[bksvol-discuss] Re: M dash, how to make it?

  • From: "Jana Jackson" <jana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 22:15:30 -0500

Hi, Paula!  It still seems to me that the best option would be to replace 
all those em-dashes with double-dashes, but I am still waiting for 
clarification from the powers that be. <Smile>  At any rate, I hope that 
Jake won't take that tip off the site just yet, until we hear from our 
fearless leaders.  In the past, the Bookshare staff has been pretty lenient 
on these types of issues, but they have made a few changes to this policy 
over the years.  I'm thinking specifically about the decision a couple of 
years ago to reject book submissions that did not include at least some page 
breaks.  So, we'll just have to see what they say. <Smile>  Take care!

Jana

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paula and James Muysenberg
  To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 9:34 PM
  Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: M dash, how to make it?


  Jake,

      I don't mean to prolong this discussion, but your post did bring one 
thing to mind. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, as I admit I 
don't open all posts. I agree with you that most braille users will not be 
thrown off by the mistranslated emdash. I am concerned, however, about 
students who may be new to braille. Since Bookshare seems to especially want 
schools to sign up their students, it seems reasonable that this problem 
needs to be addressed soon.

      If none of the existing braille translation software handles the 
emdash properly, then there may not be a solution. Out of concern for 
students who use braille, however, I do think Bookshare needs to try to find 
some kind of work-around. I know funds are limited, but I hope Bookshare 
will not put this issue on the back burner.

  Paula

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Jake Brownell
    To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:47 PM
    Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: M dash, how to make it?


    Hi Evan,
        Here is one final thought for you on em dashes, and then I think 
we've hashed it out enough. *smile*.

        When I make character swaps, I do them only if a char swap won't 
impact either DAISY or BRF in a negative way. Changing all non standard 
quotes to the normal quotation mark is helpful to Braille translation 
software, but has no degredation to DAISY that I can see.

        However changing an em dash into a completely different set of 
chars, say a double dash, may be better for Braille, but not necessarily for 
DAISY. It implies to the DAISY reader that this is how the author has 
written the book, with two dashes rather than an em dash. And, do all TTS 
engines handle an em dash and double dash in the same way? I'm betting that 
they don't. And that's another possible drawback.

        I would think Braille readers are more likely to know that an em 
dash isn't translated correctly, than a DAISY reader knowing why an em dash 
isn't used correctly.

    Just food for thought....
    Jake

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