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joannavenneri - all messages by user

5/2/2011 2:37:27 PM
Teacher's Edition - Format Consistency Since this is a math book, I strongly recommend that you post this question there. However, as a general principle of formatting, follow the print. The transcriber is generally expected to use consistent BRAILLE formatting. The print formatting is not under the control of the transcriber and the transcriber's first responsibility is to follow the print.

--Joanna
5/2/2011 2:54:01 PM
K-2nd grade title page Sometimes reading Formats can be a picky process. You have stated correctly that Rule 1 Sec. 2 says that the title page for kg-1 is NOT double spaced. Then you state that Rule 1 requires 2 blank lines. WHERE in Rule 1 do you see that? And what blank lines are referred to? I would be happy to clarify this for you.

--Joanna
5/2/2011 4:39:14 PM
Acronym This is technically an EBAE question and you might consider posting it in Literary Braille. In both cases, I would use the to contraction. This is covered in English Braille American Edition., which is why I suggest posting it there.

--Joanna
5/5/2011 2:53:41 AM
website addresses using transcription software You can use ANY braille font you have installed. The regular Braille from Braille2000 font works just fine. You can highlight each address and change that font to the braille font. You also need to add the beginning and enging CBC indicator, which is _+ for beginning and _: in ascii. You can also use Find and Replace for this function if you are familiar with that feature in Word. It is MUCH easier than inputting the braille by hand.

--Joanna
5/6/2011 2:27:13 PM
Emphasis I'll start by apologizing. Using Formats can sometimes be a nit-picky experience. Please take a look at the capitalized material and see if you can tell whether these capital letters are the same size as the surrounding lower case letters. Rule 3 in Formats makes a significant distinction between full caps and small caps. If possible, please send a scan of the page if you're not sure about these caps.

--Joanna
5/6/2011 2:43:44 PM
Underlined Word There are a couple of things going on here. These emphasized words should be brailled with italics and NO CHANGE in the print directions. Review Rule 3 Emphasis in Foramts on this point. The italics indicator (dots 46) is technically named the emphasis indicator and is explained in the first sentences of this rule.

However, you also have the issue of the correct spelling of words. See Rule 1 Section 4 Uncontracted braille. These words must be brailled without contractions because they are considered words under study and the student must see them letter by letter in order to have equal access to the precise spelling.

I am not familiar with any Formats rule that allows the change in directions you mention as applied this way. If you can find it, please provide it that so that I can offer a clarification.

--Joanna
5/9/2011 11:33:27 PM
Emphasis Thank you very much for taking the trouble to send the print pages. I agree that this is full caps and not the small caps. Unfortunately, full caps are NOT a special typeface as defined in Rule 3 Section 1, so full caps must be shown as in print. It is also true that the print emphasis must also be shown in a paragraph heading. So I'm afraid that a strict reading of the rul requires both the double caps and the emphasis indicator (dots 46).

--Joanna
5/9/2011 11:49:27 PM
Punctuation symbols in Spanish There is sometimes confusion on this point. Follow exactly what it says to do in the Interim Manual with regard to the punctuation you mentioned, which is the same as it is in English. The differences you mention occur in other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Mexico, Central and South America, and of course, Spain. The braille authorities in THOSE countries determine what rules they will follow. The rules given in the Interim Manual are based on BANA rules (Braille Authority of NORTH America) and apply to transcriptions done here for students in this country. Of course you'll find there is provision in the Interim Manual for certain print characters that occur in the foreign language, such as the inverted exclamation point and question mark and other types of print notation that occur in Spanish regarding numbers as well as the conversational dash.

Please let us know if you need further clarification.

--Joanna
5/10/2011 4:56:21 AM
Table There are probably two or three ways to format this chart. One of the factors to consider depends on how this chart is interpreted in the first place. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning of "Main Verb in Present Tense" as a centered heading. I thought "Sequence of Events" at the very top is the centered heading and I was interperting the other headings as column headings. Perhaps you could review your overall interpretation of this chart. Frankly, I don't find it very clear. In any case, my inclination is to avoid stairstep because it separates columns headings from the material. I tend to prefer the new Listed Format for this type of chart. I haven't tried it here, but it is the first one that I would try to see how, or even if, it works.

Can you identify the column headings here? That would help. I would be willing to take a guess, but since you have the entire book, perhaps there is something there that lends itself to an interpretation.


--Joanna
5/10/2011 4:31:41 PM
Underlined Word I appreciate that. I need to add a note of caution here. The ONLY authority are the actual rules, in Braille Formats: Principles of Print to Braille Transcription 1997 and the 2007 Update.Anything else, an instruction manual, a course book, must also cite a specific rule for what it says. A course book or instructional manual or anything else is not a rule citation and reflects only the opinions and interpretations of its author.

--Joanna
5/11/2011 3:45:29 PM
Uncontracted braille Thank you for this interesting question and for proving the examples and references. You have mentioned a conjugation chart in Formats. Can you tell me which example that is? I believe the examples in Formats are numbered.

Thanks.

--Joanna
5/11/2011 6:15:56 PM
Uncontracted braille Thank you so much for the additional material. It gives me a more complete understand of the situation. First, the only AUTHORITY here is an actual Formats rule. Everything else, and I do mean EVERYTHING is someone's interpretation and opinion. So I am going to remove the Quick Reference Manual from the discussion here. The Quick Reference Manual is not a book of rules and the page you mention does not give a Formats rule to back up what it does and there it no explanation given. You will note here that I cite a specific rule from Formats and if the rule doesn't clearly solve the problem, I identify suggestions and solutions as my opinions and recommendations and I give reasons.

