Charles Mize
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This is a great question. You’ve also provided an excellent example others can learn from.
Ordinarily, the adjusted margin begins with line 1 and ends at the final line number. Any intervening text—numbered or not—must follow the adjusted margin. Outside the body of line-numbered text, the full line width is used.
Stage directions and scene settings must follow the adjusted margin when they occur between line 1 and the final line number.
However, I like your use of the adjusted margin with the initial and final stage directions. The use of blank lines sets the dialogue apart from the surrounding text. It makes sense to use the adjusted margin. The guidelines are not clear in this situation.
But the example you provided has the unique quality of restarting the numbering at each scene. Each scene has notes that reference the line numbers. This structure may present unique challenges for the reader.
My suggestion is to use the full width of the page for scene numbers (centered headings) and scene settings that precede each instance of line number 1. Restart the adjusted margin at line 1 each time. This will help the student find the scene-specific line numbers when following classroom discussions, locating reference notes, and answering questions in exercise sections. Imagine a child called upon to find line 10 of the third scene. With the teacher and students waiting, the nervous child is scanning quickly for the number. A change in margin signals that numbering resets with each scene.
Great question! Your question states "marginal numbers indicating words read," so I am assuming that you are using 15.8 Counted Words. If I am misunderstanding, let me know.
When line 25 has line-numbered text, the line is left blank. Line 25 will have nothing but the page number. Move the entire line of text to the next braille page (line 2 when there is a running head).
I was not on the original thread for this question which was about changing from one braille page to another.
Angela B, are you asking a new question about the page change indicator?
The format described below is a suggestion. No specific rules directly address this situation. Transcribers fall back on their experience and industry tradition in situations that do not fit neatly within the codebooks. If you choose the method below or follow a different option, be consistent and describe the format in a clear transcriber’s note.
Old English is considered a foreign language. Review the Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English (approved May 2022). All codebooks are available on the BANA website.
Print (from your sample) shows English on the left-hand page (p. 90) and the Old English on the right-hand page (p. 91). The lines are written in one-level verse.
- Use combined print page numbering. Retain the combined print page numbering for continuation page numbering (90-91, a90-91, etc.)
- Combine the two writings with a nested format. Transcribe each line of the first language using 1-5 margins. Place the corresponding line from the second language using 3-5 margins.
I do not see any prose in the attached sample. If there are other pages that show word-for-word translation in a slightly different format, try to maintain 1-5, 3-5. Be as consistent as possible. However, you may need to adjust the formatting in later sections of your book. Again, a good transcriber’s note is the key.
I hope this helps.
I am going to ask the full committee to assist with this. It poses unusual challenges. The current Braille Formats Code states that Old English is a foreign language [BF 1.16.2]. It is through fonts and formatting that the languages other than English are made distinquishable in Category 2. I will have an answer before the end of the weekend.
Correct. No blank line is necessary if the attribution is embedded on the same line as the quote, etc.
But anytime that source/attribution information is blocked, you must insert the blank line following it.
I want to be helpful but must caution you that this forum is for understanding the Braille Formats code and applying it to transcriptions. It is not always helpful for students in the basic literary course. The LOC course book is not a rule book. There may be requirements in the LOC that are not necessarily applied when later following Braille Formats.
Follow your grader's instructions and read your lesson exercise instructions carefully. They sometimes include clues or direct you to do certain things--like adding blank lines when ordinarily blank lines are not inserted.
Ahhh. The LOC lessons. The examples you show are embedded. They just follow print.
In guidelines for attributions and source citations, the placement is for material that appears around the material (in the margin, bottom of page, on the line after the text, etc.).
If your 3rd scenario was:
“It was from the crashing of waves on the shoreline, the spray of water
forming dots on the sand spelling out ‘you crazy’, that I knew it was time
for a break.”—Confusionville, 24
Then it would be blocked in the fifth cell. It is not part of the quote, story, etc. It is separate.
I am sorry for the late response. Not sure how I missed your follow up. I try to answer fast.
Do not retain the bold. The label "Chapter _" on a line by itself gives enough distinction.
