Braille Authority of North America Fall Meeting, 2017 Minutes

Thursday, November 2, 2017 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday, November 3, 2017 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 4, 2017 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Hosted by Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Meeting in Winnetka, IL

1. Call to Order: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam called the meeting to order at 9:12 CST and thanked Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired for hosting the meeting.

2. Welcome from Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Julie Tye, president of Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, extended a warm welcome to the BANA Board.

3. (Agenda item #5) Meeting Arrangements: Vivian Seki

Vivian Seki explained the arrangements for the BANA meeting and announced that a short music performance by Matthew Whitaker will take place on Friday morning.

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

Guy Toles was welcomed to his first in-person meeting as the newly appointed representative of AMAC (Accessibility Solutions and Research Center). Johanna Anand was welcomed as the newly appointed representative of COSB. Each gave a brief self-introduction.

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)
  • Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)
  • Saul Garza, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • Darleen Bogart, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)
  • Vivian Seki, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • Maryann Bartkowski, Horizons for the Blind
  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)
  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS)
  • Wendy Buckley attended on behalf of Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind
  •  
  • Jen Goulden, for associate member Crawford Technologies
  • Johanna Anand for associate member Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB)
  •  
  • Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Observers:

  • Julie Tye
  • Michael Rydel
  • Vileen Shah
  • Debbie Siegel
  • Toby Anderson
  • Susan Fisher
  • Charmaine Martin
  • Ruth Rozen

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

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the agenda be approved. 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 note-taking, and that the BANA secretary takes 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 the Board will deal with many documents in addition to the strategic planning sessions that will take place each afternoon.

Jennifer acknowledged the work that goes on in BANA throughout the year and also spoke of work that isn't reflected in the committee reports specifically in regards to refreshable braille and braille translation software. These two areas have posed significant problems during the implementation of Unified English Braille. One major issue is braille translation software having some inaccuracy with UEB, but Jennifer reports that there have been positive developments in this area over the last six months. She specifically wanted to give commendations to APH's BrailleBlaster software and its development team at APH stating that APH has been very good about working out issues that occur during the translation process, as well as working with the open source Liblouis software. Another item that has been a problem over the last several years is the braille generated by the JAWS screen reader. Jennifer reported that the program has been updated and there are still a few issues, however, significant improvements have been made.

A suggestion was made that BANA always have refreshable braille and braille software on the agenda as ongoing business, etc. so that the Board is kept abreast of the status of these areas. Tamara Rorie, Jen Golden, Jennifer Dunnam, and Vivian Seki will draft a proposal addressing a mechanism for BANA to stay informed about progress on the implementation of UEB within electronic braille translation software.

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

Frances Mary D'Andrea reported that there are several issues circulating within ICEB at the moment. Two that FM highlighted are the revision of Guidelines for Technical Materials and the closing single quote.

Lorraine Banks is heading the revision of Guidelines for Technical Materials through the Code Maintenance Committee. The first section being worked on, Signs of Operation, Comparison and Omission, is expected in the next several weeks.

A lengthy discussion took place about the results of the apostrophe survey conducted by the ICEB and how the US voting members of BANA will respond to the options provided. The full intent of the options provided and their ramifications to The Rules of Unified English Braille, braille displays and braille transcription software are unclear. Members were asked to review the documents provided in order to revisit this topic later in the meeting. This issue is to be voted on at the ICEB executive meeting next week. It is hoped that the US members of BANA can come to a consensus on how the US will vote and perhaps draft a statement similar to that of the Australian Braille Authority by the end of this meeting since this issue is to be voted on at the ICEB executive meeting next week.

The ICEB General Assembly is held every four years, the Executive Committee meetings are held in the interim. The 2018 Executive Committee meeting will be held in Dublin, Ireland April 17-21, 2018. FM D'Andrea requested $6,000 for two individuals, herself and Jennifer Dunnam, to attend the executive meeting. Judy Dixon will also attend and has another funding source.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Tamara Rorie seconded that $6,000 be budgeted for ICEB travel in 2018 for two individuals to attend the 2018 Executive Committee meeting. The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

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

Frances Mary D'Andrea, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

FM D'Andrea is in the process of updating the print version of The ABC's of UEB. In addition to updating the foreign language components, there are several other errors to be corrected. Connie Risjord will be apprised of the changes. Jennifer Dunnam is updating the BRF version.

The committee will create a document explaining recent ICEB rulings and updates to be placed on the BANA website. There are also FAQs that would be useful to document. The question arose as to whether or not the committee should liaise with the Outreach Committee or create these documents internally to have them posted on the website by the Publications Committee. It was determined that the Outreach committee need not be involved.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the General Committee on Unified English Braille be charged with creating a guidance document regarding effective practices for transcribing technical materials. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the General Committee on Unified English Braille be charged with creating a document regarding the status of the Computer Braille Code. The motion passed unanimously.