The Formats rule that applies to your print examples is Rule 1 Section 4 Uncontracted braille. Your print expercise refers to underlined words, but I see you have them in bold in the print you sent. Simple braille emphasis (46) will suffice here and these words should be uncontracted, because the spelling is being discussed. Read the criteria in the Formts rule to determine whether and when a word should be uncontracted. These words meet those criteria.

As for the Formats Ex. 20, these words do not meet the criteria in the Formats rule to be uncontracted and so they aren't. Conjugation tables are usually contracted unless specific attention is being given to actual letters in those words. In this case, it is the forms and the meanings of the words that are being discussed, not the spelling.

--Joanna
5/13/2011 12:13:48 AM
Carryovers of listed items The rule does not say anything about bringing the entire item to the next braille page. So don't! Simply continue with the runover in the runover position preceded by the heading (if there was one) exactly as directed in the rule.

--Joanna
5/13/2011 9:40:32 PM
Color Indicators BF 3.2.c(1) I have no idea. What are all those dot 3's? I also need to see the print that goes with this braille and goes with your question.

--Joanna
5/14/2011 12:34:06 AM
Evolution of Textbook Formatting I have been advised by the chair of the BANA Formats Technical Committee that the new Formats has been through the peer review process and will go to the BANA Board for final approval. This is anticipated for the October 2011 BANA meeting. Publication in print and braille, as well as accessible online posting will take place after the final approval. This is anticipated for early 2012.

I'm not sure what it is you would like added to your Formats discussion. The 1977 Formats was the first comprehensive set of rules for transcribing textbooks, although there were some smaller sets of rules before that. It was about this time that the first federal legislation was passed that mandated mainstream education for disabled students. Blind students in the general classroom needed to know what the sighted students were seeing on the print page. Previously, when blind students were educated in boarding schools or special day classes and schools exclusively with other blind students, it didn't matter what the print page was, for instance, as long as the book was in braille. At that time, braille wasn't even mandatory, so blind students managed with recordings and readers and received braille only if they were lucky enough to get it. The new law changed that as well and made braille a requirement for braille-reading students. And that is why Formats was so important and remains so to this day.

--Joanna
5/14/2011 9:40:41 PM
Color Indicators BF 3.2.c(1) I think the rule says what it says. And it says that neither the color indicator nor the termination symbosl may stand alone on a braille line. I don't understand what the problem is there except you seem to be posing a hypothetical. I think when real situations are encountered in print and braille, a careful reading of the rules is often helpful in resolving such situations.

A hypothetical, especially this one, seems to be asking for a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. Perhaps another reader can offer additional insight.

--Joanna
5/15/2011 1:22:53 AM
Color Indicators BF 3.2.c(1) And so am I. I had asked for print and was told there is none because this is hypothetical. I also didn't understand the braille without print to refer to. What I missed is that the color indicators were being used to refer to individual words and phrases and you are exactly right. The color indicator is used only for PARAGRAPHS. And the rule explicitly addresses the issue of termination sign and color indicator on a line by itself.

So the hypothetical seems to be asking about colored type within a paragraph and the use of termination signs and color indicators on a line with no braille. The question doesn't apply because the color indicator can't be used at all in this situation.

Thanks CrepeMyrtle!

--Joanna
5/15/2011 4:19:10 AM
Glossary/Glosario Since the English and Spanish entries are on the same print page, they must be brailled on the same print page and NOT as you suggest with the complete Spanish glossary following the complete English glossary. The English entry is brailled in 1-5 in contracted braille. The corresponding Spanish entry follows on the next line with no blank in 3-7 in uncontracted braille, using the special symbols for the Spanish accented letters, according to the NBA Interim Manual for Foreign Language Braille Transcribing, available only from NBA. Then return to the next English entry, braille in 1-5, followed by the next Spanish entry in 3-7, and so forth. The page numbering should be done as usual. Guide words are English only in contracted braille.

This procedure is not shown in the current Interim Manual, but it is part of the new foreign language rules currently under BANA review. This rule is authorized for use now even though final approval has not yet taken place.

--Joanna
5/16/2011 2:25:50 PM
Uncontracted braille No, no no TN. The reader will see that the underlined words are uncontracted. No need to tell them about what it there. We don't write TN's about braille formatting rules. For instance, we don't write a TN to say that main headings are centered. We just do it. TN's are to explain print situations, not braille formatting.

Yes, use the "to" contraction. Why not? Follow the contracted "to" with the emphasis indicator and the word "due," which is emphasized. If this were a word with contractions, you would STILL use the "to" contract and follow it with the emphasis indicator and the uncontracted word. Again, "to" is contracted and joined to the word that follows, just like the rules say.

By the way, if the words with possible errors were NOT underlined or indicated in any way in the print, the entire passage would have to be brailled uncontracted. The only reason you don't have to do that here is because the print already indicates which words may have errors. When the student is required to find words with errors, you have to have all of them uncontracted. Otherwise, the transcriber would be determining where the errors are instead of the student!

--Joanna
5/18/2011 1:24:27 AM
TOC numbers on left This is a great qustion. You braille the page numbers on the right according to the formatting instruction given in Formats. The print arrangement is irrelevant. In braille, we braille something according to what it IS, not what it a LOOKS LIKE. If you know that this IS in fact, a table of contents, braille it as a table of contents.

--Joanna
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