114 episodes

Celebrating braille and keeping braillists informed with exclusive interviews, independent reviews, comprehensive demonstrations, clear presentations, thought-provoking commentary and up-to-the-minute braille news.

Braillecast The Braillists Foundation

    • Education
    • 5.0 • 3 Ratings

Celebrating braille and keeping braillists informed with exclusive interviews, independent reviews, comprehensive demonstrations, clear presentations, thought-provoking commentary and up-to-the-minute braille news.

    Catching Up with Bristol Braille Technology: Canute 360 and Canute Console

    Catching Up with Bristol Braille Technology: Canute 360 and Canute Console

    Bristol Braille Technology CIC recently released version 2.1 of the firmware for Canute 360, the world's first multi-line braille E-reader. Canute has come up in conversation many times before, but never specifically: what is it, and what can it do? In this episode, we sit down with Ed Rogers, Managing Director of BBT, to find out.



    Links of interest:




    Specification for supplementary Canute BRF metadata file



    Information about Bristol Braille's braille music event on 13 April 2024

    • 37 min
    Multi-Line Braille in the Classroom

    Multi-Line Braille in the Classroom

    The braille community is buzzing about the next generation of braille display: multi-line devices which can show anything from tables to tactile graphics at the press of a button are now a reality, and enthusiastic early adopters around the world are putting the technology through its paces.



    These multi-line braille displays will, sooner or later, undoubtedly disrupt all our experiences of refreshable braille in many places, but perhaps most notably in education. What does this mean for teachers, and what does this mean for students in the classroom, doing their homework and progressing to further and higher education? We'll be digging into the detail in two parts:



    Firstly, we will hear from HumanWare, Bristol Braille Technology CIC, Dot Inc and Orbit Research, all of whom are developing multi-line braille displays, and each of whom will give a ten minute presentation on how they see their products working in the classroom.



    Secondly, we'll hear from a panel of education professionals. They will share their reactions to the presentations, discuss how current practice might evolve to take advantage of emerging braille technologies, and engage with the manufacturers to find answers to some of their most pressing questions.



    This episode is presented in collaboration with the Professional Association for the Vision Impairment Education Workforce (VIEW).



    Manufacturers, their Products and Representatives




    HumanWare, promoting the Monarch: Andrew Flatres, Braille Product Manager, and Peter Tucic, Director of Strategic Partnerships



    Bristol Braille Technology CIC, promoting Canute 360 (£2495.00) and Canute Console (£3995 or £1650 for existing Canute 360 owners): Ed Rogers, Managing Director



    Dot Inc, promoting the Dot Pad (£11995): Mazi Zarrehparvar



    Orbit Research, promoting the Orbit Slate 520 ($3495 USD) and the Orbit Slate 340 ($3995 USD): Venkatesh Chari, CEO




    Panellists




    Jane Sharp, Education Specialist QTVI at RNIB and Chair of the Visual Impairment Education Workforce (VIEW)



    Jonathan Fogg, Strategic Lead for IT at New College Worcester



    Jackie Brown, Technology For Life Co-Ordinator for Northern Ireland at RNIB




    The event was hosted by Dave Williams and produced by Matthew Horspool.



    Extracts from the Chat



    What are the dimentions of the Dot Pad please?



    Participant: 273.2 mm × 228.1 mm



    Mazi: 20 braille cells per line and 10 lines on the large screen. 20 cells on single line below graphics area.



    Dot Pad pricing is not fixed but our goals is to make the Dotpad economically accessible.



    Can you send information from the dot pad back to an iPad?



    Mazi: We are working on two way interaction between the Dot Pad and connected devices. At this time, the Dot Pad is a printer. It receives content from the iPad, iPhone, PC, or Mac. It is interactive in the sense that you can scroll up and down pages and make selections. You can also scroll across icons showing on your iPhone or iPad.



    If you would like more information, please be comfortable contacting me. We are rapidly innovating and all ideas and advice is welcome.



    Do the graphical devices allow a tactile diagram and a braille label on the same page?



    Ed: Yes. You can mix them up. We typically use a lot of Braille to make sense of the diagrams. For the Canute Console, that was.



    Andrew: For Monarch, Yes, it can display both graphics and braille on the same array.



    I'd be very interested to know if manufacturers were intending to (or have) produce progression charts/teaching ideas for supporting student development of skills in using these products? We can't afford to have one for us to learn on as well as one for the student, so any help on how to use them effectively and to think about skills progression is really helpful!