The committee indicated that it could use a member with a strong background in technical content, particularly somebody that is a braille reader. One suggestion was offered and was noted by Tracy Gaines, Chair of the appointments committee.

11. Braille Formats Technical Committee: Cindi Laurent

Saul Garza, liaison to the Braille Formats Technical Committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

Publications Report

Mary Nelle McLennan, chair of the Publications Committee, summarized the Publications report as it pertains to Braille Formats, which is on file.

Mary Nelle recounted the steps taken by both the Publications Committee and the Braille Formats Committee to incorporate the almost 500 changes to the Pre-Publication version of Braille Formats. She went on to report that unfortunately, it was determined that partnering with InGrid Designs to produce the PDF and HTML versions was no longer a viable option. The Publications Committee brought the project back "in-house" for completion. The president of APH has agreed to transfer $22,824, the remainder of the special funding, to BANA.

It is expected that the final versions of Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016 and the accompanying Change Log will be posted to the BANA website on November 3, 2017. A huge round of applause was extended to the committee for their hard work. Per Cathy Senft-Graves of APH, the publication specifications are being finalized and a date for purchase cannot be established at this time.

Discussion returned to the Braille Formats Technical Committee report.

MSC Saul Garza moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion that Randy Davis and Marilyn Breedlove be reappointed to the Braille Formats Technical Committee for terms to end in 2019. The motion passed unanimously.

It was requested that Darleen Bogart work with the Appointments Committee to find a Canadian representative replacement for Norma McDonald by the end of the year. The term would take effect the beginning of 2018.

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

Diane Spence, liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests, summarized the report, which is on file.

The committee has received the "Reviewer Comments." A phone conference will be set up to review comments. With the changes in Braille Formats all the examples will need to be reviewed to see what additional changes need to be made.

MSC Diane Spence moved and Cathy Senft-Graves seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 264 be changed from "Waiting" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 264 (11/7/14): Work with publications and the research committee to complete the technical and board review process for the testing guidelines document.]

MSC Diane Spence moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion to discard Charge 264. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 264 (11/7/14): Work with publications and the research committee to complete the technical and board review process for the testing guidelines document.]

MSC Diane Spence moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion to create a new charge that the Guidelines for Production of Standardized Tests in Braille, 2016 be updated to bring it in line with the approved Braille Formats, 2016 changes and incorporate the comments received from the recent review and prepare for Board review. The motion passed unanimously.

13. (Agenda item #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 in maintenance mode and is responding to questions.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that Dan Geminder (Chair), Karin Auckenthaler and Christina Davidson be reappointed for terms to end in 2019. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie will follow up with Dan Geminder regarding the status of removing the images from the Music Braille Code html file and preparing it for publication with the appropriate disclaimers.

Cathy Senft-Graves indicated that the hard copy of Music Braille Code, 2015 is very close to being released for sale.

14. (Agenda item #12) Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

Diane Spence, liaison to the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

Diane questioned whether the questions posed to the committee and their answers are to be included in the meeting report. It was determined that answers considered "Rulings by Committee" should be listed in the report, all other questions/answers should be posted to the committee's listserv. Board members should have access to each listserv to see the postings.

Discussion turned to the revision of the Tactile Graphics Guidelines. The committee is concerned about the lack of progress and being behind due to the changes to Braille Formats and the Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts and is requesting funds for a face-to-face meeting.

MSC Diane Spence moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee be granted up to $5,000 for a face-to-face meeting during 2018. The motion passed unanimously.

Discussion returned to the request previously submitted to the General Committee on UEB which asked that a change to the UEB symbols used for the left and right brackets and the open (hollow) circle when used on number lines, be forwarded to the ICEB Code Maintenance Committee. FM D'Andrea offered to check with other countries to see how number lines are prepared. The Tactile Graphics Technical Committee will review the GUEB comments and prepare a response back to the GUEB.

MSC Diane Spence moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion that Aquinas Pather be reappointed as Chair and Allison O'Day as a committee member with terms to end in 2019. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Diane Spence moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that Janet Milbury be appointed as a consultant to the Tactile Graphics Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Mary Nelle McLennan referred to a note in the Status of BANA Publication Projects questioning if there will be a technical review of the Tactile Graphics Guidelines or if it will go straight to the Board for review.

By general consensus it was agreed that the review of the Tactile Graphics Guidelines will be a board review rather than a technical review followed by a board review.

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

Maryann Bartkowski, liaison to the Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee, summarized the report of the Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee, which is on file.

