[nhab-tech] Talking Taxes part two, and digital braille verses paper braille, Dan's tip for March 5 2015
- From: "gosselin_louis" <gosselin_louis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <nhab-tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2015 06:55:15 -0500
From: dan Thompson [mailto:dthompson5@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 4:26 AM
To: dan Thompson
Subject: Talking Taxes part two, and digital braille verses paper braille,
Dan's tip for March 5 2015
Today's tip is made up of three articles. Thestart of
each is marked with an asterisk.
Contents:
1. Fact of the Day
2. Talking Taxes from the blind perspective Newsletter
3. Digital Braille Versus Paper Braille
*Fact of the Day
Giving a "thumbs up" also represents the American Sign
Language symbol for the number "10."
*Talking Taxes
By Leisa Rosen
the Blind Perspective
http://www.theblindperspective.com/current.htm
Earned income tax credit
Even if your income is low enough to put you in the
"doesn't have to file" category, you may want to consider
your eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC.
Regardless of whether you had federal tax withheld or
don't owe any federal tax, you can get a hefty refund in the
form of EITC if you qualify. How much you receive varies
according to income, filing status and number of child
dependents. Unlike filers with itemized deductions, you
can use the 1040EZ tax return to claim your EITC.
Impairment-related expense: You may require special
equipment or accommodations as an employee or self-
employed individual. The tax code allows you to subtract
expenses for things you must have in order to work.
Called impairment-related work expenses, they appear as
unreimbursed employee expenses on the Schedule A
form used for itemizing. Minimum requirements for the
dollar amount do not apply to blind filers.
Impairment-related work expenses you might have,
provided you don't count them under medical expenses.
include the following:
Computer attachments for braille display and typing
Electronic visual aids
High-speed Internet connection
Modifications to your home
Software that provides synthetic voice description
Reader services
Be sure to consult your tax advisor for specifics related to
your own Individual circumstances. Next month's Talking
Taxes will have information regarding credit for the elderly
and the disabled.
* Digital Braille Versus Paper Braille
Braille
Monitor February 2015
by Christian Coudert
From the Editor: Christian Coudert is the editor in
chief of the Louis Braille magazine (Paris, France). He
has done some interesting research about the reading
of Braille from paper and from refreshable Braille
displays. Some of the findings from his study are
surprising and may provide helpful guidance for those
considering whether to purchase a refreshable display
or a Braille notetaker and how many cells it should
have. We have removed parts of the article that
describe how to simulate the tests done in reaching
these results and have tried to smooth a few rough
edges that resulted from translation of this article
from French to English. Here is what he says:
Let me recount how I came up with the idea of writing this
article: since I have had a Braille notetaker, I have
gradually given up reading on paper, preferring electronic
Braille. However, without taking the trouble to check it, I
have always been convinced that reading on paper must
unquestionably be much more effective. Indeed, whereas
both hands can be used for reading on paper (the left
hand reading the next line while the right hand ends the
current line), this method cannot be applied to paperless
Braille because you have to press a navigation button on
the device to display the text below once you have
finished reading the content of the Braille display. Another
preconception has always led me to think that the more
Braille cells we have (up to a point), the faster our reading
speed will be.
In order to check the validity of these assumptions, I
decided to perform an experiment with a panel of
volunteer readers. This study does not claim to be
scientific. To have true scientific validity, it would have
been necessary to select a group of readers and have
each of them read the same texts during several timed
sessions, assign everyone the same electronic equipment,
and refine the results, taking into account each reader's
age and length of Braille experience. However, the
number of readers involved and the number of reading
sessions undertaken enable us to draw what we believe to
be objective conclusions that would likely be confirmed by
other studies.
Before getting into the details of the study, let me make it
clear that I do not write with the purpose of promoting one
reading mode over another. All reading systems are
complementary; each person chooses the system that
suits him or her, based on factors such as fixed location or
travelling, the availability of various formats for a given
title, budgetary constraints, and so on. It is also true that a
large majority of sighted readers who use digital tablets do
not use them exclusively, seeing no need to give up paper
and generally seeing no need to decide which method is
better-they let the content and other factors determine
how they will read.
There is no doubt that a Braille reader must first master
reading on paper to understand fully the concepts of
pages and paragraphs and enjoy the benefits of the
various layouts used in this medium (title centering, line
breaks, paragraphs, lists, and poetry layout). On a Braille
display, where text blocks of eighteen, twenty, or thirty-two
cells follow each other, most of these markers disappear.
Hence, learning Braille, like learning to write, is best done
with a solid background in paper Braille.
For our tests we chose to use Braille notetakers rather
than standalone Braille displays because the notetakers
are designed for reading text, whereas standalone Braille
displays are designed for displaying the contents of
computer screens and contain more Braille cells. Readers
used their own equipment, and, when they wished,
equipment was lent to them.
When we crunched the numbers after each reader went
through several sessions reading from paper, an eighteen-
cell display, and a thirty-two-cell display, we were a little
surprised by what the numbers revealed. Half of the
readers had a slightly faster reading speed on paper than
on a Braille display, but the difference was very small,
almost to the point of insignificance. The difference in
reading speed for each individual reader between his or
her fastest and slowest speed was rather low, with the
exception of one reader, who had a difference of thirty-four
words per minute between his fastest and slowest speeds.
