorship process as conceptualized by mentors and protégés working in a collegial co-constructive way via the Internet," said Jay Matteson, TAAF executive director. "Overall, remember, those who teach others teach themselves as well."
In consideration of becoming a mentor for the GSP project please take note of the following:
- GSP students are Gifted and high-achieving 11th and 12th grade students working for college credit at the Math and Science Institute of Palm Beach Community College (PBCC), Florida
- GSP student participants are recruited from underserved, high-need schools
- TAAF's mentors will participate in only that part of the grant known as the "Mentor Academic Author Project" or MAAP (see attachment for details: "PBCC & TAAF RFP GSP Grant Award" with specific attention to pages 1, 12, 18, 29, 31-32, 36, and 38. Download PDF attachment)
- TAAF mentors will be supported by the guidance and instructional talents of PBCC faculty and Library Sciences professional support personnel. In other words, TAAF mentors will focus only on academic authorship training and practices; their teachers will handle the rest
- TAAF mentors will be assigned to mentor four students
- The time period for mentoring will be approximately four to five weeks (late June - July 2009)
- Estimated time commitment is two hours per week
- All mentor communications with GSP students will be performed via the Internet using a simplified Blackboard Learning Platform to allow for 24/7 review and feedback of students' work
- The research design employs the "blind method" to control for potential cultural, racial and gender biases to learning; hence, neither the mentor nor the mentee will have knowledge of each other's personal identity throughout the mentoring experience
- The research plan utilizes a novel system of metrics to produce "ground breaking" outcomes to advance the cause of Diversity in education; for example, custom designed Academic Authorship Rubrics will be applied to evaluate the authorship skills of the students; this evaluation will be performed by a panel of expert judges independent of the TAAF mentors
- At the end-of-the project, MAAP Principal Investigators (Drs. Dannielle Joy Davis of the University of Texas at Arlington and Jay Matteson, Executive Director of TAAF) will work with assistance from the Text and Academic Authors Association to publish the GSP students academic products as a collective body of works representative of what can be achieved when mentors and their protégé engage as co-constructive partners for teaching & learning of academic authorship
- Strategically speaking, the results of the MAAP project are planned to be used as preliminary findings to seek future grant awards from major Foundations supportive of TAAF's Mentor Educator Diversity initiatives (see www.TAAFonline.net); e.g., John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Kellogg Foundation, and George Gund Foundation.
Accordingly, TAAF Mentors may want to consider working as a collaborative partner with TAAF and their institution in pursuit of other grant awards important to serving the educational academic authorship needs of our increasingly diverse population.
Those interested in participating in this project should contact Jay Matteson, TAA Foundation executive director, at jay.matteson@taafoundationonline.net
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Busy TAA People: Mary Kay Switzer
TAA Council member Mary Kay Switzer, an associate professor in the communications department at California Polytechnical State University in Pomona, directed her adaption of "Harvey" for the Pass Area Performing Artists (PAPA) in April 2009.
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New book on writing textbook supplements added to TAA's Books For Purchase section
A new e-book on writing textbook supplements has been added to TAA's Books for Purchase section. Writing College Textbook Supplements: The Definitive Guide to Winning High-Paying Assignments in the College Textbook Publishing Market by John Soares, explains how Soares makes $25-$100 per hour writing instructor's manuals, student study guides, test questions, lecture outlines, Internet exercises and many other types of supplements for college textbooks. Learn more: Click here
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TAA thanks Sustaining Members
TAA thanks Sustaining Members Allyn J. Washington, Michael J. Timmons, W. Jack Duncan, Mary Ellen Guffey, and David I. Schneider.
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TAA offers several incentives for starting a TAA Chapter in your area, including a $500 start-up grant and one free TAA sponsored workshop for chapters of 30 or more members.
Learn more: click here
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Two dozen publishers partner with Bookshare to provide digital content to individuals with disabilities
In an effort to improve the availability and quantity of digital accessible educational books, textbooks and trade books, Bookshare (www.bookshare.org), the world's largest online accessible library for individuals with print disabilities, announced partnerships with leading U.S. trade and K-12 publishers.
