[Blindmath] Creating braille math for a refreshable braille display

Thu Apr 24 18:52:25 UTC 2014

I think everyone on the list knows that math and diagrams in books aren't
typically accessible without extra work. I know that Bookshare is working
on crowdsource solutions to both problems (see
www.bookshare.org/_/aboutUs/2012/05/poet). I also know they are working on
adding meta data so that you can search and find out whether the math
and/or diagrams in a book are accessible and do a search on only those
books (www.slideshare.net/gcapiel/schemaorg-a11y-prez-edupub-2). I think
both are close to being available if not there already. Of course, a
crowdsource solution is only useful if there is a crowd that does the
work...

Neil Soiffer
Senior Scientist
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~

On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 1:37 AM, George Bell <george at techno-vision.co.uk>wrote:

> I'm afraid this is very much down to Bookshare.  It seems totally
> pointless to produce any literature where such material is simply
> "omitted", especially when there are tools available to not only input and
> display the equations visually, but also enable them to be imported into
> braille.
>
> We have been working very closely with Duxbury, Design Science and braille
> math end users, and make extensive use of MathType in Word for Windows.
>  MathType is a low cost add-on for Word, hence tends to be favoured where
> budgets are tight.
>
> You can import a Word file containing MathType "Objects" into the Duxbury
> Braille Translator (DBT) where, if necessary, further editing of the
> braille may be performed.  With the latest versions of Duxbury (11.2 SR1 is
> the most recent) further improvements have been made, and will continue to
> be made as issues arise.
>
> With MathType itself, it is just a couple of keystrokes to convert a
> visually displayed equation into a number of text formats such as LaTeX,
> which in turn makes it a handy teaching tool.
>
> George
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Littlefield, Tyler
> Sent: 24 April 2014 05:07
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Creating braille math for a refreshable braille
> display
>
> Hello all:
> The OP of this thread was Bridget, who is who I work with to get materials
> brailled, etc.
> This topic came up because we have University Physics, 13th ed from
> Bookshare and there are a lot of places where it just shows [equation
> omitted] or a lot of the exercises are not written properly.
> We were looking for a way to make this more accessible. She asked about
> LaTeX to see if we could somehow fill in the missing portions of the book,
> for example.
>
> If anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. Either
> for how to make this process work, or of a version of this book that is
> already brailled, or is in BRF format and can be read.
> Thanks,
> On 4/23/2014 10:31 AM, Michael Whapples wrote:
> > Hello,
> > My memory of Duxbury and Scientific notebook is that scientific
> > notebook produces a flavour of LaTeX, it may even have added some of
> > its own command definitions.
> >
> > This is the thing with LaTeX, there normally is so many different ways
> > of doing things, one may define their own commands, etc, so it is very
> > unlikely that any software will support all LaTeX files.
> >
> > When I was doing my physics degree we had a whole list of LaTeX which
> > Duxbury understood and another list of LaTeX which did not agree with
> > duxbury.
> >
> > I know that even some of the LaTeX from scientific notebook did not
> > agree with duxbury, so normally the LaTeX was hand edited with the
> > typists paying attention to the above mentioned lists.
> >
> > So I think my comment is that it supports LaTeX in a limited form, not
> > necessarily restricted to what scientific notebook produced.
> >
> > Also it is worth noting that I am speaking of my experience of
> > obtaining UK Braille from Duxbury and it was about 2006 when I last
> > used it. Things may have improved and may be different for Nemeth output.
> >
> > Michael Whapples
> > On 23/04/2014 15:14, John Gardner wrote:
> >> Hello, I am surprised by this exchange. My understanding is that
> >> Duxbury translates files made by Scientific Notebook but not "real'
> >> Tex files.  I know that there are Duxbury people on this list.
> >> Please confirm if Duxbury can translate regular LaTeX.  If so I agree
> >> that it would be awesome.
> >>
> >> In case Duxbury cannot translate LaTeX, there are several ways to get
> >> Latex to conventional braille.  I confess I am not sure I know all of
> >> them.  One that works quite well is the Tex2Word application
> >> available from http://www.chikrii.com/products/tex2word/tex-to-word/
> >> for about US$50.  Then use the methods I described earlier for MS
> >> Word.
> >>
> >> John G
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> >> Littlefield, Tyler
> >> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 6:39 PM
> >> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> >> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Creating braille math for a refreshable
> >> braille display
> >>
> >> hello:
> >> What are the chances of getting a math book in TeX? This is an
> >> awesome solution if it's viable, but I'm thinking it's not due to
> publishers.
> >>
> >> What sorts of solutions exist for reading brf on a pc?
> >> Thanks,
> >> On 4/22/2014 7:53 PM, Sarah Jevnikar wrote:
> >>> If math is authored in TeX, it can be opened in Duxbury and saved as
> >>> a brf
> >> file. Then it can be read on a Braille display.
> >>> HTH,
> >>> Sarah
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________________
> >>> From: Blindmath [blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Lynn
> >>> Reed
> >> [iamlvr at yahoo.com]
> >>> Sent: April 22, 2014 3:30 PM
> >>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> >>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Creating braille math for a refreshable
> >>> braille
> >> display
> >>> Sorry guys.....sent to wrong address.
> >>>
> >>> Peace and Love to all!
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> On Apr 22, 2014, at 12:28 PM, Lynn Reed <iamlvr at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> This may be helpful for Ellie? Not sure.......
> >>>>
> >>>> Peace and Love to all!
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> On Apr 22, 2014, at 11:23 AM, "McNamee, Bridget"
> >>>>> <mcnameeb at wit.edu>
> >> wrote:
> >>>>> Does anyone have step by step instructions on how to author
> >>>>> accessible
> >> math that can be used with a refreshable braille display?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
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>
> --
> Take care,
> Ty
> http://tds-solutions.net
> He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he
> that dares not reason is a slave.
>
>
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