[Electronics-Talk] BRF vs. Digital e-Book

[Ellana Crew]

Jim and Dave,

Thank you both for your responses! This is helpful information and I think it's given me a better understanding of the use of the BRF files, now. This makes much more sense, so I appreciate it.

Ellana Crew, Vice President
Maryland Association of Blind Students

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

> On Jan 4, 2017, at 2:36 PM, Jim McCarthy via Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Ellana,
> I thought your question was an interesting one and completely agree with
> David's answer to it. This list may not be the best list for this discussion
> though so I was not sure the most thorough responses would take place from
> this list. Therefore, I sent your question to Chancey Fleet, a lifetime
> advocate for braille with as good an understanding of braille display
> technology and formats as anyone I know. I am pasting her answer below as I
> think it does add some more perspective to your questions.
> "A BRF file comes in useful when: 
> -A Braille student, proofreader, transcriber etc is making changes to a
> document and wants to preserve Braille formatting,  use nonstandard Braille
> elements (like his or her own shorthand) or work in a way that would be hard
> for a computer to auto-translate (Braille Music, Nemeth math notation,
> multi-language content). 
> OR 
> -The file contains charts, graphs, puzzles, equations or other content whose
> alignment in Braille is important and must be preserved.
> OR 
> A reader is using a Braille note-taker that does not support, or slows down
> / balks when supporting, more complex file types. For example, I write this
> on my VarioUltra, a braille display connected to my iPhone. I can flip a
> switch to enter a VERY basic operating system where I can read and write BRF
> files in a minimalist, distraction-free environment.  The Orbit Braille
> display, Perkins Mini, Smart Beetle and Braille Edge all support BRF files
> but don't support documents  with more complexity (ePub, iBooks, etc)."
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Ellana Crew via Electronics-Talk
> Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 1:25 AM
> To: Electronics-Talk at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Ellana Crew
> Subject: [Electronics-Talk] BRF vs. Digital e-Book
> 
> Hello there,
> 
> I was recently approached by a follower of mine on a blindness blog I run
> about braille e-book or BRF files and their compatibility with braille
> displays, and while I was able to clear up that particular question, I have
> known very little about BRF files before doing my research to answer their
> question, but now that I have done some reading and looking into them, I am
> not exactly sure what the particular benefit of a BRF file actually is as
> compared to a Daisy or regular digital e-book file format.
> 
> From what I was reading on a couple of different websites, it seems as
> though BRF files are just digital braille files to be read just like an
> ordinary digital text file on a braille display. But, if this is the case,
> what is the point of creating the BRF file type? Why not just stick to
> regular digital text files if your braille display already does the work of
> converting it to braille for you? With a regular digital text file, you can
> read it on your braille display or with voiceover, and probably take that
> same text and import it to Duxberry to be embossed, but it seems like BRF
> files just do the exact same things. The sources I found had said that BRF
> files can be read on a braille display, or imported into Kurzweil to be read
> auditorily, or also be read with the screen reader, all things that digital
> text files can already do.
> 
> Are there perhaps any important distinctions that make BRF files more
> useful, compatible, or if active than digital text files? Is there a crucial
> feature or value I am missing?
> 
> Any info I could get on this would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Ellana Crew, Vice President
> Maryland Association of Blind Students
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
> expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
> between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
> blindness is not what holds you back.
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