Jennifer Dunnam will complete the introductory letter to braille reading chess players that is to accompany the proposed guidelines for a review. Vivian Seki has a list of people that would be helpful with the review. The committee will work with the Committee on Review Process to develop questions and a survey. The review will take place once the process is vetted. Simbraille needs to be added to the glyphs document before the document can be sent out for review.

The committee is requesting two new members familiar with crafts be added to the committee. Maryann Bartkowski suggests that May Davis be approached by the Appointments Committee. Jen Goulden knows of a braille reading knitter and will pass that information on to Tracy Gaines.

MSC Maryann Bartkowski moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that Anna Dresner be reappointed to the Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee with a term ending in 2019. The motion passed unanimously.

16. (Agenda item #20) Strategic Planning: Mary Nelle McLennan and Jackie Sheridan

Mary Nelle McLennan recapped the strategic planning processes taken during the last two meetings. Mary Nelle and Jackie Sheridan then led the Board members through a number of activities designed to refine the strategy screen developed at the Spring 2017 meeting.

With the aid of Jessi Rivera, Tracy Gaines, Diane Spence and Saul Garza, board members broke into their respective work groups and focused on creating project strands to address newly formulate strategy statements.

The work teams reconvened Friday morning to analyze the project strands previously established and determine whether actions may be missing. The full Board was convened and the results of the mornings work were shared and commented on. Discussion returned to the BANA Strategy Screen and the bullets points were revised. Mary Nelle will send the revised strategy screen to BANA-L.

17. (Non-agenda item) Electronic Braille: Jen Goulden

Jen Goulden, Tamara Rorie, Jennifer Dunnam, and Vivian Seki spoke about some of the parameters of what the proposed committee can do, such as monitoring what is going on in the braille translation industry and keeping the BANA Board apprised of what is going on with software development, etc. Jennifer Dunnam read the proposal to the Board:

Proposed title: General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation

Proposed charge: To 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.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion that the General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation be established with the charge provided. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion to appoint Jen Goulden (Chair), Jennifer Dunnam, Tamara Rorie, Vivian Seki, and Guy Toles as members of the General Committee of Electronic Braille Translation. The motion passed unanimously.

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

Further discussion of the "Apostrophe Issue" ensued. Guy Toles, FM D'Andrea, Jennifer Dunnam and Saul Garza will help formulate a message to Phyllis Landon with questions for clarification. This item will be revisited Saturday morning.

19. (Agenda Item #13) Mathematics Technical Committee: Dorothy Worthington

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

The committee report indicates that the Graphing Calculator Guidelines have been completed and approved by the Board. That is incorrect, the guidelines have been completed but they have not been reviewed or approved by the Board.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion to change the disposition of Charge 89 from "Ongoing" to "Waiting." The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart who abstained.

[Charge 89 (11/14/03): Complete the Graphing Calculator Guidelines which could include when and how to include such material in a transcription.

The Board Review Committee will formulate the framework for the Board Review and send to BANA-L. Discussion turned to the time frame of the review. Should the Board have completed the review, it may be possible to vote on the guidelines at the teleconference?

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the BANA Board suspend Bylaw rule 7.1.3 on a one-time basis as it relates to the Graphing Calculator Guidelines, if and only if they have been reviewed, updated and are ready for the Board to vote, that we vote by telephone during our interim winter meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

Discussion turned to the rewrite of the Nemeth Code. It was confirmed that all relevant updates and the current Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts will be incorporated into the rewrite. Publications will forward the current draft of the Authoring Guidelines. It was suggested that each section of the code be a separate document.

After a lengthy discussion of Charge 306 and the inaccuracy of what is considered the most recent version of the Guidance from the Mathematics Committee it was determined that a conference call will be set up with Dorothy Worthington to discuss the proposed changes listed at the end of the report. Much of the committee considers "Original" language differs from the most recently approved Guidance. The result of the conference call will be a revised list of additional proposed changes. To be included on the call are Jennifer Dunnam, Saul Garza, Cathy Senft-Graves, Diane Spence and Guy Toles.

It will be suggested to the committee that the proposed changes to the Guidance listed at the end of the report will be worked on but then work to the Guidance should cease and any further proposed changes should be worked into the rewrite of the Nemeth code. Since the committee will be creating a change log to the document it was determined that Charge 306 be discarded.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Cathy Senft-Graves seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 306 be changed to "Discard." The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart who abstained.

[Charge 306 (11/6/16): Work with the Publications Committee on making the list of changes available to the community.]

Proposed change: Page 1: Added "UEB" to the heading "Switch Indicators for Nemeth Code" (Page 1). Status: Not approved, only the Opening Nemeth Switch Indicator is a UEB symbol. §14 of The Rules of UEB.

