Sign Proccessing Software

[Stuart Thiessen]

Stephen Slevinski wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Word processing is easy with text.  Spell checking is automatic.  Grammar
> checking, word use, and sentence structure are all included.
>
> I would like to discuss the state of sign processing.  I know there is a lot
> of development going on in the world.
>
> Free Writing is a term used by Peter Elbow.  It means to start writing and
> not analyze anything that you write, while you write it.  If you get lost in
> a sentence, skip to a new line and continue to write.  There is no editing
> when you write, there are only thoughts on the page.  This is a writing
> technique to discover your true voice.  This is not necessarily a speed
> drill, but speed is sometimes needed to keep up with the mind.  Free writing
> can be done on paper or with software.
>
> Editing involved cuting and pasting.  It requires rewriting specific words,
> sentences, or whole paragraphs.
>
> So what is the best sign processor for free writing?

For me, I would like to see the ability to access the SignWriter
dictionary via symbol.  For example, if I know a sign has a certain
handshape, movement, contact, whatever, I can type those.  It would be
more like word-completion for many wordprocessors.  That way, we can
enter information completely in our sign languages.

While glossing can be helpful, when sharing dictionaries, we may use
different words to gloss that particular sign or the sign itself may be
very difficult to gloss. If we forget which word we used to store that
sign, we lose the benefit of the dictionary. That may restrict our
ability to free write because we are more focused on finding the English
word that fits the sign than we are thinking about the sign we wish to use.

Now, having said that, the more proficient we are in SignWriting,
perhaps the better we will be at typing from scratch rather than from
the dictionary itself. That is what Valerie has been saying all along.

For present use, I still see the need for a "SignWriting Inserter" that
can allow us to compose a sign and then send it to a specific program or
even to the clipboard as a graphic image. That would be very helpful for
mixed language documents. Perhaps even a dictionary could be included
with such a program.

> What is the best sign processor for editing?

One handy feature is the ability to copy and paste between documents.
Another one would be the ability for scanning the document and seeing if
there are any similar but different signs .... perhaps with the ability
to add that sign if not already in the dictionary. For example, maybe I
use the wrong handshape or brush vs. rub, or whatever.  Maybe that would
be a way to help edit for the computer to say, "I don't see that sign
but I have something similar." I believe Antonio wrote a paper on the
searching concept with SWML.

> What projects do you have your eye on for the future?

I'm still musing on this question. When I get a copy of the proceedings
from the conference in Lisbon, I want to read through it and get an idea
of what is already being done to see where technology is going right now
and maybe where it is heading at the moment.

Thanks,

Stuart