NEW! ASL Wikipedia Project on Wikimedia Labs

[Steve Slevinski]

On 8/25/12 6:42 AM, MARIA GALEA wrote:
> seems like you are skipping over the Unicode barrier! :)

Hi Maria,

Unicode is an important goal for SignWriting.  Trying to balance the 
SignWriting requirements with the Unicode reality has been an 
interesting experience.

The middle of last year, we were of a single mind for how to encode 
SignWriting.  This year, there are two efforts, each with different 
foundational ideas.

First Approach - Encoding SignWriting so that SignWriting specific 
processing is easy to perform.
Second Approach - Encoding SignWriting so that SignWriting can leverage 
as much of the existing Unicode architecture as possible.

Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages.

I've been working on the first approach.  For the ASL Wikipedia Project, 
we decided to move ahead using a custom encoding which can use either 
ASCII or Unicode PUA.  So even without the approval of the Unicode 
consortium we are able to use Unicode right now.  In a few years, if the 
Unicode PUA encoding is useful and popular, we can approach Unicode 
again with a much stronger case.

Efforts are also under way for the second approach.  I am not directly 
involved in this second approach, but it is being worked on.  I look 
forward to seeing what they are able to do.

Regards,
-Steve