Research into Digital Representations of Sign Language

[Saduf Naqvi]

Hi Stuart,

thank you for raising your concern and I do understand your point.  I can sign,
and am upto level 2 however I am also aware that this is still very limited, and
I need to move onwards and upwards to level 3 and beyond, to fully understand BSL.  

That is also why I wanted to contact you all, I dont want to make a mistake and
misrepresent the information I am trying to put across in sign writing.  I will
attempt this, with the consultation of some BSL instructors but would also like
to check it over with this mailing list if I am moving in the right direction.

best wishes

Saduf

Quoting Stuart Thiessen <sw at PASSITONSERVICES.ORG>:

> Hi, Valerie! Just a mild correction here. Unless a person is aware of 
> the syntax and morphology of BSL (or any sign language for that 
> matter), a person using the SignPuddle will not necessarily be sending 
> an email with BSL.  They will be using BSL signs, but that isn't the 
> same as sending an email in BSL. It would be like my grabbing a Danish 
> dictionary and sending you a letter using Danish words but probably in 
> the wrong word order and without the necessary word endings.  Now, you 
> probably will understand my letter, but it won't be properly called 
> Danish.
> 
> It probably isn't best to tell people that they can send an email in 
> ASL or BSL (if they haven't the understanding of the language) because 
> it will either give the mistaken impression that SignMail actually 
> translates the spoken language to the sign language, or the mistaken 
> impression that the sign language is simply the spoken language on the 
> hands. Of course, someone who truly understands the sign language will 
> be able to use SignPuddle to produce a grammatical message in that sign 
> language.
> 
> Perhaps Saduf knows BSL well enough. I can't say because I don't know, 
> but that could be an issue for a person who is totally new to the deaf 
> experience but liked the idea of a computer project with sign language 
> and they misunderstood this point.
> 
> Just thought I would throw this out.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Stuart
> 
> On Oct 10, 2005, at 15:34, Valerie Sutton wrote:
> 
> > SignWriting List
> > October 10, 2005
> >
> > Saduf Naqvi from the UK wrote:
> >> Let me introduce myself, I am a research student from Goldsmiths 
> >> College
> >> University of London, and am researching Deaf views on Digital 
> >> Representations
> >> of Sign Language.
> >
> >
> > Hello Saduf and Everyone!
> > Welcome to the SignWriting List, Saduf....Your research sounds very 
> > interesting (full message pasted below)...
> >
> > Have you visited this web page before?
> >
> > SignWriting in Great Britain
> > http://signwriting.org/uk/
> >
> > You will find a great article on writing BSL in SignWriting. You can 
> > download it on that web page. Plus there are other SignWriting sites 
> > that come from Great Britain, which you will also find on the above 
> > web page...
> >
> > Next message I will write an email in SignWriting...I will use 
> > American Signs, and place an English translation below. Anyone can do 
> > that now. Maybe later you might want to try to send us an email in 
> > British Sign Language?
> >
> > Go to the British SignPuddle on this web page...and then click on 
> > SignMail to send an email in SignWriting:
> >
> > SignPuddle on the Web
> > http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle
> >
> > scroll down to find the British Sign Language dictionary on that 
> > page...
> >
> > Val ;-)
> >
> >
> > Valerie Sutton
> > Sutton at SignWriting.org
> >
> > 1. SignWriting
> > http://www.SignWriting.org
> > Read & Write Sign Languages
> >
> > 2. SignBank
> > http://www.SignBank.org
> > Sign Language Dictionaries
> >
> >
> > -----------------------
> >
> >
> > On Oct 10, 2005, at 1:09 PM, Saduf Naqvi wrote:
> >> Let me introduce myself, I am a research student from Goldsmiths 
> >> College
> >> University of London, and am researching Deaf views on Digital 
> >> Representations
> >> of Sign Language.
> >>
> >> When I say Digital Representations of Sign Language (DRSL) I mean 
> >> methods of
> >> communicating to the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing community without the 
> >> use of a
> >> an actual physical signer.  It is with the use of other systems, such 
> >> as Video
> >> systems where you have full recordings of signers, animation systems 
> >> that use
> >> Avatars (Virtual Humans) to sign information, or notation systems 
> >> that depict
> >> signs or pictorially represent information.  All three of these 
> >> systems keep
> >> within the visual style and nature of sign language, however they are 
> >> all rated
> >> very differently.
> >>
> >> I am currently in the final year of my thesis and am going to conduct 
> >> my major
> >> study, this will be comparatively evaluating DRSLs.  Obviously I 
> >> would like to
> >> include a notation system, and I thought a very widely used and 
> >> popular system
> >> is the SignWriting system.
> >>
> >> So this leads me to what I am doing here.  I would like to know more 
> >> about
> >> SignWriting, do you all view it as a method of representing sign 
> >> language
> >> through a series of graphics/images.  Also when I do get to including 
> >> this in my
> >> research, I would like some advice on how to best represent the 
> >> information I
> >> would like to show through SignWriting, how to write it correctly 
> >> etc.  I don't
> >> want to make mistakes, I would like the consultation of the experts 
> >> (you all!!!)
> >>
> >> I will have more details of the information that will need 
> >> translating into
> >> SignWriting early next week, and more information on the study itself 
> >> by early
> >> next week aswell.  Anyone interested please let me know and I'll be 
> >> more than
> >> happy to send information.
> >>
> >> Also if anyone is interested in participation in this research, 
> >> please email me
> >> I would love to have as many participants as possible to give a wide 
> >> range of
> >> results, it should be a very interesting study.
> >>
> >> I look forward to hearing from you all.
> >>
> >> take care
> >>
> >> Saduf
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> Miss Saduf Naqvi,
> >> S.Naqvi at gold.ac.uk
> >> Research Student,
> >> Goldsmiths College - University of London,
> >> New Cross,
> >> London,
> >> SE14 6NW,
> >> 020-7919-7462
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Miss Saduf Naqvi,
S.Naqvi at gold.ac.uk
Research Student,
Goldsmiths College - University of London,
New Cross,
London,
SE14 6NW,
020-7919-7462