News

What’s this I hear about dots? That’s a question we’ve been answering for about as long as we’ve been in existence. At Sight and Sound Technology we are passionate about Braille and its potential to transform access to work and education.

We’ve been rather busy since the start of the year, finding what we believe to be the very best new Braille technology in the world! In this seminar, Stuart will lift the lid on what’s been going on and show you the new kids on the block. We think you’ll be as excited as we are when you see what we’ve got!

Presented at Sight Village by Stuart Lawler, Head of Digital Content and Braille Specialist at Sight and Sound Technology

We will be holding our Braille and Beer/Tech Chat Live event a day later than usual this year, on Tuesday 9 July, from 3:30 PM. It will be held in partnership with the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP), and will officially end at 8:00 PM so as to avoid clashing with the first Euro 2024 semi-final.

Braille and Beer will take place at The Gosta Green, Holt Street, Birmingham, B7 4BG, a three-minute (0.1 mile) walk from Sight Village. From The Eastside Rooms, walk north-west for 266 feet, then turn right onto Heneage Street West. Continue straight for 23 feet until you reach Holt Street, then keep walking straight down Holt Street for 459 feet until you encounter the pub on the left.

Contact: Matthew Horspool, 07429 171736

On Monday 8 July, QAC will be holding their own evening celebration of 30 years of Sight Village from 6:30 PM until 11:00 PM at The Eastside Rooms. You are warmly invited to attend and tickets are free, but spaces are limited and booking in advance is essential. If you would like to socialise between the end of Sight Village and the start of the evening event, you will find members of the Braillists Team in the bar at the Aloft Hotel.

More information about the evening event

Book tickets for the evening event

Due to many of our staff attending Sight Village Central, we will not be offering our usual Braille Bar this week. The next Braille Bar will take place on Tuesday 23 July.

Sight and Sound Technology are pleased to announce the following discounts, available for a limited time from the start of Sight Village Central on Monday 8 July 2024:

• 20% off BrailleSense6, BrailleSense6 Mini, QBraille XL, Taptilo and other products from Hims
• 10% off HABLE One
• 10% off Rogue Embosser, Delta Embosser, EmBraille Embosser, SpotDot Embosser, Columbia Embosser and other products from ViewPlus

In addition, get an introductory price of £2,295 on the Hims Braille eMotion (RRP £2,795), plus take an extra 10% off the introductory sale price if you trade in any note taker in working order. Discount applied on receipt of your device.

For more details, please visit the Sight and Sound website.

Selvas BLV is pleased to announce the release of a major upgrade for Braille eMotion, V1.2!

This upgrade adds several electronic library services to the Braille eMotion, including access to BookShare, and an optional Sense Bible. We’ve also added the ability to add individual regional/optional services in the future via the Optional Services Installer, and you can expect to see several more service options by the end of the summer!

This release also adds thumb key navigation through the use of the “cursor” keys as navigation keys, both internally and in the terminal for Screen Reader. In addition, the Braille eMotion can now utilize several UEB Braille learning tables according to published lesson series levels for those learning Braille.

You can visit the Braille eMotion download page for release notes, firmware, and upgrade instructions.

The Braillists will once again be exhibiting at Sight Village Central, taking place on:

• Monday 8 July, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
• Tuesday 9 July, 9:30 AM-3:30 PM

Attendance is free and pre-registration is encouraged.

In addition to our usual exhibition stand, we will be hosting an interactive workshop entitled: Beyond Bump-Ons: Creative Approaches to Tactile Marking.

“Is that a tin of peaches or a tin of soup? Someone did tell me, but I’ve forgotten!”

If this sounds like you, join us as we discuss and demonstrate low-cost, practical tactile systems to help you independently stay organised around the home. Whether you’ve lived alone for a long time, you’re adjusting to sight loss later in life, or you’ll be off to University in September, there’s something here for you. And who knows? You might even discover a new use for a hair tie!

Beyond Bump-Ons will take place on:

• Monday 8 July, 12:25 PM-12:55 PM, Room 2
• Tuesday 9 July, 1:45 PM-2:15 PM, Room 1

We would highly encourage you to attend this seminar if you can, as it will enable you to make the most of a Masterclass taking place later in July – see next week’s Newsletter for more information.

We will be holding our Braille and Beer/Tech Chat Live event a day later than usual this year, on Tuesday 9 July, from 3:30 PM. It will be held at the Gosta Green pub in partnership with the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP), and will officially end at 8:00 PM so as to avoid clashing with the first Euro 2024 semi-final.

On Monday 8 July, QAC will be holding their own evening celebration of 30 years of Sight Village from 6:30 PM until 11:00 PM at The Eastside Rooms. You are warmly invited to attend and tickets are free, but spaces are limited and booking in advance is essential. If you would like to socialise between the end of Sight Village and the start of the evening event, you will find members of the Braillists Team in the bar at the Aloft Hotel.

Sight Village Central will take place at The Eastside Rooms, 2 Woodcock Street, Birmingham, B7 4BL. It is conveniently located in the heart of Birmingham with excellent access to public transportation and adjacent to two secure parking facilities.

