Appropriate Use of the Electronic Notetaker in School

Appropriate Use of the Electronic Notetaker in School

The Braille Monitor

January,

2004

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Appropriate Use of the

Electronic Notetaker in School

by

Curtis Chong

Curtis

Chong

From the Editor: Curtis

Chong is president of the NFB in Computer Science, our computer science division.

He was recently asked to give his views on the exclusive use of electronic notetakers

by students to produce their schoolwork in print. His answer was clear and concise

and will be of use to many students and teachers. Here it is:

You asked me to comment

upon the value of exclusively using an electronic notetaker such as a Braille

Lite or BrailleNote for blind children to produce printed work in school. As

you know, I have some rather definite opinions on the subject.

First I would like to say

that any note taking technology that uses a Braille keyboard to enter information

and a Braille display to review it can be of tremendous value to any blind person

who knows how to write and read Braille. The Braille display makes it possible

for a person silently and efficiently to read what is stored in the machine,

and the Braille keyboard represents an excellent way to enter information quickly

with a small number of keys allowing

for a compact design. If a person is going to use an electronic notetaker such

as a BrailleNote or Braille Lite, mastery of its operation is essential.

Once mastered, the device

can prove to be invaluable. Many proficient Braille users find it more natural

to enter information using a Braille keyboard, and for many Braille users it

is preferable to read information in Braille as opposed to listening to it.

As for me, I find that I write better using a typewriter style keyboard even

though I read Braille very quickly, and I prefer to finish my written work on

the computer even though I may have composed a rough draft on my electronic

notetaker.

A blind student who knows

how to produce printed material with an electronic Braille notetaker only is

at a severe disadvantage however, when compared to a blind student who knows

how to prepare printed information with a Braille notetaker and a computer or

a typewriter. For one thing, Braille formatting is distinctly different from

print; e.g., Braille lines are shorter, and the Braille layout is more compact:

a student entering information in Braille is not as likely to take this difference

into account as a student who is using a computer and a commercial off shelf

word processing program. For another thing, it is highly likely that information

entered correctly into a notetaker using correct contracted Braille will produce

erroneous results when the material is transformed into print. For example,

a double hyphen (--)

when entered in Braille could produce "com"

in print; "Dear Al" written in Braille would transform into "Dear

Also" in print; or that "CD" I was writing about in Braille would

be printed as "COULD" in print. To correct this conversion problem,

the Braille user must necessarily learn some bad Brailling habits.

As

blind people who live in a world designed for those with sight, we must necessarily

create documents in print so that our friends, family members, and coworkers

can read them. In fact I would go so far as to say that a majority of the documents

that a typical blind person generates throughout the course of his or her life

are for the benefit of people who can see. This is not surprising given that

the blind represent a very small fraction of the total population.

Therefore it is necessary

for any blind person who expects to lead a normal life to understand how printed

material should be formatted. For example, how is a paragraph indicated in print?

I can think of three ways: placing a blank line between paragraphs, indenting

the first line of the paragraph, and leaving a blank line before the indented

first line of the paragraph. When should a particular heading be centered? When

should a heading be aligned with the left margin? What about page numbers? Are

they printed at the top right of the page, the bottom right of the page, or

are they printed at all? What is the difference between a proportionally spaced

font and a mono spaced font? These are questions that print readers can answer

without thinking too hard. I am sorry to say that this is not as true for the

blind.

Recently, as director of

field operations for the Iowa Department for the Blind, I had an opportunity

to chat with a graduating high school senior who was headed for college. I asked

her how she prepared her school papers in print. She indicated that she used

a Braille 'n Speak. I asked her if she knew how to create a footnote. She said,

"No." I asked her if she knew how to operate Microsoft Word. She said,

"No." I asked her about the formatting of her printed reports. She

said that all of her material was aligned with the left margin no

centering, no page numbering, and no highlighting of text. The tragedy of this

situation was that the student could not understand why I was concerned about

this situation.

What

I am trying to say, in a rather roundabout fashion, is that it is critical for

blind students (and blind adults, for that matter) to have the knowledge and

the ability to produce printed material with a variety of tools. Electronic

Braille notetakers are one way to generate print; but just as it is important

to master these devices, it is equally important for a blind person to be able

to create printed material using a word processing program running on a regular

computer.

If a person hopes to work

in a professional job or attend an institution of higher learning, this latter

skill is not only desirable but essential. College professors and potential

employers will not regard with favor anyone who says that he or she can generate

printed reports only with a Braille Lite or a BrailleNote. Moreover, the quality

of a blind person's work will suffer if these technologies represent the only

way in which a person can produce printed material. I find it highly disturbing

that any professional in the field of work with the blind would limit the achievement

of a single person by recommending the exclusive use of a Braille notetaker

for creating printed work.

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