IMWA: Handshape Construction and Sequencing Rules

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 1st, 2004

Dear SW List Members:
I have been slowly working on the first version of the IMWA. That is
the International Movement Writing Alphabet, and it is a listing of all
of the symbols in the entire writing system, for writing general body
movement. There are a lot of symbols, so from my standpoint, it has
been a big job, but I am hoping if we are smart, that we can use the
IMWA to help us standardize specific lists of symbols for different
countries, all using the same symbol numbers, but each country will be
able to pick and choose which symbols they want to use. This means that
I have to finalize the number-IDs for each symbol now, in the IMWA, so
that when new symbols are added later, they are squeezed between
existing numbers, without changing any of the existing numbers...This
can be done, thanks to the the Variations number ID, which is used to
insert symbols into the existing list...

The problem, in the past, was that the different symbolsets, such as
the SSS-1995 in SignWriter DOS, the SSS-1999 in the current version of
SignWriter Java, and the SSS-2002 in SignBank 2002....all had different
numbers...so the poor programmers had to write conversion programs from
one symbolset to the other...I am sure this has tortured many
programmers, and I am trying now, to put a final stop to this problem,
by freezing the numbers of the IMWA in the next two days...That will be
our first version of the IMWA....You will see a lot of symbols that are
not entered yet, into the IMWA database, but the numbers will never
change again. Newly added symbols will always take new numbers not used
by any other symbol.

Meanwhile....smile...I have also been writing an IMWA Reference Manual
that tries to explain all this, and also the logic behind the Symbol
Names etc...It is not exactly fun reading...but as a reference manual
it is essential, if programmers are to understand why the numbers are,
as they are...I know we all think a little differently, so at least the
manual documents my thinking as of June, 2004!

For example, here is a page from the IMWA Reference Manual, regarding
how handshapes are constructed...You can download different chapters,
or the whole manual to date.... Go to:

International Movement Writing Alphabet (IMWA)
http://www.SignBank.org/symbolbank/sss2004.html


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