[bksvol-discuss] Re: FW: Message from The Hadley School: United States Adopts Unified English Braille Code
- From: "Alyssa" <lyssassong@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2012 11:04:00 -0600
I have to agree about elimination of contractions... How odd. In my opinion,
if someone is a proficient braille reader, that individual would not have
any issues differentiating when one of the symbols in the list is meant as a
letter contraction or as a punctuation symbol.
-Alyssa
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joan Goldberg
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2012 10:54 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: FW: Message from The Hadley School: United
States Adopts Unified English Braille Code
Hi all,
In reading the posts from this thread, I went to the BANA website and
pasted a document below. I basically understand what they are doing,
but as a Braille reader of approximately 55 years, I think it's going
to be very confusing. I'm used to these contractions which they are
going to get rid of, and will most likely continue to use them. As I
said, I basically understand what they are doing, but there's a part
of me which wonders why they just didn't leave it alone.
Cheers,
Joan Goldberg
Untitled Document
Frequently Asked Questions
Braille Code Change for the United States
Q. Where did the idea of braille code change come from?
A. The braille code has changed many times since its creation in the
19th century. Changes have been made to assist braille readers in
better understanding
the text being communicated and to allow the production of braille to
become more efficient. In 1991, more than 20 years ago, Dr. Abraham
Nemeth and Dr.
Tim Cranmer presented a paper to BANA discussing the urgency of the
need to unify the various braille codes used in North America. The
development of the
computer braille code in the late 80s had created yet another set of
braille characters for common symbols such as the dollar sign, the
period, and the
comma. The desire to create a unified code was partially in response
to the perceived complexity of having multiple symbols for the same
meaning. Later
that year, BANA initiated a project to act on the recommendations in
the Nemeth/Cranmer memorandum; that project became international in
1993 when BANA
invited participation by the International Council on English Braille
(ICEB). This process led to the development of the Unified English
Braille Code (UEBC),
which became known as UEB (Unified English Braille).
Q. Would changing the braille codes bring any real improvements?
A. Making changes to the braille codes would help braille readers,
braille transcribers and producers, and teachers of blind students in
a number of ways.
For example:
list of 3 items
. More consistency, less ambiguity, and fewer exceptions to braille
rules would make braille easier to produce and would remove some
barriers to learning
braille.
. The ability to show more symbols in braille would give the braille
reader better access to the same information that is available to
print readers.
. Computer translation and backtranslation could be produced more
quickly and with less human intervention than currently required.
list end
More accurate computer translation from print to braille and from
braille to print would:
list of 5 items
. Reduce the errors and ambiguity experienced by those reading
contracted braille on refreshable braille displays, which are the
equivalent of a screen
on a computer or mobile device
. Improve the backtranslation of braille that is written using
electronic devices, so that braille users can write in braille to
communicate easily and
accurately with non-braille users
. Increase the timeliness of many types of braille production by
permitting braille transcribers to focus more on advanced aspects of
braille production
rather than spending time on routine matters
. Reduce the labor required in braille production, allowing teachers
to spend more time working with the students instead of brailling
materials for their
students
. Mitigate, to some extent, the difficulties experienced by a reader
who is required to read computer-produced braille that has been
prepared by someone
who has not been trained in braille transcription
list end
Q. How much would braille really change?
A. The literary code would be easily read by those familiar with the
current braille code. The following list is not comprehensive, but is
provided to give
a general sense of how literary braille would change:
list of 10 items
. The dot formations of letters and numbers in the literary code would
stay the same as they are today.
. Out of the current 189 contractions, nine would be deleted to make
room in the code for greater consistency and less confusion in the
representation of
other symbols. The nine eliminated contractions are: ally, ation, ble,
by, com, dd, into, o'clock, to.
. Some rules for when and when not to use contractions would be
changed. Some contractions would be used more often than they are now.
. Words that are currently written together such as "and the" would be
spaced apart as they are in print.
. Most of the punctuation would remain the same, but some would
change; for example, the opening parenthesis would become dots 5,
1-2-6 and the closing
parenthesis would be dots 5, 3-4-5. This means that braille, just like
print, would have separate and unique symbols to differentiate opening
and closing
parentheses. The period would be shown as dots 2-5-6 so that, just
like in print, the same symbol is used regardless of whether it means
full stop, decimal
point, or dot.
. Some symbols, such as asterisk, percent sign, dollar sign, and
degree sign, would change. Some of the newer symbols, like copyright,
trademark, and crosshatch,
would remain the same.
. The methods of indicating emphasis, such as italics, boldface, or
underlining, would be changed. These attributes would not be shown
more frequently than
they are in current braille, but now a braille reader would be able to
distinguish, for example, whether a word is in italics or was
underlined.
. A major limitation of the base literary code we use today is that
there is no good way to show the math symbols that sometimes occur in
everyday writing
and may or may not be related to actual math at all. Operational
symbols such as plus and equals that do not currently exist in the
literary code would
be added.
. The rules for formatting of headings, paragraphs, contents pages,
and other items involving spacing or placement on a page would not be
affected.
. It would no longer be necessary to switch into a special code to
read and write web and email addresses.
list end
Q. Why can't we just modify existing code?
A. BANA has made small changes to the literary braille code from time
to time. More and more, however, proposed changes would result in
conflicts with existing
codes.
Q. Would all the other codes we use now disappear?
A. No. The Nemeth code would still be available for use wherever it is
needed. The music code and the International Phonetic Alphabet code
would not be
affected. Books and materials that have already been produced in older
codes would still be available for readers who want them. Nothing
would be removed
from circulation in the near future.
Q. How hard would it be to change existing translation software?
A. UEB is already built into the Duxbury Braille Translation software
and into popular refreshable braille devices, such as products from
Freedom Scientific,
HumanWare, and HIMS. It is also available for the Mountbatten
Brailler. Individuals using iPhones or iPads with refreshable braille
displays can use UEB
now because it is available in the VoiceOver screen reader that comes
with every computer or mobile device sold by Apple.
Q. Would all the old braille books still be usable?
A. Existing braille books would remain in libraries and still be quite
readable.
Q. How long would the braille code change take?
A. A change to UEB would not happen overnight. Careful planning would
be undertaken to determine the best ways to introduce teachers,
transcribers, students,
and general readers to the changes in the braille code. Full
implementation would no doubt take many years.
Q. Where can I get more information about UEB?
A. More detailed information about the background of BANA's
consideration of code change will be published over the next few
weeks. Additionally, information
about UEB can be found at
http://www.iceb.org/ueb.html.
g
On 11/9/12, Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> What I make of it is that it's going to cause a lot of trouble, but
> until books start being produced in UEB, I guess we're OK, so long as
> we still are using Nemeth.
>
> Ann P.
>
> --
> Ann K. Parsons
> Portal Tutoring
> EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
> Skype: Putertutor
>
> "All that is gold does not glitter,
> Not all those who wander are lost."
> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> put 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put 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.
Other related posts:
