Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. It is traditionally written with embossed paper. Braille users can read computer screens and other electronic supports using refreshable braille displays. They can write braille with the original slate and stylus or type it on a braille writer, such as a portable braille notetaker or computer that prints with a braille embosser.
Braille is named after its creator, Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight as a result of a childhood accident. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he developed a code for the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing. He published his system, which subsequently included musical notation, in 1829. The second revision, published in 1837, was the first small binary form of writing developed in the modern era. These characters have rectangular blocks called cells that have tiny bumps called raised dots. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguish one character from another. Since the various braille alphabets originated as transcription codes for printed writing, the mappings (sets of character designations) vary from language to language, and even within one; in English Braille there are three levels of encoding: Grade 1 – a letter-by-letter transcription used for basic literacy; Grade 2 – an addition of abbreviations and contractions; and Grade 3 – various non-standardized personal stenography. Braille cells are not the only thing to appear in braille text. There may be embossed illustrations and graphs, with the lines either solid or made of series of dots, arrows, bullets that are larger than braille dots, etc. A full braille cell includes six raised dots arranged in two columns, each column having three dots. The dot positions are identified by numbers from one to six. There are 64 possible solutions using zero or more dots. A cell can be used to represent a letter, number, punctuation mark, or even a word. In the face of screen reader software, braille usage has declined. However, because it teaches spelling and punctuation, braille education remains important for developing reading skills among blind and visually impaired children, and braille literacy correlates with higher employment rates. History Braille was based on a tactile military code called night writing, developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon’s demand for a means for soldiers to communicate silently at night and without a light source. In Barbier’s system, sets of 12 embossed dots encoded 36 different sounds. It proved to be too difficult for soldiers to recognize by touch and was rejected by the military. In 1821 Barbier visited the Royal Institute for the Blind in Paris, where he met Louis Braille. Braille identified two major defects of the code: first, by representing only sounds, the code was unable to render the orthography of the words; second, the human finger could not encompass the whole 12-dot symbol without moving, and so could not move rapidly from one symbol to another. Braille’s solution was to use 6-dot cells and to assign a specific pattern to each letter of the alphabet. At first, Braille was a one-to-one transliteration of French orthography, but soon various abbreviations, contractions, and even logograms were developed, creating a system much more like shorthand. The expanded English system, called Grade-2 Braille, was complete by 1905. For blind readers, Braille is an independent writing system, rather than a code of printed orthography. |
How do Blind people read Books
Posted on March 22, 2013 by Dushyantha Yapa Reading is a very important aspect in human life. Some do this as a hobby while others do this as a way to gain knowledge & information. It has always been a problem to a blind or visually impaired person to read a book in its original form due to the fact that books are basically printed on a plain sheet where visual interaction is essential to read its content. Therefore blind people had been deprived of the pleasure of reading books throughout history until brail had been invented. The Braille system was created in 1821 by a Frenchman, Louis Braille. It is a method widely use by blind people to read and write. Each letter or number in Braille is made up of raised dots on a thick sheet. Blind people read Braille by moving their fingers over these dots and feeling the letters and numbers. Louis Braille became blind himself at the age of three. He developed the system in order to improve the books he used at school. He modified a code used by the military for reading in the dark and made it simple so that everyone could learn it. The creation of Braille opened the door to blind people all over the world to read and write. The Brail system had been the only method of reading and writing for blind for many years until technological equipment such as Cassette players & tapes were invented. Historically, only a tiny proportion of published books have made it into Braille. But now technology means no book is off-limits some people who become blind later in life (after having learned to read print) prefer to use a system that incorporates the alphabet they are familiar with rather than learning Braille. A device called the Optacon had been used with regular books; it enlarges and raises each letter, which the blind person can then feel with his fingers and read. The Optacon was one of the pioneering devices in the realm of assistive technology products. First manufactured in 1970, the Optacon (Optical Tactile Converter) is no longer in production. Another way for blind people to discover the content of a book is through “talking books,” which are recordings of entire books-novels, schoolbooks, and so on-that can be played back on cassette, compact disc players, Mp3 players and computers. Optical scanners are another way to translate printed material into sound – these computers scan a page from a book or magazine, and a computer-generated voice reads the material aloud. Sadly, No OCR for Sinhala has yet been designed, so this is a biggest drawback for us. |
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The average Indonesian only reads books 3-4 times per week, with an average reading time of 30-59 minutes per day. Meanwhile, the number of books completed per year averages only 5-9 books. This was revealed, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Puan Maharani at the National Library building, Jakarta, Monday (3/26/2018). “It is based on the results of the 2017 national library research,” said Puan. The results of the study also showed that people’s reading interest was still low and needed to be improved. The method is by facilitating the needs of community books. “How is reading interest improved. How to attract them to read. So it can’t be forced to read, but we don’t provide the facilities for these books, “Puan said.
