[sw-l] Computer Applications for SignWriting

Thu May 5 16:57:24 UTC 2005

Valerie,

   Only now I reached your message. No news about software from Pelotas :-(

   All the best,

   Antônio Carlos

Valerie Sutton wrote:

> SignWriting List
> May 2, 2005
>
> Dear SW List:
> I am writing a grant for new software development and I need to
> summarize all of our past and current software programs. I know there
> are some I have forgotten...Can you think of some other programs? Like
> recently, from Brazil, I know there is new software? Please write to
> tell us, so I can list it here...and if you find mistakes below, I would
> love to know...many thanks! Val ;-)
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Computer Applications for SignWriting
>
> SignWriter for Apple //e and //c (1986-1988): The original SignWriting
> computer program was written for the Apple //e and //c computers by
> Richard Gleaves, one of the developers of Apple Pascal, Modula 2
> computer language.
> SignWriter DOS for MS-DOS (1988-today): SignWriter for the Apple //c was
> ported over to MS-DOS in 1988. SignWriter DOS is still used today around
> the world on older computers running Windows 98 or ME. It does not run
> on Windows NT, 2000 or XP. To solve this problem, newer versions of
> SignWriter are under development. SignWriter is the first
> Sign-Language-Processing program in history, providing the ability to
> create long typed documents in the movements of signs. It also provides
> extensive Word-to-Sign dictionary features.
> SignWriter Java (1999-Today): SignWriter DOS could not be ported over to
> the new Java computer language back in 1996, so it was re-written from
> the ground up in Java, but due to financial reasons, SignWriter Java
> could never be completed. Even so, it can be downloaded for free on the
> Internet anyway, and many people use it, because it can be used on
> modern operating systems, such as Mac OS X and all Windows operating
> systems. It will be replaced by SignWriter Tiger (see below), which is
> also a form of Java, in 2005.
> SignWriter Tiger (2005 beta): The SignWriter Java program is being
> re-built again, this time by German-Swiss Deaf programmer Daniel Noelpp.
> It is scheduled for beta testing in May 2005. Daniel is programming in
> the newest version of Java, named Tiger. Hence, SignWriter Tiger will
> fix and improve the old 1999 program, plus add new features.
> SignWriter Python (2005 beta): SignWriter is also being re-written in
> the new Python computer language, by German programmer Lars Majewski, at
> the request of SignWriting teacher Stefan Woehrmann. Already, the old
> SignWriter DOS files can be viewed in any operating system, using the
> new SignWriter Python Document and Dictionary Viewer.
> SW-Edit (2000-Today): Created in Brazil by Rafael Piccin Torchelsen &
> Professor Antonio Carlos da Rocha Costa for the SIGN-Net Project in
> 2000, the SW-Edit program is an editing tool for SignWriting. Drag and
> drop the symbols into an editing box. This creates signs in SWML.
> SWML (1999 to Today): There are four forms of SWML, the SignWriting
> Markup Language in the world: SWML-UCPel: the original SWML Formats,
> SWML-D: for the Flemish Online Dictionary, SWML-S: for SignPuddle Online
> Dictionaries, and SWDB: for UCPel Linguistic SignWriting Database.
> SignWriting TrueType Fonts (2000-Today): There are three families of
> TrueType fonts with SignWriting symbols: The Sutton Fonts are
> Fingerspelling Fonts for 18 different countries, the Woehrmann Fonts
> include commonly-used signs in German Sign Language (DGS), and the
> Parkhurst Fonts were used to create the textbooks on SignWriting written
> in Spain, by Steve and Dianne Parkhurst, including their well-known book
> SignoEscritura. The symbols in the Parkhurst Fonts are specific to
> writing the Spanish Sign Language dialect of Madrid.
> The Flemish Sign Language Dictionary on the web (2004 to Today) can be
> searched by words or by sign-symbols. Converts SignWriter DOS dictionary
> files automatically. Search for over 6,000 Flemish signs. An important
> feature is the ability to search for signs by handshape and/or contact
> symbols. This creates a two-way bilingual dictionary. Signs are created
> with SWML. VSigns (2004 to Today) from Greece. Synthesis of Virtual
> Reality Animations from SWML using MPEG-4 Body Animation Parameters…
> Find a sign. Read it in SignWriting. Then click on an animated figure
> and see the sign move. VSigns generates VRML animation sequences from
> SignWriting, based on MPEG-4 Body Animation. The SignWriting of each
> sign is provided as input and is initially converted to SWML
> (SignWriting Markup Language).
> Sign WebMessage (2004 to Today) from Brazil. SWM is a web-tool that
> enables communication either in Portuguese or in Brazilian Sign Language
> (Libras). In the messages, the signs can be written in SignWriting in
> Libras and, optionally, their meaning in Portuguese.
> SignPoster (2005 beta) from Great Britain. Programmer Sandy Fleming is
> developing a way to touch type SignWriting symbols, using a limited
> symbol set for one sign language.
> SignWriting in Unicode is a project in discussion, at the Summer
> Institute of Linguistics, directed by Albert Bickford in Arizona, with
> the guidance of Unicode expert Michael Everson, in Dubin, Ireland. The
> project is on hold until funding can be found. It will take several
> years to create a Unicode for SignWriting, which will expand
> SignWriting’s use in other programs.
> SignBank 2002-2004 Database Software in FileMaker Pro 5.0-6.0 from USA,
> by Valerie Sutton and Todd Duell. This groundbreaking multi-lingual
> database was designed to publish large SignWriting dictionaries sorted
> by Sign-Symbol-Sequence (the SSS), and provides the full SymbolBank,
> with all symbols in the entire SignWriting system. The International
> Movement Writing Alphabet (the IMWA) is every symbol for writing body
> movement and can be searched and studied through SignBank 2004. SignBank
> 2004 also provides Deaf children with illustrated dictionaries, and
> researchers a place to store their video clips and foreign signs.
> Sophisticated linguistic searches make it possible to find all the signs
> with the same handshape, or all the signs with the same combination of
> symbols, or all the signs with the exact SignSpelling…and several other
> search routines. New search routines can be created on the fly. The
> SignSpelling database is the first in history to give editors the chance
> to establish the sorting routines for their Sign-to-Word multi-lingual
> dictionaries. There are 20 print formats, and a special linguistic area
> for adding definitions written in Sign Language, and a place to add
> animated SignWriting for children.
>
> SignPuddle 2004-2005: Stephen Slevinski has brought SignWriting to the
> web with a series of web-based programs designed for the everyday use.
> These programs include SignMail, for sending email in SignWriting,
> SignTranslate, for translating spoken language glosses to signs, and
> SignMaker, a way to create new SignWriting signs on the web by dragging
> and dropping symbols into a SignBox, and then saving them to the online
> SignPuddle dictionary. One can use the new signs immediately in email or
> in SignWriting documents, created by another program, SignText.
> Dictionaries can be edited by editors who are invited to review
> dictionary entries. And Slevinski is currently working on another
> related program called SignType, which will allow SignMaker to work with
> keyboard strokes as well as with a mouse.
>

--
Antônio Carlos da Rocha Costa
Escola de Informática - UCPel