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For Grades K-3, refer to BANA Guidelines for the Transcription of Early Educational Materials from Print to Braille. You can download the codebook for free from the BANA (Braille Authority of North America) website.
- Horizontal vs. Vertical: In your question, you used the phrase “explicit clinical purpose.” This sounds like a directive that you were given. Usually, elements which are answer choices are presented vertically. This is the common method the reader will encounter. But if there is a “clinical purpose” that is beyond the scope of normal braille formatting, then you may choose to follow print. If you maintain the horizontal alignment, horizontal word lists require 2 blank cells between words (Early Education 7.1).
- Grade 1 vs. Grade 2 Requirements: If the request was made for grade 2, this must be a first grade (or higher grade level) text. For spellers, or any activity involving spelling (and pronunciation) rather than a vocabulary book, the contracted form is used in conjunction with the uncontracted form. You are allowed to have grade 1 braille within a grade 2 transcription. See Braille Formats Section 17. Also see Example 5 in Early Education.
- Prereading Shapes & Pictures: I do not like that you were instructed not to produce tactile graphics. With early educational materials, providing graphics is fundamental to learning. Because your agency instructed you to use image descriptions, follow that instruction. Transcriber-defined indicators are not a good choice for early readers. Use very simple descriptions.
Transcribers are often given instructions from agencies that bend (or even violate) formatting rules. They are allowed to do this. A common mistake that transcribers make is applying agency decisions in future work for other state agencies. BANA rules and guidelines help our industry to maintain consistency. A student who moves from California to Georgia should not have an additional challenge of learning a whole new set of braille formatting styles.
It is sometimes more difficult to transcribe grades K-12. It requires careful research of the Early Education code and Braille Formats. There will be many text elements that fall between guidelines, and you must use your own best judgement in those situations. From your post, it seems there is a TVI available to you for this student. They may have ideas derived from past projects that may help provide the best quality work for your reader.
Thank you for your question.
It appears that you may have attempted to upload a file, but the upload was unsuccessful. However, I believe the question can be answered without the file.
When the transcription is double-spaced (BF 1.7), only actual tables arranged in rows and columns are single-spaced. Listed table formats (BF 11.16 through 11.18) are not included in this exception.
While this is not stated explicitly in Braille Formats, the intent of the exceptions in BF 1.7.1 is to eliminate blank lines between braille lines that are meant to be read together, both horizontally and vertically.
Regarding the question about boxes, BF 1.7.1e applies to tables whether they are enclosed in a box or not.
Great question!
When books are listed in italics, the italics are retained. This is simply because UEB requires that titles retain any emphasis. (UEB 9.1.2)
When double-spacing, there are only 9 exceptions to the line-spacing requirement (BF 1.7.2). In all other situations, a blank line must be inserted between lines. The guideword text is not an exception. If you have guideword text, line 24 must be blank. In your situation, the text on line 24 would need to be moved to the next braille page.
Great questions!
In a dictionary, a single format applies throughout the alphabetic reference. If the deepest level of an entry is 1-7, 3-7, 5-7, then all entries follow that format. The format does not restart with each alphabetic division.
You are absolutely correct to follow the print’s inconsistencies in the numbering of the subentries.
This situation is uncommon. When unusual print is encountered, transcribers must choose clear formatting that works well for the braille reader. Sometimes no single guideline fits, so you may need to combine elements from different guidelines. The goal is clarity for the reader.
Our committee suggests the following approach, though there is no standard for this print example.
The poem appears in two side-by-side parts, one for each reader. Each person may read their own column from top to bottom, pausing at the line breaks. Some lines are meant to be read simultaneously.
We suggest transcribing the poem in three sections:
(Part 1) The first voice as a separate poem.
(Part 2) The second voice as a separate poem, following the first.
(Part 3) Write both voices together using a stairstep method, with the first voice in cell 1-1 and the second voice in cell 3-3.
Use a clear transcriber’s note to explain the change in format.
