[nabs-l] Coping with Graphs and Other VisualRepresentations ofData

Sun Nov 21 17:34:16 UTC 2010

For me, as long as the graph does not have too much information on it, the 
DRC usually transcribes it into Braille. As far as drawing graphs, I use a 
few different methods. If it is not too complex, I use my tactile drawing 
kit, which can be purchased from several different places, including the 
Perkins Institute or APH. Sometimes, if there is a lot of data, I will use 
Excel. However, I only use Excel if I have a good understanding of what the 
graph looks like, as that is usually the point of drawing the graph. I used 
to have the AGC, but I don't have it anymore. With that, you can get a sound 
representation of your graph, which you cannot get with Excel.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 8:14 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Coping with Graphs and Other VisualRepresentations 
ofData

> Tina,
>
> There are simply no absolute answers to this question, and the road you 
> choose will very much depend upon your own strengths and skills.  I don't 
> know
> what sort of background you already have and therefore apologize if I 
> assume too much or too little.  My comments are from the perspective of a 
> math
> major sometime ago and as a computer programmer/analyst so not all will 
> apply.
>
> First, the idea of getting your hands on a way to draw graphs is a good 
> one.  Whatever you end up doing, you will be more successful if you truly
> understand what the various types of graphs show.  This is true even if 
> you don't end up creating tactile versions.  It will help you know what 
> questions to
> ask, and even to understand how else you might get the information 
> conveyed.
>
> For the purposes of a course, I would tend to concentrate on learning to 
> understand graphs and work with a reader who is good at interpreting them. 
> The
> purpose of a course is to learn about a specific skill, the development of 
> an efficient way to alternatively perform that skill doesn't have to be a 
> part of
> learning.  When you are on the job, things will be more stable.  You would 
> be dealing with statistics in a more or less stable way and you will most 
> likely
> know in advance what it is you will be looking for.  In other words, you 
> will have a chance to prepart alternatives for analyzing the data.
>
> There are various tools that can reproduct graphs in a tactile format such 
> as the Tiger braille printer.  There is also a company called Reprotronics 
> which I
> think still has a system that will take a printed piece of paper and raise 
> darker areas on swell paper.  The paper is expensive but it can work.
> Unfortunately, any system that simply creates a tactile version of 
> something in print generally suffers from trying to show too much 
> information making the
> results not real useful.  Generally, some sort of filtering or formatting 
> has to be done by someone to make sense out of such a process, and this 
> just may
> not be practical for a class.  It is something that could be useful if one 
> were on a job where graphs were very important.
>
> Some work has been done to produce graphs in an audio fashion.  This can 
> also have some value but I don't know how successfully it has been used to
> interpret data from another source.
>
> I don't know if anything here will help, but I hope it is somewhat useful. 
> I am sure I am omitting possibilities as well and I hope others will chime 
> in.  My
> point here is really that there are options out there if you need to deal 
> with graphs a lot, but trying to get a handle on such options during a 
> relatively short
> course may not work.  The important thing is to try to understand graphs 
> and what they are showing within the context of your course.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 09:21:24 -0600, Greg Aikens wrote:
>
>>Hi Tina,
>>I'm sorry if I misunderstood your original question.  I was thinking that 
>>being able to draw the graphs would give you access to a lot of the visual
> information and what the data represents.  With a well made tactile 
> diagram made by a professional transcriber and some training on how to 
> read them you
> would be able to feel a bar graph and know that one column represents 50 
> and another represents 35.  With the methods I suggested you definitely 
> still
> need someone to tell you exactly what values the diagrams represent.
>
>>My only suggestion for this is to get your reader to read this information 
>>to you and then you could put it in your notes.  For bar graphs you could 
>>write
> something like:
>>Bar 1: Dogs 35
>>Bar 2: cats 40
>>Bar 3: birds 15
>
>>The same would work for pie charts and scattergrams.  For scattergrams I 
>>still recommend having someone draw you the diagram to accompany this list
> of info because it is a very visual way to analyze data.  It can be 
> difficult to get an idea of the trend with just a list of points.
>
>>Hope this was more helpful.
>
>>Greg
>>On Nov 19, 2010, at 10:45 PM, Tina Hansen wrote:
>
>>> These are all good for drawing graphs. Now, how about the question of 
>>> understanding data that graphs and other visual material is meant to
> represent? Does anyone have ideas for how to convey the data that is 
> represented in either a table, bar chart, pie chart, scattergram, or 
> whatever? What
> tools, tips, tricks or techniques have you used to gain access to this 
> kind of information? Thanks.
>>>
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