Two dozen publishers have signed agreements with Bookshare to provide digital content, which over time will add tens of thousands of books in accessible formats to the Bookshare collection. These publishers include Brookings Institution Press, De Capo Press, HarperCollins, Modern Language Association of America, O'Reilly Media, Random House, Scholastic, The Hachette Book Group, and Townsend Press.
Fewer than five percent of books are available in accessible formats today. Working directly with book publishers, we have an extraordinary opportunity to knock down the barriers and raise the floor of access to ensure all individuals have access to print publications at the same time.
Contributions of high-quality digital books from U.S. publishers will reduce the burden of scanning and proofreading traditionally done by volunteers nationwide as one of the few means of making printed material available for individuals with disabilities. Agreements with publishers, many of which include permissions to distribute worldwide, will add a wealth of accessible books to Bookshare, including children's books; general trade fiction and nonfiction; national bestsellers; academic, scientific and technical books; and textbooks for students in grades K-12, higher education, graduate school, and continuing education. By providing Bookshare with digital files, publishers can rely on the organization to distribute books to qualified individuals and fulfill their compliance obligations under the Chafee Amendment of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 U.S.C. § 121). One publisher has already turned to Bookshare to respond to the numerous ad hoc requests for accessible books from U.S. schools, universities, organizations and private citizens.
"Digital media is the future for learners and individuals with print disabilities," said Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, the Silicon Valley nonprofit organization that operates Bookshare. "Fewer than five percent of books are available in accessible formats today. Working directly with book publishers, we have an extraordinary opportunity to knock down the barriers and raise the floor of access to ensure all individuals have access to print publications at the same time."
Using proprietary conversion tools, Bookshare can easily convert EPUB (e-book standard) files and other formats received from publishers into accessible formats such as DAISY 3.0 (Digital Accessible Information System) and BRF (Braille Ready File), saving publishers the time and expense of producing accessible formats. A further benefit of partnering with Bookshare is the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology that Bookshare adds to every book downloaded by a member to protect publishers' copyright interests and guard against illegal sharing.
Thanks to a $32 million award from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Bookshare is now free for all qualified U.S. students who are blind, have low vision or who have a physical or reading disability. Bookshare's collection includes more than 46,000 titles and is growing at a rate of over 1,000 books per month from contributions from publishers, universities, downloads processed from the NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Center), and scanned books contributed by volunteers. The Bookshare library is expected to increase to over 100,000 books by 2012 with publisher and university contributions augmenting the books from the extended volunteer and nonprofit network.
To download books from Bookshare, a qualified professional must certify that the member has a print disability. U.S. K-12 schools, organizations, universities, colleges and individuals with print disabilities around the world can become Bookshare members. Members may download two free accessible ebook readers, READ:OutLoud from Don Johnston, Volo, IL and Victor Reader Soft from HumanWare, Quebec, Canada.
Publishers interested in contributing to the Bookshare library should contact Ms. Robin Seaman, Publisher Liaison, through http://www.bookshare.org/contactUs.
View a complete list of partnering publishers at: http://bookshare.org/about/communityPublishers#PublishingPartners
Bookshare is the world's largest accessible online library for people with print disabilities. Through its technology initiatives and partnerships, Bookshare seeks to raise the floor on accessibility issues so that individuals with print disabilities have the same ease of access to print materials as people without disabilities. In 2007, Bookshare received a $32 million five-year award from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education (OSEP), to provide free access for all U.S. students with a qualified print disability. The Bookshare library now has more than 52,000 members. Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, www.benetech.org, a Palo Alto, CA-based nonprofit that creates sustainable technology to solve pressing social needs.
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CCC interviews Book Rights Registry ED
The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) interviewed Michael Healy, expected to be named executive director of the Book Rights Registry (BRR), the organization that will manage copyrighted works available via Google's Book Search program.
Healy, currently executive director of the non-profit Book Industry Study Group (BISG), told the CCC's Christopher Kenneally, that "the involvement of Google in [the publishing] marketplace, and others, is going to be part of the transformational character of [the industry over] the next few years."
