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.
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