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Using DBTUsing MegaDotsAnd Introducing NimPro

Transcribing NIMAS Files

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Transcribing NIMAS Files

Peter J. SullivanVP, DevelopmentDuxbury Systems, Inc.270 Littleton Road, Unit 6Westford, MA 01886-3523peter@duxsys.com

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We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals and organizations to today’s presentation:

• Pearson Scott Foresman• Michigan’s Integrated Technology Supports• American Foundation for the Blind• Bob Stepp, CASC• Braille Institute• Susan Christensen

Acknowledgements

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Goals

• You’ll talk the talk…– You’ll understand NIMAS files

(but no more than you need to).

• You’ll walk the walk…– You’ll transcribe portions of a

real textbook from a NIMAS file.

• You’ll get your questions answered…

• And I hope you’ll answer mine.

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POLITICSGoals

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Outline

• NIMAS and DAISY• Desktop Orientation• What’s wrong with DBT and

MegaDots• A better way: NimPro• NimPro design details (yawn!)• Using NimPro, step-by-step• Demo: Basic NimPro• Customizing NimPro• NimPro Export Options

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Outline

• Demo & Lab: Front Matter• Demo & Lab: Body Matter• Demo & Lab: Tables• Demo & Lab: Graphics• Demo: Getting Help• Moving Beyond NIMAS• Evaluations

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Suppose You Need a Book in Braille

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NIMAS Files Can Help!

But what are NIMAS Files?

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NIMAS Files are for New K-12 Textbooks

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NIMAS Files are DAISY Files

For the full story, see:http://nimas.cast.org/about/index.html

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NIMAS Files Come in a Zip Package• You can download the Zip

package with or without graphics.

• A short PDF is always included.

• The main file is a .XML file. We’ll be looking at a sample.

• Your CD file contains a full package, with graphics, already un-zipped.

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• Go to http://www.nimac.us• All can search for content by title,

publisher, or ISBN• Log In to obtain content• Authorized Users (AUs) can obtain

content as required under contract with the publisher

• Alternate Media Producers (AMPs), including braille transcribers, can obtain content assigned by an AU

• You may or may not use the NIMAC directly.

• We’ll see more later!

NIMAS Files are Available Through Your State’s Authorized User(s)

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Now You Have a NIMAS File

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… And You Need it in Braille …

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Can You Do It?

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Yes!

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Let’s Get Going!

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Desktop Orientation

• Login Name: Training• Leave password blank

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Desktop Orientation

• Web Username: guest(lowercase)

• Web Password: HO4813(two capital letters)

• Write these down! (You may need them later, even if you don’t need them now.)

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Desktop Orientation

• Workshop files are on a CD in your D: drive.

• You’ll be storing files on the C: drive, in c:\megawork.

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Desktop Orientation

Please locate the following icons on your desktop:

Play with these applications, or others, if the presentation bores you.

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo 1

DBT and MegaDots Can Read NIMAS Files!

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Problems You May Have Seen

• The resulting file is too large to handle efficiently.

• Some styles aren’t recognized.

• Numbers in numbered lists may be missing.

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Problems You May Have Seen

• Nested structures (e.g. lists within lists) aren’t recognized.

• DBT formatting is missing unless a special template is used.

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And Some You Didn’t See…• DBT and MegaDots can

only open the .XML file, not the package.

• Page Numbers aren’t always appropriate for braille documents.

• Tables may cause problems for MegaDots.

• Tables will cause problems for DBT.

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Why NimPro?

• NimPro improves the imports of DBT and MegaDots.

• NimPro can divide files as needed.

• Designing one product (NimPro) allows us to make improvements in two product families.

• NimPro can ease transition of graphics from the NIMAS package into tactile formats.

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What is NimPro?• NimPro is a preprocessor.

(NimPro stands for NIMAS Processor.)

• It is a standalone application.• NimPro is free for users of

MegaDots (2.3 or 2.4) and DBT (10.5 or newer).

• NimPro is still unreleased, but essentially complete for initial release. We believe it is quite useful.

• For latest builds and information, see: www.duxburysystems.com/nimpro.asp

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OneNIMAS File(.XML or .ZIP)

OneNimProProject

SeveralDBT

Documents

SeveralWordMLDocuments

SeveralMegaDotsDocuments

What Files does NimPro Use?

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NimPro Project Files

• Contain text as in the original NIMAS file.

• Text is in linear form – just a series of paragraphs instead of nested structure of original NIMAS file.

• Paragraph styles are intended to be meaningful to braille transcriber.

• May evolve to support Braille-in-Daisy.

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NimPro Project Files

• Contain dotty graphics.• Link to “thumbnail”

graphics from the original NIMAS file.

• Not directly portable from computer-to-computer.

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Using NimPro: Step-by-Step

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Step 1:Get the Hardcopy Too!

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Step 2:Put a Friendly Face on the NIMAS File

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Step 3:Review Paragraph Style Tags

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Step 4: Revise

• Use Quick Keys in Edit Style Mode to revise paragraph style tags

• Use Text Edit Mode to change text

• Use Wizards forthe Big Jobs

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Step 5: Divide and Conquer

• Divide by pages• Divide by sections• Use the Word Count

display to help estimate volume size

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Step 6: Edit Individual Volumes• Use DBT,• Use DBT-Ready Word

Files, or• Use MegaDots

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Choosing a Path to MegaDots

• MegaDots Native files are the simplest to manage an affirm, but require MegaDots installation.

• MegaDots Markup files are a historical format for compatibility.

• MegaDots Ready files may best allow external manipulations.

