Data were collected from 19 surveys completed by braille users in the United Kingdom, regarding the individuals' use of braille, their opinions regarding suggested changes and additions to the braille code, and opinions regarding the symbols to be changed or added. Data were analyzed with the intention of both identifying trends in opinions regarding various changes in the braille code, and the specific characteristics of the braille users holding these opinions.
The opening portion of the survey asks respondents to describe their braille usage. Respondents identified themselves as either technical or non-technical users of the braille code, with 40% (n=8) labeling themselves non-technical users and the remaining 60% (n=11) technical users. Surveys for technical and non-technical users vary slightly, with technical users being asked to complete an additional section regarding symbols for use in the technical code. Respondents also characterized their primary interactions with the braille code as either reading, proofreading, teaching or transcribing. All of the respondents in this sample labeled themselves readers. The mean number of years the respondents had been using the braille code was 45. Additionally, the mean percentage of reading done in braille by respondents was 78%. All of the respondents read braille by touch. Seventy-four per cent of the respondents preferred to do all of their reading in braille. More people preferred to read reference materials (58%) and notes and labels (42%) in braille than recreational (26%) or technical (26%) readings.
Data for technical and non-technical users were not analyzed separately, as there were not sufficient numbers of people labeling themselves non-technical to allow for reliable comparison. Frequencies of responses to survey items were calculated in order to identify areas of opposition. OLS regression coefficients were not calculated., as there were an insufficient number of respondents in each group to produce reliable regression results.
The first 20 items on the survey consist of a series of questions in which the respondent is asked to rate on a scale of one to five, UBC features, such as capitalized passage indicators, or strategies, such as having a unified code for all reading matter. Question 20, regarding quotation mark symbols in UBC, is identical in format but was administered only to technical users. A score of one indicates the respondent felt the feature was completely unacceptable, while a score of two indicates the feature was judged simply unnecessary. A score of three indicates the respondent was neutral toward the feature. A score of four indicates the respondent felt the feature was a good idea, and a score of five indicated the respondent felt the feature was absolutely essential. A majority of respondents favored the UBC features or strategies in question on 10 of the 20 items. A majority of respondents were opposed to six items: 1) Braille text accurately reflecting printed text even if changing symbols is necessary, 2) Dropping EBAE / British Braille contractions for violation of UBC rules, 3) Not omitting spaces from one cell whole word contractions, 4) Following the contracted form of "by" with a space, 5) Following the contracted form of "to" with a space, and 6) Provision of indicators for special type styles such as sans serif. A summary of results of questions one through twenty may be found in Table 1.
Question 21 asks respondents to rate new and previously changed UBC symbols, and EBAE or British braille contractions not allowed in UBC, choosing from the following response categories: 1) Symbol is acceptable, 2) Symbol should be struck from the UBC code, and 3) Symbol is alright but the wrong characters have been chosen for its representation. Of the twelve new symbols measured, a majority approved of four of the new symbols: 1) Begin capitalized passage indicator, 2) End capitalized passage indicator, 3) End italicized passage indicator, and 4) Ampersand. Opinions split for "Begin bold face passage indicator." More opposition than support was observed for 1) Non-directional double quote and 2) End boldface passage indicator. A summary of these results may be found in Table 2.
Respondents chose from the same answer categories to rate previously changed symbols. Among 22 items, majorities of users were in favor of the changes in 5 items, 1) Forward slash, 2) Dash, 3) Dollar sign, 4) Ellipses, 5) Inch sign, 6) Division sign when indicated in print by horizontal line between dots, and 7) Dot locator. Three signs, 1) Right double quote, 2) Left directional double quote and 3) Per cent sign, were opposed by the majority. A summary of these results may be found in Table 3.
The last section of question 21 asks respondents to use the same answer categories to rate symbols for EBAE and British braille contractions not allowed in UBC. The contractions received greatest opposition. All items except for "Italicized word indicator" received more than 60% favors. Table 4 provides a summary of these results.
Question 22 asked technical users to rate new and previously changed symbols for use in the technical code (n=11). While identical in format to question 21, question 22 was administered only to technical users. Readers should keep in mind that these results are based on the extremely small sample. Majorities of technical users were in favor of all but three new symbols; support did not reach a majority for 1) End sans serif passage indicator, 2) End transcriber defined passage, 3) Transcriber defined terminator within a passage or word. A Summary of these results is shown in Table 5. Majorities of technical users were also in favor of each of the 7 of 10 changed symbols. The support for 1) Dagger, 2) Double dagger, and 3) Minus sign was either equal to or less than the opposition. A summary of the results may be found in Tables 6.
Table 1: Frequencies For Questions 1-20 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, and Don't Know) (Base: All / n = 19)
| QUESTION | FAVOR | OPPOSE | NEUTRAL | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unified code for all reading matter, except braille music | 37% | 47% | 5% | 11% |
| All characters should be 6 - dot, 8 - dot not considered | 63% | 16% | 5% | 16% |
| UBC should encompass both grades I and II braille | 63% | 16% | 5% | 16% |
| No major changes in grade II contractions | 74% | 16% | 0% | 11% |
| Both beginning and advanced readers should be able to use UBC | 53% | 26% | 11% | 11% |
| Accuracy of computer translations should not be increased at the expense of readability of braille | 79% | 5% | 5% | 11% |
| UBC should have base code and method for creating technical extensions | 74% | 11% | 0% | 16% |
| All persons learning the base code should be required to learn common technical extensions | 79% | 11% | 0% | 11% |
| Symbols of multiple characters constructed with determinable beginnings and endings | 74% | 11% | 5% | 11% |
| Rules for making extension symbols should provide that those symbols are not ambiguous | 74% | 11% | 5% | 11% |
| Braille text should accurately reflect printed text, even if it is necessary to change some symbols | 21% | 63% | 5% | 11% |
| Some EBAE / British braille contractions have been dropped for rule violations or ambiguity | 16% | 53% | 16% | 16% |
| Spaces should not be omitted from one cell whole word contractions in the UBC | 5% | 63% | 16% | 16% |
| Contracted form of by must have a space before the word that follows and be distinguishable from was | 16% | 63% | 5% | 16% |
| Contracted form of to must be followed by an intervening space, despite ambiguous cell position | 11% | 63% | 11% | 16% |
| UBC has more symbols than UBAE / British braille and can more accurately represent printed text | 37% | 32% | 16% | 16% |
| UBC Grade I indicators clearly show the boundaries of a Grade I passage in a Grade II passage | 21% | 37% | 11% | 32% |
| Capitalized passage indicator eliminates clutter of having only capitalized word indicator | 58% | 21% | 11% | 11% |
| UBC provides indicators for special type styles such as sans serif, bold and underline | 21% | 58% | 11% | 11% |
| UBC provides six different quotation marks (technical users only; n=11) | 27% | 36% | 9% | 27% |
Table 2: Frequencies For New Symbols In Question 21 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, Favor Different Presentation and Don't Know) (Base: All/ n = 19)
| Symbol | Favor | Oppose | FDP | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Begin capitalized passage indicator | 63% | 16% | 11% | 11% |
| End capitalized passage indicator | 53% | 21% | 21% | 5% |
| Begin italicized passage indicator | 42% | 16% | 32% | 11% |
| End italicized passage indicator | 53% | 11% | 32% | 5% |
| Non - directional double quote | 32% | 42% | 16% | 11% |
| Ampersand | 79% | 11% | 0% | 11% |
| Begin boldface passage indicator | 42% | 47% | 0% | 11% |
| End boldface passage indicator | 32% | 47% | 11% | 11% |
| Umlaut over following letter | 42% | 32% | 16% | 11% |
| Grave over following letter | 42% | 32% | 16% | 11% |
| Circumflex over following letter | 47% | 26% | 16% | 11% |
| Acute over following letter | 42% | 32% | 16% | 11% |
Table 3: Frequencies For Changed Symbols In Question 21 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, Favor Different Presentation and Don't Know) (Base: All/n = 19)
| Symbol | Favor | Oppose | FDP | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left parenthesis | 32% | 47% | 5% | 16% |
| Right parenthesis | 37% | 42% | 5% | 16% |
| Left bracket | 42% | 37% | 5% | 16% |
| Right bracket | 42% | 37% | 5% | 16% |
| Left directional double quote | 32% | 53% | 0% | 16% |
| Right directional double quote | 32% | 53% | 0% | 16% |
| Right directional single quote | 42% | 42% | 0% | 16% |
| Asterisk | 47% | 37% | 5% | 11% |
| Forward slash | 63% | 32% | 0% | 5% |
| dash | 58% | 32% | 5% | 5% |
| decimal point | 47% | 32% | 11% | 11% |
| British pound sign | 42% | 47% | 0% | 11% |
| Dollar sign | 58% | 37% | 0% | 5% |
| Ellipses | 68% | 16% | 5% | 11% |
| Inch sign | 53% | 37% | 5% | 5% |
