The following is a practical guide to producing Nemeth Code Braille with current technology. The discussion will focus on the use of Duxbury Braille translation software because that is the product currently used by the Disability Resources for Students at Arizona State University. This, however, is not meant to imply that Duxbury is the only software capable of performing these operations. Whatever software you chose to use, the procedure followed will be very similar to the steps listed below.
The current trend in E-Text, Electronic Text production, is toward a standardized general markup language (SGML). The use of SGML will allow rapid translation from one format to another through the use of embedded, software-read commands or "tags." To change from one output format to another all that would be required would be to change the appropriate tags to produce the required format. At this time, however, SGML is not fully developed or available for general usage. Software standards for future SGML conversions are still being discussed. Until such time that SGML becomes available, the strategy described below will allow a facility to produce readable Nemeth Code Braille without the cost of a Braille transcription contract or the extended completion time for volunteer transcription guilds.
The procedure is very simple. The implementation of the procedure is complex from the perspective of hiring, training and administration. This is a computer based system, but it is still a manual system. The advantage of this system is that it is not necessary for the computer transcriber to be Braille transcriber. It is only necessary that student transcribers have a through knowledge of math, be independent workers and be paid enough to keep them as employees. Student workers should be trained, evaluated and retrained on a continuing basis. It is also necessry to have the Braille produced by this program evaluated by students or transcribers who are knowedgable in Nemeth Code Braille. This procedure will meet the Braille math requirements of post secondary institutions, but it will only work as long as it is evaluated at every stage for accuracy.
The first step is to realize that most of the symbols used in higher mathematics are not part of the traditional ASCII character set. Also the printed page typesetting of mathematical equations does not readily allow translation by an Scanner/OCR system into a symbol-by-symbol, line-by-line ASCII document. It is therefore not possible to scan and translate directly from a typeset mathematical equation to an ASCII equivalent. Instead, a two step process must be done anytime there are mathematical equations or other text or symbols that cannot be directly converted to ASCII. First, the text must be scanned and recognized by an OCR package to convert any literal text on the page to ASCII. Symbols or equations that cannot be directly converted will appear incorrectly or possibly not appear at all in the converted ASCII document. The next step is to edit the document with a word processing package and note where equations or symbols occur in the text. At the appropriate places, Braille translation software control codes must be inserted to allow for the Nemeth Code Braille characters to replace the non- ASCII symbols or equations. This is essentially the entire mathematics translation process. There are, however, several considerations that make the process more sophisticated than this simple description.
In order to produce readable mathematical/symbolic braille, the computer operator must be aware of how the software package converts text to Braille and how it produces Nemeth code. The most common mode of Braille conversion is to Grade II. Grade II Braille uses contractions and concatenations which greatly reduce the size of the finished document. These contractions are automatically done during the conversion of ASCII text to Grade II Braille. If a mathematical equation is entered in Grade II Braille, there is the possibility that the translation software will contract and concatenate the equation making it unreadable or misleading. Alternatively, the translator may replace a mathematical symbol with the word equivalent. For example the following "1 + 2 = 3" may be translated as "1 plus 2 equals 3." In some cases this may be acceptable, but in others it may not. To prevent this, it is necessary to tell the Braille translation software when to drop out of Grade II and go to literal Braille, which is a character for character translation. It is in this mode that production of math and graphics is possible.
In Duxbury the command $cz is used to go into literal Braille. This command is inserted at the beginning of a section of math notation to instruct the translator to used the exact characters that follow it and not to try to insert contractions. The codes inserted in literal Braille are Nemeth Code symbols and will be the same codes used to translate the equation regardless of the Braille translation software. At the end of the math notation the Duxbury command $tx is used to inform Duxbury that it can now go to Grade II conversions again.
At Arizona State University, engineering and math student workers and a honors organization volunteer program are used to enter the control codes in literal Braille to produce Nemeth Code. These students have an understanding of the equations which makes it easier for them to decode the exact meaning of the equations and know how to change the equations without changing the meaning of the expression. While it is important that they have an understanding of mathematics, they do not need an extensive knowledge of Braille. A few formatting rules concerning spacing and a "Nemeth Database" of math symbols and the corresponding Duxbury codes, Appendix B, that are required to produce the Nemeth code for that symbol is all that is needed to produce readable Nemeth Code translations. Initial training time to learn the "system" is approximately 16 hours. The student must have a knowledge of the math equations printed in the original document. The student need only enter the appropriate control codes and Nemeth Braille symbols to translate mathematical equations.
The code for the equation stated above, 1 + 2 = 3, would be: $cz #1+2 .k #3$tx
Where
$cz indicates the start of literal translation
# indicates the symbol following is numeric
(The # is used after a space or a negative sign.)
.k is the Nemeth code for =
$tx indicates return to Grade II translation
Once the codes are inserted, the entire document can be converted to Braille. The areas that specify literal Braille are converted, as is, while the rest of the document is contracted and concatenated to Grade II Braille. At this juncture, to insure that the translated text maintains its readability and integrity, the computer operator should look at the document in a text editor or a word processor to see exactly how the document format will appear after it is printed. The document will not be readable since the translation has contracted characters, but the overall format is discernable. If an equation is separated by a page break, additional editing must be done to preserve the integrity of the equation.
The document can then be printed on a Braille embosser. This procedure is considerably less expensive and usually more accurate than having a Braille transcription of higher mathematics done outside the university.