Not only that, in the midst of the low literacy of the Indonesian people, libraries inevitably have to be able to take the right role. In addition to providing reading resources to explore information and knowledge, the library can also be a place for various literacy-based training and skills activities. “The goal is for socio-economic empowerment of the community,” said Puan. Moreover, currently the progress of information and communication technology is very rapid. Therefore, libraries must be able to use it to accelerate the dissemination of knowledge and improve literacy in Indonesia. JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - As many as 76,478 schools from elementary to high school level have not had a library. In fact, the library is a standard means that must be in school to improve the quality of education. More than 50 percent of elementary schools, namely 55,545 schools, do not have a library. In junior high school, 12,029 schools do not yet have a library. As for the high school / vocational level, 8,904 schools do not have a library. The Head of the Sri Sularsih National Library in Jakarta, Sunday (7/10/2012), said that the procurement of school libraries was the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud). With the increasing allocation of national education, the existence of libraries in schools should also increase, including the collection of books. |
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Office of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia records 90 percent of the population over the age of 10 likes to watch television, but does not like to read books.
Compared to developed countries, the interest in reading the Indonesian population is low. In developed countries each population reads 20 to 30 titles every year. On the other hand in Indonesia, the population only reads at most three book titles and even then the people aged 0-10 years. Even though the Head of the Indonesian National Library Office Sri Sularsih said in the Safari National Reading Movement in Kulon Progo, Special Region of Yogyakarta, to be a developed country, the main key is the quality of human resources who love to read. Our editors were surprised by this finding. Because we previously asked each other what books we last read. Sakinah Reporter Umm Haniy last read the book Critical Eleven by Ika Natasha, the last Social Media Producer Famega Syafira Putri to read the Istanbul book by Orhan Pamuk, and Qowi Bastian editor for Beautiful reading That Luka by Eka Kurniawan. The last author himself read Colorless Tsukuru by Haruki Murakami and David Nicholls Novel titled One Day.Then what causes low interest in reading in Indonesia? Writers, lecturers and activists talk about reasons that make readers in Indonesia not enjoy books. school should be a place to instill reading interest, outside the family. The national education system should cultivate students to linger in the library. “So, his knowledge base from a wealth of insights and arguments is not just memorizing,” he said. In terms of the family, reading culture began early, introduced through children’s literary stories, or tales to the latest books. But going to the library, doing research or reading books, these activities take time. So even though the number of National Examinations of students from a high area is not necessarily proportional to the culture of reading. Because the exam is very mechanical and makes it seem as if the student is like a product that must be fast. While reading it can only be grown if there is a love for reading. |
Information about Book Publishing in Indonesia
Now there are 1,317 publishers registered as members of the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi). Among those publishers, 94% were listed as active publishers. The entire publisher is a private publisher and only one publisher is listed as a state-owned enterprise (BUMN), namely Balai Pustaka. In addition, most universities in Indonesia also run publishing activities (university press) as technical implementation units or business units. Active publishers are concentrated in 24 provinces of 33 provinces in Indonesia. About 1,182 publishers are on Java. This means that around 90% of publishers are concentrated in Java, especially DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java and East Java. Publishers take part in publishing text books / lessons, children’s books, religious (Islamic) books, fiction books, and literary categories. The book publishing market in Indonesia grows by 6% (per year) between 2007-2012. This growth was influenced by Indonesia’s economic growth, the rapid development of the middle class, and increased awareness of education. There is a correlation between an increase in the GDP number and a significant increase in household book spending. Book Production Approximately, there are more than 30,000 book titles published every year in Indonesia. This figure only describes the titles listed in the official bookstore records as well as submitting ISBNs at the National Library, and does not include books published by individuals (self publishers) or non-publishing organizations such as government agencies, non-governmental organizations, independent communities, political parties and professional associations.Children’s books, religion (Islam), education, fiction, and literature are the main categories of titles published in Indonesia. |
Ada 33.199.557 eksemplar buku terjual di Indonesia sepanjang 2013 (data TB Gramedia).
Berdasarkan kontribusi terhadap angka penjualan, kategori berikut menyumbang angka penjualan terbesar di Indonesia: Anak 23% Fiksi dan Sastra 13% Agama 13% Pendidikan (Pelajaran) 13% Referensi dan Kamus 9% Lain-lain 31% Kategori lain yang memberi kontribusi signifikan terhadap angka penjualan (2%-5%) adalah kategori bisnis dan ekonomi, komputer dan internet, pengembangan diri (motivasi), Ilmu Sosial, Masakan, dan Pertanian (Profesi/Hobi). |