kdejute
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Jeff,
Thank you for your questions. I would like to answer them in reverse of the order in which you asked them.
First, in response to your question #3: It is true that the Guidance states Nemeth symbols are not to be listed on the special symbols page (SSP). It is also true (and the upcoming changes to the Guidance, which are introduced nicely in Dorothy Worthington's webinar from 7/20/2017, clarify this) that the "opening Nemeth Code indicator" and the "Nemeth Code terminator" are UEB symbols and should be listed on the SSP according to braille order. Also, it is recommended that the "Single-word switch" Nemeth symbol be listed on the SSP, under its own heading (e.g., "Nemeth Switch Indicator") because it is new but not a UEB symbol.
In response to your question #2: I agree with your view that within a list or series of short exercise items it is disconcerting to have an opening Nemeth Code indicator placed on a line by itself. What I would do with such an indicator is to place it after the item identifier, just before the affected material. For example:
⠼⠙⠊⠲⠀⠼⠃⠙
⠼⠑⠁⠲⠀⠸⠩⠀⠏⠀⠨⠅⠀⠉⠊⠞⠽⠄⠎⠀⠄⠄⠄⠀⠸⠱
In response to your question #1:
You're right that it is preferred to use fewer instead of more Nemeth switch indicators. Still, it is of course our overarching goal to make the text as clear and intuitive as possible. So, if having a few more switch indicators makes the content more readable, then those switch indicators are well used.
I agree that the first two options you provided in your question #1 are both correct. I would argue that the second (lines 07-10) is more reader-friendly, because it allows each item to be read individually (i.e., the content of item #26 is not dependent upon a switch indicator that is within item #25). I cannot say that the third option you provided (lines 13-16) is incorrect. Nonetheless, allowing Nemeth Code to remain in effect for a series of unmodified numbers and/or letters is possibly overextending application of the Nemeth Code.
Finally, if you did have something like
- 9.8
- Nikola Tesla
- 1 G = 10−4 T
where one item/line of UEB material occurs between items/lines Nemeth material, I would suggest terminating Nemeth Code at the end of item #23 and then inserting an opening Nemeth Code indicator following the item identifier "25."
Again, thank you for your questions.
–Kyle
Kimberly,
Thank you for your question. Please see the attached .BRF, in which I have transcribed a portion of the print sample you shared with the following judgment calls:
- Use Nemeth switch indicators as needed within each item or subitem
- When a [sub]item consists of a series of numbers, include the whole series in switch indicators if one number in that series requires switch indicators.
Please do let me know if this sample and brief commentary does not fully address your question and/or if you have follow-up questions.
Tung,
I have the answer!
Although my information was correct at the time the spring Bulletin was published, it is now out-of-date.
Recent changes (which are not even published yet on BANA's website) to the Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts change how measurement units are included or excluded from Nemeth switch indicators.
So, the content of "AN INTRODUCTION TO BRAILLE MATHEMATICS, Using UEB and the Nemeth Code, Provisional Online Edition 2017" is correct and up-to-date. And the summary statement from the spring Bulletin article should be changed to:
When next to a number that belongs in Nemeth Code, a related abbreviated measurement unit is transcribed within Nemeth Code, but a container or amount that does not have a fixed definition, whether spelled out or abbreviated, is not.
in addition to examples and other content of the article being updated.
Thank you again for pointing this out!
Please watch BANA's website for the updated Guidance document to be published.
–Kyle
Greetings!
I would use Nemeth Code for this example. However, I would not include the keystroke indicator (and its terminator), because it implies that what is contained within is one button. If you were going to use keystroke rules for this sequence, you'd have to use a separate keystroke indicator (and terminator) for each character. i.e. =, I, N, T, (, R, A, ...
I would choose Nemeth over UEB for this since it includes a sign of comparison as well as a sign of operation. I would stay away from CBC since UEB and Nemeth-Code-within-UEB have [for practical purposes] replaced it.
Thank you for your question!
–Kyle
Tung,
That is a good question. I am looking into it, and I will let you know once I find out more.
Thank you.
–Kyle
Marilyn,
The English Letter Indicator is required only for the "B" in the example you give.
Thus, the braille for "P(A give B)" is:
⠠⠏⠷⠠⠁⠀⠛⠊⠧⠑⠀⠰⠠⠃⠾
See Nemeth Code section 28.a, especially the following sentence (emphasis added): "When only one letter or any combination of unspaced letters is in direct contact with only its opening or only its closing grouping sign, the English-letter indicator must be used (see section 26) or must not be used (see section 27) as though the grouping signs were not present."
–Kyle
Tung,
The first format you propose does seem to be more reader-friendly, and it is probably the one that I would use. Nonetheless, the second format you propose is technically correct.
Thank you for your question!
—Kyle
Carmen,
Your question is a good follow-up.
First, please let me point to the second sentence of #6 (on page 7) under Additional Guidelines of the Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code in UEB Contexts, which says "When table entries are technical material but the row headings are words, the whole table is considered technical material, excluding the table title and column headings." Dorothy Worthington used the example you shared (thank you for uploading it) to illustrate this portion of the Guidance.
