[Athen] Tactile Graphics

[Teresa Haven]

Amen to everything Gaeir says, and one more note: definitely work with the student to find out if tactiles are useful or desired no matter how much you think they might be beneficial.  I had a student awhile back who was a fine and fluent Braille reader but absolutely hated tactiles - would rather have nothing at all, and would simply skip the graphics in a book rather than try to work with them no matter how simple or how well rendered, in 2D or 3D.  On the other hand, I have a student now taking extremely technical courses who begs us to survey her books and provide the graphics in tactile format FIRST if we can't get them to her at the same time as the Braille; to her they are more important than the text because as she says, she can always scan the text and OCR it herself or have a classmate read something to her, but the graphics need to come to her in a way she can use them.
Lucia's materials are gold, definitely learn what you can from her!

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Teresa LW Haven, Ph.D.
Supervisor, Alternative Format Services
Disability Resource Center
Arizona State University
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From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Gaeir Dietrich
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 2:57 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: RE: [Athen] Tactile Graphics

Probably the reason you are not getting more responses is that few colleges actually do tactiles. So, here is more info...

Just as a rule of thumb, graphics that show relationships are often presented best as tactile graphics include the following:
* mathematical charts and graphs
* maps
* scientific diagrams

Ironically, it often works out that the more technical a subject is, the more the tactile graphics are necessary.

Teresa is absolutely right that other than those situations, the best solution is most often a good description.

Also be aware that if a student has not had experience with tactile graphics, s/he may not be particularly comfortable with them. You can help with the learning curve by creating more three-dimensional tactiles, using collage techniques.

As an example of what I mean, one of our alt media specialists was working with a blind student who was taking anatomy and physiology. The student was not used to using tactile graphics and found the PIAF versions too hard to understand. What they ended up doing is working first with the 3-D models the campus owned, then creating representative collage graphics (gluing things on paper-for the female reproductive system, for instance, they used narrow rubber tubing for the fallopian tubes and cotton balls for the ovaries, etc.), and then transitioning to the PIAF versions. The student was able to "grok" how the graphics worked and was fine with the PIAF versions after that.

BANA now has guidelines (thanks to my hero, Lucia!!! ;-) for tactile graphics:
http://www.brailleauthority.org/tg/index.html

Also be aware that American Printing House for the Blind (APH) has an image library for tactile graphics:
http://www.aph.org/tgil/

They also sell premade tactile graphics. The anatomy tactiles are particularly useful for college-level work.

A great product that they sell allows you to create quick tactile graphics on the fly, as well as being suitable for students to use. APH calls it the Draftsman Tactile Drawing Board. I have used a similar product for years called the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit.

Finally, APH has a two-video set called the "Good Tactile Graphic" that is a very useful primer on creating tactile graphics. When I was doing tactile graphics trainings, I would actually use the videos because they gave such a great overview of how one needs to think in order to create tactiles.

Hope this helps!

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Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
www.htctu.net<http://www.htctu.net/>
408-996-6043

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________________________________
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Julie Balassa
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 10:37 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: RE: [Athen] Tactile Graphics

We use Adobe Illustrator to create the graphics and PIAF to output them (thanks for the tip some years back Gaeir, that system has worked really well!) Whether you give the student TG or a description really depends on the complexity of the graphics and the preference and skill set of the student.

jkb

Julie K. Balassa
Assistant Director, Office for Students with Disabilities
Valencia College
Mail Code 3-31
701 N Econlockhatchee Trail
Orlando, FL 32825
office: building 5 suite 216
east: 407.582.2039
west: 407.582.1603
vp east: 407.374.1562
vp west: 407-992-8941
fax: 407.582.8908
jbalassa at valenciacollege.edu<mailto:jbalassa at valenciacollege.edu>
http://valenciacc.edu/osd

Please note that Valencia's name changed to Valencia College on July 1, 2011. Therefore, all college email addresses have changed. My new email address is jbalassa at valenciacollege.edu<mailto:jbalassa at valenciacollege.edu>. Please send all email to me at this new address. As of September 2011, all email sent to jbalassa at valenciacc.edu<mailto:jbalassa at valenciacc.edu> will be returned as undeliverable.

From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Teresa Haven
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 1:24 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: RE: [Athen] Tactile Graphics

Hi, Karen and all.  We use a couple of different technologies: a PIAF and swell paper, or a Tiger embosser, both used by people trained in producing tactile graphics.  For many graphics tactiles are not necessary; the content in the image can be appropriately described in text by trained personnel.
Hope this helps,
Teresa

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Teresa LW Haven, Ph.D.
Supervisor, Alternative Format Services
Disability Resource Center
Arizona State University
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++




From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu> [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu]<mailto:%5bmailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu%5d> On Behalf Of Karen Sorensen
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 11:14 AM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Tactile Graphics

Hi -
Thanks to Gaeir for the reply. What do others do to make graphics accessible to blind and low-vision students?
Wink - Gaeir is the only person who replied. What have you used in the past? Are there services that people outsource graphics to?
Thanks,
Karen
--
Karen M. Sorensen
Instructional Technology Specialist
Accessibility Advocate for Online Courses
Portland Community College
971-722-4720


Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:49:46 -0700 (MST)
From: "Wink Harner" <winkharner at mesacc.edu<mailto:winkharner at mesacc.edu>>
Subject: RE: [Athen] tactile graphics
To: "'Access Technology Higher Education Network'"
       <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Message-ID: <008801cccb2a$c688c9a0$
539a5ce0$@edu>
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Did you find anyone to answer your questions yet, Karen?



Wink


Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 14:24:11 -0800
From: "Gaeir Dietrich" <gdietrich at htctu.net<mailto:gdietrich at htctu.net>>
Subject: RE: [Athen] tactile graphics
To: "'Access Technology Higher Education Network'"
       <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Message-ID: <6AE2716D4AE64AD79AE0CD4443907AC4 at htctu.fhda.edu<mailto:6AE2716D4AE64AD79AE0CD4443907AC4 at htctu.fhda.edu>>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I do like the IVEO system for creating talking tactile graphics for
students. One of my favorite features is the fact that you can add text to
your graphic that will then be read as text-to-speech. Some of the competing
products only allow recorded audio in the talking graphic, which I find much
more cumbersome.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
 <http://www.htctu.net/> www.htctu.net<http://www.htctu.net/>
408-996-6043<tel:408-996-6043>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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