For line numbering, we suggest numbering only the stairstep version. If you choose to number the two separate poems as well, you’ll need to account for blank space, such as the space on line 5 of the first voice. One option might be to use a series of three dot 5s, with a clear explanation in a transcriber’s note.
Again, this is a suggestion. You may find another method that you feel represents this type of poem more clearly. As long as the transcriber’s note is clear and the poem is formatted consistently, readers can follow classroom discussions and study the text independently.
This is a great question, and the distinction can be confusing. Multiple sentences may appear in print for different reasons.
First, they may be presented as examples for study, such as in a grammar book. These sentences illustrate the same grammatical point, but they are not intended to be read as a continuous passage.
Second, a reading passage may contain back‑to‑back paragraphs that each consist of a single sentence.
The guideline regarding multiple sentences applies to the first situation—sentences presented for study. It should not be applied to a reading passage simply because that passage includes several single‑sentence paragraphs.
When a reading passage is displayed, it should be formatted just as any passage beginning at the normal margin, except that the entire passage is shifted to the right.
Wow! That poem is weird.
Please give me time to consult the Formats committee. I will give you an answer on Monday.
I think that when you pasted the question into the forum, something happened to the text. Could you attach the page? That would help me.
Correct. Table continuation indicators in the footer position do not affect the formatting of the surrounding braille in the same manner as guide words.
I completely understand the confusion. The idea of “Partially Technical Works” has evolved. Removing the guideline was an effort to clean up Braille Formats.
My suggestion is to simply scratch through guideline 3.4.2. It no longer exists. When deciding which symbols to list, consult Appendix G.
Other codebooks, such as those covering tactile graphics, chemical notation, and foreign language, may direct you to list symbols according to the rules and guidelines in those codebooks.
Great question!
When emphasis is shown for a single letter, simply place the typeform symbol indicator before the affected letter. Do not use a terminator.
The effect of the typeform symbol indicator, whether transcriber-generated or not, extends only to the next letter or symbol.
In <i>Braille Formats,</i> see Example 20-27. Although the letters are bold, the method is the same. See UEB 9.5.1 for an example that uses a transcriber-defined typeform symbol indicator.
A few reminders:
- A transcriber-defined font follows the same rules as the established fonts: italics, bold, underline, and script.
- It is a special symbol and must be explained.
- If you assign a transcriber-defined indicator to represent blue in the current volume, that indicator can only represent blue throughout the complete transcription.
You are correct. If the paragraph is displayed with an adjusted margin of cell 3, an indented paragraph with or without a runover begins in cell 5.
There is one exception, multiple displayed sentences, but that guideline does not seem to fit your description.
Thank you for your question. Write-on lines can be confusing, particularly when determining whether a blank line should be retained or omitted.
The example you provided in the attachment is an excellent one. However, BF 10.5 does not apply to the exercise in your example.
The intent of BF 10.5 is to eliminate unnecessary blank lines.
BF Example 10-10 demonstrates the application of Rule 10.5 and shows the omission of blank lines after a question. In that example, the write-on line FOLLOWS THE COMPLETION of the question.
In your transcription, the screenshot shows a blank line immediately after a comma. This means the question is not complete; therefore, the line does not occur after the question. Instead, it is part of the question itself. Blank lines embedded within text are retained.
The applicable rule for your situation is BF 10.6.
A simple way to determine whether BF 10.5 or BF 10.6 applies is to consider the purpose of the blank:
- Is the blank intended to be a fill-in-the-blank within the text?
- Or is it simply a place on the page for the reader to provide an answer, which could just as easily have been presented in a column next to the questions?
In your example, the blank is embedded within the question, so it should be retained under BF 10.6.
Great question.
You should use New York as the publisher’s city. Your rule citation is perfect. Braille Formats (2.3.2) also states that the preferred source for the braille title page is the print title page.
Directly below the publisher’s name on the print title page, the first city listed is New York. When the publisher’s name and city are listed at the bottom of the print title page, that is most certainly the city name to use.
The address that follows “Send all inquiries” might be the sales office or something unrelated to the publisher’s main office.