By general consensus it was agreed that the proposed change: 'Page 1: Added "UEB" to the heading "Switch Indicators for Nemeth Code"' will not be added. This is because the Nemeth Code Terminator and the Single-word Switch Indicator are Nemeth symbols, not UEB symbols. Remind the Committee to include the Single-word Switch Indicator and the Nemeth Code Terminator into the new revision of the Nemeth Code. In addition, the committee needs to make it clear how these symbols are to be listed on the Special Symbols page.

The remainder of the proposed changes will be discussed with Dorothy Worthington in a conference call. Cathy Senft-Graves proposes that we have a document showing the language approved in Fall 2016 marked one way and the currently proposed text marked another way. The entire document should be provided, not bits and pieces.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 315 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

[Charge 315 (3/13/17): Incorporate the approved changes from the Fall 2016 meeting into the existing Guidance for Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts and write a change log to be included at the beginning of the updated document.]

A short discussion of adding Lindy Walton to the committee took place. Lindy's experience with both math and chemistry as well as the fact that she would be helpful in the rewrite of the Nemeth Code make her a good candidate.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and MaryAnn Bartkowski seconded the motion to appoint Lindy Walton to the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee with an ending date of 2018. The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion to reappoint Mary Denault, Allison O'Day, and Susan Osterhaus to the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee with an ending date of 2019. The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

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

Jennifer Dunnam, liaison to the Foreign Language Task Force, presented a verbal report.

Carol Greer and Rebecca Sherwood are leading the rewrite of the guidance document. The uncertainty of the changes between the pre-release and final release versions of Braille Formats had been holding up the rewrite. It is expected that document will be a more detailed enhancement of the current guidance.

21. (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.

As recommended at the Spring 2017 meeting, a small board panel reviewed the BANA Guidelines for the Transcription of Early Educational Materials from Print to Braille. The panel sent recommendations to the committee. Those recommendations were incorporated into the document and are undergoing a final proofreading. Once the revised document is returned to the panel and reviewed, the panel will then make a recommendation to the Board to vote for approval.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Early Literacy Committee be directed to combine the guidelines and examples into one document.

22. (Agenda item #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.

FM reported that the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry established a sub-committee to review and devise a plan for eliminating many of the, what are perceived as outdated, symbols currently used in the Chemistry Code. The committee was reminded that even if the American Chemical Society were to recommend the committee's proposed symbol set that publishers may or may not follow them and symbols that might be used by other publishers cannot be eliminated. In addition, they were reminded that their committee is an offshoot of the Mathematics Committee and that that committee would need to weigh in on whether these symbols need to be discontinued or changed. They were also reminded of the process that once proposed changes are recommended that they go to the other BANA committees for review to ensure that there are no conflicts with their codes, etc.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Chemistry Committee be told that working with the ACS is a potential long term goal but that the Board does not want to see the progress on the updating of the Chemistry code into a usable document for those that are using it, held up in service of a longer term goal. The Board would like to see a plan for the revision.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 307 be changed from "Waiting" to "Ongoing." The motion carried with all members voting in the affirmative except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

[Charge 307 (11/6/16): Respond to inquiries regarding the "Provisional Guidance for Transcription Using the Chemistry Code with UEB Context" and to consider feedback to be incorporated into any future updates.]

23. (Agenda item #21) Nominations Committee: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea presented the Slate of Officers for 2018, which is on file. It was noted that each officer can serve for up to five years.

MSC Maryanne Bartkowski moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion to elect the following slate of officers for 2017:

  • Chair: Jennifer Dunnam (year 4)
  • Vice Chair: Sandy Ruconich (year 3)
  • Treasurer: Jackie Sheridan (year 5)
  • Secretary Dawn Gross (year 2)

The motion passed unanimously.

Discussion turned to the prospect of creating a Treasurer-Elect position or a finance committee to help ease the transition of the BANA treasurer during his/her last term. It was recommended that the Bylaws Committee explore the best method of doing so.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion to charge the Bylaws Committee to draft a process for easing the transition between treasurers. The motion passed unanimously.

24. (Agenda item #22) Membership Committee (In Camera): Kim Charlson

Kim Charlson was unable to attend the meeting, Jennifer Dunnam presented the report. The Board entered into an in camera session, the following motions resulted:

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Saul Garza seconded the motion that BANA accept the application for membership from Region 4 Educational Service Center Braille Solutions. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and FM D'Andrea seconded the motion that the Bylaws Committee be charged with adding Region 4 Educational Service Center Braille Solutions to the Bylaws. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion charging the Bylaws Committee to consider membership as it relates to size and composition of the Board. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie and Diane Spence will work with the Membership Committee to update the Membership packet.

25. (Agenda item #24) Code Questions Task Force: Tamara Rorie

Tamara Rorie, chair of the Code Questions Task Force, presented a verbal report.

