點字應用在注音輸入法之字型軟體系統建立設計與創作運用

Building Phonetic Input Software for Braille and the Application to Design

點字之所以重要，是因為它不但可以讓視障者獲得資訊，也能利用它來傳送訊息，由此可知視障者學習點字的迫切性及必要性。然而目前台灣點字書籍製作耗時耗力，懂得點字的閱讀和翻譯的專業人員非常稀少，更沒有明眼人能夠輕易使用的點字轉換方式，造成點字書籍每年產出量極低並且無法量產，本研究旨在探討點字與注音的關聯性並以其理論基礎做注音輸入就能打字出來的點字字型開發，希望透過這樣的方式有效改善使用點字轉換的不易。研究方法共分為三個階段，第一階段為點字製作機構的訪談了解目前點字製作的現況，第二階段為拆解點字特性進行製作軟體，第三階段使用軟體進行檢測，而後透過字型軟體的實際使用設計創作作品；研究結論為點字軟體可以有效改善點字產品製作的時間，增加盲人書籍產生，並能夠快速量產，增進其知識量的吸收，而且能讓明眼人設計師介入點字製作流程的機會，雙視書籍圖形與點字編排同步製作達到設計師能夠預期的美觀化，此研究成果將有助於點字書籍、產品的生產，並供為後續點字研究之參考，所設計字型軟體已申請國家發明專利申請案號為109115385。

In 1950, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially recognized braille as the universal writing system for people who are visually impaired. Then in 1990, the publication of World Braille Usage revealed that this system of writing had been adopted by 85 different countries. As Braille became an essential tool for people with visual impairment to receive information and send out messages, however, learning how to use it has been an important task for these people. In Taiwan, the making of braille books has been time-consuming and strenuous due to a shortage of professionals who can read braille and convert texts to braille. To address this problem, this research seeks to establish a correlation between braille characters and the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (MPS) and then develops a font that converts MPS into braille. The methodology of this research contains three stages. In the first stage, interviews with organizations that produce braille documents were conducted so as to understand the current conditions for braille production. In the second stage, efforts were focused on setting braille-MPS conversion patterns for the development of a software. Lastly, usability tests were run on the software. The research results show that this software can largely shorten the time producing braille documents, hence increasing the number of braille books available for people with visual impairment to read and absorb knowledge. Also, by involving designers in the creation of braille books, the typesetting of pictures and braille texts can be carried out at the same time, thus ensuring the beauty of the books. It is hoped that the results of this research would support the production of braille books and other braille documents, while providing implications for future studies on braille.