[Studiotalk] Remote Studio Volunteers Query

Fri Jan 15 10:01:19 CST 2021

Mike:

I will answer you in some detail, in line after your questions. Some won't apply to you, as we are currently using proprietary software - but some may.

Dave

From: studiotalk <studiotalk-bounces at islemail.org> On Behalf Of Marlin, Mike at CSL
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 3:57 PM
To: studiotalk at islemail.org
Subject: [Studiotalk] Remote Studio Volunteers Query

This message may be from an external email source.
Do not select links or open attachments unless verified. Report all suspicious emails to Minnesota IT Services Security Operations Center.

________________________________
Dear NLS studio folks,

Like many of you, I suppose, in person volunteering for us was suspended when the pandemic hit back in March 2020. Since then our Studio Coordinator Christopher Duran has been diligently converting A2D local recordings at home while we have all been teleworking. Alas our new titles production has come to a grinding halt.  I have been asking our administration about enlisting remote volunteers, but at this juncture we're unable to utilize them. While we are awaiting some action from our legal team to initiate remote volunteering (long story), I thought I would inquire about others who may be utilizing remote or online studio volunteers.

We are curious about the following:

  *   Does your network library studio use remote volunteers, and if so for which tasks (narrators, monitors, reviewers)?

We do use remote volunteers, and have for many years. We don't use monitors, or volunteer reviewers. Reviewing is done by a staff person.

  *   Did your vvolunteer policy already allow remote volunteers or did you have to amend it, and if so what was needed to be put into place?

Yes, we had one, so no changes. The only thing we have done is add some different kinds of remote volunteers to our pool, who record for our radio reading service. They use audacity, and upload to a SharePoint server. We did previously have RTB volunteers, but they used our stuff, see below.

  *                   For those of you who have remote volunteers, do you supply your volunteers with any software, i.e. HABC or APH or ? If not do they supply their own software to create audio files?

We use our own proprietary software. We will be switching to HABC in the next year to two years. Our process is somewhat different from most. We use our software and establish the structure of a book first, chapters, pages, title etc. We burn to CD and send to volunteer, with book. They put it in the Home Recording Workstation they have been provided with, from us. It is a dedicated computer, that is locked down, only runs our software, and is not on the internet. It has a touch screen which is used to run the software. They record two hours into the structure, burn it to the same CD, and send it back. We re-assemble the books at our end. The structuring is done by a staff member, or a specially trained volunteer. Hindenburg does allow one to do the structure first, so when we switch, we should be able to use the same process more or less.

  *   Finally, do your volunteers make their own corrections as they go or after being reviewed, if at all?

Yes, they make their own corrections and always have.  They love digital, after recording onto reel to reel tape for years, and most of our edits are pretty good. We have over 500 books on BARD, so you can download one from Minnesota Communication Center, and see how it sounds.  It isn't perfect, but we also record nearly 1000 textbooks a year, and don't have the staff or time to add markup to straight audio recordings.

Some of it comes down to training, and expectations. We also regularly review the work of our volunteers, with them. We also have 20 recording booths, but obviously aren't using them now. The software is similar, just on our media network, so don't have to use CD's.

I know this is a lot to ask but we're very curious and hoping to come up with a viable remote studio volunteer program for now and even after the pandemic has passed and we can return to in-person volunteering.
Please feel free to respond to this post or contact me  directly.

Stay safe,
Mike M.

Mike L. Marlin, Director
Braille and Talking Book Library
California State Library
P.O. Box 942837
900 N Street, Suite 110
Sacramento, CA 94237-0001
email: mike.marlin at library.ca.gov<mailto:mike.marlin at library.ca.gov>
Phone: (916) 603-7209
Toll Free in CA: (800) 952-5666
Fax: (916) 654-1119
Web site: btbl.ca.gov

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://islemail.org/pipermail/studiotalk/attachments/20210115/03531727/attachment-0001.html>