The task force met earlier today to discuss its role. It will devise a process for determining which questions currently listed under "Rulings by Committee" in the reports should be disseminated to the public and the process of doing so on the BANA website. The task force expects to have a draft of the process document to the Board by the January teleconference.

26. (Agenda item #25) Braille Research Committee: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea, co-chair of the Braille Research Committee, summarized the report, which is on file. She also discussed several projects related to braille research that are of interest to BANA but are not BANA projects.

  • CSULA and Braille Institute: iBraille Challenge app
  • APH Project - Robert Englebretson: using finger-tracking technology to look at how braille readers read braille math;
  • APH Project - Derek Smith: Learning Technical Subjects through UEB
  • APH Project - Holly Lawson and Adam Wilton: Survey of braille producers producing technical codes.
  • AMAC: Survey regarding tactile graphics and how they are used at the college level.
  • Natalie Martiniello: Survey - The Use of Accessibility of Touch-Screen Devices Among Individuals with Visual Impairments
  • WebAIM: Screen reader use survey

27. (Non-agenda item) Awards Committee: Sandy Ruconich

Sandy Ruconich, chair of the committee, presented the report, which is on file.

The 2017 Braille Excellence Award will be presented to Dr. Lawrence Smith at the Getting In Touch with Literacy conference December 7, 2017. He is unable to attend the conference but Sandy will look into a way of sharing the presentation with Dr. Smith.

28. (Agenda item #27) General Committee for Review Process: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the committee, presented a verbal report.

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion to change the disposition of Charge 310 from "Ongoing" to "Waiting." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 310 (11/6/16): Handle the process of the technical review of the "Guidelines for Production of Standardized Tests in Braille, 2016."]

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Jessi Rivera seconded the motion to charge the General Committee for Review Process to handle the process of a preliminary review of the draft Chess Guidelines presented by the Crafts and Hobbies Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

29. (Agenda item #32) Treasurer's Report: Jackie Sheridan

Jackie Sheridan, BANA treasurer, led the Board in a review of the Financial Statements, which are on file.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion to approve the Treasurers Report. The motion passed unanimously.

The board then reviewed the 2017 Budget line by line to create the 2018 Budget.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion to approve the 2018 Budget. The motion passed unanimously.

Jackie will be sending the results of the financial review and the 2016 Annual Report. The Annual Report will be posed to the website.

30. (Agenda item #22) Membership Committee: Kim Charlson

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion to appoint Vivian Seki to the Membership Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

31. (Agenda item #9) International Council on English Braille: Frances Mary D'Andrea, Jennifer Dunnam, Ruth Rozen, Sue Reilly, Judy Dixon

FM D'Andrea presented additional information on the potential change of the single open and close quote. FM reported that Jennifer Dunnam wrote to Phyllis Landon, chair of the Code Maintenance Committee, asking whether Option 3 would involve completely eliminating the delineation of non-specific quotation marks and reassigning all double quotation marks to (236, 356) and eliminating the non-directional quote and specific quotes. Phyllis wrote back indicating that the proposal has not been thoroughly discussed so that there could be situations where they would need to be kept.

Since a specific rule has not yet been formulated by ICEB, FM D'Andrea proposed sending a message to the Executive Committee of ICEB. This message would indicate that the US member representatives of BANA have additional questions regarding the options listed as choices for resolving the apostrophe/single quote issue. It would also indicate that that until we have definitive answers regarding the ramifications of Option 3, we cannot cast a vote.

The initial language has been drafted but FM will post to BANA-l soliciting corrections and additions before the message is sent to ICEB.

32. (Agenda item #23) Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle McLennan, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file. Much of the Publications Committee report was addressed during the respective committee reports. She referred to the Status of BANA Documents in Process and BANA Publications Workflow documents which are included in the agenda packet.

Mary Nelle reported that the Publications Committee finds Charge 309 to be very confusing and would like it be reworded. It impacts not only the Publications Committee but also the Code Questions Task Force chaired by Tamara Rorie. The committee would like to see a clearer charge, perhaps adding a more formal request to indicate rulings on their committee reports. Perhaps a way of indicating on the reports if the rulings should be added to the website.

MSC Tamara Rorie moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that Charge 309 be discarded and rewritten. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 309 (11/6/16): Collect questions posed to, and their formal responses from BANA committees, and vetting those for posting on the BANA website.]

Braille Formats, 2016

Mary Nelle reported that the final release of Braille Formats, 2016 has been posted to the BANA website. All of the links are working; however, it has not been picked up by the search engines yet. Sandy Smith has requested a crawl of the website; it may take a few days for search results to find the page.

