Submitted on: October 31, 2013

Learning Support System using 3DCG and GIF Animation for an Intuitive
Understanding of Braille
Akihiro Motoki
Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Tsurumi University, Yokohama,Japan.
motoki-a@tsurumi-u.ac.jp
Copyright © 2013 by Akihiro Motoki. This work is made available under the termsof the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Abstract:
Braille is a system of tactile signs for the visually impaired, which represents characters bypatterns of six raised dots and is read by touching. While the visually impaired themselves
use braille for reading and writing, their supporters should also be acquainted with thesystem for communication with them. Effectiveness of training of supporters can be enhanced
by using three-dimensional patterns, instead of the commonly used two-dimensional ones, torepresent braille characters.
The purpose of this study is to develop a learning support system (LSS) using 3D computer
graphics (3DCG) and GIF animation for an intuitive understanding of braille. Two functions
are added to the existing LSS that enables students to learn with 3DCG not only braille forreading but also braille for writing by visualizing the mirror image relationship between
them by the GIF animation. This feature is also helpful for evaluation of students'achievement.
Keywords: 3DCG, GIF animation, Braille, learning support system, intuitive understanding.

1 INTRODUCTION
Braille is a system of tactile signs for the visually impaired to read or write, which representscharacters by patterns of six raised dots and is read by touching the patterns from left to right.
The French educator Louis Braille, who lost his eyesight at the age of three, developed thesystem in 1824, which was later named after his name. In Japan, Kuraji Ishikawa, a teacher ina school for the visually impaired, adapted Braille's idea to the syllabic writing system of theJapanese language in 1890. The Japanese word "tenji" meaning braille was coined by
combining the words "ten" (dot) and "ji" (character).
"When an e-book is presented in an accessible format on an accessible e-book reader, theuser can choose to read the book using text-to-speech, Braille, or magnification," accordingto Mason (2012). Braille is thus one of the methods for the visually impaired to get
information.
1

Jones and Zambone(2008) tell school library staff : “For example, if a student is blind, his or
her IEP (Individualized Education Plan) goals may include reading braille on grade level andthe services and accommodations may include access to reading devices, computer software,and braille materials in the media center.” The Japanese governmental guideline foreducation of public welfare in high schools states that a variety of communication methods
including sign language and braille should be covered in teaching on situation-dependentcommunication methods (MEXT, 2009). These statements imply that supporters of thevisually impaired should be able to read/write braille for communication with them.
("Supporters" mean here librarians and teachers of special need schools, as well as students
wishing to be ones, who themselves are sighted).
Miura et al. (2009) developed a self-learning program of braille (e-learning system forbraille), which proved to be highly helpful for those who acquired visual impairment tolearn braille. The representation of braille characters by black and white circles or the plusand minus signs in the system proved to be readily recognized by those who acquired visualimpairment. Capabilities of user authentication and management of users’ learning history,lacking in this system, were later implemented by Motoki and Matsuo (2013) in their braille
LSS (learning support system) "TENJI TO ISSHO!"
The two-dimensional representation of braille characters used in these systems is satisfactoryfor reading only or writing (i.e. producing mirror images of characters) only, but confusing
for those who learn both reading and writing: a two-dimensional pattern corresponds to acharacter uniquely if the reading direction is specified (Fig. 1, left), but is ambiguous if either
reading direction is possible (MO-TO-KI from right to left, YO-SI-MI from left to right).
The key to solve this problem is a way of representation that permits distinction between acharacter for reading (in raised dots) and one for writing (in recessed dots). The author, thus,
proposes to distinguish raised and recessed dots using three-dimensional computer graphics(3DCG). These 3DCG files were installed in the existing braille LSS "TENJI TO ISSHO!" Inaddition, 3DCG GIF animation files were prepared for representing the mirror-image
relationship between a braille character for reading and one for writing. The purpose of thepresent work is to improve the braille LSS "TENJI TO ISSHO!" by adding the 3DCG
function for better understanding on the learner's part, and to evaluate the effectiveness of thissystem.
Reading direction specified

Reading direction not specified(Learner does not know whether the dots
are raised or recessed)○●○●●○●●●●●○●●●○○●MO TO KI○●●○●○○●●●●●●○○●●●？ ← KI TO MO
YO SI MI → ？

Fig. 1: Unique (left) and ambiguous (right) representation of braille characters

22 SYSTEM"TENJI TO ISSHO! 3D" is an LSS implemented as a web client/server system. It wasdeveloped in the LAMP environment (L = CentOS 5.9, A = Apache 2.2.3, M = MySQL
5.5.12, P = PHP 5.3.6). The system allows anybody to learn to read and write braille anytime
and anywhere using a mobile device connected to the Internet.
Two functions were implemented in this system for intuitive understanding of braille:(1) Display of 3DCG of braille characters, which permits to distinguish raised dots forreading and recessed dots for writing in the Q&A sessions in “TENJI TO ISSHO! 3D”.
(2) Display of 3DCG animation of braille characters, which enables the learner to submit
answers to the LSS questions.
Fig. 2 shows the 3DCG images of braille characters corresponding to Fig. 1, as produced by
the 3D modelling/rendering package e-frontier Shade 3D© Ver.13.2.3.119. The user canreadily distinguish raised dots from recessed ones in this format and, consequently, determine
the reading direction.
Direction in reading

MOTO

Direction in writing

KIKITOMOFig. 2: Examples of 3DCG of braille for reading (left) and for writing (right)
Both 2D and 3D representations are possible in the braille LSS "TENJI TO ISSHO! 3D" (Fig.
3).

Fig. 3: 2D (left) and 3D (right) image of braille characters in "TENJI TO ISSHO! 3D"33 DISCUSSION
Students learned braille using "TENJI TO ISSHO! 3D" and were then tested for theirachievement. Fig. 4 compares the test scores of individual students with the number ofanswers submitted by them in the LSS. Analysis revealed a weak positive correlation
between the two variables, indicating that the system contributes to improved test scores ofthe students.

15R=0.624**

120

1290

960

630

300Score (The full score is 15)

Number of answeringon this LSS

150

Students' test scores(descending order)
Number of answering on this LSS

Students' test scoresFig. 4: The comparison of the number of individual student's answers in the LSS andstudents’ test scores. R is the coefficient correlation (t-tested. **: p<.01)
4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is supported by a Japanese Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research(JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25590290). The author thanks the students who belonged toDepartment of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Tsurumi University, for answering
my questionnaire.
5 REFERENCES
Jones, Jami B. and Zambone, Alana M. (2008). What is Special Education: An Overview ofthe Special Education Laws and their Implications for Media Specialists. http://www.ala.org/
aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/kqwebarchives/v36/364/364joneszambone
Mason, Amy. (2012). Mainstream Access to E-Books--What Works, What Doesn’t, andWhat Is Still Unclear. Braille Monitor. Vol.55, No.1. https://nfb.org/images/nfb/ publications/bm/bm12/bm1201/bm120105.htm
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). (2009).
Governmental guideline for school teaching; welfare, 19. (in Japanese)
Miura, Kenji, et al. (2009). Investigation for the self-learning program for Braille (e-learningsystem for Braille) for Braille learners’ perspective. IEICE technical report. Education
technology, 108(470), 83-88. (in Japanese)
Motoki, Akihiro and Yurino Matsuo. (2013). Development and Evaluation of Braille
Learning Support System for Sighted Persons using Gamification. JSiSE Research Report,
27(7), 64-69. (in Japanese)4