The exhibition will occupy a spacious main area and a smaller adjacent space near the seminar and catering facilities, all conveniently situated on the ground floor and fully accessible. Additionally, the seminar rooms are separate from the exhibition area, ensuring a peaceful environment.

It is adjacent to the Aloft Hotel, a part of the Marriott chain, which is pet-friendly should you wish to bring your furry friend along. For hotel room inquiries, please contact the hotel directly at 0121 820 6000.

Braille and Beer will take place at The Gosta Green, Holt Street, Birmingham, B7 4BG, a three-minute (0.1 mile) walk from Sight Village. From The Eastside Rooms, walk north-west for 266 feet, then turn right onto Heneage Street West. Continue straight for 23 feet until you reach Holt Street, then keep walking straight down Holt Street for 459 feet until you encounter the pub on the left.

Contact: Matthew Horspool, 07429 171736

More information about Sight Village Central

Book tickets for Sight Village Central

More information about the evening event

Book tickets for the evening event

The United Kingdom Association for Accessible Formats(UKAAF) is the official standard-setting body for Braille, Music Braille, Accessible Images, (and other accessible formats) in the UK

Three times a year, it publishes a magazine called “Format Matters”, designed to share updates about UKAAF’s work and highlight exciting news stories in the wider accessible format industry. Anyone can receive the magazine free of charge as a PDF file, and if you live in the UK, you can also opt to receive it in a range of accessible formats in hard copy through the post.

To receive the magazine, you need to join UKAAF as a member – but don’t panic! There is no charge for individuals. The form is very short and can be completed on the UKAAF website.

UKAAF membership form

When prompted, please answer as follows:

• Membership Type: Individual
• Organization Name: your name
• Billing Address: leave blank – you only need to pay for organizational memberships, not individual ones
• Category of Membership: Member – £Free

We hope you enjoy the magazine.

This session, presented by Saima Akhtar, is designed to give you a Whistlestop tour of the fundamentals of Arabic braille. Rest assured, it’s not nearly as complicated as you think. By the end of the session, you will have more insight into the following areas:

• The origins of Arabic braille.
• Common misconceptions around the structure and layout of Arabic braille.
• How the Arabic alphabet is constructed. (Here we will tackle the puzzling conundrum surrounding how to identify consonants and vowels.)
• Next steps for anybody looking to learn more after the session.

Please note, it will be much easier to follow along if you have a grasp of grade one English braille as I will be referring to similarities between English and Arabic braille throughout the session.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 815 6532 8012
• Passcode: 123456

The Sound Without Sight initiative have asked us to share the following announcement:

We are excited to announce our next Monthly Meet-up and have something extra special lined up for this month! We will be hosting a panel of three very special guests:

• Andre Louis, a renowned jazz composer and music technology accessibility consultant;
• Kevin Satizabal, a composer and music journalist, who currently works for the BBC;
• and Clare Gailans, a braille music teacher and transcriber, and advocate for accessible formats for music notation.

The panel will be comparing and contrasting different approaches to learning and creating music, such as using braille music notation, learning by ear, and using notation software to explore digital scores. Join us as we unravel the pros and cons of these approaches!

The session will be taking place on Zoom. Of course, everyone is welcome, but we believe this session would be particularly relevant to people interested in exploring new methods of learning, composing, or performing music, and people connected to music education.

Topics of discussion will include:

• Advantages of each approach described above.
• Potential difficulties of each approach and how to overcome them.
• Suggestions of accessible software options that can support these approaches.
• Tips for using each method when collaborating with sighted musicians.
• Is braille music still relevant in the modern world?
• Is there a ‘better’ method?

This will be a relaxed, informal discussion and audience participation is encouraged. We will be prioritising questions submitted in advance of the event, so we advise that you contact us with any questions you may have so that we can ensure that they are included in the discussion. We hope that there will also be time for Q&A, so that you have the opportunity to ask any questions that may occur to you during the session.

Please note that this session will be recorded and published on podcasting platforms, so if you contribute during the session, you are consenting to appearing in the recording. This session is open to all ages, but we advise that children or young people wishing to attend the session should be accompanied by an adult.

We hope to see you there!

Register for the braille music event here.

The United Kingdom Association for Accessible Formats(UKAAF) is the official standard-setting body for Braille, Music Braille, Accessible Images, (and other accessible formats) in the UK, and has recently launched a brand new channel for keeping you informed about its work.

UKAAF’s Braille Subject Area periodically publishes standards, guidelines and reference documents on the application of Unified English Braille in the UK. Recent examples include guidelines on best practice for formatting documents, transcription of foreign language material, binding and labelling documents, and a single-page reference document for UEB readers who need to read SEB publications. In addition, the Music Subject Area has recently published an introduction to automated braille music transcription.

UKAAF also works closely with the braille technology industry and has recently completed a large project updating the UK template for the Duxbury Braille Translator.

In the near future, guidance is expected on how to transcribe home nation languages in an English context, e.g. in study materials for an English person learning Welsh.

If you would like to receive an email whenever new standards, guidance and reference documents are published, as well as occasional notices of consultations, conferences and training events on accessible formats, please subscribe to the brand new UKAAF-announce mailing list on groups.io.

You may either use the link above or send a blank email to: [email protected]

UKAAF looks forward to welcoming you and sharing its work more widely through this channel.