An avator doing bfi

Mon Sep 17 16:34:27 UTC 2007

> Does this make sense ?

It does indeed, I am familiar with SignWriting and would be more so if my
time allowed right now :o)

But going back to your original post, I don't doubt the capabilities of
translation technology and it's application to SignWriting. Clearly,
appropriately knowledgeable people would need to be involved (machine
translation researchers, SignWriting researchers, computer scientists) It's
a project well within reach of machine translation technology's capabilities
and I'm sure, and hope, that with time and the appropriate resources of
funding, people etc. it will be addressed.

Sara

On 17/09/2007, GerardM <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hoi,
> The one thing that is probably of more interest to people interested in
> SignWriting is the ability of recognising the movements made in a film. When
> you are able to analyse a person singing and reduce it to expressions in
> SignWriting, you have overcome a giant step towards building a corpus for
> any sign language. Such functionality does not translate but it does
> register.
>
> IMHO there is more need for an ability to translate to a written/spoken
> language then there is to translate a written text to a signed form.
> Typically deaf people know how to read the prevailing written language. The
> signing consists of elements, these elements can be recognised and combined
> they make up a sign. With these signs in a digital corpus, you have basic
> functionality that leverages SignWriting...
>
> Does this make sense ?
>
> Thanks,
>      Gerard
>
> On 9/17/07, Sara Morrissey <sara.morrissey2 at mail.dcu.ie > wrote:
> >
> > Oh dear. Don't talk to me about corpora! I'm working in the arena of
> > Data-Driven Machine Translation and working with people who have millions of
> > sentences for their spoken language translation in comparison to my 600 for
> > sign language work!! Finding parallel data within a closed domain is a
> > difficult task. Nevertheless progress is being made and results are
> > promising :)
> >
> > Thanks for your input :o)
> > Sara
> >
> >
> > On 17/09/2007, Dan Parvaz <dparvaz at gmail.com > wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm sure the one thing standing between the Tunisian Deaf Community
> > > and achieving their potential is the lack of a signing avatar :-)  Still, it
> > > is potentially cool research with good dividends, particularly if it means
> > > the development of a real Tunisian SL dictionary (as opposed to the previous
> > > effort, which was a glossary meant to contribute to the perennial Pan-Arab
> > > SL movement), grammar, etc.
> > >
> > > A major chunk of the problem here rests with the lack of substantial
> > > corpora of any kind, let alone parallel corpora.
> > >
> > > -Dan.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 9/17/07, Sara Morrissey <sara.morrissey2 at mail.dcu.ie > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > All work in this area is a long way from being a translation
> > > > service, I can assure you of that following 3 years PhD research on the
> > > > topic of Machine Translation of Sign Languages. Sadly most of the work that
> > > > I've come across in this area is similar to the work described in the BBC
> > > > article in that it is just a small project. I have seen very little
> > > > consistant work in this area with most of it being satellite projects
> > > > related to other work so it never gets very far. Also, sadly, many groups
> > > > that work in this area have little to no knowledge of the languages they are
> > > > dealing with and often little contact with Deaf communities or colleagues
> > > > and are more interested in the computing aspects.  I am aware of the
> > > > forthcoming FP7 project which does seem to intend spending a few years of
> > > > research in this area:
> > > > http://www.ideal-ist.net/Countries/TN/PS-TN-1590 Well, I hope so at
> > > > least, I've applied for a postdoc position with them!!
> > > >
> > > > I'd be interested in hearing anyone's opinion on both this project
> > > > and any other sign language machine translation projects they've come
> > > > across. I intend to continue working in this area so all input is valuable
> > > > :o)
> > > >
> > > > Namaste,
> > > > Sara
> > > >
> > > > ************************************
> > > > Sara Morrissey,
> > > > PhD Researcher,
> > > > National Centre for Language Technology,
> > > > School of Computing,
> > > > Dublin City University,
> > > > Dublin 9,
> > > > Ireland.
> > > > ***********************************
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On 15/09/2007, Dan Parvaz <dparvaz at gmail.com > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Sigh. Everytime some student on their Amazing Journey Of
> > > > > Self-Discovery<tm> "reinvents" a piece of deaf-related technology
> > > > > (datagloves for reading fingerspelling, signing avatars, etc.), some
> > > > > ignorant journalist is ready to hail it as a breakthrough.
> > > > >
> > > > > This was put together in a few months by a student intern. As far
> > > > > as I can tell (those knowing BSL please look at the video and correct me if
> > > > > I'm wrong), this is yet another relatively straightforward marriage of
> > > > > speech recognition and 3D animation. There's no indication that space,
> > > > > classifiers, etc. which would be part of a natural SL are being used here.
> > > > > As it stands, it's less useful than commercially available speech-to-text
> > > > > systems (DragonDictate, Via Voice, etc.)
> > > > >
> > > > > Don't surplus your interpreters just yet :-)
> > > > >
> > > > > Cheers,
> > > > >
> > > > > -Dan
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >  On 9/15/07, GerardM < gerard.meijssen at gmail.com > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Hoi,
> > > > > > I read this article on the BBC website about a translation
> > > > > > service created by IBM that uses an avatar to translate into British Sign
> > > > > > language (bfi). Such technology could in principle also produce SignWriting
> > > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > >      Gerard
> > > > > >
> > > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6993326.stm
> > > > > >
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > SLLING-L mailing list
> > > > > > SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> > > > > > http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > SLLING-L mailing list
> > > > > SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> > > > > http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > SLLING-L mailing list
> > > > SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> > > > http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > SLLING-L mailing list
> > > SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> > > http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > SLLING-L mailing list
> > SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> > http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> SLLING-L mailing list
> SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
> http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l
>
>

-- 
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/slling-l/attachments/20070917/cab044e6/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
SLLING-L mailing list
SLLING-L at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
http://majordomo.valenciacc.edu/mailman/listinfo/slling-l