Author: Matthew Horspool

TAVIP is hosting a free online event, open to all looking at Electronic Braille devices and eBraille.

Electronic Braille devices have come a long way over the last 40 years.

Join Paul Porter and Mike Townsend on the 15th March at 7.30 PM to take a look back at where Braille has come from and where it is going. From reading documents, web pages, spreadsheets and much more to having a library at your fingertips. The future is exciting with the development of multi line and graphic Braille displays.

The session will be interactive and we will welcome contributions from participants. We will look at Braille devices, what they are and what they can offer.

We will look at Braille devices from low cost to fully featured and everything in between.

We will also take a look at eBraille.

Join eBraille: from Paper to Chips: https://zoom.us/j/2222397064

To join by telephone, please use these details:

• Telephone Number: 020 3695 0088
• Meeting ID: 222 239 7064

The topic for the March 9, 2023, Many Faces of BARD program will be BARD on the Braille eReader. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern time and last for one hour. This program will be recorded.

The session will begin with a discussion of BARD on both models of Braille eReader distributed by NLS. The remainder of the time will be spent answering questions about the presentation or other questions related to BARD usage on any of our devices.

• Join BARD on the Braille eReader: https://loc.zoomgov.com/j/1618927125?pwd=QUxvaG1hRnRQU2E3Y2MxK01zZUpjQT09.
• Meeting ID: 161 892 7125
• Passcode: 570141

If you choose to dial into the call, use the US telephone numbers provided below. The Zoom.gov ID will not work with standard Zoom.us.

• San Jose: +1 669 254 5252
• Spanish Line: +1 646 964 1167
• New York: +1 646 828 7666
• Spanish Line: +1 415 449 4000
• +1 551 285 1373
• San Jose: +1 669 216 1590

One tap mobile (US):

• +16692545252,,1618927125#
• +16469641167,,1618927125#

Remember that the meeting is recorded. Do not speak if you do not wish to be on the recording.

On 8 February 2023, Dave Williams, our Chairman, became the 1892nd recipient of a Points of Light award from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in recognition of his voluntary work with the Braillists Foundation. On accepting the award, he dedicated it to everyone who has volunteered for the Braillists since its inception.

The Prime Minister’s daily Points of Light award is a cross-party programme supported by all MPs which recognises, every weekday, an outstanding individual volunteer, charity leader or community champion for the positive change they are making for their community. The programme is administered by the Government’s volunteering team at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Prime Minister wrote to Dave to personally thank him for his work. He also received a certificate.

Read the full story on the Poinnts of Light website.

We all extend a huge congratulations to Dave on winning this award.

Hable One is a powerful, fun and exciting way for you to interact with your smartphone or tablet using braille. As well as being a fully functional braille keyboard, supporting both grades 1 and 2, it also serves as a wireless remote control for every aspect of your smartphone or tablet, from moving around the screen to selecting, playing and pausing music, dialling numbers and changing settings.

We are delighted to be partnering with Hable and Sight and Sound Technology Ltd to offer up to 60 braille users in the UK and Ireland the opportunity to try one out for two weeks, and up to 3 people to win one for free!

This is a limited time offer, with signups closing at 9:00 AM on Wednesday 15 March, and candidate selection starting ahead of this on Wednesday 1 March.

For more information and to sign up, visit braillists.org/hable.

Our popular Braille Bar returns on Tuesday at 7:30 PM, but this time with a twist: we will be joined by Ed Rogers, Managing Director at Bristol Braille Technology, who have just announced the release of the Cannute Console. Through our computer science themed Masterclasses, we are encouraging blind people to create code using braille either on, or for, this unique device. Ed will be on hand to answer your questions about the device itself and how to write code for it, following the concepts discussed over the past few weeks.

You do not need to register for this event.

Join the Braille Bar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88035088878?pwd=NHdkR2s1aDZsV1RCUmpQNWh3YWNaQT09

Or, to join by phone, use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 880 3508 8878
• Passcode: 123456

A message from Bristol Braille Technology:

Thank you to all those who have attended the recent Computer Science Masterclasses. Following on from these and the various events where we’ve trialled our newest prototypes, we have a big announcement to make …

After four months of touring the prototypes, we are very excited to announce the release of our new product: The Canute Console

Available for pre-order on our website now! Early bird bonuses apply; only 30 pre-orders available!

The Console is a nine-line Braille workstation for professionals and students doing programming or viewing and manipulating data.

