It is a compromise, at least to a small extent because if you substitute a double dash for the em dash, that substitution not only carries over to the braille version, but to the Daisy version and the html version as well. When NLS does it, they aren't putting out anything but a braille version.
There's no perfect solution to this em dash problem. Well, there is one perfect solution, but it would require Duxbury to be able to substitute a character with one ASCII value with two characters with another ASCII value. Apparently, the people who run the company have not yet been able to assemble the vast technical resources necessary to handle this thorny problem. Hahaha!
Maybe the latest version of Duxbury, which Bookshare still is not using - unless they've upgraded to it in the last few weeks - will change the em dash in the original to the double dash in the braille version as it should. Until they do fix it, I can see why people would want to make the substitution themselves.
I keep going back and forth on this issue: I do understand the importance of keeping as close to the original book as possible; while on the other hand, I also strongly empathize with the reasons which have been given here by myself and others for changing the em dash to double dashes.
Evan----- Original Message ----- From: "Cindy Ray" <cindyray@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 6:47 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for Braille Readers
Excuse me, but why is that compromising the book. In the rules of NLS, they say that when the book was being transcribed it wasn't always easy to tell which it was, but if it would fit that -- requirement it should be used. That's more or less a paraphrase, and I can't tell you exactly where. It doesn't compromise the print book in any way. Personally, I cringe when I see it any other way, but then again I'm old and cranky. LOL. Cindy Lou Cindy Lou Ray. Each day is a new adventure.----- Original Message ----- From: "Darrell Shandrow" <darrell.shandrow@xxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 5:39 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for Braille Readers Hi Allison, My take on this may be a bit different than most Braille readers. I do not feel it is a good idea to compromise the formatting of the print book for the sake of Braille translation, especially when it is not absolutely necessary to do so. We Braille readers know what is intended even when only a single dash appears.----- Original Message ----- From: "Allison Hilliker" <bookshare_girl@xxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:25 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for Braille Readers Sue, Thanks for the info. It's good to know how NLS does their dashes. So, then my next question is, what does everyone prefer? Should I create double dashes as NLS does, or simply leave things as is? Either is fine with me as replacing em dashes won't take too much time. Best, Allison----- Original Message ----- From: "siss52" <siss52@xxxxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 2:22 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question for Braille ReadersHi Allison, What the National Library Service does in their Braille books is to use two hyphens or dashes where the em dash would be. For example, in this word--word. But people have been leaving them as they appear in the book, and you are right, they translate to a single hyphen or dash. So when we do that, the hyphen or single dash and the em dash look the same. In Word, when I have a file with em dashes in it, they look like a capitalized dash or hyphen on my Braille display. It has dots 7 and 8, so it looks like dots 3, 6, and 8. HTH, Sue S.----- Original Message ----- From: "Allison Hilliker" <bookshare_girl@xxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:39 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Question for Braille Readers Hi everyone, Quick question for Braille-readers. I do read Braille myself, but I've never paid attention to this issue before. I'm validating a book with a lot of em dashes. They look like this. - They usually connect two words like this. word1-word2. They do not usually have spaces around them. In the past I have left them as is in the books I validate. My question is, should I be doing anything special with the em dashes in order to make them easily read in Braille? I've never known there to be a special Braille character for the em dash, but there may be one. Does it just look like a regular dash, or something else? Do they appear with spaces around them or not? Would most of you prefer me to add spaces, change the em dashes to regular dashes, leave them alone, or something else? Thanks for any feedback you can give. Best, Allison 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. 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@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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