text messages, social media comments, and DMs/direct messages

[Brittany Grasser]

Hello!

I'm currently working on a transcription to further my skills and as a volunteer transcription for the library. The book I am currently working with has instagram comments, text messages and direct messages interspersed throughout the chapters.

The instagram comments and direct messages appear in the same manner in the text: they are enclosed in a gray box. The user name is bold and the text follows.

example of comments (on page 105):

FairyMagica: "Ahhh! I'm so glad you're branching out into costuming. That's soooo cool."

MarsGirl33: "How did you do that hair?!? You rock the space princess look."

 

My plan of attack for this was enclose in a box and do each comment in 1-3 margins with a blank line separating them:

blank line

top box line

[bold word indicator]FairyMagica: "Ahhh! I'm so glad..."

blank line

[bold word indicator]MarsGirl33: "How did you do that...."

bottom box line

blank line

 

The text correspondence is where I'm struggling a bit. The sender appears flush to the right margin and the response is flush to the left. I wasn't sure how to show the distinction in braille.

Example (from page 212):
<p style="text-align: right;">Hi. Do you have plans tonight?</p>
Oh, you know, just the usual. Playing God of War until 1:00 a.m.

which is about the time my eyes feel like they're ready to pop out of my

head from staring at the TV screen for six hours straight. Unless ...
<p style="text-align: right;">Unless?</p>
Unless you have a better idea?
<p style="text-align: right;">Any chance you'd want to come over?</p>
Sure! Would 7:00 work?
<p style="text-align: right;">See you then.</p>
 

Thank you all for your time! I appreciate any help.

[Brittany Grasser]

This is the image of the text message example from page 212 of "Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe" by Lindsay S. Zrull

• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by Brittany Grasser.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by Brittany Grasser.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by Brittany Grasser.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by Brittany Grasser. Reason: My apologies, I'm trying to add a photo of the page in the book, but I keep getting an error. It also looks like it was uploaded 3 times

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[Connie Stone]

Brittany,

Follow Section 14 for dialogue. When the user name is not in print you will need to add a TN that they have been added.

The boxes moving from the right and left is a visual effect identifying the change in speaker but will be solved by following braille formats. Each dialogue in 1-3 with the speaker's name before.

I am not sure about the boxes. If you are doing each one, or each section. Be careful of excessive boxes. Sometimes the format change from 3-1 to 1-3 can be sufficient.

Hope this helps,

Connie

 

[Brittany Grasser]

Thank you Connie. That does help tremendously! I wasn't sure about the boxes either. I'm now in a section of the text where there are multiple direct messages back and forth separated by short bursts of narration and fear that the boxes could become excessive. I'm thinking of omitting the boxes altogether and putting a note on the TN page stating that comments, direct messages, and other correspondence appear in gray boxes in print and those have been omitted in braille.

I'm including a picture of the exact page I'm transcribing. Page 107.

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[Connie Stone]

Brittany,

I think a TN on the Transcriber's Note page is a good idea and omit the boxes. The reader will identify the text messages by the format and will be able to maintain a flow reading. Keep up the good work.

Connie

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