Braille Authority of North America Spring Meeting, 2018 Minutes APPROVED

Monday, April 9, 2018 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Hosted by the Alternate Text Production Center of the California Community Colleges
Meeting in Los Angeles, CA

1. Call to Order: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. PST and thanked the Alternate Text Production Center for hosting the meeting.

2. Welcome from the Alternate Text Production Center

Jeff Baugher, director of the Alternate Text Production Center welcomed the BANA Board.

3. (Agenda item #5) Meeting Arrangements: Dawn Gross

Dawn Gross explained the arrangements for the BANA meeting.

4. (Agenda item #3) Seating of BANA members

Whitney Gregory was welcomed to her first in-person meeting as the newly appointed representative of Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center.

Tina Seger was welcomed as the newly appointed representative of Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

5. (Agenda item #4) Self-Introductions: Representatives and Observers

Attending:

  • Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Chair
  • Sandra (Sandy) Ruconich, American Council of the Blind (ACB), Vice Chair
  • Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary
  • Jackie Sheridan, National Braille Press (NBP), Treasurer
  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Immediate Past Chair
  • Guy Toles, AMAC (Accessibility Solutions and Research Center)
  • Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
  • Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB)
  • Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)
  • Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center
  • Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)
  • Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • Darleen Bogart, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)
  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS)
  • Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind
  •  
  • Jen Goulden, for associate member Crawford Technologies
  • Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Observers:

  • Jeff Baugher
  • Diane Bergeron
  • Mark Taylor

Not Attending:

  • Vivian Seki, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind
  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

6. Board's Liability Statement: Dawn Gross

Dawn Gross, BANA Secretary, read the following Indemnification Statement: "BANA indemnifies its Officers and Board of Directors and holds them harmless from all claims of every kind, including court expenses, attorneys' fees, and the claimed amount arising from the performance of their duties as Officers and Directors except for their own acts of dishonesty and gross negligence." (Adopted March 30, 1987)

7. Agenda Approval: Jennifer Dunnam

Jackie Sheridan, Treasurer, will be taking a sabbatical and will not be available at the Fall 2018 BANA meeting when officer nominations would normally be placed. Jennifer Dunnam requested that the Bylaws Committee and Nominating Committee work on a transition of treasurers at this meeting.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that the agenda be approved as amended. The motion passed unanimously.

8. Chair's Comments: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam proceeded to explain some of the typical procedures that take place during a BANA meeting. These include the fact that the administrative assistant is present to help with notetaking, and that the BANA secretary takes the minutes. Frances Mary D'Andrea records "to do" items for all members and sends that list to the Board immediately following the meeting.

Summarizing the agenda, Jennifer stated that this will be a very full meeting and expressed excitement over having many documents to be consideration for approval. The Board was urged to think about how we can become more familiar with one another and make our work more cohesive now and during transition.

9. International Council on English Braille: Frances Mary D'Andrea, Jennifer Dunnam, Karen Gearreald, Sue Reilly, Judy Dixon, Jen Goulden

The ICEB Mid-Term Executive Committee is meeting April 17-21, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. The agenda is attached to the ICEB report on file for this meeting. Much of the meeting will be spent talking about the Code Maintenance Committee (CMC) and discussing the many issues that have been sent to the CMC. FM D'Andrea, Jennifer Dunnam, Judy Dixon, and Jen Goulden will be attending.

FM D'Andrea briefly discussed the composition of the ICEB and the ICEB Executive Committee. The member countries are Australia, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Executive Committee consists of the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, public relations officer, immediate past president, chair of the UEB Code Maintenance Committee, and members-at-large. FM D'Andrea explained that she is the country representative from the United States on ICEB and also serves as secretary to the Executive Committee; Jen Goulden is the country representative from Canada and also serves as treasurer to the Executive Committee. Judy Dixon serves as a board member-at-large.

10. General Committee on Unified English Braille: FM D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea, chair of the committee, explained that this committee is a general committee rather than a technical committee because it consists of both board members and people outside of the board. She went on to summarize the report, which is on file.

Responding to UEB code questions submitted through the BANA website and directly to the GCUEB chair is an ongoing activity. None of the questions asked this reporting period resulted in a Ruling by Committee.

FM reported that the list of concerns sent to the Code Maintenance Committee last fall has not received a response. It is her hope that some of the items will be addressed at the upcoming ICEB Executive Committee meeting.

An ongoing issue within the CMC is its collecting of "problem words," words not in agreement across countries as far as contraction usage. While not a specific charge to the GCUEB, it has fallen to FM because she is a co-author/co-creator of the UEB Edition of the Braille Enthusiast's Dictionary. She reports that there are several words within the dictionary that have differences between how Duxbury and the UK contract words. A list of these words was sent to the GCUEB, the CMC and to Duxbury for consideration. The GCUEB discussed at their last teleconference whether a formal request from BANA should go to the CMC about contested words. Discussion will return to this topic.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Cathy Senft-Graves seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 319 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 319 (11/2/17): Create a guidance document regarding effective practices for transcribing technical materials.]

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 319 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 320 (11/2/17): Create a document regarding the status of the Computer Braille Code.]

Discussion returned to the documents currently being created under charges 320 and 319. A draft document regarding the status of the Computer Braille Code (Charge 320) was sent to the Board in late March; not all Board members were able to review the document prior to this meeting. This item will be held until Tuesday while individuals have a chance to read it.

The guidance document regarding effective practices for transcribing technical materials (Charge 319) is in the very early stages of a draft document. It requires additional work, vetting, and discussion before it can be sent to the BANA Board. The purpose of the document is to provide guidance and support to people producing technical materials in UEB. It is modeled after a document produced by UKAAF and its purpose is to aim towards consistency in transcriptions of math and science.

Discussion returned to Charge 308. In addition to the eight issues sent to the CMC last year, there are other items that have come up. The Chemistry Committee has particular concerns about words where the suffixes for "ene," etc., that are meaningful in a technical chemistry context, might be obscured by the use of contractions. There are other words as well, many that are technical terms, where it is not clear whether contractions can be used. Some of the unclear words on the list were identified through the Braille Enthusiast's Dictionary. The question the GCUEB is posing to the BANA Board is "Should there be a formal request from BANA to the CMC related to this list of words?" It is the general feeling of the Board that the CMC should create a rule that makes it easier for people transcribing braille to make choices about contraction usage rather than maintaining a word list. This would affect not only transcribers but manufacturers of braille translation software as well. The GCUEB will meet over the next several days to draft a recommendation to present to the BANA Board prior to presenting it to the CMC at the ICEB Executive Meeting.

11. Braille Formats Technical Committee: Cindi Laurent

Jennifer Dunnam read the report, which is on file. Saul Garza has stepped down from the BANA Board, and a new liaison will need to be appointed to the Braille Formats Technical Committee.

Cathy Senft-Graves reported that the hard copy version of Braille Formats Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016 is now available through APH. The cost is $259 for either the print or braille version.

12. Mathematics Technical Committee: Dorothy Worthington

Dawn Gross, liaison to the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee, summarized the report which is on file.

The Graphing Calculator Guidelines were sent to the Board for review, no questions were raised. The following motion resulted:

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that the BANA Board approve the Graphing Calculator Guidelines Developed Using Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts. The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

Regarding Charge 297, working with the Tactile Graphic and Chemistry committees regarding any necessary rules for Nemeth Code and UEB with tactile graphics: the committee has heard nothing further from either committee. There is a difference of opinion between the Tactile Graphics and Mathematics committees regarding number line symbols. The Mathematics Committee has sent the liaison a document that lists how the Mathematics Committee would like to see number line symbols listed on the special symbols page compared to how the Tactile Graphics Committee would like to see them listed. During a conference call with the small group (Diane Spence, Jennifer Dunnam, Guy Toles, Cathy Senft-Graves, Dorothy Worthington, and Dawn Gross) assigned to hammer out issues with the guidance, the number line symbols came up. The group came to a consensus that the guidance given in this document should have all of the number line symbols be listed in braille order under a separate sub-heading.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee and the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee be charged to work together to synchronize the presentation of number line symbols on the special symbols page. The motion passed unanimously.

13. (Agenda item #11) Braille Formats Technical Committee: Cindi Laurent

Returning to the need of a new liaison to the Braille Formats Committee, Guy Toles has expressed interest in becoming the liaison.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that Guy Toles be appointed as liaison to the Braille Formats Technical Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

14. (Agenda item #12) Mathematics Technical Committee: Dorothy Worthington

The small group listed earlier held a conference call in March to discuss the proposed changes to the approved document. Based on that call, changes and suggestions from the group and the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee were incorporated into the document presented to the Board approval. Dawn Gross read through the working list of proposed changes supplied by Dorothy Worthington. NOTE: some of the changes listed in the document were approved in 2016, but due to synchronization of wording, etc., the Board was not able to fully address the additional proposed changes in Fall 2017. The Board recommended several changes, the following motion resulted:

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion that the Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts as amended be approved by the BANA Board. Voting Yes: ACB (Sandy Ruconich); AER (Mary Nelle McLennan); AFB (FM D'Andrea); AMAC (Guy Toles); APH (Cathy Senft-Graves); ASB (Jessie Rivera); ATPC (Dawn Gross); Clovernook (Tina Seger); CTEBVI (Tracy Gaines); NBP (Jackie Sheridan); NFB (Jennifer Dunnam); NLS (Tamara Rorie); Perkins (Kim Charlson). Voting No: Region 4 (Whitney Gregory). Abstaining: CNIB (Darleen Bogart). The motion passed.

Once the changes approved at this meeting have been incorporated into a final document and the list of changes refined to create a change log, the documents will be sent to the Publications Committee. Moving forward, the committee is to work on incorporating any additional changes into the major Nemeth Code update.

Darleen Bogart suggested that the name of the committee be changed to include Nemeth in the title to better reflect the work the committee is doing. The General Committee on UEB is writing a guidance document regarding transcription of technical materials and will be answering questions pertaining to UEB technical materials as they arise. The following motion resulted:

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the name of the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee be changed to the Nemeth Code Technical Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

15. Music Braille Technical Committee: Dan Geminder

Tamara Rorie, liaison to the Music Braille Technical Committee, summarized the report, which is on file. The committee is currently in maintenance mode and is responding to questions.

Dan Geminder has resigned from the committee to pursue retirement. The Board needs to appoint a new chair and at least one new member to the committee. Tamara has given Tracy Gaines, chair of the Appointments Committee, a list of potential committee members.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion to appoint Karen Gearreald as chair of the Music Braille Technical Committee, she will finish Dan Geminder's term that ends in 2019. The motion passed unanimously.

16. (Agenda item #18) Ad Hoc Committee on Early Literacy Materials Production: Bonnie Read

Cathy Senft-Graves, liaison to the ELMP committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

A review panel was convened April 2017 to review BANA Guidelines for the Transcription of Early Educational Materials from Print to Braille. The panel sent recommendations back to the committee chair, these changes have since been made. One recommendation made was to combine the guidelines and the examples into one document. This document, now containing the guidelines, UEB/Nemeth examples, and UEB Math examples is currently being proofread by the committee with a deadline of the end of April. Once finished, the document will be returned to the review panel for a final review at which time a recommendation will be made to the Board.

Discussion of the status of Charge 299 ensued. It was determined that the charge should be kept as Ongoing until the document has been approved by the Board.

17. (Agenda item #21) Continuation of Strategic Planning: Mary Nelle McLennan, Jackie Sheridan

Mary Nelle McLennan and Jackie Sheridan reviewed the approaches the Board has taken during the strategic planning process to date and then explained the steps the Board will be taking during this meeting. Mary Nelle asked the Board members to review the "Strategic Question" documents generated after the Fall 2017 meeting in preparation for Tuesday's work session.

18. (Agenda item #20) How BANA Works: Jennifer Dunnam, et al.

Jennifer Dunnam, BANA chair, walked the Board through a review of the draft document titled "Draft orientation packet April 2018 - MNM (JD rev 08-apr-2018).doc" sent to BANA-l on April 9, 2018. This review served to provide Board members with an orientation to BANA's structure and processes. Jennifer opened the floor for questions and comments as to what should be addressed in the document (i.e., committee make-up, listervs, voting, board reports, BANAfiles), Mary Nelle McLennan took notes about proposed changes.

19. Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry: Cary Supalo

Frances Mary D'Andrea, liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry, summarized the report, which is on file.

The Provisional Guidance for Transcription Using the Chemistry Code within UEB Context has been finalized and is scheduled to be posted to the BANA website, including a feedback link, by the end of this meeting.

In regard to updating and revising the Braille Code for Chemical Notation, the committee is working with the American Chemical Society to determine which chemical symbols are useful in representing current chemical concepts. FM D'Andrea has encouraged the committee to start the revision of the code itself. She mentioned that it would be helpful for the committee to have a copy of the BANA Authoring Guidelines.

20. (Agenda item #13) Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

Jen Goulden read the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee report, which is on file.

Lengthy discussion ensued regarding the committee's recommendation for expanding the revision of the tactile graphics guidelines to include three-dimensional printing, thermographic tactile graphics and updated software requirements. Action was deferred on this subject, the Board determined that more information is needed from the committee before it can make a decision on whether this information should be added to the Guidelines. Jackie Sheridan will email Aquinas Pather asking him to clarify what is meant by three-dimensional printing and what would be involved in adding this topic to the Guidelines.

Discussion moved to Charge 279. FM D'Andrea indicated that she contacted other UEB countries to see what practices are followed for creating number lines. The summary of the responses is that there is not a consensus in how number lines are treated. Phyllis Landon has indicated that spatial layout will be addressed in the revision of the Guidelines for Technical Material. The GCUEB recommends that the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee use a transcriber note if they are going to change symbols for complex number lines; a formal request has not been made to the CMC.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee should put into the tactile graphics guidelines that a transcriber's note should be used if the transcriber is going to change the symbols used in complex number lines in UEB. Because there is no cumulative list of number line symbols in the Guidelines for Technical Material, the committee is requesting that the proposed list of symbols be approved. The following motion resulted:

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion to approve the symbols list for Charge 279 with the proviso that this approval does not imply what the resolution should be regarding Charge 328. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 279 be changed from "Ongoing" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 279 (11/5/15): Update the current braille symbols list in tactile graphics for number lines and consider these updates in the UEB revision of the tactile graphics guidelines.]

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee be charged to work together with the Nemeth Code Committee to synchronize presentation of number line symbols on the special symbols page. The motion passed unanimously.

Diane Spence replied to Whitney Gregory's email asking for information regarding three-dimensional printing. Diane indicated that three-dimensional printing was not around when the 2010 version was approved and nothing about three-dimensional printing would affect the guidelines as they are written. The committee simply wants to mention it as a source of information and as a resource. This topic will be addressed again on Tuesday.

21. (Agenda item #22) General Committee on Electronic Braille: Jen Goulden

Jen Goulden, chair of the General Committee on Electronic Braille summarized the report, which is on file.

The committee was commended for the comprehensive document provided to the board ("Report of Ad Hoc Committee on Electronic Braille Translation" updated March 6, 2018.) It is the committee's intention to update the document and send it to the Board prior to each face-to-face meeting and teleconference. Suggested changes should be emailed to Jen Goulden, she will make the necessary updates, taking care to label the document with the current date to ensure the reader that the most current document is in hand.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 322 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 322 (11/2/17): Keep the BANA Board informed about progress and challenges in the implementation of Unified English Braille in braille translation software, about relevant innovations in braille translation technology, and about the implications of these for the work of the BANA Board.]

The report will not be posted to the BANA website; by general consensus it was agreed that the General Committee on Electronic Braille share the report with the ICEB Technology Committee and ask for feedback.

22. (Agenda item #23) General Committee for Review Process: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests is currently working on a response to the technical review of the Guidelines for Production of Standardized Tests in Braille, 2016.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 314 be changed from "Ongoing" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

 

[Charge 314 (11/6/16): Handle the process of the technical review of the Graphing Calculator Guidelines.]

 

The preliminary review of the draft Chess Guidelines has not begun but is the next area of focus. The Crafts and Hobbies Committee is in need of a liaison, this position will be appointed Tuesday.

23. (Agenda item #27) Braille Research Committee: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea, co-chair of the Braille Research Committee, described the function of the committee and summarized the report, which is on file.

She briefly discussed the Interdisciplinary Research Perspectives on Braille Reading and Writing symposium held at Rice University in March. The goals of the symposium were to increase research on braille in academics and to encourage cross-disciplinary research into ways to teach braille and promote braille literacy.

FM D'Andrea indicated that there is very little detail of how people read math. Robert Englebretson will work with the Carroll Center this summer conducting research on hand movements related to braille reading of paper and electronic technical materials. He will use the same finger tracking equipment used during the study of literary reading methods.

Appreciation was expressed by the Board to FM D'Andrea for sending the articles that she thinks the Board would find interesting.

24. (non-agenda item) Nominations Committee: FM D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea, chair of the Nominations Committee, reported that Jackie Sheridan, Treasurer, is going on sabbatical and will not be available at the Fall 2018 BANA meeting when officer nominations would normally be placed. The Nominating Committee met to discuss potential nominees for the role of treasurer. FM D'Andrea nominated and Darleen Bogart seconded that Jessica Rivera be put forward as the treasurer of BANA effective this meeting.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that nominations cease and Jessica (Garber) Rivera be elected by unanimous ballot. The motion passed unanimously.

25. (Agenda item #21) Continuation of Strategic Planning: Mary Nelle McLennan and Jackie Sheridan

With the aid of Jessi Rivera, Tracy Gaines, Mary Nelle McLennan, and Jackie Sheridan, Board members broke into their respective work groups and focused on creating action statements to support the strategy statements previously formulated. The full Board reconvened and the results of the mornings work was shared and commented on.

26. (Agenda item #13) Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

FM D'Andrea read the email response sent by Aquinas Pather addressing the concerns of the Board previously discussed: three-dimensional printing, thermographic tactile graphics, and updated software requirements. This email provided rationale and proposed language to the tactile graphics guidelines. It was determined by the Board that by not adding the proposed information to the Guidelines we could be dating the document.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee be told that the Board is not approving the exact language provided but is giving them approval to include the three suggested items in the tactile graphics guidelines.

27. (Agenda item #10) General Committee on Unified English Braille: FM D'Andrea

Discussion returned to the draft position paper regarding the status of the Computer Braille Code. It was agreed that Board representatives have until April 24, 2018 to solicit feedback from their agencies after which FM D'Andrea will move that the position paper be accepted.

28. (Agenda item #17) Foreign Language Task Force: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam, liaison to the Foreign Language Task Force, gave a brief overview of the history of the task force and summarized the report which is on file.

Jennifer has received feedback since the creation of the report indicating that the Provisional Guidance for Transcribing Foreign Language in UEB is still in process and that the Board should receive it soon. FM D'Andrea gave a brief tribute to Ann Kelt and the tremendous amount of work that she did for the Foreign Language Committee and BANA.

29. (Agenda item #24) Quality Control Task Force: Jen Goulden

Jen Goulden, chair of the Quality Control Task Force, summarized the report which is on file.

