[Nfbnet-members-list] Get The Braille Monitor

[David Andrews]

The following comes from Gary Wunder, 
gwunder at nfb.org and concerns getting and using the Braille Monitor.

Dave


As I travel around the country I encounter a 
number of people who tell me that they love the 
braille monitor but were a victim of the purge. 
They somehow believe that cost-cutting meant the 
elimination of individual subscriptions to the 
magazine. This could not be further from the truth.



Several years ago we attempted to clean up our 
list to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, 
that we were making the best use of money spent 
on the braille monitor. We did not want to send 
it to people who had moved, no longer cared to 
receive it, or were deceased. We decided that the 
best way to determine who wanted to continue 
receiving the magazine was to ask. For this 
reason we ran an item in the monitor miniatures 
section saying we were going to clean up the list 
and asking that those who wished to continue 
receiving the monitor send us an email, write to 
us at the national office, or give us a call to 
indicate their continuing interest.



One can speculate about why so many people who 
wanted to read the braille monitor were removed, 
but in less the speculation can result in a 
systemic change for the better, there is probably 
little value in doing it. What is important is 
that we make sure those who want to receive the 
publication are getting it and that they know it 
is available in print, in braille, in audio, on 
the web, and through email. Subscriptions can be 
updated by writing to Marsha Dyer at the Jernigan 
Institute. Her email address is mdyer at nfb.org ; 
her postal address is 200 East Wells St., at 
Jernigan Pl., Baltimore, MD 21230. Subscription 
requests can also be left in our bulk voicemail 
box by calling (410) 659-9314, extension 2344. 
One can request the Monitor in their email, on an 
audio flash drive, in Braille, or in print.



A second but related issue is that a number of 
people who read the magazine using email admit 
that they seldom read all of the magazine. The 
problem, they say, is not that they do not find 
it interesting, but that they do not wish to read 
it in one sitting and find it hard to return to 
where they left off. Most do not seem to know 
that they can move what they receive in an email 
message to their favorite word processor, place a 
mark where they leave off, and return to it at 
will. Let me explain how this is done or at least the way I do it.



Once you have opened the magazine in your email 
program, select the contents of the message (the 
content of the magazine) by holding down the 
control key and pressing the letter A. Copy the 
selected text to the clipboard by pressing the 
control key and the letter C. Open your favorite 
word processor, start a new document, and paste 
the contents of the Monitor into the new document 
by holding down the control key and pressing the 
letter V. The last step is to save your newly 
created document. I would use a name that 
indicates it is the Monitor and the month of the 
publication. “brlmondec or BrailleMonitorDecember2011) would serve.



When wanting to place a bookmark into your 
document, try to come up with something you 
aren't likely to find in the text. You might use 
several pound signs or perhaps the text string 
xxx. Anything you can easily remember will work, 
but avoid using common words as bookmarks. The 
words “start here” might work, but at some point 
you will be caught by the sentence “We must start 
here to make the change we want.” I use bookmarks 
not only to tell me where I've stopped reading, 
but to bring me back to places where I want to 
extract an address, lookup a word I don’t know, 
or question a grammatical construction I haven’t 
seen before­I’m always on the lookout for a new turn of phrase.



I know it is wishful thinking to believe that 
every member and nonmember who is interested in 
affairs concerning the blind will read the 
braille monitor from cover to cover, but I hope 
that something here will make it easier for you 
to get the information the monitor works so hard 
to distribute. Your suggestions for improving our 
flagship publication are always welcome.



Gary Wunder, Editor The Braille Monitor