Healy pointed with enthusiasm to terms of the settlement that will result in "turning every public library in this country into a world-class research facility. You have to see the revolutionary character of that," said the professionally-trained librarian.
Healy also cited the benefits of participating in the settlement for US authors and publishers. "The Book Rights Registry introduces into the environment an unprecedented degree of control to authors, publishers and other rightsholders on how their copyrights are exploited and distributed in this new digital world," he explained.
The program with Michael Healy is the second in a series of presentations from Copyright Clearance Center about the Authors Guild, AAP, Google Settlement. Recordings of this and all other sessions can be found in the "Education" section of the CCC Web site at www.copyright.com/education
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Tech Bit: Where Did I Put That Memo?
Even organized, with 10,000+ files you are going to forget where you might have stored that file with Aunt Sally's favorite cookie recipe.
That's where a local search program comes in handy.
There are two free ones, Google Desktop Search and Microsoft Desktop Search.
Once installed, and given time to build their indexes, you can search your hard drive as easily as you can search the Internet. The words "Aunt Sally cookies" would find your recipe in just a few seconds.
Just as nice, both index your emails. Since I keep all my emails and I send and receive about 40,000 emails a year, that's a lot of emails. With desktop search I can find any of my 200,000 emails. The ability to find that email with a two year old policy can be really handy when you get challenged for taking advantage of it.
If Google can find information in 6 billion web pages, your hard drive is a piece of cake.
Gregg Marshall, CPMR, CSP, is a speaker, author and consultant. He can be reached by e-mail at gmarshall (AT) repconnection.com, or visit his website at http://www.repconnection.com.
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Listen to recordings of 2009 TAA Teleconferences
TAA members can now listen to the following 2009 TAA Teleconference recordings:
- Taxes and Authors - What You Should Know
- Royalties: Are You Unknowingly Losing Money?
- Writing and Editing Effectively Using 'Fast Writing' and 'Slow Editing'
- Negotiation of Author-Publisher Contracts for the Experienced Author, Part One & Two
- Grants Gamesmanship
- Is Textbook Writing for You?
- You Want to Write a Textbook? Here's How to Do It!
- How to Apply Mainstream Book Publicity Strategies to Academia
Listen to the recordings here
You will need your member username and password to access the recordings. Please email kim.pawlak@taaonline.net if you don't have a username and password.
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CCC releases its 100th podcast: 'Content Licensing & The Bottom Line'
Speaking on "Content Licensing & The Bottom Line: Up the Down Spreadsheet," Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) CEO Tracey Armstrong lead off the "Big Ideas" Conference for Book Expo America at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Center on May 28. In a discussion with Ned May, Outsell Inc. Lead Analyst, she examined why managing rights and content with the highest-possible efficiency and customer value remains a challenge for leading players and independents alike. The podcast is available for free downloading at CCC's Beyond the Book website. This podcast marks the 100th release from the "Beyond the Book" podcast series from the Copyright Clearance Center.
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TAA Gift Memberships
You can give a TAA Gift Membership for only $15.
Providing a gift membership to a family member, friend, student or colleague is a great way to assist them with their writing and show your support for TAA's mission.
Learn more
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TAA 2008 Teleconference Series
TAA members can now listen to recordings from TAA's 2008 Teleconference Series. The playback options have been enhanced to enable members to rewind, fast-forward and pause the recordings in addition to stop and play. The recordings can also now be downloaded and listened to on a computer or Mp3 player.
These recordings are for members-only. Only TAA members have permission to download TAA Teleconference recordings. Recordings may not be copied, shared with, or distributed to non-members.
Listen to or download the recordings:
Learn more about these teleconferences at http://www.taaonline.net/TAATeleconferences/schedule.html
Don't have your member username and password? Email Kim Pawlak
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DISCLAIMER: TAA has not tested and neither endorses nor opposes any product or procedure recommended in this article or ones referenced in any TAA publications, teleconferences, or workshops.
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