In order to develop a recommended process for content review, the task force looked at the processes already in place. The task force is collaborating with the General Committee on Review Process and the Publications Committee to determine where adjustments should be made. Board members commented on the process provided thus far. The task force will have a process to recommend to the Board by the next BANA teleconference.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 327 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 327 (11/2/17): Provide recommendations regarding content quality control of BANA publications prior to submission to the Publications Committee.]

30. (Agenda item #25) Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle McLennan, chair of the committee, summarized the report which is on file. The Status of BANA Documents in Process is being updated during this meeting and will be sent when complete.

BANA Website and Provisional Guidance for Chemistry

The website continues to grow and change. Mary Nelle expressed gratitude of Sandy Smith and her capabilities.

The Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Contexts was loaded to the website today. A comment box to the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry was also added to the webpage.

BANA Publications Writing Guide

The BANA Publications Writing Guide is to be shared with the authoring committees once changes found at this meeting have been made. The document needs to be placed on the BANA masthead and then a packet will be created that should be forwarded to authoring committees. The packet will include the BANA Authoring Guidelines, the BANA Publications Workflow and the BANA Publications Writing Guide. The draft documents are in BANA files under Publications.

Other BANA Publication Projects

The Publications Committee strongly recommends that the BANA Board purchase a subscription to an accessible online conferencing system to assist in the Publications Committee conference calls.

Graphing Calculator Guidelines: The Publications Committee will review the document and determine whether a copyright needs to be performed.

Braille Formats: There was a brief discussion of whether Braille Formats should be posted to BARD. NLS can post the braille files to BARD if BANA decides that is wanted. Approximately 6 years ago it was established that APH is the official print source for BANA publications. This is so people can order publications using quota funds and that there is a centralized location to order BANA publications. APH underwrites the cost of producing the braille copies.

31. (Agenda item #26) Code Questions Task Force: Tamara Rorie

Tamara Rorie, chair of the Code Questions Task Force, summarized the report which is on file.

The task force provided sample revisions of the Report Template and the cover sheet instructions. Discussion of the proposed documents ensued, and Board members recommended several changes be made to the "Attachments: Rulings by Committee" section of the cover sheet instructions. Jessie Rivera and Tamara Rorie will send the revised paragraph to BANA-l for consideration. It was noted that committee liaisons should follow up with committee chairs to ensure that they are following the report instructions.

32. (Agenda item #25) Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan

Jennifer Dunnam returned briefly to the Publications Committee report to address the need of an Archives section of the BANA website. Currently there is such a section but its location is not common knowledge. The Publications Committee needs direction as to what should be posted in this section. The following motion resulted:

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the Publications Committee work with Darleen Bogart and Jennifer Dunnam to design an archive code section of the website. The motion passed unanimously.

33. Outreach Committee: Sandy Ruconich

Sandy Ruconich, chair of the Outreach Committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

BANA will exhibit at the upcoming CTEBVI conference. Sue Reilly will inventory the contents of the BANA trunk and provide the list to the Outreach Committee. Thank you to APH for providing BANA with print and braille copies of Music Braille Code, 2015. Sue Reilly will update the list of BANA members prior to exhibiting at CTEBVI, Jennifer Dunnam will create the BRF. Tracy Gaines will be establishing a schedule for members to man the conference booth. Mary Nelle McLennan, AER representative, broached the subject of exhibiting at AER. BANA has not exhibited at AER in the past due to the high table rates; Sandy Ruconich and Mary Nelle McLennan will work together to determine the best way to approach AER.

During the discussion of Charge 285, the question of whether the Outreach Committee should be concerned with creating content about UEB for the website arose. The following motions stemmed from the ensuing discussion:

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 285 be changed from "Ongoing" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 285 (11/5/15): Collaborate with the General Committee on UEB to create content about UEB for the BANA Website.]

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 286 to the General Committee on UEB be changed from "Ongoing" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 286 (11/5/15): Collaborate with the Outreach Committee to create content about UEB for the BANA Website.]

Discussion turned to the status of the proposed podcasts. As reported, the microphones have been purchased but setting up the infrastructure for the podcasts has been very time consuming. Sandy Ruconich and Kim Charlson reviewed the preliminary steps required by iTunes and provided updates to the items that were addressed by the time of this meeting. The committee will continue to work on the details of the forthcoming podcasts.

34. (Agenda item #30) Bylaws Committee: Darleen Bogart

Darleen Bogart, chair of the Bylaws Committee, presented the report, which is on file.

Darleen Bogart reported that the first discussion of board composition revealed the magnitude of the task, the committee will continue with telephone conference calls.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 325 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 325 (11/2/17): Consider membership as it relates to size and composition of the Board.]

The Bylaws Committee considered several options but decided that the treasurer and BANA chair should review and create more inclusive documentation for the role of the treasurer. The Bylaws Committee felt that this recommendation, rather than bringing in a treasurer-elect, would best ease the transition between treasurers. The following motion resulted:

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion that the treasurer and BANA chair work together to create documentation to ease the transition between treasurers. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 323 (11/2/17): Draft a process for easing the transition between treasurers.]

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 323 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 323 (11/2/17): Draft a process for easing the transition between treasurers.]

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 324 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 324 (11/2/17) Add Region 4 Educational Service Center Braille Solutions to the Bylaws.]

The committee has asked for a new assignment to update the list of committees in the BANA Policies. Discussion ensued about whether task forces and ad hoc committees should be listed in the BANA Policies. It was determined that this should be an ongoing charge of the Bylaws committee, the following motion resulted:

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Mary Nelle McClennan seconded the motion that the Bylaws Committee be charged to update and maintain the list of General, Board, Technical, and Ad Hoc Committees in the BANA Policies. The motion passed unanimously.

A brief discussion of the rights and privileges of associate members took place, it was felt by several Board members that the Bylaws and Policies are unclear in regard to the privileges of associate members. The following motion resulted:

MSC Tracy Gaines moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion that the Bylaws Committee be charged to create a clear definition of the rights and privileges of an associate member. The motion passed unanimously.

35. (Agenda item #33) Secretary's Report: Dawn Gross

Dawn Gross, BANA secretary, read the email motions and votes that had taken place since the Fall 2017 meeting. They are as follows:

11/9/17

Dawn Gross moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion to approve the August 9th 2017 teleconference minutes as corrected.

Voting deadline was Tuesday, November 14, 2017, 5:00 p.m. Eastern

Voting Yes: AMAC (Guy Toles); ACB (Sandra Ruconich); AER (Mary Nelle McLennan); APH (Cathy Senft-Graves); ASB (Jessica Rivera); ATPC (Dawn Gross); Clovernook (Saul Garza); CNIB (Darleen Bogart); CTEBVI (Tracy Gaines); Hadley (Vivian Seki); NBA (Diane Spence); NBP (Jackie Sheridan); NFB (Jennifer Dunnam); NLS (Tamara Rorie); Perkins (Kim Charlson).
Not Voting: AFB (Frances Mary D'Andrea); Horizons (Maryann Bartkowski). The motion carries.

3/7/18

Dawn Gross moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the minutes of the Fall 2017 BANA board meeting be approved as corrected.

Voting deadline was Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 5:00 p.m. Eastern

Voting Yes: ACB (Sandy Ruconich); AFB (FM D'Andrea); AMAC (Guy Toles); APH (Cathy Senft-Graves); ASB (Jessi Rivera); ATPC (Dawn Gross); Clovernook (Saul Garza); CNIB (Darleen Bogart); CTEBVI (Tracy Gaines); Hadley (Vivian Seki); Horizons (Maryann Bartkowski); NBA (Diane Spence); NBP (Jackie Sheridan); NFB (Jennifer Dunnam); NLS (Tamara Rorie); Perkins (Kim Charlson); Region 4 (Whitney Gregory)
Not Voting: AER (Mary Nelle McLennan). The motion carries.

3/29/18

Dawn Gross moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion that the winter teleconference minutes be approved as corrected.

Voting deadline Thursday, April 5, 2018, 5:00 p.m. Eastern

Voting Yes: AFB (FM D'Andrea); AMAC (Guy Toles); APH (Cathy Senft-Graves); ASB (Jessi Rivera); ATPC (Dawn Gross); Clovernook (Tina Seger); CNIB (Darleen Bogart); CTEBVI (Tracy Gaines); Hadley (Vivian Seki); NBA (Diane Spence); NBP (Jackie Sheridan); NFB (Jennifer Dunnam); NLS (Tamara Rorie); Perkins (Kim Charlson); Region 4 (Whitney Gregory)
Not Voting: ACB (Sandy Ruconich); AER (Mary Nelle McLennan); Horizons (Cynthia Skandera). The motion carries.

36. (Agenda item #35) Certificates of Appreciation: Dawn Gross, Kim Charlson

Kim Charlson will send Certificates of Appreciation to Dan Geminder, MaryAnn Bartkowski, Saul Garza, and Becky Barnes Davidson.

37. (Agenda item #36) Directory Update: Sue Reilly

Sue Reilly requested that Board members review the list of committees in the directory to confirm that names appear where appropriate. She also asked that Board liaisons contact committee members to request updated directory information. Please send changes to Sue Reilly by April 23rd.

38. (Agenda item #37) BANA's Listservs: Kim Charlson

Kim Charlson is working to ensure that all Board members are on each technical committee listserv. Liaisons should confirm that committees are using the listservs for committee communication and that the addresses are up to date.

39. (Agenda item #38) BANA's Archives: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea summarized the report, which is on file.

