Encyclopedia in American Sign Language

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
March 11, 2007

Hello Pharos and Adam!

Welcome to the SignWriting List, Pharos!

Thank you for inviting us all to join Wikipedia...and I have already  
done that. My name is ValerieSutton on Wikipedia! smile...however, I  
will not be posting for a few days since I must finish our important  
new software, that makes it possible to write literature in  
SignWriting, SignPuddle 1.5. I know I keep saying that - ha! But  
after this message I really will be turning off the internet and  
burning the midnight oil for a deadline for tomorrow morning ;-)

THANK YOU, Pharos, for posting what I said on Wikipedia...that was  
perfect! And thank you, Adam, too, for your interesting suggestion. I  
think that was a great way to quiet people's worries.

I just read your comments on this web page:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_new_languages/ 
Wikipedia_American_Sign_Language_2


The biggest job of translating a Wikipedia into ASL is not just a  
writing system that has facial expressions and the grammar lanes  
needed to show the details of true ASL grammar...you also need to do  
the actual ASL translation, which will take a team of ASL  
signers...so this is no small project...but it can be done and may be  
a way for all of us to write a grant and receive funding for a very  
worthy cause that will be a blessing for generations of Deaf children  
who are now learning to read SignWriting in school...I just got a  
message from a teacher of Deaf children who are learning SignWriting  
and it is pretty exciting...they are writing themselves by hand at  
young ages and have great interest in reading literature...Wikipedia  
written in ASL could give them reading material for their classroom...

So you will be hearing more from me in a few weeks, after the  
Linguistic Conference and SignWriting Workshop on April 1st.

Thanks once again to you both!

Val ;-)

-----------------


On Mar 11, 2007, at 1:42 PM, Adam Frost wrote:

> I have been putting several comments on this discussion. My user  
> name is icemandeaf. I know that Steve has also been contributing. I  
> just proposed a question on the discussion of using all of the  
> methods mentioned because there will always be people for and  
> against this system and that. The reason I did this was because I  
> have not seen an objection the having an ASL Wikipedia, just how to  
> have it. I hope that this will be possible because, like I said in  
> my question on the discussion, having a combination will give more  
> access to more users to Wikipedia in ASL than any single one. I  
> hope that this will get some thoughts going. :-)
>
> Adam
>
> On 3/11/07, Pharos <pharosofalexandria at gmail.com> wrote: Hi, I'm  
> Pharos on Wikipedia.  I don't have any special skill with
> computer programming, sign languages or writing systems.  But I do
> have some experience with Wikipedia, and I thought I could help a
> little in the initial organization of an American Sign Language
> Wikipedia.  Hence, my contacting of Valerie, etc.
>
> I would encourage all folks on this mailing list to create accounts on
> English Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/ ) (or another language
> Wikipedia, if you prefer) and Wikimedia Meta (
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/ ).  Then, you can gain some experience with
> how Wikipedia works, and be able to contribute to the proposal
> discussion at Wikimedia Meta.  If you tell me what usernames you have
> registered under, I'll try to follow your contributions and guide you
> in how to use the wiki.  My English Wikipedia page is at User:Pharos .
> You can leave me comments there at User talk:Pharos .
>
> Valerie raised the point that SignWriting can be used for many sign
> languages, not just American Sign Language.  Of course there is one
> Wikipedia per language, not per writing system.  American Sign
> Language has been proposed first because it's probably the most likely
> to attract contributors.  If the American Sign Language Wikipedia is a
> success, Wikipedias in other signed languages are a possibility for
> the future.
>
> Thanks
>
>