Request for Research Data

[Stuart Thiessen]

In the data collection stage, I want to get everything I can
(including an awareness of their experience and usage of SignWriting).
Seeing how a beginner learns and uses SignWriting tells us alot about
how much of SignWriting is intuitive and how much is learned. It also
tells us how people interpret the symbols without instruction. It also
shows us common misunderstandings of a novice user as compared to an
experienced user.

You are right that the more the student understands the rules, the
easier it will be for them to use the system effectively. Right now, I
am not so much concerned with their expertise on the rules, but their
use of the system itself. Sometimes when rules are not present (or
they are unaware of the presence of rules), the mind will come up with
replacement rules that help them bring order to what they are doing.
If that is happening, I would like to be aware of that. This will help
me understand how the system is being used by people (both experienced
and novice).

So, in this stage of things, I am just collecting any and all data
that I can.  In the analysis stage, that is where different practices,
habits, rules, etc. will be given their appropriate weight.

Thanks,

Stuart

On 4/17/06, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:
> SignWriting List
> April 17, 2006
>
> Stuart Thiessen wrote:
> > Yes, I am interested in seeing how the SignSpelling rules are applied.
> > I am interested also to see what exceptions if any are out there. I
> > will certainly be including the spelling rules you have developed in
> > the process of my research to see how actual writing compares. Maybe
> > we find that in certain situations, the rules create more problems
> > than they help. In other cases, we may find that the rules help us
> > solve problems because they give us good guidelines when trying to
> > compose the sign.  For those situations with exceptions, it will be
> > helpful to try to undersand why the writer decided to go in a
> > different direction than the rules.
>
> Hello Stuart!
> I am enjoying reading your thoughtful messages...an interesting project.
>
> The problem is that most writers are writing SignWriting without
> realizing that there are SignSpelling Rules. So the only accurate way
> to judge the question above is to study those writers who have the
> same training...and have written for about the same length of time.
> If you have a group of people who all have learned the SignSpelling
> Rules, and have tried to apply them accurately following the rules,
> and then later they chose to write a certain way...that is a real study.
>
> But if you are basing a beginner's writing, who has never even been
> told there are SignSpelling Rules...and you look at their writing as
> if they made a choice, when they had no choice to make, because they
> didn't know there were SignSpelling Rules to begin with...then the
> study is not an accurate one...
>
> but it is hard to find people all at the same writing level...
>
> It is similar to people who have never seen SignWriting at all, who
> believe it is See Signs, or who say it is changing ASL, but they have
> actually never looked at the writing system in their lives...To give
> their opinion equal credence, to another person who has studied the
> system well and can read and write it, would not be a good comparison
> either...
>
> SignWriting is unique in history in one respect...There are a lot of
> people learning it from the internet, who have never met another
> person who knows SignWriting, and their knowledge of reading and
> writing the system is as good as our internet lessons are, and they
> are far from perfect...
>
> When the DAC used to come over to my home, we had such a rich
> experience together...we were a team and we really worked hard to get
> a good writing system, but I am just learning myself how to
> communicate some of our writing to others on the internet..in this
> rather impersonal world...
>
> I am hoping that in time, video conferencing will become so easy that
> one-on-one teaching will be easier for us to do over the internet,
> and that should help...
>
> Val ;-)
>
>


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Stuart Thiessen
Des Moines, IA