I came across this very interesting presentation on braille by Kevin Carey from RNIB. Apologies if this has been posted earlier. Having been a newbie very occasional braille reader for about 4 years now, I couldn't agree more with everything here, most of all the need for cheaper braille displays.
<start of document> Can Braille Survive? by Kevin Carey Chair Royal National Institute of Blind People Presentation at World Congress Braille21 University of Leipzig Germany 27th - 30th September 2011 Abstract: If braille is to survive into the 21st Century, primarily as a down stream reading medium from the digitally distributed environment (currently the internet and the emerging cloud), it will have to re-invent itself as a mass medium, simpler, cheaper and easier to render. 1. Introduction We could hardly be in a better place than Leipzig, home of J.S. Bach, to begin a discussion of braille in the digital age because the first major commercial casualty of the internet was the 'big six' classical music recording companies; within a decade the profit on music sales radically shifted from the recording companies, who made their profits from distribution, to Apple's iTunes. The music industry, instead of understanding the new market of the early '90s, adopted a defensive strategy, was temporarily out-flanked by peer-to-peer sites like Napster, and then just capitulated to Apple which offered a mid-way point between their old hegemony and implosion from piracy. And as I speak now, this very moment, the profit margin on books is moving rapidly from contracting publishers, the print equivalent of recording companies, to Amazon, Kindle and Apple. Despite the valuable role of publishers in sorting out the aspirant wheat from the chaff, the distributors have had a strangle hold on publishing since the birth of book store chains and supermarkets; but today, more than ever, the digital distributors are going for high volume, low margin. Now whether you approve of this or not, the whole point of digital creation and consumption is that it radically cuts production and distribution costs. In other words, in the analogue age the producers of recording masters and print plates were rewarded for their investment with a big slice of the sales profit margin but as production costs have fallen the profit has been transferred from the producer to the distributor. In parallel with this, power has shifted from the publisher to the self publisher. Nowadays an aspiring author will prepare his eBook, invest in a print-on-demand deal and undertake his own internet marketing whereas in the analogue age, an author needed a publisher and a printer who would accept his or her work and invest in plate making or, in music, master recording. What has all this got to do with the present condition and future of braille? Before I answer these questions I want to insert a personal note. I began learning contracted English braille aged three and have used braille as my literary mainstay all my life, through primary and secondary school, through two universities, in employment, in writing my novels and in reading the works of other people. I have visited more than 30 braille printing presses in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America; I saw my first refreshable braille display in 1978 and my first computer driven braille embosser in 1979. I set up the first computer driven braille press outside the 'West' in Nairobi's Africa Braille Centre in 1987 and have represented RNIB on the Braille Authority of the United Kingdom. I say all this because when I deliver difficult messages, as I have for years, on the subject of braille, I am accused of not being committed to it, of not knowing what I'm talking about, or of being provocative. In this presentation I want to make some basic proposals which, I believe, are essential if braille is to survive as a vibrant literacy vehicle, under three headings . Production and consumption . Marketing and Promotion . Learning and Teaching. 2. Production and Consumption So what can we learn from the music and publishing industries: . First, that braille production has to be democratised. . Secondly, that the product needs to be cheap and easily consumed; and . Thirdly, the user interface, or consumption device, has to be cheap. . Democratisation. My story begins in Gangtok, the capital of the Indian State of Sikkim, where I saw five blind students hand-copy braille manuscripts using a stylus and frame, duplicating and then adding to the mistakes of their predecessors. It reminded me of the processes and collateral failures of the monastic manuscript copying system and it also asked the question most sharply posed in Umberto Eco's great book The Name of the Rose as to whether the purpose of the library was to protect books for the public or to protect books from the public. Braille has had a monastic tradition in the sense that its producers and regulators have all come from self-perpetuating, even self appointed, institutions. And in spite of the development of computer-produced braille, most of the material produced for general consumption still comes from institutions which formerly ran analogue braille plate-making, printing presses. This is the world of the librarian and the custodian, of the book selection committee and, even in some places, the censor. This is the world where the only component of quality that is recognised is the integrity of the code, where timeliness