What I'd love to be able to do is to be able to curl up and read a book
again - for those of us who became visually (print) impaired after
school age the learning of braille has never been offered or suggested.
I took my mp3 player on holiday with me, my laptop and my RNIB talking
book player but even within the family felt isolated and odd, some of
the time the background noise made it impossible to hear it i.e. when
travelling; in a water theme park, or it made it difficult to join in
family banter/conversation. Holidays just aren't the same without a
good book to read.
Yes there is a huge overhead in preparing material - getting the books
scanned in, converted into mp3 files and downloaded to a player takes
ages - probably the same time it takes to create a braille book.
Having control over what I can read would be lovely but the postgrad
DSA means I'm restricted to only what is essential for the course.
Screen readers cope with plain text material reasonably well but put in
a few pictures or tables and it becomes a different issue. This issue
of course feeds through to the mp3 file so if the scanned book is plain
text wonderful but otherwise you need a laptop and a huge screen so you
can make sense of it, or someone to do tons of zone editing for you.
Of course I'm lucky enough to have sufficient sight to be able
(sometimes) to see stuff on a huge screen so I wouldn't want the
pictures to be removed from the stuff I read. I'm also lucky enough to
have been put in touch with a reader who will read the book for me and
it's wonderful to hear the human voice, but at the end of the day all I
want to hear is my voice inside my head - but that is a rarity. As for
speed reading - forget it.
All goes to show - it really depends on the end users preferences - now
then how about someone developing a software system where one could
have a source with multiple layers (e.g. text, speed read text,
pictures, picture descriptions, tables, table descriptions) and then
enable the user to interpret it (read it) in different
languages/formats (e.g. print, braille, human voice, mp3, daisy)
incorporating whatever elements of the layers they wanted. Just need
to find a good software developer......
kind regards
Elaine
On 6 Feb 2007, at 14:03, Honey Lucas wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> That's a fair point, however as we are always racing against time to
> get information to students (in whatever format) I was suggesting
> screenreading as a stop-gap. I also take your point about taking a
> laptop to the beach, but a Brailled book is often not much more
> portable!
>
> What has worked quite well here is for Braille-using students to use
> BrailleNotes and PacMates, giving them the portability of a laptop
> (within its limitations) but the ability to read and write in their
> preferred medium. It also gives the student the control over what
> they read in Braille, rather than having to rely on external
> organisations who might have differing priorities.
>
> best wishes,
> Honey.
>
> On 06/02/2007 12:41, Paul Jarman wrote:
>
>> Honey,
>>
>> I don't disagree with you at all, but this is exactly what I mean
>> about
>> Braille becoming a second-class medium for study. I think that there
>> is one
>> thing that sighted people so easily overlook: Braille is reading--real
>> reading--using a screen reader is not. Okay, so it's a very useful
>> substitute, but just imagine you wer forbidden as from now ever to
>> pick up a
>> paperback and actually read? Imagine always taking your laptop to the
>> beach? If anyone's first medium is Braille, we should always be
>> encouraging
>> this. Screen-readers are a solution, but far from being an answer.
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>> Paul Jarman,
>> Disability Support Officer,
>> 2.39 Francis Bancroft Building,
>> Queen Mary, University of London,
>> Mile End Road,
>> LONDON. E1 4NS
>> Tel.: +44 (0)20 7882-2757,
>> Fax: +44 (0)20 7882-5223,
>> E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Honey Lucas
>> Sent: 06 February 2007 11:43
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Books in Braille
>>
>>
>> Hi Emma,
>>
>> can the student access the books in a format other than braille, eg
>> using a screenreader? It would be quicker to scan the books (if you
>> have the publisher's permission to do this) and put them into Word
>> than
>> to get them brailled.
>>
>> best wishes, Honey.
>>
>> On 06/02/2007 10:36, Uden, Emma L wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I am trying to locate several books in Braille:
>>>
>>> The Two Executioners-Fernando Arrabal (London: John Calder 1962)
>>> The Bald Prima Donna, trans.-Antonio Ionesco (Donald Watson (London:
>>> Calder, 1977.)
>>>
>>> I have checked on reveal web and although it says they are available
>>> via RNIB or NLB the student has contacted them and they are not
>>> available. We have tried the publisher but they do not have them in
>>> electronic as they are very old texts. What do I do now? Do I need to
>>> get the books transferred into electronic, then into Braille can
>>> anyone suggest a company, how expensive is this likely to be?
>>>
>>> Any answers/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Emma Uden
>>> Disability Adviser
>>> Student Enabling Centre
>>> University of Wolverhampton
>>> www.wlv.ac.uk/sec
>>> Tel: 01902 321353
>>> Fax:01902 321021
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Honey Lucas
>> Disabled Students' Adviser
>>
>> Student Services
>> Oxford Brookes University
>> Headington Campus
>> Headington Hill
>> Oxford OX3 0BP
>>
>> Tel: 01865 484689
>> Fax: 01865 484656
>>
>> Please visit our website for information
>> about the Student Disability Service:
>> www.brookes.ac.uk/student/services/disability/
>>
>>
>
> --
> Honey Lucas
> Disabled Students' Adviser
>
> Student Services
> Oxford Brookes University
> Headington Campus
> Headington Hill
> Oxford OX3 0BP
>
> Tel: 01865 484689
> Fax: 01865 484656
>
> Please visit our website for information
> about the Student Disability Service:
> www.brookes.ac.uk/student/services/disability/
>
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