| Per cent sign | 26% | 63% | 5% | 5% |
| Times sign when indicated in print by an "x" | 42% | 42% | 5% | 11% |
| Plus sign | 47% | 47% | 5% | 0% |
| Minus sign when distinguished in print from hyphen | 47% | 42% | 11% | 0% |
| Division sign when indicated in print by horizontal line between dots | 53% | 32% | 16% | 0% |
| Equals sign | 47% | 42% | 11% | 0% |
| Dot locator | 53% | 47% | 0% | 0% |
Table 4: Frequencies For Contractions Not Allowed In UBC In Question 21 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, Favor Different Presentation, and Don't Know) (Base: All/n = 19 symbol)
| Symbol | Favor | Oppose | FDP | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italicized word indicator | 42% | 42% | 5% | 11% |
| Contracted form of "ble" when followed by a word | 32% | 63% | 0% | 5% |
| Contracted form of "into" when followed by a word | 32% | 63% | 0% | 5% |
| Contracted form of "by" when followed by a word | 26% | 68% | 0% | 5% |
| Contracted form of "com" | 32% | 63% | 0% | 5% |
| Contracted form of "dd" | 32% | 63% | 0% | 5% |
Table 5: Frequencies For New Symbols In Question 22 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, Favor Different Presentation and Don't Know) (Base: Technical users/n = 11)
| Symbol | Favor | Oppose | FDP | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capitalized terminator within passage or word | 55% | 9% | 27% | 9% |
| Begins San Serif passage indicator | 55% | 45% | 0% | 0% |
| End sans serif passage indicator | 45% | 45% | 9% | 0% |
| Boldface word indicator | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| Boldface terminator within a passage or word | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| Italicized terminator within a passage or word | 73% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| Begin underline passage indicator | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| End underline passage indicator | 55% | 36% | 9% | 0% |
| Begin Transcriber defined passage | 55% | 27% | 9% | 9% |
| End transcriber defined passage | 45% | 27% | 27% | 0% |
| Transcriber defined terminator within a passage or word | 45% | 27% | 18% | 9% |
| General fraction line | 64% | 9% | 18% | 9% |
| General fraction open | 64% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| General fraction close | 64% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| Left braille grouping symbol | 64% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| Right braille grouping symbol | 64% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| Radical open indicator | 82% | 0% | 9% | 9% |
| Radical close indicator | 73% | 0% | 18% | 9% |
| Copyright | 91% | 0% | 9% | 0% |
| Registered trademark (circled R) | 82% | 9% | 9% | 0% |
| Registered trademark (circled TM) | 73% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| Bullet (large dot) | 64% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| Caret | 82% | 0% | 9% | 9% |
| Non-directional single quote | 73% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| Visible space in computer notation | 82% | 9% | 0% | 9% |
| Space - digit | 64% | 0% | 27% | 9% |
| Continuation indicator at end of line of computer notation | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Capital Greek sigma | 73% | 18% | 0% | 9% |
Table 6: Frequencies For Changed Symbols In Question 22 (% of Favor, Neutral, Oppose, Favor Different Presentation and Don't Know) (Base: Technical users/n = 11)
| Symbol | Favor | Oppose | FDP | DK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greek sigma | 73% | 18% | 0% | 9% |
| Right directional single quote | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| Numeric fraction line | 82% | 9% | 9% | 0% |
| Contracted form of "dd" | 63% | 32% | 0% | 5% |
| Superscript | 73% | 18% | 9% | 0% |
| Subscript | 82% | 18% | 0% | 0% |
| Dagger | 36% | 36% | 27% | 0% |
| Double dagger | 36% | 45% | 18% | 0% |
| Degree sign | 55% | 18% | 18% | 9% |
| Section mark (interlocked s's) | 82% | 9% | 0% | 9% |
| Female or Venus sign | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| Male or Mars sign | 55% | 36% | 0% | 9% |
| Foot sign | 73% | 18% | 0% | 9% |
| Minus sign | 45% | 55% | 0% | 0% |