Society produces first magazine
in Braille

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Some 56 years after publishing the first edition of its magazine A Biblia no Brasil, the Bible Society of Brazil (BBS) has achieved a first by starting to produce a regular edition in Braille for visually impaired readers.

Reading the Braille edition of the Bible Society of Brazil's magazine 'A Biblia o Brasil' ('The Bible in Brazil'). Photo: BSB (BRA04DJ-12.JPG)

In 2001 the Society’s Printshop, which is one of the largest Scripture production centres in the world (see World Report 369/22), bought a Braille printing machine and in 2002 the BBS produced the first complete Bible in Braille in Portuguese. Allied to new desktop publishing techniques, the new press gave a very high quality product (see World Report 376/12).

The BBS Communications Department then turned its attention to its quarterly glossy magazine A Biblia no Brasil. BBS has been publishing the magazine for the past 56 years and it has a circulation of 70,000. The Society decided to embark on producing a Braille edition for visually handicapped readers.

Study

First, however, a wide-ranging feasibility study was conducted, looking at the financial, technical, and logistical aspects of the undertaking. The publication, if it were to go ahead, would directly involve four BBS departments: Communications (for the selection and editing of the content), Social Action (for the distribution of the magazine to the special audience), Publications (for the desktop publishing, the conversion of the text from Microsoft Word format into Braille, and proofreading), and Bible Press (for the Braille printing).

The Society decided to go ahead but since Braille printing is very costly, it decided not to produce the printed magazine in full but to run a selection of articles. On average, each edition consists of 12 pages, as against 32 pages in the print edition.

The size is 25cm x 33cm (9.84in x 12.99in) – the same as that of the Bible in Braille. And like the original magazine, its Braille counterpart comes out quarterly. As soon as the print edition is finalised, a selection of articles is made, and the production in Braille starts.

Circulation

At present it has a circulation of 1,000 copies. The readership, initially defined by the BBS Social Action Department, consists of all the people registered in its Visually Handicapped Program, who receive it free of charge together with a volume of the Bible in Braille. The other recipients are libraries and organisations for visually impaired people.