Formats of texts, Facebook msg, letters, and emails in Young Adult leisure book

[Susan Farnsworth]

Hello, we're doing a number of leisure books and this one chapter contains written letters, emails, a Facebook message and multiple texts. The Braille Formats 2016 book only mentions these briefly so request some direction. I have attached a file of some of the book pages and here are my questions:

1. First are the letters: Should we follow print for spacing? Here the date is left-justified on the first line, followed by a blank line, then the letter salutation followed by the paragraph(s) of the letter body. We assume attribution should be used for the ending and name in blocked format (starting 5 cells in from the beginning of the previous line).
2. There are two blank lines, then the next letter. How should that be handled, so the reader knows it is a second letter?
3. After the letters are emails. Print has the To, CC, Fr[om], and Subject left-justified, then a blank line, and the email message. Again, letter ending and name should be handled as attributions.
4. Between each email are two blank lines; again, how to handle?
5. After the emails is a Facebook message that has two parts: first to contact the person, then a message from the sender. Slightly different from the email messages earlier. How to format this so the reader understands it is two parts?
6. After the Facebook message are a bunch of text messages. Should print be followed for this format? Left-justified on three lines it gives the number of messages, From: Name, and a date. Then a blank line, then the actual text message. Print has two blank lines separating each text message.
7. And finally, a few later messages (may not be on attachment) are multi-lines, with a blank line between, such as:

1 New Text Message
From: AUGUST
Dec 31 5:10PM

lol

yes dude we'r frenz agen.

 

As you can see, this is not easy to format and be clear to the reader.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sue Farnsworth

[Susan Farnsworth]

Sorry, my file is too big, so I'll try to replicate print to show the letters and emails (note: attributions were right-justified in print).

---- first letter starts ----

December 18

Dear Mr. Tushman,
I am very, very sorry for punching Julian. It was very, very wrong for me to do that. I am writing a letter to him to tell him that, too. If it's okay, I would really rather not tell you why I did what I did because it doesn't really make it right anyway. Also, I would rather not make Julian get in trouble for having said something he should not have said.
Very sincerely,
Jack Will

---- first letter ends ----

2 blank lines in print

---- second letter starts ----

December 18

Dear Julian,
I am very, very, very sorry for hitting you. It was wrong of me. I hope you are okay. I hope your grown-up tooth grows in fast. Mine always do. grown-up tooth grows in fast. Mine always do.
Sincerely,
Jack Will

---- second letter ends ----

The emails are like this:

To: ltushman@beecherschool.edu
Cc: johnwill@phillipsacademy.edu; amandawill@copperbeech.org
Fr: melissa.albans@rmail.com
Subject: Jack Will

Dear Mr. Tushman,
I spoke with Amanda and John Will yesterday, and they expressed their regret at ... the rest of the incoming middle-school students were.
Best,
Melissa Perper Albans

--- there are two blank lines separating the emails.

Thanks,

Sue Farnsworth

[claurent]

This issue is more of a Braille Formats issue so I will address it. The letters appear to be blocked paragraphs. Date in cell 1, blank line, Salutation in cell 1, blank line, paragraph blocked in 1. I agree with doing the Sincerely... as an attribution although you could also treat it as another blocked paragraph. Another option would be to put the date in cell 1, blank line, salutation in cell 1, indented paragraph (no blank line between), blank line, closing info in cell 1 or cell 5 (depending on how you see this info). You choose and then be consistent.

Use only one blank line in print to separate items. If you are concerned that it would be unclear where a new letter starts (although the new letter starts with a date) you could box each letter. According to section 7 of Braille Formats, boxes are at the transcriber's discretion.

The first part of the emails (to, cc, fr, subject) could be listed materials (1-3 margins with a blank line before and after) then treat the body the same way as you treated the letters.

Again, only one blank line between items in braille.  The content will let the reader know it's a new item.

Be as consistent as you can be among this type of material and that will make it easier for the reader to figure out what is going on.

Cindi Laurent

 

[Susan Farnsworth]

Thank  you very much, Cindi. Sorry for the late response, but this helped a lot.

[Author]

Posts