SignWriting Report February 15, 2004

Sun Feb 15 16:30:49 UTC 2004

SignWriting List
February 15, 2004

Dear SignWriting List Members!
I hope you all are doing well?...smile...I am too. Here are the
projects I am working on right now:

SIGNWRITING REPORT
(from Val's desk in California ;-)

1. SignBank Dictionary Databases
Todd Duell, our FileMaker programmer, came yesterday and programmed the
headers in dictionaries that are printed, sorted by SSS...Before, we
had to manually place the symbols in the headers. Now it happens
automatically. Wonderful!  Plus, Todd helped me with our SignBank
Online database, which is also programmed in FileMaker to publish web
databases. Before yesterday, our web database was programmed to only
accept GIF or JPEG diagrams, but now, thanks to our List members, who
suggested that we start to use the PNG format...Todd programmed our web
database to accept the PNG format too...So when you click to download a
graphic from the online dictionary, it can be in PNG. The only problem
is that I have to re-format all the current graphics files that are
there, from GIF to PNG, so that is a bit of a job for me....I do not
know when I can do that. I hope to have around 1000 entries soon...I am
adding them in the next few days. So some will be PNG and some will be
GIF!

2. SignWriting Year-End Report 2003
I have written it, and gotten approval from several people who were
mentioned in the report. I just have to post the PDF and when I do, I
will announce it...;-)

3. Greek Sign Language files in SignWriting
Some researchers in Greece wrote a lot of SignWriting years ago, and
then I never finished getting their files on the web. Now, a programmer
in Greece is planning to create a computer program of their own, using
SignWriting and SWML, and so they have requested that I get those files
on the web for download...I look forward to doing that...so that is
another project on my plate..;-)

4. Translating DAS ZEICHEN Article from German to English
Stefan Woehrmann wrote an excellent article about SignWriting (11 pages
or so). This article was published last November in the prestigious
journal DAS ZEICHEN, which comes from the University of Hamburg. I
received permission from the publishers to post the article on our web
site, but I am working slowly, paragraph by paragraph, on the English
translation, so we can have both the German and English versions on the
web, side by side.

5. SignSpelling Guidelines 2004
I am writing a small description of the difference between searching
and sorting. I realize now, that those two terms mean something quite
different in the FileMaker database community, and I got used to those
terms. Then later, I found out that other people were using these two
terms to mean the same thing...so I will be defining that and then
explaining how we program them in different ways. I also want to
explain that there is a way to search by Location Symbols, in SignBank
for Research Use...this is a technical detail that might be of interest
to some programmers.

6. Teaching A SignWriting Workshop on February 17th Over the Telephone!
This is a great story. Cecilia Flood, from Albuqerque, New Mexico, has
arranged that on February 17th, all of the teachers who are using
SignWriting will be sitting at their computers in their computer room
at their school in New Mexico. Then Cecilia will call me with a
Conference Call, and my voice will be able to be heard in the whole
room. Some of the teachers are Deaf, so they plan to have interpreters
there....So I will be teaching a workshop over the telephone from
California to New Mexico! Isn't that great? ;-)

One of the reasons this means so much to me, is that I am unable to
travel in recent years, because of health limitations. So teaching
SignWriting Workshops over the telephone is a wonderful way for me to
be able to teach groups without traveling....And it is less expensive
for the school and the teachers too...Here is the proposed workshop
schedule, although I bet we will only get to half of it, because I know
the teachers need to ask me questions:

PLAN FOR WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 17...
Everyone sits at their computer, with access to the web...Valerie is on
the telephone...

Part 1: SIGNBANK ONLINE DICTIONARY
How to Use the Web Dictionary

Part 2: HOW TO DOWNLOAD NEW SIGNBANK DATABASES
How to access and complete downloads...

Part 3: USING THE SIGNBANK PROGRAM ON YOUR COMPUTER DESKTOP
Introduction to the SignBank Portal, which includes...
How to start SignBank...
How to open the Portal...
How to search for signs by English words...
How to search for signs listed in a list, sorted by SSS
How to print dictionaries and vocabulary lists...

7. More Workshops Over the Telephone?
I will be happy to teach anyone over the telephone. It is free. If you
want to learn SignWriting over the telephone...here is what you need:

First, you will need to have a computer on, connected to the web, with
a telephone near the computer, on two separate lines, so that you can
talk to me on the phone while you are accessing the web..

Second, if Deaf people are participating, you will need an interpreter
to sign what I say on the telephone...

Third, the expense of the telephone or conference call with be
yours...I will wait by the telephone for your call. Write to me to
schedule a time and day...

That is all! I look forward to teaching more and more workshops this
way -

So this is my SignWriting Report!....

What are all of YOU doing? I would love to hear Reports from your desks
too!

Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

1. SignWritingSite
http://www.SignWriting.org
Read & Write Sign Languages

2. SignBankSite
http://www.SignBank.org
Sign Language Dictionaries

3. DanceWritingSite
http://www.DanceWriting.org
Read & Write Dance

4. MovementWritingSite
http://www.MovementWriting.org
Read & Write Movement & Gesture

5. Shop Online!
http://www.SuttonShop.com
Proceeds Donated to Deaf Literacy

Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
tel: 858-456-0098....fax: 858-456-0020