eBraille: a web‐based translation program for Japanese text to braille

Abstract

PurposeWe developed a program, which we named eBraille, to translate Japanese text into braille and thereby generate braille documents easily.We provided public access to this program to anyone via the Internet. Design/methodology/approacheBraille is a CGI program that is accessible via a Web browser.The core of our program is a braille translating engine called the Kobe University Intelligent Braille Engine for ChaSen (KUIC). It is based on Japanese braille transcription rules (2001) developed by the Japanese BrailleCommittee.To evaluate the translation accuracy of eBraille, we utilized a corpus that we created from ordinary text and braille newspaper articles. FindingseBraille translation accuracy is equivalent to or better than that of other stand-alone braille translation programs.This result suggests that our program achieved the goal of being applicable for practical use.In addition, we utilize our program to make Kobe University Hospital brochures in braille for outpatients and inpatients.The brochures are available in the hospital and are favorably accepted by the blind and the visually impaired.This result suggests that our translation program can facilitate accessibility to information for patients. Originality/valueOur braille translation program is based on a client-server system and is architecture-independent.Moreover, it is a free system for creating braille text files for anyone who has access to a Web browser.

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