Advantages of ASL GLoss for SignWriting

[Angus B. Grieve-Smith]

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004, Valerie Sutton wrote:

> Taking out the dictionary feature now, after so many years, has two
> drawbacks...1. It might confuse those who are used to the feature and 2.
> We still need to develop typing techniques in computers further...

        I wasn't seriously suggesting taking the dictionary feature out,
but I think we now know that its inclusion had unforseen consequences.
Maybe I didn't give the SignWriter typing method a chance, and a speed
typing course would be useful!  Unfortunately, I'm living in New York and
can't get to La Jolla very easily.

        One thing I'm surprised about is that the SignWriter manual has
ben translated into Spanish and German (IIRC), but not into ASL, LSE or
DGS, or any other sign language.  There are videos in ASL, but do they
cover typing techniques?  That may be a valuable project for someone who
knows more ASL than me.

                                        -Angus B. Grieve-Smith
                                        Linguistics Department
                                        University of New Mexico
                                        grvsmth at unm.edu
                                        grvsmth at panix.com