This is from a web page which appeared on a different list dealing with a
brailling production group I think in Madison Wisconsin. They specialized
in mathematical and scientific notation and music braille.  It reads
somewhat like an advertisement but has a lot of interesting details about
the production procedures in creating braille translations of mathematical
or music braille which should be of interest to some readers.

Steve

--------------------
                         THE TECHNICAL BRAILLE CENTER

Concept and Organization

   The Technical Braille Center produces books in Braille, large print
   and special electronic forms for scientists, engineers and
   mathematicians who are blind, dyslexic or paralyzed. It also provides
   books for students preparing for careers in the technical professions.
   These people [1]urgently need the equivalent of the printed materials
   which their peers use. Tapes just won't do the job, especially for
   presenting graphics. We also produce [2]Braille music.

   Our Center differs from similar facilities elsewhere in several ways:
   1. It capitalizes on new technology for the translation of mathematics
   into various media. 2. It is run by the person who developed the
   technology (who is a deaf-blind computer scientist). 3. It taps into
   the skills and idealism of the students and staff of Madison's many
   institutions of higher education. 4. It is part of a private nonprofit
   corporation. Since it is not a unit of any government agency or
   educational institution it can offer its services to everyone. It
   began operation in the spring of 1997 and has now produced [3]several
   textbooks.

   The Technical Braille Center is organized with a Director, a Sales
   Manager and a Production Manager. The Production Manager supervises
   several "editors" who prepare texts for translation into Braille. The
   Sales Manager is responsible for getting new business, getting bills
   paid quickly, and customer relations in general. The Director performs
   strategic planning, fundraising, software development and quality
   control.

Operation

   The books are prepared by a small group of specially trained editors,
   who are themselves familiar with the mathematical and musical notation
   in the texts. They are also trained in the production of tactile
   graphics, which enable blind readers to study graphs, charts and
   diagrams.

   The software used to translate books works well when transcribing
   plain text, but it often produces errors and inconsistencies when the
   pages have unusual formats containing diagrams, graphs or equations.
   This limitation is what makes brailling technical texts so difficult.
   The content must be painstakingly edited by editors who are familiar
   with the mathematical and musical notation used. This editing process
   accounts for 90% of the time (and cost) required to produce the
   finished product.

   The pages are printed using a special printer called an Interpoint
   Braille Embosser. This machine prints the raised dots on both sides of
   the page. This is important because paper use is cut in half, and the
   already cumbersome weight of the Braille books is also cut in half.
   Most blind people prefer interpoint printed Braille because the
   finished product is less bulky.

   For each text, the activities are as follows:

   1. Agencies and individuals place orders by contacting CHPI by mail,
   fax, e-mail, phone, or dropping by the East Johnson Street office.
   Small jobs can be paid for at the conclusion of the work. For jobs
   over several hundred dollars, we require that the person making the
   order sign a transcription contract and pay half the estimated price
   in advance. The estimate is made by counting the number of print pages
   to be transcribed, determining the number of Braille pages that will
   result from each print page and counting the number of graphics which
   must be produced in tactile form. As can be imagined, this process is
   rather involved, particularly as our costs change as we `develop the
   technology. For these reasons, we generally ask the customer to send
   us the book, so that we can make an accurate estimate.

   2. The books must be electronically scanned, page by page, with a
   machine that resembles a copy machine. This process puts the entire
   text into a word-processing file. In music translation, some musical
   notation is too complex to be scanned using the procedure described
   above. In these cases, a skilled musician plays the piece directly
   into the computer using a MIDI keyboard, which works much like a
   piano.

   3. The text parts of the file are carefully edited and formatted.
   Musical parts are edited with software that shows the music in the
   usual graphical form on the screen. Verbal and numeric information on
   graphics is edited and placed in appropriate positions on the page.

   4. The file is run through the [4]translating program and turned into
   actual Braille. The program was developed by CHPI in partnership with
   [5]Braille Planet, Inc. (formerly Raised-Dot Computing, Inc.), another
   Madison nonprofit.

   5. The Braille text is proofread by a skilled Braille reader, final
   corrections are made to the inkprint version, and it is then
   retranslated.

   6. The Braille text is printed. The graphical parts of figures are
   hand-drawn, because the Braille embosser cannot produce graphics of
   sufficient quality. The original paper copies of figures are kept so
   that they can be used to produce additional copies of the book. The
   figures are transferred to plastic sheets which are bound with the
   paper sheets containing the text and music.

   7. The completed Braille volumes are shipped to the customer. The
   first few volumes can be shipped as soon as they are completed,
   without waiting for the whole book to be finished.

   8. After a book is shipped we keep the files on our computers so that
   we can provide copies to other persons who need them. We also place
   information on them in the LOUIS database at the [6]American Printing
   House for the Blind. You can also find out what we have available by
   looking at our own [7]book list.

Contact Information

   E-mail: [8][log in to unmask]
   John J. Boyer, Executive Director
   Computers to Help People, Inc.
   825 East Johnson Street
   Madison, WI 53703
   phone: 608-257-5917
   fax: 608-257-3480

   [9]CHPI Home Page

   Copyright (C) Computers to Help People, Inc.
   Last updated 02/23/1999.


--
+----------------------------+
|  Steve Zielinski  (N8UJS)  |
|      [log in to unmask]      |
+----------------------------+

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 14:42:18 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
From: Chris Gray <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: ACB General Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Science and Math Braille (fwd)

+== acb-l Message from Chris Gray <[log in to unmask]> ==+

Here's some very interesting information about braille for scientific
endeavors.




Computers to Help People, Inc.
http://www.execpc.com/~chpi






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