This indicates that the reading pace is not fundamentally
altered by using a device instead of paper Braille.
Strengths of Paper
One achieves a high reading speed and comprehension
when reading with both hands because of the ability to
begin reading the next line. Blank lines can be easily
skipped, and knowing the boundaries of a page is easy.
The spatial representation of the page communicates the
layout and the importance of empty lines, indented lists,
and other formatting is easily understood.
Weaknesses of Paper
With paper Braille, fragility (dots get deleted over time) can
become a barrier to rapid reading. The bulkiness of paper
requires significant space for storage. Size can also make
finding a large enough reading space difficult, especially
while traveling.
Strengths of a Notetaker
Braille in a digital format means the reader has a large
number of works available, whether through books
prepared for digital Braille or books with letter-for-letter
presentation which are translated by the notetaker. The
notetaker provides a text-search facility, which partially
offsets the difficulty in skipping multiple pages or finding a
page by its number. Of course one also has the advantage
of being able to search for a wanted word or phrase. The
compact size of the notetaker means it can be used where
space is limited, and, since books are stored digitally, the
unit can hold many titles. Our readers made the point that
these devices allow one to read anywhere, including
standing in the tube [the mass transit trains in France].
Weaknesses of Reading Braille on Refreshable Braille
Displays
One can waste time reading if the text is not properly
formatted for Braille or converted by the translation and
formatting programs inside the display. Reading can be
hampered when lines are formatted specifically for print,
contain hyphens to indicate the end of print lines where no
such hyphenation is required on the Braille display, and by
the presence of print page numbers that serve little
purpose. Some of the information conveyed in the printed
or the paper Braille is lost when using a Braille display and
can interfere with both reading speed and comprehension.
The Braille display can eliminate information essential in
the reading of tables and Braille music, but for literature
these formatting considerations are less critical.
Our Findings
This study shows that the average reading speed on
paper is equivalent to that obtained on eighteen-cell
notetakers (120 words/minute). It is slightly higher than
that on thirty-two-cell devices (4 percent). The perception
we have of our reading speed is distorted by a set of
factors we were not aware of but which were disclosed by
this experiment: the dot quality on piezoelectric displays
largely offsets the disadvantages of a reading process of
real two-handed reading on paper. In addition, electronic
Braille frees the reader from the need to turn paper pages,
the problem that arises when Braille is close to the fold of
a magazine or soft-bound book, and the problem that
results when having so little reading space means one has
no place for the opposing page.
In order for reading with a Braille display to be comfortable
and efficient, it is important to be sitting comfortably and
find the position that lessens or eliminates wrist, upper
limb, and back fatigue. Placing the device flat on a table is
not always the best solution. It is also important to set
one's Braille notetaker to maximize its ability to display
given types of information. If knowing about blank lines is
not important, turn on the function which suppresses them.
If multiple spaces between words are not required for
understanding the document, turn on the feature to
compress the information and make the most of the cells
on the display. We observe that devices with front panel
buttons provide the best ergonomic experience since
scrolling the text with the thumbs is more natural than
pressing a button at the end of a display.
Our study shows that using a display with a larger number
of cells does not necessarily increase the reading speed:
fatigue is usually greater on thirty-two-cell equipment than
on those with eighteen or twenty cells because of the
greater movement of the hands which is required.
We have not yet mentioned the observations made by
those attempting to use automatic reading. This function,
available on all notetakers, automatically scrolls the
display at a speed determined by the user. We found that
the use of this feature significantly decreases reading
speed because scrolling of the display is based on time
rather than on the number of characters displayed. In
cases where the display contains a small amount of text,
perhaps as little as one or two words, much time is wasted
waiting for the next forward movement through the text.
Manufacturers should consider improving this function by
seeing that each line contains as much text as it can
accommodate and by speeding up the pace of the forward
movement when fewer characters are displayed.
I would like to thank all the readers who agreed to take
part in this experiment. The results speak for themselves
and should encourage Braille producers to offer more
digital books in Braille. Braille readers who currently use
paper should consider adopting refreshable Braille
displays because they offer so much access to the written
word, ease of transport, instant access (no delay waiting
for parcels to be delivered), easy navigation when
searching a digitized document, the ability to add markers
for bookmarks on places where one needs to return, and
archiving books and magazines without any deterioration
over time and without the significant amount of space
required by their bulk. We sincerely hope the price of
equipment will fall significantly so that more readers
around the world can benefit from them.
I extend my warm thanks to Alain and Brian, who made
the translation from French.
Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write
them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
(Proverbs 3: 3-4)
And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior."
To subscribe to Dan's tips or HotSpot with God Daily Devotional, send a
blank message to
dthompson5@xxxxxxxxx and include "subscribe Dan's Tips" or Subscribe HotSpot
with God" in the
subject line.
_._,_._,_
Accessible World Team
http://accessibleworld.org
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