Re: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

[Amiyo Biswas]

Yes, a very good article, I have saved it for myself and shared it with 
friends.


With best regards,
Amiyo Biswas
Cell: 6290527506 / 9433464329

- Original Message - 
From: "anirudh rao" 

To: 
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 5:29 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia


what an informative article!
thanks for sharing

On 3/7/22, Shyam M. Sayanekar  wrote:

Hello, a very good and informative article. Some efforts were also made to
introduce contracted Marathi Braille but were not of much success. Braille
is also used to write notation in Classical music as well as natural
sciences like chemistry.  Earlier, transcribing into braill with a slate 
was


a difficult task, but with development of technology, several mechanical 
and


ellectronic devices became available and now it has become very easy.
- Original Message -
From: "S Solomon Karuppannan" 
To: 
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2022 3:13 PM
Subject: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia


Himalmag

4th March 2022


Seeing with fingertips
Braille in Southasia.

Listen to this article:


Himal Southasian Podcast Channel <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488>

Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article)
<https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488/seeing-with-fingertipsaudio-article>

In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention
of the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable,
several blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by 
touching

its ears, tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using
their individual perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a
snake by the one who touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its
leg; as a winnowing basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by
the one who touched its tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its
side. Apart from showing the susceptibility of individual perception to
subjective experiences, the fable also reveals the importance of tactile
perception. Touch is thought to be one of the first senses to develop in
babies and which gives us the sensory scaffoldings on which we visualise
our own bodies and sense of being. According to the World Health
Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion people have
some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a critical
sense for connecting and understanding the world.

Six raised dots

Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman
who was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that
enabled blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a
military code called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by
Charles Barbier for the French army, and which was used for nighttime
battlefield communications. Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used
tactile reading and writing system and is named after its inventor, Louis
Braille. Braille is not a language. It employs a system of raised dots to
spell out letters and punctuation. Across the globe, many people with
blindness or visual impairment use Braille for reading with their
fingertips and can write using Braille writing devices. World Braille Day
is celebrated on 4 January each year marking the birth anniversary of 
Louis

Braille.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information
available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille
and audio versions.

Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is
made up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two
columns of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each
cell represents a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or 
other

print symbol.

There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted.
Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print
letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted
Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by
beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie
grade 2 Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same
letters, punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it
also uses a system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might
represent an entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker
and easier, it is the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone
world.

For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted
English Braille, it will look like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will
appear like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

Braille in Southasia

According to the World Braille Usage Survey (2013), there are 137 unique
Braille codes used in 142 different countries of the wo

Re: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

[anirudh rao]

what an informative article!
thanks for sharing

On 3/7/22, Shyam M. Sayanekar  wrote:
> Hello, a very good and informative article. Some efforts were also made to
> introduce contracted Marathi Braille but were not of much success. Braille
> is also used to write notation in Classical music as well as natural
> sciences like chemistry.  Earlier, transcribing into braill with a slate was
>
> a difficult task, but with development of technology, several mechanical and
>
> ellectronic devices became available and now it has become very easy.
> - Original Message -
> From: "S Solomon Karuppannan" 
> To: 
> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2022 3:13 PM
> Subject: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia
>
>
> Himalmag
>
> 4th March 2022
>
>
> Seeing with fingertips
> Braille in Southasia.
>
> Listen to this article:
>
>
> Himal Southasian Podcast Channel <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488>
>
> Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article)
> <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488/seeing-with-fingertipsaudio-article>
>
> In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention
> of the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable,
> several blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by touching
> its ears, tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using
> their individual perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a
> snake by the one who touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its
> leg; as a winnowing basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by
> the one who touched its tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its
> side. Apart from showing the susceptibility of individual perception to
> subjective experiences, the fable also reveals the importance of tactile
> perception. Touch is thought to be one of the first senses to develop in
> babies and which gives us the sensory scaffoldings on which we visualise
> our own bodies and sense of being. According to the World Health
> Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion people have
> some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a critical
> sense for connecting and understanding the world.
>
> Six raised dots
>
> Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman
> who was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that
> enabled blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a
> military code called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by
> Charles Barbier for the French army, and which was used for nighttime
> battlefield communications. Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used
> tactile reading and writing system and is named after its inventor, Louis
> Braille. Braille is not a language. It employs a system of raised dots to
> spell out letters and punctuation. Across the globe, many people with
> blindness or visual impairment use Braille for reading with their
> fingertips and can write using Braille writing devices. World Braille Day
> is celebrated on 4 January each year marking the birth anniversary of Louis
> Braille.
>
> The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information
> available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille
> and audio versions.
>
> Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is
> made up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two
> columns of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each
> cell represents a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or other
> print symbol.
>
> There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted.
> Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print
> letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted
> Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by
> beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie
> grade 2 Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same
> letters, punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it
> also uses a system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might
> represent an entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker
> and easier, it is the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone
> world.
>
> For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted
> English Braille, it will look like this:
>
> ⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝
>
> But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will
> appear like this:
>
> ⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝
>
> Braille in Southasi

Re: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

[Shyam M. Sayanekar]

Hello, a very good and informative article. Some efforts were also made to 
introduce contracted Marathi Braille but were not of much success. Braille 
is also used to write notation in Classical music as well as natural 
sciences like chemistry.  Earlier, transcribing into braill with a slate was 
a difficult task, but with development of technology, several mechanical and 
ellectronic devices became available and now it has become very easy.
- Original Message - 
From: "S Solomon Karuppannan" 

To: 
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2022 3:13 PM
Subject: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia


Himalmag

4th March 2022


Seeing with fingertips
Braille in Southasia.

Listen to this article:


Himal Southasian Podcast Channel <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488>

Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article)
<https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488/seeing-with-fingertipsaudio-article>

In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention
of the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable,
several blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by touching
its ears, tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using
their individual perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a
snake by the one who touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its
leg; as a winnowing basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by
the one who touched its tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its
side. Apart from showing the susceptibility of individual perception to
subjective experiences, the fable also reveals the importance of tactile
perception. Touch is thought to be one of the first senses to develop in
babies and which gives us the sensory scaffoldings on which we visualise
our own bodies and sense of being. According to the World Health
Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion people have
some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a critical
sense for connecting and understanding the world.

Six raised dots

Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman
who was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that
enabled blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a
military code called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by
Charles Barbier for the French army, and which was used for nighttime
battlefield communications. Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used
tactile reading and writing system and is named after its inventor, Louis
Braille. Braille is not a language. It employs a system of raised dots to
spell out letters and punctuation. Across the globe, many people with
blindness or visual impairment use Braille for reading with their
fingertips and can write using Braille writing devices. World Braille Day
is celebrated on 4 January each year marking the birth anniversary of Louis
Braille.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information
available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille
and audio versions.

Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is
made up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two
columns of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each
cell represents a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or other
print symbol.

There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted.
Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print
letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted
Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by
beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie
grade 2 Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same
letters, punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it
also uses a system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might
represent an entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker
and easier, it is the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone
world.

For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted
English Braille, it will look like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will
appear like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

Braille in Southasia

According to the World Braille Usage Survey (2013), there are 137 unique
Braille codes used in 142 different countries of the world. Out of these
numerous codes, there are around 16 unique Braille codes from a total of 20
codes used for Southasian languages. The story of Braille in Southasia
starts with the establishment of the first school for the blind in Amritsar
(British India) in 1887. This school, known as ‘The North India Industrial
Home for the Blind’, was founded by an English woman named Annie Sharp
(1858-1903) on the prem

RE: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

[George Abraham]

Very informative. Thanks for sharing!

-Original Message-
From: accessindia@accessindia.org.in [mailto:accessindia@accessindia.org.in] On 
Behalf Of S Solomon Karuppannan
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 3:13 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

Himalmag

4th March 2022


Seeing with fingertips
Braille in Southasia.

Listen to this article:


Himal Southasian Podcast Channel <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488>

Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article) 
<https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488/seeing-with-fingertipsaudio-article>

In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention of 
the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable, several 
blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by touching its ears, 
tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using their individual 
perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a snake by the one who 
touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its leg; as a winnowing 
basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by the one who touched its 
tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its side. Apart from showing the 
susceptibility of individual perception to subjective experiences, the fable 
also reveals the importance of tactile perception. Touch is thought to be one 
of the first senses to develop in babies and which gives us the sensory 
scaffoldings on which we visualise our own bodies and sense of being. According 
to the World Health Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion 
people have some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a 
critical sense for connecting and understanding the world.

