Hi Sylvie,
You can join the queue AFTER me, if Betsy's guys are ever looking for staff!
(Smile)
We may never reach the ultimate goal of fully automated braille
trsncription, but there is still a huge degree of room for improvement.
What we all need to do, (and I don't mean just Duxbury) is to identify the
problem areas, such as the underline and double number sign issue, and point
these out to software developers and/or application developers, and try to
find a way round them. It's a shared responsibility, and a tough one.
George Bell Techno-Vision Systems Ltd
Hi George,
No, I am not a partner of Betsy's way out in the Pacific, although I would
really like to be in a nice warm sunny place during the winter, when Seattle
Washington is chilly and rainy, similar to London. But, I am in the heart of
urban Seattle, which has its interesting aspects too.
In any case, I want to let you and everyone else know that I didn't mean my
remarks about the problems of automatic translation into braille to be a
criticism of Duxbury. As far as I am concerned, Duxbury is a very good tool.
I think it could be improved, and I hope that some of the problems I
mentioned can be dealt with. I also hope that more easy-to-read and
understand manuals and tutorials can be prepared. But, Duxbury is quite good
already. And, the Duxbury technical support staff is the most responsive
and the most helpful technical support staff of any software program I am
familiar with. They respond quickly when we contact them, and they keep
responding by e-mail and even by phone until they have succeeded in helping
us learn what we need to know or solve whatever problems we are
encountering. On top of that, this list is the best users' list I have
encountered. Everyone shares their knowledge generously without too much
tech talk, and everyone is pleasant and polite. I learn a little from it
every week, even when I am not having problems. And it gives me courage to
experiment with new things to get more refined results.
My main gripe is with people who are not braille users who think that they
can produce perfectly adequate braille texts just by using the automatic
features of a braille translation program. It is not possible now, and I
don't think that it will ever be possible, because the best braille
translation program will be just that, a computer program, not a thinking
person. Even when people use Microsoft Word the correct way, there are a
number of things that work well in print but not in braille, like tables, or
are different in print and braille, like the best ways to set off text or
make it easier to read ... not to mention maps and other graphics. I think
that producing good readable braille is truly an art, as is producing good
readable print for that matter. The software can help, but it can't make all
of the decisions. I think we need more braille users involved in producing
braille for other braille users. I think that mainstream educational and
other programs that have embossers and Duxbury should understand that they
need some braille users involved in the production of the braille in order
to get decent quality. No matter how many rules and cautions we give them,
new incongruities are always popping up that are only noticed by braille
users.
Thanks for all your help, and thanks for reading this.
Sylvie Kashdan Instructor/Curriculum Coordinator KAIZEN PROGRAM for New English Learners with Visual Limitations 810-A Hiawatha Place South Seattle, WA 98144 phone: (206) 784-5619 email: kaizen_esl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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