Mary Nelle praised Susan Christiansen, Sandy Smith, Ruth Rozen, Cindi Laurent, and Saul Garza for their commitment to the release of Braille Formats, 2016.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion to send a formal letter of commendation and appreciation to each member of the Publications Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Website

Mary Nelle McLennan and Wendy Buckley updated the BANA Board on the implementation and subsequent elimination of the "reCAPTCHA" security service for the comment boxes on the BANA website. Google recommended updating the website to a secure HTTPS website if BANA were to continue use of this security service. The Publications Committee determined that the update was not necessary, updating will not secure the website from being attacked, and converted the comment boxes to Google Forms, which is a free, accessible and secure online service. Sandy Smith recommends that the website be updated to HTTPS if BANA is looking to collect more detailed information that what is currently being collected in Google Forms.

The BANA website is housed on the ACB server which is backed-up regularly to an offsite location.

Other BANA Publication Projects

The status of BANA's publication projects is reflected in a separate chart provided with the report. Please let Mary Nelle know if the chart does not reflect the current standing of your projects.

Content Quality Control

Mary Nelle McLennan emphasized that BANA does not have a content quality control step prior to documents being turned over to the Publications Committee. She also reiterated that it is not Publications' role to vet the documents prior to publication. She recommends that there be a QC step for content after the review but before the documents are sent to Publications.

Due to time considerations it was recommended that a task force be put together to come back in January with a recommendation for a quality control component.

MSC Guy Toles moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that Jen Goulden (chair), Jennifer Dunnam, Mary Nelle McLennan, Cathy Senft-Graves, Jessi Rivera, and Tamara Rorie be appointed to the Task Force on Recommendations for Quality Control for Publications. A recommendation is to be made to the Board by January. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Jackie Sheridan moved and Jessi Rivera seconded that the BANA Board charge the Task Force on Recommendations for Quality Control for Publications to provide recommendations regarding content quality control of BANA publications prior to submission to the Publications Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

33. (Agenda item #26) Outreach Committee: Sandy Ruconich

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

The 2018 NBA Conference will be held in Detroit, Michigan, October 24-26, 2018. The exhibit trunk will be sent to the meeting.

The Outreach Committee is establishing the podcasts which the Board authorized in August. The podcasts will be 15-20 minutes in length and will be scheduled quarterly. The first of the podcasts will focus on frequently asked UEB questions. FM D'Andrea, as chair of General Committee on UEB, will be interviewed in the first quarter of 2018. The committee has a list of potential topics for future podcasts. Sue Reilly will host the podcasts and two BANA board members will interview the guest, they will rotate depending on the subject matter. Jennifer Dunnam and Jen Goulden will be the first two interviewers of FM. The Carroll Center is allowing BANA to use their license for Zoom. Tonja Milojevic, a Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library braille production specialist will edit the recordings. The podcasts will be uploaded to the BANA website.

Potential future topics may include: the history of BANA with Darleen Bogart being interviewed as the longest standing board member; codes that have been recently released.

34. (Agenda item #30) 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.

Eugene Lozano and Saul Garza have provided draft language of a technical advisory (Attachment 1 of the report) that they would like to send to the U.S. Access Board. If approved, this advisory would be sent via the Access Board to signage makers currently using the 2010 ADA Standards.

By general consensus it was agreed that the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling be informed that further clarification is needed about when space saving is necessary.

35. (Agenda item #29) Bylaws Committee: Darleen Bogart

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

In this section, text deletions are indicated using strikethrough; text additions are indicated using boldface.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 313 be changed to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 313 (11/6/16): Consider the level of observers' participation at meetings.]

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded that changes to Policies 1.5.1, 1.5.1.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.2.1 be approved. The motion passed unanimously.

Policies

  • 1.5 Observers
    • Recognizing its responsibilities as an organization whose decisions affect the public, BANA encourages observers at its Board and committee meetings when possible.
      • 1.5.1 Those who wish to observe at a BANA Board Meeting should request Observer Status from the BANA Chair. are required to notify the BANA Chair and will be granted Observer Status.
        • 1.5.1.1 Observer status gives observers the right to introduce themselves at the beginning of the meeting session at which they arrive, and to participate in the discussion at a face-to-face meeting of the BANA Board, such participation to occur at the invitation of the Chair at the end of the discussion by the Board members before any vote is taken on that agenda item. The Chair will exercise its duty to limit discussion on a topic by the Board members and the participation by observers before the vote. Observers do not have any other speaking rights, nor the right to vote or to challenge any outcomes.
      • 1.5.2 Those who wish to observe at a BANA committee meeting should request observer status from the committee chairperson. are required to notify the committee chair and will be granted observer status.
        • 1.5.2.1 Rights of participation for observers at a BANA committee meeting are the same as for those attending a BANA Board meeting.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 316 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 316 (3/13/17): Review the Policies and Procedures to consider adding language regarding the committee liaison notifying the Appointments Committee when there is a need for a new committee member.]

