[Athen] Computer Science student -- Braille?

Marks, Jim marks at mso.umt.edu
Fri May 9 15:03:51 PDT 2008


Hi Dawn,

I think you should hire someone who can read and transcribe Nemeth
Braille to publish Nemeth Braille. It's possible to do the work without
this, but it still takes a lot of effort. Gaeir Dietrich teaches a
wonderful seminar on producing Braille yourself. I hope she will say
something on this topic as well. The reason that I prefer hiring a
Braille transcriptionist is that it's the best way to assure effective
communication. Nemeth Braille especially requires a foundation. We
produce our own Braille here, but the person doing is a Braille reader.
He spends a lot of time trying to get the formatting right, and there's
no good way that I know to do this unless the person producing the
Braille can read Braille. Cost is always a concern, but in the economic
considerations, we should think about frustration and learning curves.
It may be a good idea to bring the blind student into the process
somehow, too. For example, in working closely with a student, one might
find that only a few things need be Brailed while access to the majority
of the material may be satisfied through other alternatives.


Jim Marks
Director of Disability Services
University of Montana
jim.marks at umontana.edu
http://www.umt.edu/dss/

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Dawn Hunziker
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 3:01 PM
To: ATHEN
Subject: [Athen] Computer Science student -- Braille?

Hi all,

The University of Arizona is expecting a new Computer Science student
for the fall who is blind. This will be our first attempt at Brailling
Math / Science materials in quite a while and I know that a lot has
changed in terms of software / methods.

So, we have a license for Scientific Notebook and Duxbury... If we're
able to re-create the formulas using this program, will the formulas
transfer into a Nemeth Braille format without any issues? For Braille
Embossers, we have a Juliet Pro and a Tiger. Do we need to look at
hiring someone to create the Nemeth Braille for this student?




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