This historic conference was held in 1973 in Münster Germany. The Proceedings were published in 1974. The March ACM Source for this page
This paper outlines current work in Britain on Braille translation by computer. It goes on to explore possible programming methods, highlighting problems and suggesting solutions. It finishes by examining the feasibility of an international index of Braille software, suggesting a possible implementation.Before I begin, may I say first, how pleased and privileged I feel to be here today-my pleasure will be all th e greater if this conference achieves something really positive; and second, how grateful I am to Professor Werner for inviting me-I hope he will feel that my presence is worthwhile.So much has been written already about Braille translation by computer that I feel doubtful about how much that is original there is for me to add. However, in this paper, I shall begin by outlining the work proceeding in the United Kingdom; I shall go on to suggest some programming techniques worth investigating when implementing Braille translation systems; and finally I shall talk about the possibility of the international pooling of Braille translation programs and of information about them.
I would like to speak on the following subjects. How to translate texts into Braille with only a typist who doesn't know Braille rules.Difficulties encountered: codes of letters with accents and Braille signs. They have been studied when we worked for Braille Grade I.To obtain Braille Grade 2 we use a syntactical analyser, a "hashing" table and a "contraction" program.It seems that this last program can be used for other languages and it is this one that we shall study.
It is the goal of this report to present the concept of MARKOV algorithm as a universal translator into Braille, which is applicable to every language and every definition of the respective (Grade 1 or Grade 2) Braille and to which all the language-dependent components are supplied as parameters.This report describes in detail the concept of MARKOV algorithm and attempts to make evident that this concept is an adequate general formalization of the translation process of inkprint into Braille.