Hi Jim,
I have found this discussion very interesting and informative - thanks to
Anne for starting it off and for others' input, too.
I thought you might also be able to tell me, please, if DotsPlus can be used
with any other graphics capable embosser. We only have an Enabling
Technologies Thomas at my workplace and I can't see the budget here, or in
many of the schools I support as an AT consultant, extending to a Tiger
Advantage, especially when a number of them have purchased other embossers
in fairly recent times.
Many thanks.
Tom.
Tom Macmahon
Education Adviser in assistive technology
Disability Services Support Unit, Education Queensland
141 Merton Road
WOOLLOONGABBA, Q 4102
AUSTRALIA.
Ph: +61 7 3240-9333
Fax: +61 7 3240-9300
Web: http://education.qld.gov.au/tal/liu/
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Rebman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, 13 September 2002 5:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: audible math software?
As I have some experience with these things, I would like to chime in and
clear up some confusion.
First of all Ann, you did not specify if this person has any experience
with braille, or is willing to learn -- this is key to the recommendation
of a suitable solution.
The program you are referring to is ASTER, and it requires Emacspeak to run
-- Emacspeak by itself will not perform the audio formatting on LaTeX
documents.
Secondly, the only installation of ASTER that I have ever witnessed
actually working was on Raman's laptop. Nobody else I know of who has
obtained a copy of the software (only available through a NDA with the
Cornell University copyright and patent office) has ever been able to make
it work. Perhaps most importantly though is the practicality of using a
math voicing program to actually do mathematics with. This really doesn't
allow you to manipulate equations or do any of the other important things
that you will need to be able to do in order to do higher mathematics, such
as plotting and interpreting graphs. If you think about it, the temporal
nature of voicing an equation is of limited value (unless you happen to
have a highly developed ability to absorb and remember mathematical
notation.) Raman's web page gives an example of ASTER voicing a very long
and complex equation which takes several minutes to play -- as a test I
would suggest your friend listen to this and see how much of the equation
he remembers when it has finished reading. While not as extreme, this same
basic problem persists with smaller equations.
What your friend probably would want to investigate is the DotsPlus braille
code for mathematics and the Tiger Advantage printer which is capable of
printing this notation. As a formerly sighted person who has had several
higher math courses when he was sighted, this came closest to being like
what I was used to. Admittedly though, I made it through my first math and
statistics courses using my own slightly modified version of the Nemeth
code and a perkins brailler.
For plotting graphs and doing non-symbolic calculations, John Gardner's
Audio Graphing calCalculator (especially in combination with the Tiger
printer) is one of the nicest and most integrated systems available. He
also has a more fully integrated mathematical workspace called WinTriangle
which is still under development, but I believe is in a usable beta form
currently. This shows real promise to be a good, workable system for
working with symbolic mathematics for both braille and non-braille users.
There are other solutions out there ranging from things like MathSpeak --
which allows you to dictate mathematics notation into documents, to a
really excellent talking, pocket-sized scientific calculator called the
Orion TI-34 made by Orbit Research:
http://www.orbitresearch.com
I am just a student with an interest in this subject, for a more detailed
and qualified answer I would ask a teacher of mathematics for the blind --
Susan Osterhaus at the Texas School for the Blind. She has been doing math
for blind people for a very long time and her web page has a great
collection of resources.
Whatever course your friend decides to take, he should be prepared to deal
with a fairly steep learning curve and be willing to put lots of effort
into it, especially if he has done any math as a sighted person.
Susan Osterhaus's web page is at:
http://www.tsbvi.edu/math/
There are many more things to talk about here, but this should get you
started.
-- Jim
------------
James A. Rebman
Cognitive Levers Project
Center for Life-Long Learning and Design
Department of Computer Science
University of Colorado, Boulder
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more
violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the
opposite direction."
- E. F. Schumacher
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