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that changes to Policies 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, 5.3.2, 5.3.2.1, 5.3.2.2, 5.3.3.7, 5.3.3.8, 5.3.3.9, 5.3.3.10, 5.4.2, 5.4.2.7, 5.4.2.8 and Bylaws 6.1 be approved. The motion passed unanimously.

Policies

  • 5.2 Committee Membership
    • 5.2.1 In addition to the requirements set forth in Bylaw Section 6.2.1, each committee shall have as broad a representation of geographic regions as practical. Potential members will be asked to submit to the technical committee Board liaison a summary describing their experience related to the focus of the committee. The liaison will discuss with the chair of that committee and the BANA chair proposed appointments of committee members or consultants prior to final approval by the BANA Board. Committee members will be recommended by the Appointment Committee for approval by the BANA Board. See Appendix D, Model Appointment Letter.
    • 5.3 Committee Chair Responsibilities
      • 5.3.2 For Members
        • 5.3.2.1 work with the BANA Chair for the appointment and reappointment of committee members and consultants, when necessary. Liaison to fill in the request forms for committee membership for action by the Appointment Committee.
        • 5.3.2.2 work with the BANA Liaison to fill in the request form for a consultant based on the charges to the committee and the lack of the required expertise on the committee for a specific charge for action by the Appointment Committee.
        • 5.3.3.7 requests committee appointments of members and consultants in the report to the Board at its annual (fall) meeting
        • 5.3.3.8 5.3.3.7
        • 5.3.3.9 5.3.3.8
        • 5.3.3.10 5.3.3.9
      • 5.4.2 Committee Liaison Responsibilities
        • 5.4.2.7 Resolve issues regarding non-participating members with the committee chair and report their outcomes to the BANA Chair.
        • 5.4.2.8 Contact the chair of the committee the beginning of July each year to discuss the membership of the committee: those who are eligible for reappointment, those whose expertise is no longer required, and what new expertise is required. Work together to fill in the request forms for new members and consultants and return them to the Appointment Committee along with the names of suggested candidates.

Bylaws

  • 6.1 The BANA Chair shall appoint chairs and members of board, technical, general and ad hoc committees and members of board and ad hoc committees with the approval of a single majority of the Board. …

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that 5.6 and 5.6.7 be added to the Policies. The motion passed unanimously.

Policies: add Appointment Committee

  • 5.6 Board Committees
    • 5.6.7 Appointment Committee

Tamara Rorie reviewed the requirements of open meetings. It is the consensus of the committee that we do not need to add anything to our proposed changes to the Policies under charge 316.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Tamara Rorie seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 317 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 317 (3/13/17): Review the 501(c)3 standards and provide a proposal for our meetings and how observer participation is handled within those standards].

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Sandy Ruconich seconded the motion that the changes to Bylaws 3.0 and 3.1 be accepted. The motion passed unanimously.

Bylaws

  • 3.0 Members: add AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center; remove Council of Schools and Services for the Blind.
  • 3.1 The current full member organizations of BANA are: Alternate Text Production Center of the California Community Colleges; AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center; American Council of the Blind, Inc.; American Foundation for the Blind, Inc.; American Printing House for the Blind; Associated Services for the Blind; Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired; California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired; Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired; CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind); Council of Schools and Services for the Blind; Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired; Horizons for the Blind; National Braille Association, Inc.; National Braille Press; National Federation of the Blind; National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress; and Perkins School for the Blind.
  •  

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Cathy Senft-Graves seconded the motion that the change to Bylaw 3.2 be accepted. The motion passed unanimously.

  • 3.2 Associate Members: Add Council of Schools and Services for the Blind. Associate Members are Braille Institute of America, Inc.; Council of Schools and Services for the Blind; Crawford Technologies; and T-Base Communication.

Membership lists at the beginning of the Bylaws and Policies should be updated to reflect the changes listed above.

36. (Agenda item #28) BANA Appointments Committee: Tracy Gaines

Tracy Gaines, chair of the committee, presented the report. At the time the report was submitted there had not been any activity. However, several names were submitted at this meeting; once the Appointments Committee establishes a timeline they should be submitted much earlier than at the current Board meeting.

