Dots – A Braille Transcribing Application ========================================= Summary ------- GNOME today provides a compelling non-visual interface using the Orca[1] screen reader. This combination competes with non-free alternatives and provide an affordable computing platform for the visually impaired user. A braille transcription application for GNOME would provide further appeal by providing a tactile desktop publishing solution. Background ---------- Modern braille transcription requires a combination of automated machine translation and human interaction and decision making to remove ambiguities in the transcribed output[2]. Liblouisxml[3] is a library and set of tools that provides easy conversion from XML documents to literary and Nemeth braille. While liblouisxml is a powerful translator, it lacks a user interface that would make it's many features discoverable. Proposal -------- Develop an intuitive application that would be a one stop shop for translating, transcribing, reading and embossing tactile documents in GNOME. Current Status -------------- Dots[4] has been developed to a proof of concept stage in which it can import a Word document and transcribe it using any table that liblouis provides. Dots provides an import wizard[5] that exposes some liblouisxml options, such as table choice, cells per line, lines per page and page numbering options. Further Work ------------ For Dots to become usable, progress must be made on several fronts: - The accepted document import formats should be expanded to more options with a priority to ODF and other free formats. - Provide a six dot braille “chording” input mode. - Toggle format options on the fly, for example line width, page size, numbering, etc. - Provide a toggleable view between ASCII and braille fonts. - Provide a line-by-line translation view. 1. http://live.gnome.org/Orca 2. http://www.dotlessbraille.org/transcribing.htm 3. http://code.google.com/p/liblouisxml/ 4. https://github.com/eeejay/dots/tree 5. http://www.getdropbox.com/gallery/280491/1/dots_screenshot?h=58a0fd
Attachment:
dots.odt
Description: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text