Striped Lands and Dotted Seas: Editing Tactile Graphics Michael Sell, Accessible Test Editor...

Striped Lands and Dotted Seas: Editing Tactile Graphics

Michael Sell, Accessible Test EditorAmerican Printing House for the Blind

AER International Conference: July 25, 2008

Why is it important to know how tactile graphics (tg) are edited for

high-stakes tests?

• Universal Design considerations mean the braille format is more likely to be equivalent to print.

• Is the validity of the item kept?• Expectation is for tactile readability, not

necessarily an embossed clone of the print version.

• Science is now tested under NCLB, so more tg’s are needed than before.

Terminology

• “Lines: paths for boundary lines, grid lines, etc. e.g. solid, dotted, dashed, etc.

• Point symbols: typically used to represent significant landmarks. e.g. circle outline, solid large dot, square, etc.

• Areal / texture patterns: textured patterns used to represent…water on a map, layers of soil, bars on a graph, etc. e.g. dotted, striped, etc.

• Lead lines: lines that connect a feature on the graphic with a braille label…use as a last resort.

• Labels: identify all important features on the graphic.”

*from Tactile Graphic Terminology by Karen Poppe

Further Background

• Adaptations and terminology• Test Layout: 1. Braille pages are numbered consecutively in

the bottom right hand corner. 2. Print pages are numbered in the top right

hand corner. 1, a1, b1, c1, etc., if one print page takes up multiple braille pages.

3. Multiple print pages may fit on one braille page.

Theory & Perspective

1) Jerome Bruner’s 3 modes of information processing:

• Enactive—direct, real objects• Iconic—model, relief renderings• Symbolic—coding, higher level of

abstraction

2) Christina Hvitfeldt’s work:Does it correlate to blind or visually impaired (BVI) children progressing through modes?

• “Adults from traditional preliterate societies often perceive and interpret drawings, pictures, and symbols differently from individuals socialized into modern literate societies.”

• “Learning to interpret symbolic pictures is…analogous to interpreting written language and, in some cases, involves as high a degree of abstraction.”

• “pictures can depict relational concepts such as “above,” “below,” “inside,” and “outside,” but cues of depth, including overlap, perspective, and relative size, must often be provided.”

*from Picture Perception and Interpretation among Preliterate Adults, “Passage” magazine, Vol. 1, Num. 1, Winter/Spring 1985

3) John M. Kennedy’s work:What does drawing by BVI children tell

us?

• Drawing by congenitally blind children may indicate how they would generally read and discern tactile graphics.

• “Pictures are simply conventions, no more related to what they represent than alphabetic writing.”

• “Pictures are simply similar to what they represent.”

*from A Psychology of Picture Perception

Means of tactile / haptic learning:

• Follow Bruner’s 3 modes.• Let child choose object, make a model,

and then make an embossed picture.• Products: Setting the Stage for Tactile

Instruction, Talking Tactile Tablet (provides tg background for child who doesn’t know braille), Squid magazine, Stack-Ups (3-d cubes), etc.

Considerations & Caveats

Test Editor• Grade level / Alternate-Assessment? /

Background• Output type• Less may be more / reduce “clutter”• Role is not to reconstruct test• Keep essential / relevant attributes• Requests / substitution if problematic

More Test Editor

• Changed spatial language• Typical art concepts may be meaningless• Consideration of braille page size• Location of tg in relation to stem / q&a• Merely pictorial pictures• Work with test publisher in order to

maintain validity

Test Publisher & Dept. of Education

• Almost anything can be brailled, but will it have value?

• Titles for graphs, tables, figures, etc.• Back-to-back graphics and fatigue• Rigorous content does not necessarily

require rigorously constructed test• Components per item• Orientation / contextual devices

More Test Publisher & Dept. of Education

• Graphic-related cues in stem / question• Item bank for substitutions, etc.

Problem graphics for braille• 3-d• Cross-sections• Rotations / flips

Editing Techniques & Strategies

• Additional key only if necessary• Avoid occlusion (overlap)• Item content ideally on one braille page• Braille boxes /arrows / etc. may be options• Description / labels rather than tg or just

retain labels• Crop unessential portion for space

A few more techniques & strategies

• Enlarge / simplify picture• Omit / don’t use lead lines, if possible• Provide labels for clarification• Use different line textures• Changed directions

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Resources

• http://www.tactilegraphics.org/• Accessible images mailing list (join through

tactilegraphics.org resource page)• John M. Kennedy’s website:

www.scar.utoronto.ca/~kennedy/• APH website (Tactile Graphic Image Library & tg

tutorials by Karen Poppe/Fred Otto): http://www.aph.org/

• Tactile Graphics by Polly Edman

Please direct further observations and comments to:

msell@aph.org