Computerised Braille Production

The aims of the Sub-Committee on Computerised Braille Production are to seek international co-operation for the development of computerised braille production facilities and to encourage the cost-effective use of technology for braille production. To fulfil these aims the Sub-Committee is endeavouring to: maintain an international directory of people and organisations involved or interested in computerised braille production; collect and disseminate information about current and future computerised braille production systems; hold international meetings. The Sub~Committee comprises: 1) Mr. D. W. Croisdale (Chairman) c/o Royal National Institute for the Blind, 224-228 Great Portland Street, London, W1N 6AA, Uni ted Kingdom. 2) Dr. H. Werner, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Institut für Angewandte Mathematik Wegeierstraße 6 0-5300 Bonn German Federal Republic. J) Mr. R.A.J. Gildea, Mitre Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts 017JO, U.S.A. The international directory is maintained by Mr. Gildea and the collection and dissemination of operational information is being planned by Dr. Werner. Previous workshops have been held at Münster (197J) and Kopenhagen (1974) on private initiative, whereas this conference held in London JO May - 1 June 1979 was the first VI of its kind held under the auspices of the Sub-committee. It is hoped to mount other conferences as circumstances demand.

Papers Presented at the Conference Held in London, May 30, 1979 - June 1, 1979

The Clovernook System.- The Linguistic Part of Automatic Braille Translation at the at the Computing Center of Münster University.- Automatic Braille Translation Implemented at the Computing Centre of Münster University.- Applications of PIAF Program.- Computer-Aided Braille Transcribing.- Applications in The Netherlands, Part I.- Applications in The Netherlands, Part II.- Computerised Braille Production in Australia.- Braille at the Tobia Centre.- New Production Systems in Braille Printing.- Braille by Time Sharing System.- Computer Translation of Grade 2 Braille in the American Printing House for the Blind.- A Double-Sided Braille Embosser.- Portuguese Braille by Computer.- The RNIB's Computerised Braille System.- The Segment Translation System: A New Formalism for Computerised Contracted Braille Translation and Phonemisation.- French Braille, Large Print, and Voice Synthesis.- Natural Language Assisted Processing: Project PIAF.- A Computerbased System for Production of Braille Music.- Braille Translation by Microcomputer.- Braille Translation by Micro-Computer and a Paperless Braille Dictionary.- Braille from a Wordprocessing System.- Compositors Tapes and Library of Congress Braille Production.- The National Geographic Monthly Magazine: From Compositor s Tapes to Braille.- Tactile Displays: Their Current State and a new Approach.- A Project for the Computerised Production of Braille in Spain.- Summary of Paper on Future of Braille.- Braille via the Selectric Typewriter.- The Rose Braille Display Reader.- DOTTRAN - A Class of Formal Braille Systems.- A Brief History of Braille in Japan and an Actual Example of its Computerization.- Participants Observerts.