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Choosing a Path to DBT

• DBT Files offers the best support for graphics and Exact Translation texts.

• WordML Files can be made anywhere, but DBT won’t read them.

• Word Files require Word to be installed with NimPro.

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NimPro Display

• Text and graphics are presented in a natural order, derived from the NIMAS file.

• Text styles are presented on screen as they would be presented to a print reader.

• NimPro’s “simulated print” display is not intended to eliminate the need for hardcopy.

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NimPro Display

• NimPro normally displays one page or one section of the document at a time.

• A Word Counter tells you how many words are in the page or section shown.

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NimPro Display

• Text styles are shown also on a “Style Map” to the left of the document text.

• Sidebars are shown with a grey background.

• Auto-numbers are shown with underscores.

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NimPro Preferences

• DBT Version• MegaDots

Binary Preference

• Image Handling

• Use of email for support requests

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NimPro Functionality Summary• Wizards are designed to

fix several common problems at a stroke.

• Quick Style Editing, and other limited editing capabilities, can be used to fix other problems.

• Export to DBT, Word, or MegaDots to fix further problems.

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Demo 2

Basic NimPro•Reading Documents•Using Quick Keys•Saving Selected Pages•Viewing with DBT or MegaDots

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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NIMAS Trouble

• Text is sometimes out of natural order• Typos• Image description errors• Overuse of bold text• Indistinct styles for Contents

and Index• Heading levels must be

matched to braille formatneeds

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NIMAS Trouble (Continued)

• Some lists are doubly-numbered

• Some headings are written as Body Text

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Demo 3

Using a Wizard

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo, Q&A and Lab

Front Matter and Rear Matter

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Quick Keys ReferenceB Body text (ordinary text paragraphL1 List Item (an entry in a list)T Production Note (a transcriber's Note)H1 Heading 1H2 Heading 2H3 Heading 3

(You can print this from the online help.)

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo, Q&A and Lab

Body Matter and Headings

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Quick Keys ReferenceB Body text (ordinary text paragraphL1 List Item (an entry in a list)T Production Note (a transcriber's Note)H1 Heading 1H2 Heading 2H3 Heading 3

(You can print this from the online help.)

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo, Q&A and Lab

Tables

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo, Q&A and Lab

Graphics

DBT 11.1(Preview 1)

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

MegaDots 2.4 without Speech

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Demo and Q&A

Getting Help

NimPro 1.0 (Preview 4)

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Recap: “Monsters”

• Graphics cannot be brought into Word.

• Direct braille cannot be brought into Word.

• DBT cannot read WordML. • Word template is not fully-

adapted to Word 2007.

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Recap: Coming Attractions

• We plan to enhance NimPro’s direct editing capabilities, though we do not anticipate eliminating the need for “touchup” in DBT or MegaDots.

• More Wizards are to be added, and existing Wizards enhanced, as-needed. Our limited experience with real-world NIMAS files prevents us knowing what will be needed in this regard.

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Recap: Coming Attractions

• Working with CAST, we’ll be enhancing NimPro to automatically recognize common element classes.

• We’ve heard the cry for Undo! For now, however, we recommend frequent saves.

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Recap: How-To

• Use NimPro for a quick assessment, overall fixup, and division of the NIMAS document.

• Remove, annotate, or “Bumpify” graphics in NimPro.

• Get NimPro at www.duxburysystems.com/nimpro.asp

• If processing graphics, do all NimPro work on one computer.

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Recap: How-To

• Use DBT, Word, or MegaDots to work on individual volumes:– Search/Replace– Re-arrange– Introduce section markup– Mark uncontracted and CBC

text

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Recap: How-To

• Find us at:www.duxburysystems.com/nimpro.asp

• Sign up for the beta list.• Give us feedback!

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Elements and Classes and Text(Oh My!)… Or why NimPro isn’t the

only way to tackle DAISY files.

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Moving to DAISY?

Considerations for Process Planners

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Moving to DAISY

• Many institutional braille producers are moving to use DAISY.

• DAISY can be a target format, for reading machines.

• DAISY can additionally be a central file format for production of accessible formats.

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Recommendations

• Don’t make changes you don’t need to make.

• Some have used Word as the “Central” file format.

• But if you’re new to single-source production of multiple formats, consider DAISY as the “Central” format.

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For Non-Homegrown DAISY

• Look at the XML itself.

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For Non-Homegrown DAISY

• Look for class attributes

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For Non-Homegrown DAISY

• Look for Element names• Look for Classes used for

each element• Do Classes reflect the type

of text within an element, or are they an artifact of the composition tool?

• Are there other attributes?• Pay attention to context

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Build a Process

• Context issues must be resolved in XSLT preprocessing

• Elements, classes, and other attributes can be mapped to styles by a simple mapping process.

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Growing Your Own

• A free Add-In for Word 2003 and Word 2007 can be used. It may be best for DAISY for players only.

• Other customized tools are more appropriate for DAISY-in-the-middle.

• Create consistent, rich DAISY to avoid manual processing.

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Dealing with DAISY

Considerations for Transcribers

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Questions to Ask

• Who made the DAISY File?A file created by your in-house staff might be intended for direct processing.

• How large is the DAISY File?Large files will need to be divided. You might use NimPro for this, or a tool from CAST.

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Questions to Ask

• Do you expect more of the same? If so, it might be worth developing an XSLT transformation to bring documents to in-house standards.

• NimPro is a good fallback!

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Evaluations• Go to:

www.afb.org/nimasbraille.asp• Please fill out the evaluation to

let us know what you think of the presentation…