News

If you are registered for our Braille for Beginners On Demand course, our next Office Hours session will take place on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Please look out for a reminder email containing your unique joining link. If you have not received it by Tuesday lunchtime, please write to [email protected] for assistance.

If you are new to braille and not registered for Braille for Beginners, please consider signning up at www.braillists.org/beginners.

For people not following Braille for Beginners, your next session will be next Tuesday. Please see next week’s Newsletter for more information.

A message from Hims, Inc.

Please consider joining us on Tuesday, May 7 at 11:00 AM (CDT) for a discussion and demonstration of the latest addition to the HIMS Braille product family – The Braille eMotion.

During this webinar, we will do a product overview and demonstration, as well as discuss how Braille eMotion is changing the modern Braille display landscape.

As usual, there will be ample opportunity for questions and interaction following the presentation.

The webinar details follow:WhenTuesday, May 7, 2024 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)TopicHIMS Braille eMotion

Use the link below to register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q6isfNLhQ-ih1VZHjLYUuw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

We are enthusiastic about the release of the Braille eMotion, and cannot wait to share all of its perks with you!

Many braille displays include an SD or Micro SD card slot. However, when it comes to purchasing a suitable card, there are so many options! Which is best, and which work with your braille display?

In this session, we will be joined by friend of the Braillists Ben Mustill-Rose to help make sense of them. He will cover:

• Technical terms – SD, Micro SD, SD HC, SD XC and card classes
• How much capacity you need
• Card readers and adapters
• Avoiding poor quality cards
• Unpacking and setting up your new card, including formatting and write protection

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 894 0824 3262
• Passcode: 123456

A message from HumanWare:

While HumanWare has long provided the hardware component of braille displays, there historically has been a significant gap between our hardware offerings and screen reader manufacturers.

To close this gap, HumanWare collaborated with eye.t an organization specializing in creating learning curricula for screen readers, in a joint webinar. To watch the webinar, please click on collaborative webinar: Diving into Braille Displays.

By focusing on the effective use of screen readers in conjunction with braille displays, this partnership has enabled us to seamlessly integrate our braille hardware with screen readers, providing educators and users with improved resources.

The curriculum serves as a valuable tool for personal learning and a demonstration resource for customers.

HumanWare braille display owners get a 30% discount on eye.t learning curricula

Webinar participants were given complimentary access to a new curriculum. In addition, owners of HumanWare BI X or Mantis Q40 worldwide can take advantage of eye.t’s generous 30% discount on all curricula.

How to benefit from this offer?

To receive your 30% discount, visit eye.t Braille Display Discount Page. Once your serial number is submitted and checked by our system, you will receive your discount via email.

This initiative is another testament to HumanWare’s commitment to enhancing customer experiences by providing hardware, comprehensive support, and learning opportunities. We believe in going beyond limitations and are excited to share this valuable resource with you.

Due to the half term holiday and the eighth General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille, the Braillists will be closed between Friday 24 May and Tuesday 4 June. There will be no Braille Bar on Tuesday 28 May and no Book Club on Thursday 30 May, and we will not be responding to emails during this time frame.

Supernova is a screen magnification and screen reading package from Dolphin Computer Access Ltd, based in Worcester in the UK. Braille display support is a core part of its offering, but we don’t hear very much about it.

In this session, we are joined by Aj Ahmed, proprietor of AAT Solutions, an independent provider of assistive technology training and support. Aj will talk us through how to set up a braille display to work with Supernova, the various settings which are available, and the keystrokes which will help you make the most of this functionality.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 814 0396 6554
• Passcode: 123456

Many screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA, make use of the popular, open source Liblouis braille translation engine as part of their braille display support. In this session, we will explain and demonstrate how to harness the power of Liblouis braille tables to implement additional contractions in your screen reader of choice.

If you use a long word regularly and find it is taking up too much space on your braille display, this is the session for you! It will also serve as a brief introduction to Liblouis translation tables in general.

The session will be presented by James Bowden. In addition to his work as Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, James is also the Chair of the Braille Technology Committee of the International Council on English Braille, and is the primary developer of the default UEB translation table in Liblouis. Over many years, he has not only added new symbols to the UEB tables, but has also corrected numerous errors with existing contractions, and he actively contributes to discussions about the future development of Liblouis.

Please note: although we will do our best to present the concepts in this session in as simple and straightforward a way as possible, modifying Liblouis tables involves advanced file and folder manipulation, administration rights and working with computer code in a text editor. You do not need to be a computer programmer in order to benefit from this session, but it is best suited to people with intermediate to advanced computer knowledge.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 814 7463 2995
• Passcode: 123456

Calling all Braille music lovers:

Bristol Braille Technology are now opening up the Braille invention centre in Bristol, so that we can gather interested people to try out the Canute Console, and participate in its development.

On Saturday, 13th April, we are holding a Music gathering, where we will be displaying Braille music scores on the nine line by 40 character display on the Canute Console.

This means you will be able to have more than one line of music and the lyrics all on one page, without having to scroll from line to line to gain the whole picture. We will be meeting at: The Braille invention centre: G11, 37 Philip St, Bristol, BS3 4EA, UK, from mid day until 3pm.

Ed Rogers and Steph Sergeant from Bristol Braille and Stuart Lawler from Sight and Soundwill be hosting the meeting.

“We are looking for people who are interested in building something exciting with us.” Even if you cannot attend on the day, email what you would like to see developed.

We will do live prototyping of any ideas that have arisen.

James Bowden, RNIB’s Braille Technical Officer, will be bringing a variety of braille music scores to display on the Canute. He will also demonstrate using MuseScore and SMB (etc).

Jay Pocknell, one of RNIB’s music officers is coming to talk about access to music etc. He runs ‘Sound Without Sight’

Roger Firman cannot come unfortunately, so he is sending a recording of his experience of several years of using a Canute with Braille music.

Another exciting development is that we are in touch with MuseScore to discover how well, their new version of MuseScore will work with the Canute Console. In a future event we will be inviting Peter Jonas to explain MuseScore, including six-key input.

Please get in touch To let us know you are interested:. Email [email protected] (mobile 07793 906 745)

Please let us know the time your train will be arriving at Bristol Temple Medes, and we can co-ordinate taxis. You may bring a sighted guide if that would help.

Bristol Braille will be able to cover standard class travel expenses.

If you live in the UK and are an experienced braille reader with access to a Windows computer and screen reader, you are invited to test a new braille learning tool. In as little as one hour you could make a huge difference to the way braille is learnt in the UK. Contact us here at the Braillists and we will pass along your details.

The VICTA & CNIB Creative Writing Competition is open for submissions!

• Closing date: Friday 31 May 2024
• Who: 5 to 17 years old

Since 1997, the CNIB has organised a Canada-wide Braille Creative Writing Contest for children and young people. This important competition celebrates braille literacy and encourages young people to flex their creative muscles while practicing their braille skills. Put the power of literacy at your fingertips! Write a short story, essay, or poem on any topic or re-purpose something you’ve written for school this year.

Entry criteria

We can accept original stories, essays or poems written in:

• Contracted or uncontracted braille – use the braille you know!
• Perkins or computer (6-key entry)
• Computer braille is accepted – please contact [email protected] so that we can confirm the best format for you to send it in

Who can enter

• The contest is open to children and young people aged between 5-17 years old who are registered or are registrable as blind or partially sighted
• Entrants must be permanent residents of the UK
• The online entry form must be completed by a parent/carer
• By completing the online entry form, you agree to your child’s entry as well as your child’s name and age being used by VICTA, including being displayed on the VICTA website and on our social media channels

Find out more about the competition and enter now!