The purpose of the new guideline is to clarify that the Running Head is "anchored text" outside of the main document.
The running head has its own indicators and is independent of the text on the previous page or the text following the running head. A running head that contains a capitalized passage indicator must also contain a capitals terminator. Typeforms work the same way, but a typeform passage in a running head is unlikely.
Hey! Great follow up!
The committee, at that time, felt that it was more useful to the reader to emphasize Nocturnal Spectator. Braille Formats cannot anticipate every situation. It is the framework for making structural decisions.
Braille formats does not (at this time) use the term "reverse emphasis." It is wording that I have always used and derived from industry leaders during my own study of braille. It is not directly codified in the 2016 Guidelines. But it is indirectly shown in Sample 4-3. All of the samples and examples in Braille Formats show the correct application of the code guidelines. While some view the examples and samples as merely suggestions (and that approach is valid), I consider them to be just as much a part of the code as the numbered guidelines.
And that is why I answered the way that I did.
When we answer forum questions, many times there are situations that the code books do not address. Our answers come from both our knowledge and our experience. They sometimes go beyond the rules and state how we, as individuals, would handle the excerpt.
Wow! That was long. I think you just wanted to know if the other way was acceptable. (smiley face)
Either way is acceptable. You can choose to empasize the passage and de-emphasize Nocturnal Spectator. Or use reverse emphasis.
Great question! This is tricky. The answer depends on how print shows the headings.
Without actually seeing your headings, I cannot give one clear answer. Connected headings, rather than a single heading divided between lines, are often indicated by differences in capitalization, typeface, and size of font. Look at BF examples 4-3 and 4-4. These examples show distinction between the heading label and the connected heading. Does your book show any distinction between the label and the title headings?
If their is no distinction, the headings may be considered to be one heading simply divided between lines (for balance) throughout the transcription. The headings would be encapsulated by one set of passage indicators.
If there is distinction between the "Chapter One" and "Evan Donnelly," it is a connected heading. Accordingly, each heading is capitalized separately.
I am not familiar with the new LOC course book, but that is a course book, not a code book.
This is a great question. Transcribers often struggle with this. We hate to braille something that we feel is an error in print.
However, transcribers do not change/edit any spelling that occurs in the print text. Always follow print for spelling.
The italic passage does NOT need to be terminated before the line numbers in line numbered prose.
No, it is not codified. The recent update clarified typeforms used across running heads, running footers, and page numbers. It is an oversight that line numbers in line numbered text were not included in the update.
This was a great question. Your thinking is absolutely correct.
Thank you for the print and the explanation.
I see now. This is a table, not a graphic. Table rules should be followed. The transcriber chose facing pages. After examining the layout and cell structure, this is my recommendation:
(1) The main column headings can be retained because they fit. No need for a key that combines the column headings and the column subheadings. Vertical headings will still need to be keyed.
(2) Use separation lines because this is a table.
(3) Put two blank cells between columns.
(4) Any remaining space between the left-side page and the right-side page is filled in with guide dots (dot 5s).
(5) Vertical lines are not used in tables. The separation lines and spacing sufficiently indicate column boundaries. (see attached sample)
(6) Ordinarily dot 5s are used for blank space (omissions) in tables unless there are clearly dashes or squares, etc., to indicate space for an answer. However, there are spaces in this table that are NOT intended for student answers. I do like the use of the underscore to indicate the boxes to be filled in. Use dot 5s for all the other blank space.
(7) Explain the format (facing pages), dot 5s to indicate blank space, and the use of the underscore in a transcriber’s note on the previous page.
(8) For ease of navigation between the two pages, add box lines.
(9) Now, your original concern: The questions, WHO? WHAT? and so on, are not part of the table construction. There should be no text following this wide table format. The questions can be moved to the previous page (explained in the transcriber’s note.)
New (unrelated) text should be moved to the next braille page after the table.
Keep in mind that a well-crafted transcriber’s note is key to any weirdness with print-to-braille.
I have attached a quick draft of the table.