The committee has been very good about sending hard copies of print and braille documents to APH for the archives. BANA needs to be more diligent about archiving electronic documents and files. A Dropbox has been set up to share UEB implementation documents with Anne Rich at APH however, BANA needs to determine what other types of documents should be archived (i.e. photos, speeches of the BANA Excellence Awards, email.)

MSC Kim Charlson moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the Archives Committee be charged with learning what the best practice is for submitting email to be archived. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion to charge the chair of the Awards Committee to work with the Publications Committee to put information about the BANA Braille Excellence Awards on the BANA website. The motion passed unanimously.

40. (Agenda item #34) Treasurer's Report: Jackie Sheridan

Jackie Sheridan, BANA treasurer, read the letter from the financial reviewer regarding the compilation performed for BANA and then educated the Board about what a compilation is and what is usually entailed. Copies of the letter and the financial documents were provided to the Board.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that Treasurer's report for Spring 2018 be approved as amended. The motion passed unanimously.

Jennifer Dunnam expressed her thanks to Jackie for her work over the last several years.

41. (Agenda item #42.3) Board Teleconferences

The 2018 Summer BANA teleconference was set for Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 2:00 EST.

Jennifer Dunnam reminded the Board that a motion was needed to move forward with the purchase of a Zoom subscription for the Board to use during the teleconferences.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion that BANA purchase a subscription to Zoom or other accessible online conferencing and that it be made available to our committees as well as the Board. The motion passed unanimously.

42. (Agenda item #29) BANA Appointments Committee: Tracy Gaines

Tracy Gaines, chair of the Appointments Committee, summarized the report, which is on file. Tracy walked the Board through the proposed process of identifying qualified applicants; Mary Nelle McLennan, for the benefit of new members, explained why the Appointments Committee was developed and why a process is needed. A lengthy discussion of the proposed process and the associated draft documents ensued, Board members made suggestions as to how the process and documents should be modified, and Mary Nelle recorded notes to be incorporated into the documents.

43. (Agenda item #10) General Committee on Unified English Braille: FM D'Andrea

Discussion returned to BANA's proposed request to the ICEB CMC asking for clarification of rule 10.10.9 "Do not use a groupsign if its use would seriously distort the pronunciation or hinder the recognition of the word." FM D'Andrea sent the following language to the Board via BANA-l:

BANA's chemistry technical committee and other constituents have raised concerns regarding the need to ensure the clarity of certain affixes in chemical, medical, and technical nomenclature. In some cases, existing UEB contraction rules leave these parts of words uncontracted as in words like "disulfur", "electronegativity", and "reagent". However, in other cases, meaningful affixes could be obscured by observing existing rules. Example words are "protease", "ethene", "tetrahydrofuran," "uninucleate" "neurofibril" and "mycroflora." The following links highlight the importance of maintaining the clarity of affixes in chemical and medical terminology to strengthen understanding:

http://www.chemistryland.com/CHM130S/06-Nomenclature/LanguageOfChemistry/Language.htm

http://globalrph.com/medterm_intro.htm

To prevent obscurity of these distinct word parts that have specialized meanings in technical terminology, we ask that RUEB 10.10.9 be clarified or expanded to avoid unnecessary ambiguity.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that this recommendation/clarification be forwarded to the ICEB CMC. The motion passed unanimously.

Jennifer Dunnam will clean up the code clarification request and create a brf prior to sending it to the CMC as a formal request from BANA.

44. (Agenda item #26) Code Questions Task Force: Tamara Rorie

Tamara Rorie emailed the revised language of the "Attachments: Rulings by Committee:" section of the Committee Report Cover Sheet to the Board via BANA-l Tuesday evening. The Board was given the opportunity to review and suggest further revisions, no revisions were suggested.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion to accept the revised form as the report shell template and cover letter that BANA will start using as of Fall 2018. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion to charge the Bylaws Committee with amending the Policies to include the revised cover letter and report template. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 318 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 318 (3/13/17): Explore and develop guidelines and a process for accepting and responding to questions about BANA codes and guidelines from the public. This is to be completed by the Fall 2017 BANA meeting.]

"To Do"s have been assigned to all Board Members to go through some of the recent BANA reports and suggest any rulings or committee responses that would be useful to add to the BANA website.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion that Mary Nelle McLennan be added to the Code Questions Task Force. The motion passed unanimously.

45. (Agenda item #42): Upcoming Meetings

45.1 Fall 2018: ACB

The BANA Fall 2018 meeting will be hosted by the American Council of the Blind November 1-3, 2018 at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind satellite campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thursday and Friday will be full days, Saturday a half day. Preliminary room rates for the Radisson Downtown are $129/night, further information will be shared as it becomes available. Activities include: Thursday, Tabernacle Choir rehearsal and dinner downtown; Friday, dinner at Sandy's home. Members are responsible for travel arrangements to and from the airport.

