Product Description

BrailleBlaster software takes advantage of the rich markup contained in NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) files and EPUB files to automate basic translation and formatting, and make more advanced tasks quicker and easier. Designed primarily for editing textbooks that meet the specifications published by the Braille Authority of North America (BANA), the purpose of BrailleBlaster is to help braille producers ensure that every student has his or her braille textbooks on the first day of class.

BrailleBlaster relies on Liblouis, a well-known, open-source braille translator, for translating text and mathematics to braille. BrailleBlaster provides all the tools necessary for a trained transcriber to efficiently produce a quality embossed braille textbook from an original publisher file, using the raw translation from Liblouis. Using BrailleBlaster, testers have seen a substantial increase in the number of pages that a transcriber can produce compared to current methods.

The development of BrailleBlaster and modifications to Liblouis are part of the REAL Plan (Resources with Enhanced Accessibility for Learning). The REAL Plan is an ongoing initiative of APH to improve the conversion and delivery of braille and other accessible formats to students who are blind.

For more: information about BrailleBlaster, or register to become a beta tester.