does not figure. It is also the world which consumes a massive amount of the blindness budget which serves relatively few people, usually congenitally blind, highly educated, blind professionals or, in schools, would-be professionals. It is, in most countries, an elite service for an elite clientele. The only way that braille can survive is if it radically breaks out of its elitist cordon d'or; and the most important method of breaking out is to make cheap tools available for generating braille files from scanned text and from common text formats such as word and XML. Scanners and cheap tools will generate a massive amount of braille very cheaply. It won't be perfect but, then again, nor are newspapers and most paperback books; and what such braille loses in code quality it will more than gain in timeliness. I at least want my football fixtures before the season begins, if necessary with a few errors, rather than half way through the season; and I also want to discuss books with my friends when they are published in print rather than being forced to read them two years later. It's quite difficult enough to establish intellectual credibility as a blind person without this additional handicap. One other point here: the emphasis in transcription software and tool making since the late 1970s has been on code translation but not so much attention has been paid to sensible layout macros. Indeed, there isn't really any sensible legislation on certain aspects of layout such as heading levels. Even the RNIB, of which I am Chair, does not universally respect its own wonderfully succinct braille production manual. . Cheap and easily consumed. Secondly, the braille that we receive must be cheap and easily consumed; and this means, above all, establishing a default, simple, braille code for each language. Now I would have thought that that was a really clear, simple, statement, but it has been so widely misunderstood that I am going to say it again. What I advocate is that there should be a simple, uncontracted braille code for each language which is used as the default code for files and documents; and that more complex forms of braille, such as contracted, should be available for those who specifically need them. Blind children with a prospect of secondary or higher education may need a contracted code, as may professionals and high speed, mostly congenitally blind, recreational braille users but that standard of complexity should not be imposed on all braille readers and would-be braille readers because a few highly skilled professionals think it is good for them. This is an important consumer issue but in terms of how organisations work, it is also a key psychological issue because most braille producing institutions and their code authorities have wasted decades on wrangling about contracted codes. It is like some form of religious rite or cabalistic ritual and it is of no concern to the vast majority of potential braille readers. The usual question asked in these arcane code disputes is what existing, contracted braille users, want; when the more important question is what would entice non braille readers to use braille and increase the market. A default, uncontracted code would also allow us to create a market in braille consumption, so that those wanting contracted braille could have it but there would be a price differential: low production run braille is cheaper uncontracted; mass production braille is cheaper when contracted. So this gives consumers a choice if they are buying from a braille publishing house but, as I have already said, we need less purchasing and more self-production. Using a fairly ordinary scanner and PC I can produce a viable file of an average novel and emboss it on a small embosser inside a working day. The problem, other than time, is the price of the paper; but braille publishing houses should look at the comparative price of a book produced in-house on demand and produced by an end user with a braille paper subsidy. . Consumption Devices. Last, in this set of three criteria, comes the user interface device. There will only be a limited point in developing production tools and a default simple code unless we can radically reduce the cost of refreshable braille displays. There are some who say that organisations of and for the blind should not become involved in the access technology market but the current cartel does not have an automatic right to exist. For the last 30 years of its operations the price of braille displays has fallen slowly when most other consumer electronics prices have plunged. The world needs a global consortium to invest in a cheap refreshable braille device for four important reasons: . First, it will save massive amounts from hard copy braille production which can be ploughed back into expanding the range of files on offer and into providing displays cheap or free to individuals. . Secondly, it will allow users to switch from uncontracted to contracted braille as they prefer. . Thirdly, it will enable braille novices to listen and read with their fingers simultaneously. . Fourthly, it will make standard eBooks available in tactile format without resort to a specialist braille publisher. RNIB has already started to invest in such a device; and we are looking for partners. 