[duxuser] Re: Dilemma, How to Train Sighted Staff to Do Braille using DBT

  • From: "Dale Leavens" <dleavens@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 21:39:57 -0400

Sorry, I did not wish to sound belligerent or be offensive. Referring to my
original thoughts on the subject it is distinctly possible that I am looking
for a product which is not Duxbury.

What is coming through to me is that there is a need to train sighted people
to prepare Braille. We used to do that long before Duxbury and they were
called Braille transcriptionists. They used something called the Perkins
Brailler. Now we must train them to be computer braille transcriptionists.
Not sure I truly appreciate the difference.

Ok, for absolutely perfect braille it may not yet be possible to create a
fully automated process given current technology. What about approximate
technology which does not require training sighted people to produce
reasonably good working brail.

Maybe a different product which will take a download of my bank statement or
an e-mailed agenda and turn it into usable braille I can take to the table
within minutes of receipt and function along with the rest of the employees
with whom I must successfully compete and interact.

Maybe DBT Lite, something like that.

Make no mistake, I do understand the need for industrial quality
transcription. I am looking though for something that does not require me to
edit, test and reedit or remember to search and replace out some arcane
symbols hardly used for common ones or to have to train someone else to do
so in an ongoing basis. There are some obvious things, like spaces at the
end of cells in a table, line brakes at the end of a row in a table, maybe
there are templates I don't understand or have not yet fully appreciated
which take care of these things and I should RTFM more thoroughly and I
accept any other criticism, DBT is a very sophisticated product and this
list bears testament to the fact that many people spend their entire working
day on this product alone. There must however be a number of us who are
looking for a tool to get us through our day, just one of a number of tools.

JAWS and K1000 also come to mind, very sophisticated software, wonderful for
people who do nothing all day but that and I would never want to take that
away but I pay a kings ransom to say read and in exchange for my money I get
an automated bookshare service as a Canadian I cannot use, but no real
innovation in OCR capability, braille I struggle with and standard business
applications I cannot access on my computer.

Enough! Sorry, I did not wish to rant, just have rapid access to readable
braille.

Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario
dleavens@xxxxxxx
     Home of the Polar Bear Express!

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 12:26 AM
Subject: [duxuser] Re: Dilemma, How to Train Sighted Staff to Do Braille
using DBT


Wow Dale,

That's a strong statement.

Suffice to say that DBT at least has the goal of attempting to go for the
latter.  Real world aware.

George.

-----Original Message-----
From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Dale Leavens
Sent: 29 April 2003 21:26
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well the problem remains that documents come the way sighted people create
them and that is usually the way software authors arrange the defaults.

One might instruct the world to create their documents to be Duxbury
friendly or one might create Braille transcription software to be real world
aware.


Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario
dleavens@xxxxxxx
     Home of the Polar Bear Express!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Stageberg" <stageberg.susan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 12:01 PM
Subject: [duxuser] Re: Dilemma, How to Train Sighted Staff to Do Braille
using DBT


There is indeed a "Smart Quotes" option in WordPerfect.  I don't have it
on this machine so can't seek out the exact place to find it, but I know
that we routinely uncheck all automatic formatting in WordPerfect, which
is still widely used here.  Otherwise you have to go in and replace the
funky characters with the "real" apostrophes, etc.; these characters are
assigned numbers which you can find somewhere in a list in WordPerfect;
then you can do a "find and replace" ("seek and destroy").  Sorry I
don't remember more specifics; my job has taken me away from those days
where I knew such things off the top of my head, but I know it can be
done.

Susie Stageberg
Project ASSIST with Windows
Iowa Department for the Blind


-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Dresser [mailto:s.dresser@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 9:10 AM
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxuser] Re: Dilemma, How to Train Sighted Staff to Do Braille
using DBT


Dale,

I don't know if there is a "Smart quotes" option in Word Perfect, but if

there is, it should be turned off.  As I said, DBT isn't the problem
here.  The problem is that people are using the wrong character for an
apostrophe.  Incidentally, I believe the "Smart Quotes" checkbox is part
of
the Format menu in Word.

Steve

On Monday 4/28/03 21:59 Dale Leavens wrote:
>So if I turn smart quotes off (assuming I can find it) then that ~
>problem will go away when I import MS-Word and more particularly
>WordPerfect files into DBT? WordPerfect is still the processor of
>preference around here. If not then what? is this a characteristic of
>DBT that users prefer? If so, Why? if not then can it be got rid of?
>
>If DBT can consistently turn the ', however misused into a ~ then
>surely it could equally well turn it into an '.
>
>Do people really have the opposite problem?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario
>dleavens@xxxxxxx
>      Home of the Polar Bear Express!
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Steve Dresser" <s.dresser@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 8:51 AM
>Subject: [duxuser] Re: Dilemma, How to Train Sighted Staff to Do
>Braille using DBT
>
>
>On Sunday 4/27/03 17:07 Dale Leavens wrote:
> >why must DBT regard the apostrophe as a tilde character?
>It doesn't.  However, many people use the apostrophe for a single or
>double quote, which they should not.  Also, many people have smart
>quotes turned on in Word, which causes a single quote to be used in
>place of the apostrophe.
>
>Steve
>
>
>* * *
>* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
>* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
>*   unsubscribe
>* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
>* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
>* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
>* is also located there.
>* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
>* * *
>
>
>* * *
>* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
>* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
>*   unsubscribe
>* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
>* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
>* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
>* is also located there.
>* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
>* * *


* * *
* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
*   unsubscribe
* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
* is also located there.
* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
* * *


* * *
* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
*   unsubscribe
* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
* is also located there.
* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
* * *


* * *
* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
*   unsubscribe
* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
* is also located there.
* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
* * *

* * *
* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
*   unsubscribe
* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
* is also located there.
* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
* * *


* * *
* This message is via list duxuser at freelists.org.
* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with
*   unsubscribe
* as the subject to <duxuser-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also
* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription
* options by visiting //www.freelists.org.  The list archive
* is also located there.
* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com
* * *

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. duxuser
  3. Archive
  4. 05-2003