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

Sun Nov 21 17:37:01 UTC 2010

Nicole:
By tactile kit, do you mean the DRAFTSMAN DRAWING BOARD?
If not, what do you use and how much does it cost?
I might be interested in getting one for home, because I'm going to be studying a lot of graphs this year.

Jorge

On Nov 21, 2010, at 12:34 PM, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home wrote:

> 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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