3. Marketing and Promotion If you look at braille in terms of the retail market, all its advocates call for mass consumption but retain braille with the characteristics of a luxury item: . It is largely available in exclusive establishments. . It is made available through professionals. . It is difficult to learn. . It is expensive to produce. Indeed, the way we look at braille is the legacy of an age when most blind people were thought to be congenitally totally blind. For years, braille users have put forward the argument that increased large print production for partially sighted people will damage the braille production budget when the opposite is true; increasingly, braille will be a useful by-product of large print file production and if we apply some skill, large print will come to subsidise braille. But the central point is that if we really do want to market and sell braille then it has to be marketed in a way that shows that the learning effort will produce a satisfactory result; in other words, there has to be a cost/benefit ratio that shows a large positive. This means that braille must be: . Instantly available. . Cheap. . Easy to use; and . Inviting rather than threatening. Following on from that, we also need to see braille as an integral part of a coherent media offer. Blind and partially sighted people are often asked which is their preferred reading medium; but television watchers are never asked whether they prefer listening to television or watching it, whether they want text captions or graphics. People consume multimedia as part of their everyday lives; and braille needs to fit into that pattern. A person with partial sight should not be in the invidious position of being asked to take a radical decision, as her sight deteriorates, of switching from large print to braille. She should have access simultaneously to large print, speech and braille so that she can seamlessly shift emphasis, over time, without the traumatic break. Braille needs to be an affirming tool, not an icon of on-coming doom and gloom. In this respect, the most important message to get across is that uncontracted braille can be self taught in a few hours using a refreshable braille display supported by synthetic speech. The whole sector needs to be deprofessionalised except where there is strong justification i.e. the need by some students and professionals for contracted braille and special codes. 4. Learning and Teaching. What I have said about adult learning also applies to congenitally blind children. Totally blind children should learn braille through a refreshable device with the speech switched on. Partially sighted children should learn braille both with the speech switched on and with screen magnification of the print. I should emphasise again that blind children learning braille should not be assumed to need to learn a contracted code. Blind children at school need to learn: . The national curriculum or the standard of their sighted peers. . The additional curriculum of communications and orientation and mobility. . The so-called 'hidden' curriculum of body language, posture, negotiating skills; indeed learning all the aspects of life which seeing people casually learn by looking around them. Asking children with a severe disadvantage to take on such an extreme work load should pose the question of how valuable it is to learn a contracted code compared with all the other things that need to be learned. Learning contracted braille has to obtain its ranked status on the basis of a rational discussion of the child's needs, not on the basis of dogma. Furthermore, there has to be a fundamental assessment of the extent to which any braille user needs to learn how to write braille as well as learning how to read it. It is clear that learning braille reading is a fundamental literacy skill because it gives access not only to spelling (which, in fact, a text-to-speech will provide) but, much more important, it provides people with the nearest equivalent to print, a stable, linear, silent medium. The primary purpose of writing, on the other hand is primarily a communications medium. As all children and adults will need to communicate with people who can see through using a keyboard, SMS or voice, what justification is there for a person to learn how to write braille. The answer is, of course, that braille users will want to take their own notes and make their own labels; but, again, we need to think carefully. When I make my own notes using a standard keyboard I can access them in braille or synthetic speech; and I have stopped using braille labels in favour of recorded labels; and, increasingly, standard products will provide information through text-to-speech bar code readers. Again, the case for learning to write, even uncontracted braille, has to be both individual and rational. I should not have to, but I am going to say it again. What I am talking about here is not a minimalist dogma in opposition to a traditional maximalist dogma. What I am talking about is a rational assessment of what a child needs. 5. Conclusion In conclusion I simply want to re-state three conclusions: . First, that braille needs to be an integral part of a multi media package for blind and partially sighted people and that, primarily means a cheap refreshable braille device. . Secondly, braille hard copy production will only survive if it is a consumer-operated function. . Lastly, braille will have to be advocated rationally on the basis of user need. Unless we face up to these challenges, braille will die with us. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