Questions posed by Tracy Gaines:

  • 1. Does an application form already exist? Answer: The Committee Membership Application Form has been previously prepared. The reports that reference the Committee Membership Application Form can be found on banafiles under Committee Appointments. The content of the form is listed at the end of this section.
  • 2. When somebody submits a name, should they have contacted the individual to determine their interest level and expertise or is that the committee's responsibility? Answer: The proposer shouldn't be expected to have full information but the Appointments Committee can work with the proposer to obtain the information. If multiple names are submitted for the same position, the committee needs to have a process for figuring out who will be selected.
  • 3. How much time does the committee have to submit names in order for the Appointments Committee to act on them? Answer: An outline will be provided by the winter teleconference.
  • 4. When a committee indicates that a position needs to be filled but no names have been submitted, is it up to the Appointments Committee to find a person if there have been no applicants? Answer: It is the Appointments Committee job to come up with a process and find people to fill the positions.

BANA Committee Membership Application Form

  • Committee: (e.g. Foreign Language)
    • Member required: (e.g. braille reader)
    • Charge(s) of the committee:
  • Contact information:
    • Name:
    • Address:
    • State/Province:        Zip/Postal code:
    • Telephone:
    • E-mail:
  • Braille qualifications:
    • How do you use your braille knowledge?
    • What are your areas of braille expertise?
    • Why would you be a good member of the ____ committee?
    • Certification(s)/Accreditation(s)/Courses and year received for each
  • Other Comments:

37. (Agenda item #36) BANA's Archives: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM D'Andrea has been sending items to the archives at APH, the report is on file.

38. (Agenda item #31) Secretary's Report: Dawn Gross

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

5/9/17

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion to approve the minutes from the 2017 spring board meeting.

Voting deadline was Monday, May 15, 2017, 5:00 p.m. EDT

Voting Yes: ACB (Sandy Ruconich), AER (Mary Nelle McLennan), APH (Cathy Senft-Graves), ASB (Jessi 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 (FM D'Andrea), AMAC (Guy Toles), Horizons (Maryann Bartkowski). The motion carried.

8/23/17

Sandy Ruconich moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that Larry Smith receive the 2017 BANA Braille Excellence Award for his lifetime contributions to braille music.

Voting deadline was Monday August 28, 2017 5:00 p.m. EDT

Voting Yes: AMAC (Guy Toles); ACB (Sandra Ruconich); AER (Mary Nelle McLennan); AFB (Frances Mary D'Andrea); APH (Cathy Senft-Graves); ASB (Jessica Rivera); 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). Not voting: ATPC (Dawn Gross). The motion carried.

39. (Agenda item #33) Certificates of Appreciation: Dawn Gross, Kim Charlson

Kim Charlson will send Certificates of Appreciation to Norma McDonald and Janet Milbury.

40. (Agenda item #34) Directory Update: Sue Reilly

Sue Reilly presented the report. Sue likes to create one official directory after the fall meeting which will include all of the changes/additions to committees, member organizations, etc. Once complete, it will be sent to BANA-L and posted to the website. Tamara Rorie and Sue will work together to determine if changes to the format are needed. Tamara will create a BRF once the directory is complete.

41. (Agenda item #35) BANA's Listservs: Kim Charlson

Sue Reilly presented the report on behalf of Kim Charlson. Kim sent Sue an updated list of all of the existing BANA listservs. Please review the "BANA Listservs Fall 2017" document provided with the agenda for changes. Changes can be sent directly to Kim or to Sue. It was determined that the BANA-Uncontracted list can be discontinued.

42. (Agenda item #37) Press Releases: Sandy Ruconich

Sandy Ruconich, BANA Vice chair, will create press releases for the coming months based on board discussion.

43. (Agenda item #38) International Initiatives

No further information to report.

44. (Agenda item #39) Unfinished/continued business

No further information to report.

45. (Agenda item #40) New Business

No further information to report.

46. (Agenda item #41) Upcoming Meetings

46.1 Spring 2018: ATPC: Dawn Gross

The BANA Spring 2018 meeting will take place April 9-11, 2018. Monday and Tuesday will be full days, Wednesday will be a half day. The meeting will be held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriot where the CTEBVI conference will take place April 12-15. Room rates at the Marriott are $159 per night, more hotel information will be provided by the winter teleconference.

Sue Riley mention that she is the workshop's co-chair for CTEBVI and invited board members to contribute to the workshops. The due date for workshop proposals is December 1.

46.2 Fall 2018: ACB

The BANA Fall 2018 meeting will be hosted by the American Council of the Blind November 1-3, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thursday and Friday (full days) will be held at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Saturday (half day) will be held at the hotel.

46.3 Board Teleconferences

The BANA Board teleconference is scheduled for Thursday, January 18, 2018, 1-2:30 p.m. EST.

47. (Agenda item #42) Future BANA meetings:

  • Spring 2019: CNIB
  • 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

48. (Agenda item #43) Around the Table Organization Updates (time permitting)

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

49. (Agenda item #44) Adjournment: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam extended a warm thank you to Vivian Seki and Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired for the meeting arrangements.

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

Jennifer Dunnam adjourned the meeting at 11:48 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary