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Print and audio media for the blind
The Indian National Association for the Blind (NAB) is the largest producer of media for the blind in India. Its English-language titles however are being used in other countries such as South Africa. They include books and magazines in Braille, and Talking Books.
On very modern Braille press machines, around 30,000 books are being made per year in the languages Marathi, Hindi, English, Gujarati and Sanskrit. This includes academic textbooks for the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, Vigyan Bharati - a specialised Braille journal devoted to science and technology; Vartaman, a fortnightly journal with a focus on information on current events; Depshikkha, a Hindi quarterly devoted to women's issues; recreational literature in the form of novels, short stories; general literature, including classics and religious texts; and Kal Nirnay, a popular calendar for the blind.
It has to be mentioned that the Braille books are heavily subsidized and are being sold only at 1/8th of their production cost.
The department for tactile graphics is producing graphics and maps for the blind. As early as in 1970, the first Indian atlas in Braille has been produced by NAB.
Since 1994, computerised Braille embossers are being used which work very accurately and quickly. At the moment, around 10,000 pages can be embossed per hour.
Further, NAB is operating the M.P. Sha All India Talking Book Centre which so far has produced more than 4000 titles of Talking books. The library hosts around 5000 titles in 9 languages (Gujarati, Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil and English). Besides novels and recreational literature, there are monthly talking magazines - Listener's Digest in English, Indradhanush in Hindi, Spratang in Marathi, Swarsangam in Gujarati, just as educational textbooks for Secondary Schools, High Schools and universities.
The centre hosts 3 audio recording studios where in two shifts; speakers are being recorded 16 hours per day.
The building of NAB also home to a modern call centre operated by sponsor TATA Indicom, where blind people work at the customer support hotline of the mobile operator.
Volunteers and interns should have experience/knowledge of media production and should be able to familiarise themselves quickly with the topic and technology. They can be either only at Braille printing, at Talking books or at both departments. In the department of Braille printing, the contents have to be prepared for adaption to Braille and then the relevant software and machines have to be operated.
For the audio recording department, knowledge in audio recording is required. Participants can take part at the recording and editing of audio. A task that volunteers can do at the moment is to plan and implement the digital provision of Talking Books. At the moment all Talking Books are only available on physical data storage devices (CDs, cassettes) which are accessible only in the premises of the library. To convert this data into MP3s, provision as downloads or streaming media, and the required technology both on the sides of sender and receiver must be planned and implemented.
Infobox:
Location: Mumbai, India
Duration: min. 1 month
Previous experience required: Yes
Costs: none; Trouble-free package is optional
Accommodation: Not included
Meals: Not included
Included: Contact and contact person; when booking our
"trouble-free package, all services of the trouble-free package are included.
Not included: Travel, insurance, visa.
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