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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hi everyone,<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Valerie has suggested I explain what this is all about so I
shall try to do so as briefly as possible leaving any details to your follow up
questions.<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>First, we are looking for the funding to perform the project
properly and not as something people need to do in their spare time (especially
since no-one has any </span></font><font size=2 face=Wingdings><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings'>J</span></font><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>)<br>
<br>
Second we all discussed with Val, Steve and others what seemed like a good plan
for a major project and, whilst much of this remains as agreed te plan to use
an application here in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as a start has taken two diversionary steps.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The first is that we have the chance of obtaining good
funding for a WLDC SW project which I believe also forces us into a good
project objective – the Western Counties of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Wales</st1:country-region>
working in collaboration with the South Eastern part of <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> on
aspects of the original project intentions. If we are successful with that bid
it will mean that one of the project objectives common to all applications will
have been achieved – Michael Everson will be properly funded to do the
main work on preparing the SW symbol/character set to be ready for encoding in
the ISO Unicode Standard. We are busy obtaining the Partners needed and writing
up the project for submission by January 18<sup>th</sup> – this is the
first deadline, I am not sure we are going to make that date but we will try to
do so and certainly be ready for the second.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The second involves local activities to engage Signing
communities in individual countries to raise the take-up of SW by users and
learners of the local SL. The original plan was to track down and enlist BSL
users who also had experience of SW to help carry the message to others within
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Whilst it is the wrong time of the year for much by way of communication, being
a hearing newcomer I have been surprised to find that the current take up of SW
for BSL is probably countable on one hand and so far I have only had contact
with one – Sandy Fleming, who with Val is the main contributor to the BSL
SW sign dictionary. I have also only had one response to a call for interest in
participation by local SW communities and support agencies and none for funding
purposes. What this means in the UK and any other country where take up has notyet
begun to take off, that the project has to start a bit further back up the track.
I.e. we need to get funding just to recruit the groups in the first place who I
am now hoping will learn about SW and how to use it for communicating in BSL and
once they are a little way down the track begin to be a good source for
additions to the BSL dictionary. It will be a start for the spread of the good
news (Can I also thank the people who wrote the letters of recommendation and
of course Val for putting them out – I think this is very timely for our
hopes for funding ).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Anyway I now add the shortest description of our project intentions
for your information<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Title - The World Language
Documentation Centre’s SignWriting Project for Enhancing Literacy and
Education among the Deaf and signing communities of the World (or WLDC SW
Project) <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><br>
The overall project aims to achieve at least the following goals <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>1)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>To contribute significantly towards
universal capability of signing communities of the world to read, write and
participate in everyday literary life in their own first language by<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>a)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>recruiting country based schools,
colleges, universities and other agencies providing Deaf and Hard of Hearing
facilities to bring together groups of local users of the local SL, preferably
including parents, children, teachers and where appropriate, carers to work
together in learning about and how to read and write their local SL using the
SW system with help from the Center for Sutton Movement Writing (CSMW).<br>
It is expected that these groups will also be a good source for additions to
the local SL Sign word dictionary <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>b)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>raising public awareness and active
participation in the WLDC SW Project through a country based WLDC SW Sign-Word
Appeal whereby donors “buy” a personalised “word” of
their choice in SW script and donor customised details, eg the word
“love” in ASL gives the SW sign<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:18.0pt;text-align:center'><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><img width=36
height=44 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.gif@01C84E54.6A481F30"><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>c)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>encoding the SW script (sgnw) in a
Character Set of the Unicode Standard <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>d)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>developing innovative applications for
integration of sign language text into <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>ainstream
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>ultimedia, <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>ultimodal, <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>m</span></b>ulti-lingual, <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>obile,
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>ulti-channel and <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>m</span></b>ulti-inclusionary communication (7Ms)<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>e)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>identification of recognised Sign
Language variants used in each country for entry to the ISO 639-6 database for
language varieties as well as any resulting need for aditional
symbols/characters<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level2 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>f)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>dissemination of information to industry
regarding the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community needs and provision in
relation to SW. Links will be established, in particular with the translation
and software industries, to be ready for the provision of professional
translation and localization services. <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>2)<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>To significantly raise public understanding
of the potential for benefits-for-all when literary capability of the Deaf and
other signing communities becomes widespread among that community and translatable
into other languages and where necessary supporting campaigns for legal or
other recognition of the country based sign languages in the same way as
the hearing language or languages of the country. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>The WLDC SW Project<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>This is to be a “meta-project” consisting of <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>o<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font size=2><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Workpackages to be performed for common application.
These WPs are performed by the WLDC for overall WLDC SW project purposes and in
some cases wider benefit. <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>o<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font size=2><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'>Workpackages to be performed by a National or Regional
Team under WLDC auspices and where requested, with WLDC assistance. This
recognises the likelihood of local country or regional variation having to be
catered for and local country or regional expertise being more likely to be
effective and efficient in achieving the WP goals. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Any comment and certainly experiential advice or correction of
misapprehension welcomed.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Best regards<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Chris </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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