Donald Winiecki
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Thank you Julie for the question!The Supplement is very useful! It demonstrates TGs in several common media, including Tiger embossed, microcapsule, and collage masters that are thermoformed. The purpose of the TG Supplement is to show the application of the rules and how those rules can be expressed differently using several common production methods.The Supplement has been recently updated to include examples showing TGs with both <i>UEB Technical</i> and <i>Nemeth in a UEB Context</i>. This revised Supplement must go through the BANA (Braille Authority of North America) Review Process and then to the BANA Board for final approval. When that is accomplished, a designated production agency will make copies and it will be distributed through established channels.At present, we have no timeline that forecasts when the revised and updated Supplement will become available. However, announcements of availability will be widely distributed when the time comes.
Hi Taylor!
BANA provides a webform through which you can post questions or comments to the BANA Tactile Graphics Committee. You can visit that form at the following URL.
http://www.brailleauthority.org/contact/comment-tg.html
If you have other comments or questions, please don't hesitate to post them here.
Hi Julie!
After analyzing the materials you provided to us, we turned to BANA's "Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts" (June 2016) <http://brailleauthority.org/ueb/nemeth-guidance/Nemeth%20Guidance%20Final.pdf>.
Referencing the section of that document titled "Basic Guidance on Which to Switch," we find no mathematical expressions, fragments of such expressions, or signs of operation or comparison associated with maths in the graphic, so there is no need to switch into Nemeth braille in the graphic.
If you have other questions about the materials being transcribed please let us know!
Best wishes for a brilliant and bountiful Saturday!
Hi Julie!
That is a great question, and we think we've got the right response for you!
The NBA offers training for school districts, state agencies, braille production centers, prison braille programs etc. Please contact the NBA National Office for options to coordinate all aspects of the event with the requesting agency and the instructor.
If you are interested in learning more about how NBA's Training Bureau can work for you, please go to https://www.nationalbraille.org/training-bureau. You can fill out the form online and provide the Training Bureau with information regarding the needs for your organization.
Cheri, thanks for your question!
The attached graphic was sketched by one of our TG experts. The pie chart is approximately 5" in diameter and as shown will fit easily on an 11.5" x 11" page. As shown, this includes all of the numbers reflected on the print graphic, and full labels for some items from the print graphic. Long labels were reduced to 3-cell abbreviations that should be included on the braille key.
When creating the key, follow GSTG 6.3.7.2 with the order of items in the key the same as the order in which the sections appear on the graph in clockwise order, starting at the top (at the 12:00 position).
Notice that not all labels have leader lines. These should be used only where things get crowded. Otherwise, we may make the graphic harder to interpret.
The center of the graph is crowded, so it will be necessary to implement GSTG 6.3.4 and not draw all of the division lines all the way to the center. This is reflected in the attached graphic.
Following wording in GSTG 6.3.6, we want the interior of the graph to be unobstructed (no textures). It is advisable to never use textures in the center of a pie chart, for the same reason as you would move labels outside if print showed them inside the circle. This ensures better readability of the whole.
Let us know if this addresses all of your questions!
Thank you Cindi!
How would the subsequent list of "a) question 1; b) question 2; c) question 3" be formatted?
Thank you for that information William!It is definitely helpful to have assistance from a mathematician on this.
If I understand your message properly, while the 2346 symbol is used in both augmented matrices and in set notation, the way to interpret a difference in meaning between 2346 in an augmented matrix, and 2346 in set notation is accomplished by surrounding spaces. To signify the proper meaning in an augmented matrix, spaces always separate the 2346 indicator and any members of the matrix. To signify the proper meaning in set notation there is no space between the 2346 indicators and members of the set themselves.
Kelly,
Thank you for your question! This is surely a unique case of tactile graphics! Fortunately, we have actual real-life examples to guide us.
I’d like to point you to the following story about Chris Downey, an architect who lost his vision and says he has become a better architect since! <https://www.hok.com/news/2019-01/chris-downey-an-architect-who-lost-his-sight-shares-his-story-on-60-minutes/>.
In this story you will see images of Mr. Downey reading raised-line drawings very similar to the engineering drawings you have shared in your message. These raised-line drawings are produced by a special industrial embosser on paper larger than the usual 11” x 11.5” paper used for braille documents.
With the likelihood you do not have resources to permit such large scale embossing, I will suggest that raised-line drawings of the type shown in the story linked above can be produced using hand-tooling methods on actual blueprints of the drawings. Spur wheels or clay-shaping tools could be used for this. I have even used flatware from the kitchen drawer, very dull pencils and hand-made implements with good effects! A rubber matt would make a good underlayment while making the embossing.
While the type of paper used to produce blueprints is not as heavy as used in usual braille embossing, it is much heavier than paper used for ink-print printing. (I can vouch from experience as I was once a draftsperson and made a living drawing architectural plans similar to what you show in your attachments.)
I suggest doing this using the actual blueprints at their full size because becoming facile at reading engineering drawings often requires that one is able to jump from section to section of the drawing while still keeping an overall orientation to the whole object(s) represented in the drawing. Cutting an “E-sized” drawing of the sort you display, into many smaller sheets would result in the students having to re-orient themselves to the parts and the whole every time they move to a different page. Trying to scale down the image so it fits on a smaller page would result in the lines being too close to each other for clear tactile reading.
Once the hand-tooled tactile images are produced, the paper can then be made a bit stronger and less prone to deforming, by spraying it with conventional artist’s fixative (be cautious that you do this outdoors and stand upwind of the spray, because the spray itself can be toxic).
I hope this helps. I’m eager to hear how these work for you and if you have more questions please come back!
Best wishes.
Hi Melissa!
With respect to analog clocks in tactile graphics, we can say with certainty that the rules for adding braille to analog clock TGs have not changed from those published in Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics (GSTG) 2010. I have inside information from BANA that soon-to-be-released updates in GSTG do not make any changes to this.
Specifically, following the rules under GSTG 6.1, we should not add the numeric indicator to digits on analog clocks, whether using the UEB Technical code or Nemeth code.
At the very beginning of Unit 6-1 in Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics (GSTG) 2010, there is a table that indicates when to use the numeric indicator and when not to use the numeric indicator. It indicates that the numeric indicator is not to be used in Cartesian graphs, clocks, number lines and other types of technical graphics. I am including a screen shot of the relevant page from GSTG in this reply to your question.
This goes for inside and outside these types of graphics. Learners should have been taught that these types of graphics will not contain any numeric indicators. However, note that the grade 1 indicator is necessary in certain case if single letters or letters corresponding to shortform words are used in these types of graphics.
Hope this helps!
If you have any additional questions related to this or if you have other questions pertinent to TGs, please don't hesitate to ask.
Hi Julie! Yes, I have used Inkscape when developing for output on swell paper and as an intermediate step for further processing in Tiger Software Suite.
Thanks for the question Janice!
Your question asks specifically about formatting of fractions in Nemeth, when placed below a number line that is part of a tactile graphic. All of this is intended for a grade 3 audience.Specifically to your question, it is advisable to align the opening fraction indicator with the tick mark to which it applies on the number line (GSTG 6.5.1.8).Importantly, in a number line of the length you have indicated and depending on the length of fractions, you may have to omit every other label on the number line in order to fit the labels (GSTG 6.5.1.10). However, all ticks should be included on the number line.If it is considered important to include each of the numbers on a number line, and this is not possible on a horizontal number line, you could change the format to a vertical line (GSTG 6.5.1.10). If this is done, make sure the smallest value/number is at the bottom of the page, with numbers increasing up the page. In this case, align dots 25 of the numbers with the tick mark (GSTG 6.5.1.10).Other items of relevance that you may have already taken care of:
For Kindergarten through grade 3, the number line should be indicated with a raised line drawing, rather than braille line mode (GSTG 6.5.1.12).We don't include the numeric indicator on number lines (GSTG 6.5.1.1) when the numbers are placed below the number line. No transcriber's note is required to account for this (GSTG, Unit 6) This will save space on the TG and make things easier to read.Additional features of the number line for this audience are indicated in GSTG 6.5.1.12.Please let us know if this answers your question.
_donMelissa,
Thank you for your question!
We can say with certainty that the rules for adding braille to analog clock TGs have not changed from those published in Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics (GSTG) 2010. Soon-to-be-released updates in GSTG do not make any changes to this.
Specifically, following the rules under GSTG 6.1, we should not add the numeric indicator to digits on analog clocks, whether using the UEB Technical code or Nemeth code. Readers should have been taught that digits on analog clocks will not use the numeric indicator.
Hope this helps!
If you have any additional questions related to this or if you have other questions pertinent to TGs, please don't hesitate to ask.
Hi Melissa and thanks! I'm attaching an example file. You'll see the bolding begin on the first page following t-pages.
When submitting this to DBT using Swift and then transcribing in DBT, rather than showing the proper braille notations for braille DBT puts a #1 (in Nemeth braille).
Looking forward to your advice!
