Yes, I was a participant in that discussion, and although - as I said before - I am a bit ambivalent about it - it was generally agreed to maintain the authenticity of the book. The idea was that (hopefully), these books will be reprocessed and the original formatting - not just em dashes, but other things that aren't currently done properly by the Braille translator - would be corrected. But if the original book is changed, then such a thing cannot happen.
Overall, I agree with this position, although I feel that it is unfortunate that current readers - and those into the indefinite future - will lose out in the uncertain hope that one day things will be done properly, which may or may not happen. So I usually do try to maintain the em dashes.
I did forget to change them back from double hyphens in the last book I validated though. I change the em dashes to double hyphens before reading through the book on my Pac Mate just so they look more natural in Braille, and to make sure they came out okay in the scan, because the Braille translator in the Pac Mate also changes the em dashes to regular hyphens. But I forgot to change them back when I transferred the book back to my PC for uploading. But I'm not going to worry about that overmuch. I agree with Cindy Ray that there are much more important things to worry about than the difference between em dashes and double hyphens.
And I do still try to help out Braille readers by putting a star where the book has blank lines to indicate passage of time or change of point of view or such, because Braille readers don't even get blank lines in their versions!
I have mentioned before that Megadots from 10 years ago could do a better job of preserving formatting and font characteristics such as blank lines and italics than the Bookshare Braille translator currently does. I really wish I knew why that was so.
Evan----- Original Message ----- From: "Silvara" <silvara@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:49 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: dashes
I think we had this discussion before and it was agreed to leave the book as is. At least that's what I remember.Would the staff please comment on this important issue. Thanks.----- Original Message ----- From: "Grandma Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:24 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: dashesOh--then we should use two dashes rather than the em dash, I guess. Thanks for telling me. I'll change my habits right now, starting with the book I'm validating now. Cindy --- Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:No, the em dash doesn't translate properly into Braille, at least not the way Bookshare does it. The convention for Braille is to use two hyphens for the em dash, but for some reason Bookshare's Braille translator just puts in one hyphen. Evan----- Original Message ----- From: Jamie Yates, CPhTTo: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:51 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: dashes I just wanted to make sure that the em dash correctly translates into Braille. I know not all characters do. And I know that there was recent discussion about it but I have to confess I really didn't pay enough attention to it. I figured I could look it up in the manual. Some books use tons of em dashes. Jamie in Michigan Currently Reading - Loyalty in Death - J.D. Robb $10 Off Any Purchase at 39DollarGlasses! (discount applied at checkout)__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
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