Sign Proccessing Software

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 15, 2004

Sandy Fleming wrote:
> As a writer (in Scots and English) who practices freewriting (though
> probabbly not as much as I used to), I always felt that pen and paper
> is
> really the only suitable medium. Otherwise the technology gets in the
> way -
> especially these days with MS Word's squiggly green and red lines
> lending a
> continuous stream of criticism!

I know. I find Microsoft Word difficult to use, unless you learn how to
turn off some of those automatic editing features they have included.
So I hope that SignWriter can remain simple enough to be user
friendly...Essentially SignWriter is our attempt at creating something
like a Microsoft Sign...or a word processor for signed languages...but
I guess the term Sign Language Text Editor is better...MicroSoft Word
is a spoken language text editor....;-)



>
>> What is the best sign processor for editing?
>
> I think this depends very much on a person's skill with SignWriter DOS
> and
> SignWriter Java. When I was learning these programs for the first time
> I
> always thought it was best to get my SignWriting correct by hand before
> entering it. Now that I'm coming back to SignWriting after a break of
> several months, the bad news is that I can no longer remember how to
> use
> them  and will have to learn all over again. The good news is that I
> can
> still remember how to SignWrite by hand quite well!


This is wonderful, Sandy! I remember you asked me for more instruction
on handwriting and I didn't have that for you, but you learned anyway -
that is great! Computer programs take practice, like
driving...smile...ask questions if you need to...I am sure you will
remember once you get into it again...




>
>> What projects do you have your eye on for the future?
>
> Today I got the domain name and hosting for a B(ritish)SL site set up.
> I've
> decided I haven't got the temperament to be a lexicographer but will,
> on the
> site, concentrate on producing texts in BSL SignWriting. The signs
> from the
> texts can then be fed by myself (or anyone else who wants to) into a
> PUDL
> dictionary or something - but I've definitely decided now that a
> dictionary
> isn't my first priority. I'm firstly trying to encourage people to
> begin
> SignWriting for themselves, and offering a place to display their
> texts on
> the site if they want to. At the moment there's nothing to see, but
> I've
> written a basic tutorial which I hope will serve to "kickstart" people
> into
> doing their own BSL SignWriting, and that should appear real soon now.

Amazing...a BSL handwriting site - I like that! That will be
unique...thanks for telling us...


> Then I'll scan in some handwritten texts, just to show that it really
> can be
> done!

Ha! All those skeptics, who claim it can't be written by hand, will be
proved wrong! ;-))


>
> But the SignWriting (at least the stuff I do), will be handwritten
> until
> such a time as I have a sign processor that I feel more comfortable
> with
> than pen and paper!

Wonderful! A good example of handwriting helps people realize that
computers were not the source of SignWriting...that we wrote by hand
long before any software was developed...


>
> Val - one thing for the site - would it be acceptable for me to
> translate
> the "Lessons in SignWriting" manual into BSL - that is to say, replace
> the
> sample ASL signs with suitable NSL signs (in this case, produced with
> SignWriter DOS or Java, of course) and publish it on my site? What
> would be
> the best way to do this? I do have a PDF rewriter program, if that's
> necessary.


What is a PDF re-writer program, Sandy? Can you give me the name of
one, so maybe we can coordinate that way -

Thanks for this message!  Val ;-)