Second, you're right that Laurie could have used what's outlined in #6 mentioned above to lay out the "Account Balance" table. An image of the braille for this layout is attached.
Third, the Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics currently do not include anything on using Nemeth Code within UEB contexts. So, we are left to make the most reader-friendly decisions we can within existing code guidelines. With that said, unless it would be confusing, I agree with your assessment that (until/unless TG Guidelines tell us otherwise) labels for the axes of a graph presented as a tactile graphic could be included uncontracted within Nemeth Code switch indicators that are necessary for the rest of the graph [This is not the case for Laurie's graph if only the dollar sign is done away with].
–Kyle
Good day, Laurie! Thank you for your question. May I suggest that you include a TN before your table explaining that "all numbers are dollar amounts" or "each number in the following table is preceded in print by a dollar sign"? Then perhaps you could omit the currency symbols in the braille and so avoid code switching altogether.
If you feel that you must use Nemeth Code, then I would suggest using a set of Nemeth Code switch indicators for each dollar value.
How does all that sound?
–Kyle
Good day, Tung:
You are correct that none of the examples you shared is subject to the linked expression special margin rule of the Nemeth Code, because none of the examples you shared is displayed.
Yes, I would agree that you can use the "regular box" shape for the blue-shaded squares in your non-spatial problems and the general omission indicator for the blue-shaded squares in your spatial problems. This use should be explained in a transcriber's note.
In your message, you described the "regular box" shape as (dots 1246 246), but it should be (dots 1246, 256).
The last part of problem 4 in your examples is not spatial, as you said, and so technically the "regular box" shape could be used instead of the general omission indicator for the blue-shaded squares in this part. However, I would encourage you to use the same omission indicator throughout any one problem and to word your TN about what is used in braille to represent print's blue-shaded squares accordingly.
Thank you for the questions and for the examples!
–Kyle
Thank you for the question, Susan.
What we've got is a skeleton table (BF2016 section 11.9), which seems to tell us to do what you've described: use guide dots to indicate empty column entries and include a TN explaining that "This table does not have a specified number of rows." We can also include explanation of the guide dots in our TN. Then, we'll just apply Nemeth Code switch indicators in the box lines that enclose material that should be transcribed in Nemeth, and I think we'll be rocking and rolling.
Attached is a .BRF that represents this transcription of your print sample (Thank you for including the sample!).
The fraction "1-1/2" from the print you shared (thank you for including a print sample) is a mixed number. To transcribe it in this situation, I would either follow standard mixed number rules and include a TN to make note of the hyphen that appears in print, or I would follow print exactly and permit the braille reader to make a judgment based on the same information that is available to the sighted reader.
Attached is a .BRF that represents two possible transcriptions of the print sample you shared (using Nemeth-EBAE).
Please see sections 63 [especially 63.b] and 64 of the Nemeth Code.
Good day, Susan!
Thank you for the question and the supporting images.
I think you've done an excellent job of setting up this nontraditional spatial arrangment. (I assume that your "key to labels for the model" is outside the Nemeth Code switch indicators.) Your fifth grader will likely be able to parse this layout and so work with essentially the same information with which his or her print-reading counterparts are working.
–Kyle
Greetings, Rebecca!
In both examples that you highlight in your attachment, the opening Nemeth Code indicator has been placed on the first line of non-spatial displayed material that does not require special margins instead of at the end of the preceding line of text, because it would not fit at the end of that preceding line.
Although RUEB section 14.6.3 says "When the Nemeth Code text is displayed on one or more lines separate from the UEB text, the Opening Nemeth Code Indicator and the Nemeth Code Terminator may each be placed on a line by itself or at the end of the previous line of text.", this sentence does not list the only allowable placements of the opening Nemeth Code indicator.
In response to your second/subsidiary question, if you were to place the opening Nemeth Code indicator on a line by itself before displayed material, the most appropriate indention would be in the runover position of the text that precedes the displayed material, as you would do if you were inserting an opening Nemeth Code indicator at the end of instructions before a series of exercise items in Nemeth Code.
Thank you for the question, and please do respond with any remaining concerns and/or comments you have.
–Kyle
Good day, Tung:
I see your question. Thank you for sharing it.
Section 6.8.2.2 of the Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics says that for grades 4 and up, "Counting items can be represented by using the letters 'on' for one, "tn" for ten, ... A transcriber's note must be added explaining the use of braille symbols as a representation of the print object." So it's tempting to just use a TN for the shapes in your print, but the example you shared (thank you for posting the print page) is more than just a "counting item".
The shapes in your print appear to be an integral part of the exercise (They are even referenced in the instructions). So, I would advise you to include them as tactile graphics. If there are multiple exercises that include models to be shaded, you could reduce the number of tactile graphics required by including a representation of a ten block, a hundred block and a thousand cube in the preliminary pages and then referencing that prelim page at points in the text where such images appear.
Thank you again for your question; please let me know if you have follow-up queries.
–Kyle DeJute