45.2 Spring 2019: CNIB

The BANA Spring 2019 meeting will take place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada May 2-4, 2019. Thursday and Friday will be full days, Saturday will be a half day. Further details will be announced as they become available. Passports are required for those traveling from the U.S.

46. (Agenda item #43) Future BANA meetings:

  • Fall 2019: Clovernook
  • Spring 2020: NFB
  • Fall 2020: NBA
  • Spring 2021: NLS
  • Fall 2021: APH
  • Spring 2022: ASB
  • Fall 2022: AER
  • Spring 2023: Perkins
  • Fall 2023: NBP
  • Spring 2024: Horizons
  • Fall 2024: AFB
  • Spring 2025: CTEBVI
  • Fall 2025: AMAC
  • Spring 2026: Hadley
  • Fall 2026: Braille Solutions, Region 4
  • Spring 2027: ATPC

47. (Agenda item #31) Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling: Jackie Sheridan

Jackie Sheridan, liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling, read the report, which is on file. MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that Tamara Rorie be added as a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling. The motion passed unanimously.

Becky Barnes Davidson has requested to be removed from the committee and Saul Garza has resigned from the BANA Board. The committee is now in need of a transcriber familiar with braille signage. If you know of someone that might be interested, please forward the names to Jackie Sheridan, Eugene Lozano, and Jennifer Dunnam.

Discussion returned to the Draft Amendments to the ICC A117.1 Standard submitted by the committee. The following motion resulted:

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the Draft Amendments to the ICC A117.1 Standard as proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling be approved by the BANA Board. The motion passed unanimously.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling complete the ICC Standards Public Comment form when it becomes available. The form should be submitted to the BANA Board for review prior to submission to the ICC.

Discussion of "BANA Approval Requested" item 4 ensued:

4a. The BANA Board needs reasoning or examples of why the committee feels a policy should be developed. When space is a consideration, the specifics should be dealt with rather than issuing an overarching policy.

4b. Further clarification from the committee is requested.

4c. Further communication with the committee is needed to determine what really needs to be sent to the U.S. Access Board for reference purposes. It may be that a letter with URLs for the BANA website is most appropriate.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling be charged to work with the Publications Committee to create a comment box on the website for signage questions. The motion passed unanimously.

48. (Agenda item #14) Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests: Diane Spence

A written report was not prepared. Jennifer Dunnam referred to the Review Process Committee's report and indicated that the authoring committee has received the responses from the technical review and is making the necessary changes.

The following motion is a result of discussion that occurred during the strategic planning breakout session of the two technical codes work group:

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion to charge the Standardized Testing Committee to extract the technical code language from the BANA 2015 statement to incorporate into the preliminary material of the "Guidelines for Production of Standardized Tests in Braille, 2016." The motion passed unanimously.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests should be able to incorporate this language into the final document before the document is sent to the Board for review.

49. (Agenda item #16) Crafts and Hobbies Committee: Camille Caffarelli

A written report was not prepared. Jennifer Dunnam again referred to the Review Process Committee's report and indicated that the status is that committee is waiting for the Review Committee to prepare introductory material and a mechanism to vet the currently proposed chess guidelines. The Review Committee does not have any other documents pending and the Chess Guidelines are the next area of focus.

The committee is still in need of individuals that can work on the Chess Guidelines; the composition of the committee will be addressed in the fall. Jackie Sheridan has volunteered to be the liaison to the committee.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Cathy Senft-Graves seconded the motion that Jackie Sheridan be appointed as the liaison to the BANA Crafts and Hobbies Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

50. (Agenda item #32) International Initiatives

It was requested by board members that Jennifer Dunnam, FM D'Andrea, and Jen Goulden summarize the ICEB Executive Meeting prior to the August teleconference.

Kim Charlson reported that the World Braille Conference will be held in Ottawa May 27-28, 2018.

Tina Seger reported that Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is sending a team to Kyrgyzstan to help Empower Blind People set up the first braille printing house in the country.

51. (Agenda item #39) Press Releases: Sandy Ruconich

Sandy Ruconich, BANA Vice chair, will create press releases for the following items: 1) Jessica Rivera appointed as treasurer, 2) welcome new BANA board members, 3) posting of the Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Context along with information regarding this meeting, 4) approval of Graphing Calculator Guidelines and updated Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts, and 5) ICEB new tick mark symbol.

The Publications Committee will send out a Publications Announcement for Braille Formats Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016 being available for purchase as well as the posting of Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Context.

52. (Agenda item #40) Unfinished/continued business

No further information to report.

53. (Agenda item #41) New Business

No further information to report.

54. (Agenda item #44) Around the Table Organization Updates

The Around the Table Organization Updates are not recorded in the minutes.

55. (Agenda item #45) Adjournment: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam thanked Dawn Gross and the Alternate Text Production Center for the meeting arrangements.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Kim Charlson seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Jennifer Dunnam adjourned the meeting at 12:02 PST.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary