TactileGraphics.org: Resources for Transcribers

Resources

This area contains a list of resources, reference material, and websites helpful to the tactile graphics community. If you have other websites which are helpful, email us and we'll consider adding them here.

Guidelines for Production of Tactile Graphics

Barth, J. L.. (1981). Tactile Graphics Guidebook. Louisville, KY: American Printing House for the Blind.

Braille Authority of North America (1983), Guidelines for Mathematical Diagrams. Rochester, NY: National Braille Association.

Canadian Braille Authority (1995). Report of Tactile Graphics Sub-Committee. Toronto, Ontario, CANADA: Canadian National Institute for the Blind Library.

Canadian Braille Authority (1996). Supplement to the Report of Tactile Graphics Sub-Committee. Toronto, Ontario, CANADA: Canadian National Institute for the Blind Library.

Carroll, J. (1998). Stencil-Embossed Tactile Images. RE:view Volume 30, (3), 127.

DiFrancesco, B. (2001). Tactile Graphics 101: Basics of Decision-Making.
Rochester, NY: National Braille Association.

Edman, P. K. (1992). Tactile Graphics. New York, NY: American Foundation for the Blind.

Gardiner, A. and Perkins, C. Best practice guidelines for the design, production and presentation of vacuum formed tactile maps. http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research/tactileguidelines/

Morris, J. (1993). Guidelines for design of tactile graphics. Louisville, KY:
American Printing House for the Blind.

National Centre for Tactile Diagrams, Royal National Institute for the Blind, Birmingham, UK.http://www.nctd.org.uk/MakingTG/index.asp

Otto, F. (1997). Guidelines for design of tactile graphics. Louisville, KY:
American Printing House for the Blind.

Otto, F. & Poppe, T. (1994). Tactile graphics starter kit guidebook. Louisville, KY: American Printing House for the Blind.

Quantum Technology: PIAF Resource Book
www.quantech.com.au/support/support_docs.piaf/piaf_resource_book.htm

Schuffelen, Marco (2002). On editing graphics for the blind.
The Hague, Holland: Netherlands Library for Audio Books and Braille.
http://www.stanford.edu/~sipma/grbl0.html

TAEVIS. (2002). TAEVIS guidelines for tactile graphics. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University

BANA Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics

Expected to be available by Fall 2006.

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Guidelines and Materials:

Teaching Students to Read Tactile Graphics

Barth, J. L., & Berla, E. P. (1982). Tangible graphs. Louisville, KY: American Printing House for the Blind.

DiFrancesco, B. (2001). No mystery here! Teaching tactile graphics to elementary school children. Rochester, NY: National Braille Association.

Harrell, Lois. (2002). Teaching Touch and Moving on to Pages. Louisville, KY: American Printing
House for the Blind.

Kapperman, G., Heinze, T., Sticken, J., (1997) Strategies for Developing Mathematics Skills in
Students Who Use Braille. Sycamore, IL: Research and Development Institute, Inc.

Keller, S. & Goldberg, I. (1997). Let's learn shapes with Shapely-Cal. Great Neck, NY: Creative Adaptations for Learning, Inc.

Wright, S. & Pester, E. (1996), On the way to literacy (series). Louisville, KY: American Printing
House for the Blind.

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Vendors of Equipment and Materials for Tactile Graphics

American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH)
1839 Frankfort Ave.
Louisville, KY 40206 USA
Phone: 502-895-2405
Toll Free: 800-223-1839
Fax: 502-899-2274
E-mail: info@aph.org
Website: www.aph.org
Tactile Graphics Kits, braille graph paper, many other products

American Thermoform Corporation
1758 Brackett Street
LaVerne, CA 91750
Phone: 800-331-3676
Fax: 909-593-8001
E-mail atc@americanthermoform.com
Website: www.americanthermoform.com
Swell-Form Graphics Machine, paper, thermoform machines, Brailon, Braillabels.

Duxbury Systems, Inc.
270 Littleton Road, Unit 6
Westford, MA 01886-3523
Phone: 978-692-3000
Fax: 978-692-7912
Website: www.DuxburySystems.com

Educational Teaching Inc.
5673 W. Las Positas Blvd.,Suite 207
Pleasanton, CA 94588
Toll free: 800-549-6999
E-mail: info@exceptionalteaching.com
Website: www.exceptionalteaching.com
Mangold Developmental Programs, ClearLabels, Locator Dots, Wikki Stix

Howe Press
Perkins School for the Blind
175 North Beacon Street
Watertown, MA 02172-3490
Phone: 617-924-3490
Drawing tools, compass and protractor, raised line drawing board.

JP Trading, Inc.
400 Forbes Blvd, Unit 3
So. San Francisco, CA 94080
P{hone: 650-871-3940
Fax: 650-871-3944
E-mail: info@jptrading.com
Website: www.jptrading.com
Capsule paper

LS&S Group
PO Box 673
Northbrook, IL 60065
Phone: 800-468-4789 , FAX: 847-498-1482
E-mail: info@LSSproducts.com
Website: www.LSSproducts.com
Raised-line drawing board, slates, protractor, braille labeler

Pulse Data International (formerly HumanWare)
175 Mason Circle
Concord, CA 94520
Phone: 800-722-3393
Fax: 925-680-7100
E-mail: usa@pulsedata.com
Website: www.pulsedata.com
Pictures in a Flash (PIAF) Tactile Graphics Maker, capsule paper

Quantum Technology Pty Ltd
PO Box 390
Rydalmere, New South Wales 2116, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9684 2077
E-mail: info@quantech.com.au
Website: www.quantech.com.au
Nomad Mentor, Picture Braille Software, Mountbatten brailler, Jot-a-Dot,
Wooly Pen, PIAF Resource Book

Repro-Tronics Inc.
75 Carver Ave.
Westwood, NJ 07675
Phone: 800-948-8453
Fax: 201-722-1881
E-mail: info@repro-tronics.com
Website: www.repro-tronics.com
Tactile Image Enhancer, Flexi-paper, Thermo-Pen, distributor of TGD graphic software

Tactile Audio Graphics (TGD) as of 12/04 owned by Duxbury Systems]
106 Grandview Road
New Lambton Heights, New South Wales 2395, Australia
Phone: +61 2 49 521 358
E-mail: TGDGraphics@tactileaudio.com.au
Website: www.tactileaudio.com.au and www.tactile-audio.com
Graphics software with sound

Touch Graphics, Inc.
330 West 38 Street Suite 1204
New York NY 10018
Phone: 646-515-3492
Email: sl@touchgraphics.com
Website: www.touchgraphics.com
Talking Tactile Tablet, Talking Tactile Atlas of the World, Coordinate Geometry Curriculum, Math
Test Delivery System

ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.
1853 SW Airport Avenue
Corvallis, OR 97333
Phone: 541-754 4002
E-mail: info@viewplus.com
Website: www.viewplus.com
TIGER embossers, Accessible Graphing Calculator, IVEO graphics tablet

Craft and Art Suppliers:

www.DickBlick.com
www.hobbylobby.com
www.joann.com
www.michaels.com

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Commercial Producers of Tactile Graphics

Braille Center, Region IV Education Service Center
Diane Spence, Coordinator
7145 West Tidwell
Houston, TX 77092-2096
Phone: 713-744-8144
E mail: dspence@esc4.net
Producers of Nemeth and tactile graphics for Texas textbooks

Braille Jymico, Inc.
4545, 1ere Avenue
Charlesbourg, Quebec, Canada G1H 2S8
Phone: 1-877-272-4553 or 418-624-2105
E-mail: info@braillejymico.com
Website: www.braillejymico.com
Braille textbooks and tactile graphics. Graphtact™ ink deposit method.

Edinboro University Planetarium
Dr. David Hurd, Director
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Cooper Hall 103
Edinboro, Pennsylvania 16444
Phone: 814-732-2493
Email: dhurd@edinboro.edu
Website: www.edinboro.edu/cwis/planetarium/web/TACTILE.HTM
Astronomy and space science tactile graphics

gh LLC
3000 Kent Ave.
Suite E2-201
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Phone: 765-775-3776, 866-693-3687
E-mail: info@ghbraille.com
Website: www.ghbraille.com
Math and science textbooks in braille, tactile graphics, other products and services. LaserLine™
(heat and polymer process).

Princeton Braillists
76 Leabrook Lane
Princeton, NJ 08540
Telephone: 215-357-7715 or 609-924-5207
Contact: Ruth Bogia or Nancy Amick

Tactile Colour Ltd.
107 Southover Street
Brighton BN2 2UA, UK
Phone: +44(0)1273 887725 or +44(0)1237 697521
E-mail: admin@tactile.net
Website: www.tactile.net
In Canada:
1329 Denman Street
Victoria, BC Canada V8R 1X4
Phone: 250 480 1610
E-mail: tactile@tccom.org
Website: www.tccom.org
Tactile Colour is system of twelve bold colors, each with a distinctive texture, designed to make information normally displayed in color accessible to people with visual impairments.

Tactile Vision Inc.
461 North Service Rd., W. Unit B 11
Oakville, Ontario L6M 2V5
Canada
Phone: 905-465-0755
Fax: 905-465-1334
E-mail: eanczur@pathcom.com
Website: www.tactilevisioninc.com
Tactile graphics produced through the deposition of a polymeric material on paper

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OTHER RESOURCES FOR TACTILE GRAPHICS

Organizations:

Braille Authority of North America
Lucia Hasty, Chairperson, Tactile Graphics Technical Committee
1215 La Paloma Way
Colorado Springs CO 80906
Phone: 719-577-4710
E mail: Lhasty2@earthlink.net
Website: www.brailleauthority.org
BANA is the rule-making body for braille codes. Code changes, errata for recent publications and
code additions are posted on the website.

