[duxuser] Re: E-files
- From: "Joyce Farrell" <jfarrell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:59:47 -0400
I have done all of these processes many times. No easy way - and yes - it
is time consuming
----- Original Message -----
From: "Blair, Tom" <Tom.Blair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 11:06 AM
Subject: [duxuser] Re: E-files
> Hi George,
>
> Yes I think you are getting it although I'm not aware of any conversion
> software companies here in the US. One hour for a plain text publication
of
> 100 pages with few tables is not bad, however textbooks are not plain
text
> by any means. Just open a new textbook to any page and what do you see?
> Every page is what I call "busy". It has it all, graphics, pictures,
various
> fonts, tables, footnotes, URLs, two and three column text layouts, various
> size headings, text in margins, bullets, text in boxes and circles, etc,
> etc. I've tried cleaning various files by opening the file in Word, using
> the textbook as a guide and page by page deleting and moving text here and
> there. It can take half an hour to do one page sometimes. Then I save the
> file as a .doc, .txt, .rtf, etc, to see which format gives the best
results.
>
>
> Duxbury does a good job in translating the text but the formatting is the
> hard part and the most time consuming. It's actually more efficient to
> contract it out to an agency or independent braillist to transcribe. If
you
> could send me, either privately or to the list, some names of 3rd Party
> conversion software companies, I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Bell
> To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: 9/12/2002 5:04 AM
> Subject: [duxuser] Re: E-files
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> Now that I'm getting a better picture of things, I believe there could
> be a possible (part) solution.
>
> I should perhaps explain first that as a Braille producer, (probably the
> UK's largest commercial braille producer) we see files coming in in all
> manner of formats. And obviously, we need to get these files into a
> condition where they can be imported into DBT, preferable with as little
> DBT editing as possible.
>
> In our case, he secret is to establish what software (and ideally the
> version number) these files were originally produced in.
>
> For example, Quark and Adobe PageMaker are two very popular publishing
> packages here in the UK. Both can save in various "mark-up" formats,
> and naturally both have their nuances as to how the mark-up code ends
> up.
>
> However, there is a wealth of 3rd Party conversion software available,
> which doesn't cost and arm and a leg, and which is capable of converting
> hundreds of different file formats to another format.
>
> As a general rule, we now aim to convert these files into Word format,
> which in turn are relatively easy to import into DBT.
>
> I can't give you any hard and fast rules about the time it takes to
> convert, but generally speaking, something like a Quark file of a 100
> page publication, comprising mostly of plain text and very few tables,
> is in a clean condition in Word in less than one hour.
>
> George Bell
> Techno-Vision Systems Ltd
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Blair, Tom [mailto:Tom.Blair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: 11 September 2002 18:46
> > To: 'duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> > Subject: [duxuser] Re: E-files
> >
> >
> > Hi George,
> >
> > Actually, I think they do classify to a point. For example,
> > PF at the end of
> > the title means Publisher's File, TX means text file and so
> > on. One of the
> > problems is that they receive these files not only from
> > publishers but from
> > others, i.e. braille producing agencies, volunteers.
> >
> > Ideally they would have the personnel, which they don't, to
> > somehow clean up
> > these files for automatic translation. The tasks involved are
> > overwhelming
> > for any organization. Along with a standard there is supposed to be a
> > central agency that will distribute the files so publishers
> > will not have to
> > contend with many different agencies and school districts.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: George Bell
> > To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Sent: 9/11/2002 10:54 AM
> > Subject: [duxuser] Re: E-files
> >
> > Hi Tom,
> >
> > > They told me that they were not responsible for the format of the
> > file.
> >
> > I do not wish to disparage APH in any way, but I do feel this is a
> > remark which perhaps was made by a member of staff not in full command
> > of the facts.
> >
> > If these files are produced by volunteer transcribers, surely it would
> > not be unreasonable for APH to politely request that some standards be
> > adhered to for the common good?
> >
> > Alternatively, could APH not simply "categorise" or
> > "classify" the file
> > type of markup?
> >
> > It really sounds a pretty poor show that we have to wait for
> > legislation
> > to come into effect which forces a standard.
> >
> > George Bell
> > Techno-Vision Systems Ltd
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