[sw-l] LESSONS in Transcribing a Poem from Video

[Nancy Emery]

hi Val,

I should write you later from home so I can answer better about the
technology by looking at my computer there... And actually I am very behind
on this project, so nothing is finished.  But here's what I've been doing.

I have the videos transferred to a CD (I got help from the university tech
center to do that part). I watch and sometimes go frame by frame, then I
have been trying to figure out how to write it in SignWriting (expressive) -
usually I can't cut and past from the dictionary because I want to put in
facial expression, or there are classifier constructions that aren't in the
dictionary, etc.  (Too bad I can't create each sign with "drag and drop",
like the new dictionaries, as I go.  But I understand that word-processing
is slower to develop, and the project is for a Master's thesis in
linguistics so it needs to be a paper document, not on-line.)

I have been handwriting the SignWriting and then later typing it in using
SignWriter Java.  Then I take a screen shot of a line of SignWriting and
paste it into Word and write English glosses and translation under it.
(Unfortunately the screen shots come out different sizes... I guess I need
to take them for the same dimensions each time.) The story I'm working on
now has a lot of repetition so I can cut-and-paste from my own SignWriting.
I'm still not sure how much detail to include in the translation (like how
much to say about how the facial expressions work, role shift, etc.).

 My adviser thinks linguistics papers on signed languages need to have
transcriptions (not just glosses) and I thought SignWriting was the best
system for that because it looks the most like real signing, and so much of
how signed languages work is about embodying meaning visually.

I'm still quite slow at writing and typing SignWriting, and I've been
procrastinating a bit on the thesis, but I'm very glad that SignWriting is
available for this!  I wish I'd learned it years ago when I was an ASL
student, taking notes on vocabulary would've been much easier!

I may need to see if I can get someone to "proofread" the transcription when
I'm done.  One of the video stories is copyrighted so I'd have to ask
permission before I could send it out widely.

Nancy

on 11/18/04 1:49 PM, Valerie Sutton at sutton at signwriting.org wrote:

> SignWriting List
> November 18, 2004
>
> Nancy Emery wrote:
>> yes, I can view it.
>> nancy
>
> I am so glad to know this, Nancy. May I ask about your transcription
> project from ASL videos? Are you creating documents in Expressive from
> the ASL videos? Are you using QuickTime too? Are you typing your
> documents in SignWriter after you transcribe? How are you preparing
> your documents? And do you have any transcriptions completed? I am
> curious that's all...smile...Now that I have learned how to make
> smaller video clips in Quicktime that you can read on the web, I think
> I can finally start transcribing...I got caught up with the software
> technicalities rather than the SW itself...which is easy to do...I
> still want to learn how to convert a QuickTime movie into Windows Media
> Player format but I don't know how yet!
>
> Val ;-)
>
> ---------------------
>
>>
>> on 11/18/04 1:17 PM, Valerie Sutton at sutton at signwriting.org wrote:
>>
>>> SignWriting List
>>> November 18, 2004
>>>
>>> LESSONS IN TRANSCRIBING A POEM FROM VIDEO
>>> http://www.signwriting.org/lessons/transcribe/poetry/oneharbor/
>>> oneharbor02.html
>>>
>>> Can anyone view this new video clip on the web? It is just the
>>> fingerspelling of H-A-R-B-O-R, in QuickTime. No downloading necessary,
>>> if your browser can read QuickTime...
>>>
>>> Notice the head movement on the fingerspelling...There is a dip of the
>>> head down towards the end, placing emphasis on the last R...
>>>
>>> Val ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>