kdejute
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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
Julia,
Thank you for your question. Thank you especially for sharing your reasoning, which I believe is on the money.
I agree that you would follow rules for abbreviations in transcribing the single letter chemical symbols you mention (N for Nitrogen, N[superscript 3 minus] for the anion of Nitrogen that has three extra electrons, O for Oxygen, etc.) By this logic, yes, you would also need an English letter indicator for the O in "3 mol O = 3×16.00 g = 48.00 g O".
If I find a really good reference for this (or really good reference against this), I will post here again.
–Kyle
Beth,
Thank you for the question and for your thoughts.
Although the Guidance for Nemeth Code within UEB does not address this directly, it is practical and considerate to list number sign symbols on the Special Symbols Page. Please refer to the discussion in the Ask an Expert topic special symbols for horizontal number lines for more information about number line symbols on a Special Symbols Page, including an example document that shows number line symbols in a cell-5-headed portion of a Special Symbols Page.
As in all Nemeth-within-UEB transcriptions, your Transcriber's Notes Page must include a note explaining that mathematical content is transcribed according to Nemeth Code (Braille Formats, 2016, section 2.6.1c).
I hope that helps. Thank you again for your question. You are not the only one who has it I'm sure!
–Kyle
The "Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts" provides the "single-word switch indicator" for instances in which A SINGLE WORD appears between two math expressions. A word that is preceded by the single-word switch indicator should be transcribed according to the Rules of Unified English Braille, which may include contractions.
In the "Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts," please see #4 under Basic Guidance on When to Switch as well as the examples on page 4.
Again, the single-word switch indicator allows ONE non-mathematical word to appear between pieces of technical material within Nemeth switch indicators, and that one non-mathematical word could include contractions.
Any word that is part of a mathematical expression cannot include contractions. Any series of two or more non-mathematical/narrative words that occurs between mathematical expressions must be preceded by a Nemeth Code terminator and followed by an Opening Nemeth Code indicator.
Thank you for your question.
–Kyle
Well, hmmm.
I think your set-up is a good start. Please consider the set-up in the attached .BRF, which makes more use of keying in the interest of keeping horizontally related the equations that are communicated via the column headings. I've followed your (I think appropriate) decision to, within this table-style presentation, align numbers by place value and allow dollar signs and operation signs to stick next to their related numbers.
Thank you for your neat question as well as your patience.
–Kyle
Good morning and good day to you, Susan!
Thank you for the question. If in a transcription using Nemeth within UEB, you have a series of multiple choice items and not all of them need to be transcribed in Nemeth Code, then the item identifiers should all be transcribed in UEB, and only the material that needs to be in Nemeth Code should be enclosed in Nemeth Code switch indicators.
[The point of the provision for transcribing item identifiers (e.g. problem numbers, answer choice letters, etc.) in Nemeth Code is to reduce the number of switch indicators used when a series of items all should be in Nemeth Code. In the example you shared, the number of switch indicators required would be the same whether the identifiers were in UEB or in Nemeth, and there is no reason for them to be in Nemeth Code.]
A .BRF of the print sample you shared is attached.
–Kyle
Rebecca,
I'm afraid that your sample file is larger than the forum will allow, so unfortunately I cannot offer any thoughts on what that looks like.
In partial response to your message, indeed the numeric indicator should be used or not used according to the rules of the Nemeth Code, and I might assume that in your example, the numeric indicator would be left out more often than included. Again, without seeing the example, I would be inclined to align dollar signs separately from signs of operation in the interest of reading ease.
Thank you for your question, and I will keep an eye out for a compressed upload of your sample file.
Cheers!
–Kyle
Tabitha,
Thank you for following up and clearing things up.
In response to your question, a tactile graphic would likely give the most clear representation of a broken number line. However, if you must use braille cells, I would suggest the configuration in the image attached (in which slashes are used to represent the break in the line) paired with a transcriber's note stating something to the effect of "diagonal slashes / indicate a break in the number line" (It would be ideal to use wording from the video you mention).
Thank you again for your question. And keep on rocking the transcription!
–Kyle