Canadian Braille Authority
Debbie Gillespie, President
c/o CNIB Library for the Blind
1929 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada ZM4G 3E8
Phone: 416-480-7522, FAX: 416-480-7700
E-mail: debbie.gillespie@cnib.ca
Website: www.canadianbrailleauthority.ca

California Transcribers and Educators of the Visually Handicapped
741 North Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90029
Phone: 323-666-2211 (message only)
Peggy Scheutz, Tactile Illustration Chairman
200 Pacheco Avenue
Novato CA 94947
Phone: 415-892-2607
E-mail: tactile@ctevh.org
Website: www.ctevh.org
CTEVH offers an annual conference with well-attended and useful workshops. The CTEVH Journal includes skills columns and other information for members.

International Braille Research Center
National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Telephone: 410-659-9314 X367
Website: www.braille.org

National Braille Association, Inc.
3 Townline Circle
Rochester NY 14623-2513
Phone: 585-427-8260, FAX: 585-427-0263
E Mail: NBAOFFICE@COMPUSERVE.COM
Website: www.nationalbraille.org
Lucia Hasty, Tactile Graphics Chairman
1215 La Paloma Way
Colorado Springs CO 80906
Lucia@tactilegraphics.org
NBA offers two professional development conferences each year with workshops geared to braillists and educators. It publishes the NBA Bulletin 4 times per year. including columns for all areas of braille codes. Committee chairpersons are always willing to respond to your questions.

National Centre for Tactile Diagrams
The Centre has moved from University of Hertsfordshire to the Royal National Institute for the Blind,
UK. The website has great information about capsule paper graphics, their design and use. They
host an international conference on tactile graphics.
www.nctd.org.uk/Making TG/emboss.asp

Individuals, Projects, Newsletters, & Websites:

accessibleimage@freelists.org (formerly named "adapted graphics")
Discussion group for those interested in development of tactile graphics

Graphics Research and Standards Project (GRASP) 2003: A joint research project of Braille
Authority of North America and Canadian Braille Authority. The research project gathered data
from braille readers about the components of tactile graphics and ease of reading. Principal researcher: Dr. Cay Holbrook, University of British Columbia. Co-chairs of the project: Lucia Hasty (BANA) Lhasty2@earthlink.net and Constance Craig, CBA constance.craig@cnib.ca

INTACT is the website of the ICA Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Partially Sighted People. These pages mainly contain details of recent and current research on all aspects of the
design, construction and use of tactile maps and other tactile graphics. The Commission on Maps
and Graphics for Blind and Visually Impaired People also publishes a newsletter, TacNews, which
is intended to be a forum for discussion on the design, production and use of tactile graphics of all
kinds all over the world.
Website: www.surrey.ac.uk/~pss1su/intact/
Website: www.surrey.ac.uk/~pss1su/intact/tacnews.html

Science Access Project
Dr. John Gardner, Oregon State University, Corvallis..
Tactile graphics, an overview and resource guide (1996), Developed
Tiger Advantage embosser/printer and DotsPlus braille system.
Website: http://dots.physics.orst.edu/tactile/tactile.html

Sensible Graphics Website for sharing of graphics files. Free downloads of existing graphics files.
Website: www.ks-huseby.no/sensiblegraphics

Tactilegraphics.org
Website devoted to production of tactile graphics with listserv
Email: info@tactilegraphics.org
Website: www.tactilegraphics.org

Tactile Inkjet Mapping Project at Anglia Ruskin University in
Cambridge, UK. Contact researcher Jonathan Rowell, who is also the Chair of the Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Partially Sighted People for the International Cartographic Association.
E-mail: j.rowell@apu.ac.uk
Website: www.enterprise.apu.ac.uk/timp

Tactile Math Graphics Page: Teaching math to visually impaired students.
Susan Osterhaus, Secondary Mathematics Teacher, Texas School for the Blind and Visually
Impaired, Austin.
E mail: osterhaus_s@tsb1.tsbvi.edu
Website: www.tsbvi.edu/math

Tactile Access to Education for Visually Impaired Students (TAEVIS) is a project at Purdue
University. They produce graphics for college students in higher levels of math and science.
Electronic files of tactile diagrams can be purchased from TAEVIS Online.
E-mail: taevis@odos.purdue.edu
Website: www.purdue.edu/odos/TAEVIS

Videos:

The Good Tactile Graphic, American Printing House for the Blind. Set of two videos and a booklet.

Preparing Tactile Adaptations for Math and Science, and
Using Adaptations for Mathematics and Science (1996). Media Resource
Center, 121 Pearson Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 5001-2203.
Phone: (515) 294-1540

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SOURCES FOR MAPS

Need a biothermal map of Poland? Or maybe just an outline map of Brazil?

http://www.theodora.com/maps/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/

Conduct a Google search using just the word "maps" or "outline maps" and you will find 1000's
of other sites.

SOURCES FOR SCIENCE

http://education.nasa.gov
In addition to this site for educators and students, NASA has a bazillion sites covering every science topic you can think of. The Goddard Center has recently started including books in braille in their collection.

PUBLISHER'S WEBSITES

Most textbook publishers offer a website in conjunction with grade level texts. Many extended assignments can be found there, as well as teacher resource materials. Check the websites for your student's textbooks for graphics and other information.

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