The document discusses odt2braille, an OpenOffice.org extension that generates Braille from word processing documents. It enables end-users to produce Braille natively in OpenOffice.org using existing Braille translation tools. An alpha version supports embossing to some braille embossers and exporting to braille formats. Future plans include adding spreadsheet and presentation support, more embosser compatibility, and accessibility checks.

1. odt2braille:
Generating Braille from
OpenOffice.org
Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven, Belgium
christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

2. Overview
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odt2daisy
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odt2braille
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Motivation & Problem Area
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Objectives
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Methodology
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Results
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Conclusion & Outlook
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Demonstration
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

3. odt2daisy
Produce DAISY from OpenOffice.org
Writer
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In most European languages
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In a free and open-source office suite
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Support:
– DAISY 3 (with or without audio)
– DAISY 2.02 (for older players)
– Multilingual content
– Mathematical Markup Language
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

4. odt2daisy Components
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odt2daisy extension, which uses
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OpenOffice.org UNO API
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Java, XSLT & XPath
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DAISY Pipeline Lite (speech synthesis)
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Operating system’s text-to-speech
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Includes templates
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Templates with custom styles for DAISY
production
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

5. How to Get odt2daisy
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Version 2.1 released April 2010
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http://odt2daisy.sf.net/
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Available for Windows, Mac, Linux
(no 64-bit operating systems)
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Localised in English, French, Dutch,
Spanish and Hungarian
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LGPL 3 or later
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Being used in DAISY Pipeline and
Dedicon’s altText conversion portal
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

6. Support for ODT Features
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Heading, List, Table, Images, Captions,
Notes, Foot/Rear notes, Math, TOC,
Section, Frame, Bookmark,
Metadata, ...
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Page numbering (1,i,I,a,A; advanced)
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Front / body / rear matter
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“Complex text layout” and East-Asian
languages not supported
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

7. odt2braille:
Generating Braille from
OpenOffice.org
Christophe Strobbe
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

8. Motivation & Problem Area (1)
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Braille
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faces competition from TTS and digital
talking books
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important for functional literacy
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only reading method for deafblind
persons
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

9. Motivation & Problem Area (2)
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Braille production: current methods:
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RoboBraille: e-mail based Braille translation
agent
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AutoBraille & NorBraille: multi-volume Braille
books based on DAISY
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Dots: open-source Braille transcriber for
GNOME (relies on liblouisxml)
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Tiger Software Suite (TSS), Braille Maker,
WinBraille: embossing from MS Word and
other Microsoft applications
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

10. odt2braille Objectives
Enable end-users to produce Braille
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In a free, open-source and cross-
platform office suite
=> OpenOffice.org as Braille authoring
environment
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Reduce or eliminate the need for editing
Braille codes after export
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Emboss directly or just export
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

11. Methodology
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Build OpenOffice.org extension
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Reuse existing tools:
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liblouisxml: open-source library for
Braille transcription of XML docs
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liblouis: Braille translation engine
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pef2text (DAISY Pipeline): converts
Portable Embosser Format to generic or
embosser-specific format
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library from odt2daisy
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

12. odt2braille Components
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

13. Results
Alpha 0.02 released 30 August 2010:
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OpenDocument Text (ODT) can be embossed
on small list of embossers (Interpoint, Index,
Braillo)
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Export to “Braille Formatted files” (.brf; .bra)
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Export to Portable Embosser Format (PEF):
embosser-independent; uses XML and Unicode
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User preferences stored as metadata
Next release(s):
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Bug fixes, localisation, Mac OS & Linux, ...
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

14. Screenshot: Settings - General
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

15. Screenshot: Emboss
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

16. Conclusion and Outlook
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Ideally not just Writer but also Calc
(spreadsheets) and Impress
(presentations)
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Support for larger set of embossers
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Availability on non-Windows platforms
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Possibly support for other formats such
as Universal Tactile Document (UTD)
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Accessibility check to be run before
(Braille/DAISY/PDF) export
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

17. Contact Information
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odt2daisy (LGPL 3 or later):
http://odt2daisy.sf.net/
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odt2braille (LGPL 3 or later):
http://odt2braille.sf.net/
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Use the software, submit bugs,
contribute to localisation, ...
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Christophe Strobbe:
christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be
AEGIS 1st Conference, Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010