Here are some of the applications for the Console:

• Programming and word processing
• Top down map exploration of cities
• Football and sports playback on tactile pitches
• Snake, Rogue-likes and other classic videogames
• Spreadsheets and tables
• Flow diagrams, charts and graphs
• Free drawing ASCII graphics

It is composed of a Canute 360 Braille display docked in a workstation that adds a pull-out QWERTY keyboard, a fold-up 13″ high contrast monitor, and runs off a Raspberry Pi 400 from the Linux command line.

Read the full list of features and uses on the BBT website.

Reserve your pre-order with a 50% down-payment on the early bird discounted price via our online shop or by calling +44(0)117 325 3022:

• Upgrade your Canute 360 – Early Bird: Down payment of £775* out of £1,550* (discounted from £1,650). 20× early bird pre-orders available.
• Buy a new Canute Console (including Canute 360) – Early Bird: Down payment of £1,895* out of £3,795* (discounted from £3,995). 10× early bird pre-orders available.

Early Bird Bonus includes: discounted price, carry case, supporter status, and three hours of guided co-development with the BBT team for students/professionals getting started with building multiline Braille and tactile graphics applications. Units can be shipped anywhere in the world.

The down payment can be paid by Paypal, card, wire or in installments. Payment accepted in any currency (subject to conversion*). Deliveries expected to start from the end of April 2023 on a first come, first served basis.

Braille is literacy, employment and independence … it can also inspire us to do more, learn more, and most of all, to make more. We’re really excited to finally release the Console after over a year’s development. It’s involved hundreds of miles travelled by planes, trains and automobiles, and great creative sessions with blind, deafblind and low vision Braille readers.

By pre-ordering you are supporting a business that has always been a not-for-profit, dedicating everything to creating devices with and for the blind community.

The Braillists has played a central role in the development of the Canute from 2013 onwards. We can all agree that what the world needs is more braille. The Console is our way of adding that bit more Braille, in this case adding literally another dimension to programming and visualisation to Braille in computing.

Thank you to everyone in the Braillists community who has given us their feedback along the way; we hope and trust that the Console does it justice.

Thank you

Ed and the Bristol Braille team

P.S. Make sure the Canute Console is for you before placing the pre-order; we and our community of Braillist testers have been careful to design a brilliant machine for a particular audience of people interested in computer science and data visualisations. Do you know your way around the command line, or are curious to learn? Then the Console is for you!

* Conversion rates will vary by bank or payment provider. Currently: 1GBP = 1.2USD, 1.13EUR, 1.74AUD, 1.62CAD, 100INR, 161JPY.

Hable One is a powerful, fun and exciting way for you to interact with your smartphone or tablet using braille. As well as being a fully functional braille keyboard, supporting both grades 1 and 2, it also serves as a wireless remote control for every aspect of your smartphone or tablet, from moving around the screen to selecting, playing and pausing music, dialling numbers and changing settings.

For beginner braillists, it is a uniquely satisfying way of putting your braille skills into practice. For more advanced braillists, it is a vital productivity tool. It works in partnership with the smartphone or tablet’s screen reader and supports all popular apps including messages/WhatsApp, Facebook/Messenger, Twitter, Spotify, mail, contacts, calendar, reminders and notes.

On Tuesday 21 February at 7:30 PM GMT, we’ll be joined by representatives from Hable, who will tell us more about this innovative device. We will learn how easy it is to set it up and see some practical examples of how it works both as a keyboard and a remote control. There will also be plenty of opportunity for you to ask your questions.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 824 7645 2710
• Passcode: 123456

If so, please get in touch!

We are compiling a list of braille learning groups and private braille tutors for our website. If you run or have details of a local braille group, or you teach braille to individuals and would like your details included in our directory, please email [email protected] with more information.

N.B. this article is for historical interest only. All Perkins Braillers have now been taken and there are no more currently available.

RNIB have a number of second hand Perkins Braillers that are surplus to requirements. There is no charge for a Brailler, RNIB just want them to go to a new home and be used regularly, they will be distributed on a first come first served basis. If you are interested in taking a Perkins Brailler please contact Billy Mcgrouther.

According to Wikipedia, Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in any set of computer files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Luckily for us it’s far more interesting than it sounds on paper as it’s going to be the topic of the third in our series of computer science masterclasses, sponsored by Bristol Braille Technology.

We’ll start off by cutting through some of the technobabble typically associated with tools such as this and then get hands on with some simple examples using the popular Liblouis project. We’ll build on our Linux skills from the previous class along the way and even do a little bit of programming before ending the session with your questions.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 824 7645 2710
• Passcode: 123456