Good afternoon Techstravaganza friends,
Have a listen to last night’s tutorial on using CELA in the EasyReader app and Voice Dream Reader at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2552cVizHOfVn42sxYcsq5
Show Notes
Tutorial Focus and Date: Siena Trigiani introduces the Techstravaganza Extra session held on Friday, November 6, 2026, outlining the main objective to demonstrate reading a CELA Library book using Voice Dream Reader and Easy Reader (00:00:01).
Accessing CELA Library on Mac: Siena Trigiani demonstrates logging into the CELA Library website on a Mac using the VoiceOver screen reader, navigating their account preferences, and reviewing options such as the direct-to-player bookshelf and magazine subscriptions (00:01:44).
Searching and Selecting Formats on CELA Library: Siena Trigiani searches for the 2022 novel *Remarkably Bright Creatures* by Shelby Vanpelt, confirms it is human-narrated, and selects the Daisy audio direct-to-player format on the CELA platform (00:06:29).
Configuring CELA Library in Voice Dream Reader: Siena Trigiani switches to an iPhone running Voice Dream Reader, accesses the “Add Document” menu, and adds the CELA Library web content source by utilizing popular sources and entering the website URL (00:10:44).
Authenticating CELA Library Account in Voice Dream Reader: Siena Trigiani navigates through Voice Dream Reader’s built-in web browser to log into their CELA Library account credentials, encountering and resolving minor interface navigation challenges (00:20:08).
Searching and Downloading ZIP Formats in Voice Dream Reader: Siena Trigiani searches for *Remarkably Bright Creatures* within the Voice Dream Reader browser interface, overcomes a prompt interruption from an App Store rating request, and selects the Daisy audio ZIP format for download (00:24:42).
Troubleshooting Download Availability: Siena Trigiani attempts to locate the downloaded ZIP file under the “Available ZIP files for download” section in their CELA account but notes that the files fail to appear immediately after confirmation (00:32:21).
Discussion on CELA Download Limits and System Issues: Max Crawford, Lily Frederiksen, and Siena Trigiani discuss recent difficulties with manual book downloads on CELA Library, noting a reported monthly limit of 150 books per user and suspecting potential platform-wide technical problems (00:38:28).
Commercial Alternative and Pricing Considerations: Ali Moosa and Siena Trigiani discuss alternative audiobook sources, comparing CELA Library limitations with commercial options like Audible, where Ali Moosa notes preferring paid credits over troubleshooting CELA (00:41:30).
Proposing the Book Extravaganza Spinoff: Lily Frederiksen, Siena Trigiani, and Ali Moosa brainstorm and agree to brand a special edition of the tutorial session as “Book Extravaganza” under the Techstravaganza network (00:42:42).
Re-downloading and Launching Easy Reader: Siena Trigiani closes Voice Dream Reader, navigates the App Store, and re-downloads the Easy Reader application to demonstrate alternative reading workflows (00:44:43).
Authenticating Easy Reader: Siena Trigiani logs into Easy Reader using Google authentication to create a Dolphin account, noting that the free subscription tier restricts usage to mobile devices rather than Macs or PCs (00:48:44).
Integrating CELA Library into Easy Reader: Siena Trigiani enables CELA Library within Easy Reader’s manage libraries menu, authenticates with their CELA credentials, and accesses the direct-to-player bookshelf to locate existing titles such as *The Cane Kids* by Kristen Lang (00:53:09).
Book Management and Downloading Demonstration: Siena Trigiani demonstrated how to manage and download titles within the Easy Reader application. They showed the process of returning a book, which deletes it from Easy Reader and the user’s bookshelf. They then demonstrated borrowing the book *The Cane Kids, Everett and Willow’s Journey in Navigating Legal Blindness* by author Kristen Lang. While explaining that books can be opened as a stream to play online, Siena Trigiani preferred downloading them for offline reading in case of flaky data connections (00:58:08). Upon selecting the download button, the interface indicated download progress before turning into an open button once the process was complete (00:59:12).
Audiobook Playback and Navigation Features: Siena Trigiani demonstrated how to open and play the downloaded audiobook, narrated by April Watts, and showed controls such as pausing and using the 15-second rewind and next buttons (00:59:12). At the 52-second mark, Siena Trigiani highlighted audio descriptions detailing characters, specifically an African-American teenage girl and a boy named Everett holding white canes with red tips with the girl’s cane being longer, noting that each character held their cane with their dominant hand. Following this feature demonstration, Siena Trigiani paused the playback to open the floor for questions regarding downloading CELA books (01:00:13).
Technical Difficulties and Q&A Session: Ali Moosa noted that time was running short and that there were no hands raised or questions from the audience (01:00:13). Siena Trigiani apologized for technical difficulties encountered during testing on a Mac compared to successful tests on a PC, as well as ongoing issues on CELA’s end. Ali Moosa proposed that three participants have a brief post-workshop conversation to discuss the technical issues. Siena Trigiani mentioned that a part two of the workshop would be scheduled for the new year once the January schedule is finalized, intending to cover reading Daisy audiobooks and downloading EPUB zip files once Cela’s backend issues are resolved (01:01:12).
Future Events and Schedule Announcements: Siena Trigiani thanked participants for their teamwork, patience during technical glitches, and collaborative troubleshooting. They announced the next Techstravaganza afternoons session scheduled for Wednesday, November 11th, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern, where Ali Moosa will provide a tutorial on Farrago, and expressed hope that YouTube sources in Drop Deck would be functional by then. Ali Moosa confirmed their participation, and Siena Trigiani reiterated appreciation for the group (01:02:52).
Check out what’s coming up on all of the Techstravaganza workshops at the following link: https://techstravaganza.ca/2026/10/20/whats-coming-up-on-techstravaganza-for-the-remainder-of-2026/
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