    Andrew: HumanWare appreciates there is a lot to learn when it comes to these types of new technology, therefore before Monarch will be released we will be conducting in-person teachers trai

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Two Conferences in the Summer … Or Should That Be Winter?

    Two Conferences in the Summer … Or Should That Be Winter?

    It's an exciting time for braille as we approach the 200th birthday of the braille code, and the International Council on English Braille will be celebrating in style this year with its eighth General Assembly, the theme of which is "Two Centuries of Braille". It will take place from Saturday 25 May to Thursday 30 May at The Grand Millennium Hotel Auckland, 71 Mayoral Drive, Corner Vincent Street, Auckland Central, New Zealand.



    But what is the International Council on English Braille, what is the purpose of its General Assembly, and how can we get involved? James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, Chair of the Braille Coding Group of the UK Association for Accessible Formats, Chair of ICEB's Braille Technology Committee, and UK representative on the ICEB Executive and Code Maintenance Committees, tells us more.



    Join the iceb-announce group on groups.io by sending a blank email to iceb-announce+subscribe@groups.io



    The Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities is holding its Annual Conference the week before the ICEB General Assembly. It will be taking place at Novotel Perth Langley, 221 Adelaide Terrace, Perth, Western Australia, and early bird registration is open until 29 February 2024. The conference theme is Information Equity: Empowerment through Technology, Advocacy and Collaboration. The Annual Meeting of the Australian Braille Authority will be held on Saturday 18 May, followed immediately by the Round Table Conference from Sunday 19 May to Tuesday 21 May.



    Chantelle Griffiths, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at New Zealand's Tactile and Technology Literacy Centre and good friend of the Braillists Foundation, tells us more.

    • 32 min
    The Braillists at NFB 2023

    The Braillists at NFB 2023

    The Braillists Foundation held a face-to-face meeting at the 83rd annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel, Texas, in July 2023. Our Chairman, Dave Williams, was there with a microphone to soak up the atmosphere.



    We spoke to:




    Bristol Braille Technology CIC



    Hable



    A Cubed Design



    Ka Li (consulting for National Network for Equitable Library Service and member of the Australia and New Zealand Accessible Graphics Group (ANZAGG) and the EBraille Tactile Graphics Taskforce)



    Marco Salsiccia, Senior Native Mobile Accessibility Coach at DEQ Systems and owner of the Blind SVG Study Guide



    Danielle Montour, volunteer Braille and Tactile Literacy Educator at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, New York



    A. T. Guys and Blind Bargains




    With thanks to the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library for allowing us the use of their room for our meeting.

    • 20 min
    Braille Into Christmas

    Braille Into Christmas

    As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, a few people joined us for a cosy fireside chat to round off the year on Tuesday 19 December.



    How do you write and address your Christmas cards? How do you know whose Christmas presents are whose? And what part does braille play in all of this?



    We were joined by our expert Braille for Beginners team, Mel Pritchard and Chantelle Griffiths, to get the conversation started, and we heard plenty of ideas from the audience too, on a multitude of Christmas-themed topics.

    • 56 min
    The Braille Doodle

    The Braille Doodle

    Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just pick up a tablet of sorts, draw on it, and have the drawing in a tactile form? And wouldn't it be even more wonderful if you could simply erase the drawing and start over if you didn't like it?



    The Braille Doodle does just that, and we catch up with the Touchpad Pro Foundation to find out more.

    • 1 hr 2 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
3 Ratings

3 Ratings

wiggie1 ,

Excellent Podcast Series

I came across this podcast by accident. Excellent podcast especially for a beginner looking for information on braille. Interesting and useful discussions. Throughly recommend for all braillists and non braillist looking for information

Rebecca Thorne ,

Thorough and engaging education about and discussion of Braille

This podcast is a lovely mix of Braille education for Braillists of all levels and thoughtful discussion about Braille, particularly the impact it has on the lives of those who use it. It's lovely that this archive of Braillists Foundation events exist, especially for those of who find it difficult or inconvenient to attend live. I started learning Braille when I was young and yet I've learnt plenty from this podcast I didn't know that has enhanced my Braille usage in my personal life and in my work running a small business. Yet there's plenty here for newer generations of Braillists. I also really appreciate the conversations about what Braille means to people.

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