AW: Improving palm facing for plain square symbol....

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 6, 2003

Dear SignWriting List, and Stefan!
Yes...I agree. I am not going to ask everyone to change their writing.
And I would not teach a Deaf child that detail myself. It is exactly
like the diagonal line that a lot of computers place inside the number
zero...I would never write a line through a zero personally, but
computers do that a lot...I believe it is connected with sorting
routines inside computers...the only way the computer could know that
the zero and the letter o are not the same symbol, was to make them
look different etc...so that is the same problem..programmers have
complained to me that it is hard to program with a symbol that is not
clear...so I have to figure out a way for the computer to differentiate
between the white square for the right hand and the white square for
the left hand...but when we write, we don't have to do that...so go
right ahead and use the symbol as you always have...I plan to too!

And the arm line is a wonderful tool to use...go right ahead! I wish we
could add an arm line to every plain square in the computer, but then
some signs would not convert from one computer program to the
other...that is a long detailed story and there is no reason for you to
think about this again....

There are several other symbols that have the same problem...one of
them is the plain white and black circle for the O Hand...so if you see
a computer marker on some of those symbols when you are trying to place
signs in SSS in SignBank, don't let it bother you...They are there just
to help you temporarily, so you know which palm facing you typed...so
the dictionary will sort properly...

Such is life with computers!

Thanks for your input, Stefan! I appreciate it -

Val ;-)

-----------------------------------




On Jan 6, 2004, at 1:52 AM, Stefan Woehrmann wrote:

> Hi Val, Tini and friends ...
>
> I am sorry - but I would prefer very much the "good old square"
> Whenever
> there is the need for more accuracy I would rather prefer to add the
> arm
> line and voila - no misunderstanding of the orientation of the fist any
> more -
> Let us keep the symbol set as small as possible -
>
> but for any computer - software -needs  you may need a solution - but
> that
> has not to be necessarily a part of every day writing - ???
>
> Little children and may get confused if the "Gestalt" of the signs
> contain
> more and more strokes, gaps, ...
>
> That is my opinion
>
> Stefan:-))
>
> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
> Von: SignWriting List [mailto:SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA]Im Auftrag von
> Valerie Sutton
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 6. Januar 2004 04:41
> An: SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> Betreff: Re: Improving palm facing for plain square symbol....
>
>
> SignWriting List
> January 5, 2004
>
> Hello Everyone and Tini!
> You know...you are correct, Tini...It is true that when writing by
> hand, the back of the hand has problems with the slash like a Q,
> because it will look like another handshape...for example...it could
> look like an index finger sticking out, rather than a thumb marker...so
> maybe the Q slash idea is only ok for the white palm...
>
> But the computer version of the same symbol is very useful for the
> typist...who needs to know what palm facing they are typing...that way
> signs can be sorted by SSS properly in dictionaries and without that
> marker the typist doesn't know which palm facing they chose...so this
> little marker has its usefulness in computers at least...I am
> disappointed about the Q marker for the back of the hand
> though...thanks for pointing that out to me...oh well!
>
> Please take a look at the attached diagram...it shows how it helps with
> the computerized symbols...Val ;-)
>