Six raised dots

Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman who 
was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that enabled 
blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a military code 
called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by Charles Barbier for the 
French army, and which was used for nighttime battlefield communications. 
Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used tactile reading and writing 
system and is named after its inventor, Louis Braille. Braille is not a 
language. It employs a system of raised dots to spell out letters and 
punctuation. Across the globe, many people with blindness or visual impairment 
use Braille for reading with their fingertips and can write using Braille 
writing devices. World Braille Day is celebrated on 4 January each year marking 
the birth anniversary of Louis Braille.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information 
available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille and 
audio versions.

Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is made 
up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns 
of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each cell represents 
a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or other print symbol.

There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted.
Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print 
letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted 
Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by 
beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie grade 2 
Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same letters, 
punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it also uses a 
system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might represent an 
entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker and easier, it is 
the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone world.

For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted English 
Braille, it will look like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will appear 
like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

Braille in Southasia

According to the World Braille Usage Survey (2013), there are 137 unique 
Braille codes used in 142 different countries of the world. Out of these 
numerous codes, there are around 16 unique Braille codes from a total of 20 
codes used for Southasian languages. The story of Braille in Southasia starts 
with the establishment of the first school for the blind in Amritsar (British 
India) in 1887. This school, known as ‘The North India Industrial Home for the 
Blind’, was founded by an English woman named Annie Sharp
(1858-1903) on the premises of St Catherine’s Hospital in Amritsar. In 1903, 
the school was moved to Rajpur and was renamed as ‘Sharp Memorial School for 
the Blind’ in memory of its founder. Later, schools for the blind were 
established in Palayamkottai (1890), Ahmedabad (1895), Ca

[AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia

[S Solomon Karuppannan]

Himalmag

4th March 2022


Seeing with fingertips
Braille in Southasia.

Listen to this article:


Himal Southasian Podcast Channel 

Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article)


In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention
of the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable,
several blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by touching
its ears, tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using
their individual perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a
snake by the one who touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its
leg; as a winnowing basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by
the one who touched its tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its
side. Apart from showing the susceptibility of individual perception to
subjective experiences, the fable also reveals the importance of tactile
perception. Touch is thought to be one of the first senses to develop in
babies and which gives us the sensory scaffoldings on which we visualise
our own bodies and sense of being. According to the World Health
Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion people have
some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a critical
sense for connecting and understanding the world.

Six raised dots

Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman
who was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that
enabled blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a
military code called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by
Charles Barbier for the French army, and which was used for nighttime
battlefield communications. Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used
tactile reading and writing system and is named after its inventor, Louis
Braille. Braille is not a language. It employs a system of raised dots to
spell out letters and punctuation. Across the globe, many people with
blindness or visual impairment use Braille for reading with their
fingertips and can write using Braille writing devices. World Braille Day
is celebrated on 4 January each year marking the birth anniversary of Louis
Braille.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information
available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille
and audio versions.

Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is
made up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two
columns of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each
cell represents a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or other
print symbol.

There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted.
Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print
letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted
Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by
beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie
grade 2 Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same
letters, punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it
also uses a system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might
represent an entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker
and easier, it is the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone
world.

For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted
English Braille, it will look like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will
appear like this:

⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝

Braille in Southasia

According to the World Braille Usage Survey (2013), there are 137 unique
Braille codes used in 142 different countries of the world. Out of these
numerous codes, there are around 16 unique Braille codes from a total of 20
codes used for Southasian languages. The story of Braille in Southasia
starts with the establishment of the first school for the blind in Amritsar
(British India) in 1887. This school, known as ‘The North India Industrial
Home for the Blind’, was founded by an English woman named Annie Sharp
(1858-1903) on the premises of St Catherine’s Hospital in Amritsar. In
1903, the school was moved to Rajpur and was renamed as ‘Sharp Memorial
School for the Blind’ in memory of its founder. Later, schools for the
blind were established in Palayamkottai (1890), Ahmedabad (1895), Calcutta
(1897), Ranchi (1898), Mumbai (1900), Colombo (1912) and Karachi (1923).

The opening of these schools ushered in the use of Braille in the region.
At one point of time, there were more than 11 different kinds of Braille
codes which were in use in the region. These included Shirreff Braille;
Gujarati Braille of Dr Chatrapati; Tamil Braille of Miss Askwith; Mysore
and Kan