TISLR

Sun Oct 3 16:33:50 UTC 2010

SignWriting List
October 3, 2010

Hello Charles and everyone!

I am sooo glad you enjoyed the TISLR! And that you saw so many people - terrific! And I am really impressed and happy with the poster presentation on SignTyp and SignWriting that was presented at TISLR by you and Rachel Channon from the University of Connecticut. Thank you to you both for your hard work on that project.

Yes, typing fingerspelling in vertical columns would be a wonderful feature in any computer program. The old SignWriter DOS program can only type fingerspelling from left to right like English...

Regarding the older program....Anyone is welcome to use SignWriter DOS right now...just use DOS BOX on either Mac or Windows, and SignWriter DOS works on modern computers...You can download it for free on the internet.

Richard Gleaves and I worked hard on the development of SignWriter and certainly loved the keyboarding we developed together, but there was never any mouse action in SignWriter - there is literally NO capability to use a mouse in any SignWriter program, whether it was SignWriter DOS, SignWriter Java or the old SignWriter for the Apple //e and //c.

When we switch countries in SignWriter DOS, it is always done through the keyboard...the entire thing is keyboarded, with NO mouse.

The reason I do not personally use SignWriter DOS any longer? Because Lucinda O'Grady Batch and other Deaf people who are members of our Deaf Action Committee (DAC) requested that we write down in vertical columns, and that is what we have with SignPuddle software by Steve Slevinski, and with other programs such as the new SignWriter Studio by Jonathan Duncan, that is not ready yet but is coming...I know Steve would love to add keyboarding to SignPuddle someday...it is just a big job to program that, and meanwhile some people love using a mouse to drag and drop - not everyone loved keyboarding, by the way...only some people do - I used to get complaints from some people that they didn't want to learn to type and preferred a mouse, back before SignPuddle was developed...so since people think and work differently it would be nice to have BOTH options...

So what we really need is to combine the old with the new...we need the keyboarding of SignWriter DOS and Java, with the vertical columns of SignPuddle - and then we are set - ha!

Meanwhile, if you want to use SignWriter DOS or Java right now, I can help you set it up on your computer so you can keyboard again if you prefer...it doesn't use the up-to-date symbols of course - that is another drawback, darn it...

Welcome home, Charles - smile -

Val ;-)

----------

On Oct 3, 2010, at 9:10 AM, Charles Butler wrote:

> TISLR was fantastic, I just wish I had not been so antsy and having to get back so early.
> 
> Shane Gilchrist
> Ronice Quadros
> Lucinda Batch O-Grady
> Charles Butler
> Eyasu Tamene
> 
> These were the people I recognized immediately by face from on line. It was so good to be among so many people that are using sign writing even in the face of opposition.  I met one professor (name gone) whose doctoral student is doing a project on keyboarding SignWriting, which I really believe would be a good thing.  I used the SignWriter program in Brazil.
> 
> 
> There were so many things that one could do on the old SignWriter program that are awkward to do at best.
> 
> Fingerspelling is one, you can't simply TYPE and get fingerspelling, you have to look up each sign individually.  The old interface was better as you could learn to type a sign in at speed without thinking.  A mouse you have to look for everything all the time.  
> 
> We need to really look at all the developments that are happening in processing and find our way back in new computer languages to our old capabilities.
> 
> Before, with a swipe of a mouse I could change from English to ASL (or other language) fingerspelling, substitute vocabulary in English sentence phrase by phrase and eventually end with an ASL sentence in proper grammatical order.
> 
> Can't do that on the computer anymore, everything is mouse-mouse-mouse, and no interaction between two writing systems.  We do it in space, and on paper, we need to be able to do the same thing on computer.
> 
> Charles
>   
> 
> From: Shane K. Gilchrist <shane.gilchrist at GMAIL.COM>
> To: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU
> Sent: Mon, September 27, 2010 1:40:16 AM
> Subject: Re: SignWorkshop OASLTA
> 
> Don't worry Charles
> 
> I used to be one of the skeptics until Belgium's Kathleen & Sara discreetly introduced me to SW.
> 
> The rest is history.
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On 26 Sep 2010, at 20:45, "Valerie Sutton" <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG> wrote:
> 
> > SignWriting List
> > September 26, 2010
> > 
> > Hello Charles!
> > 
> > First of all, a big hug from me, and a big THANK YOU for being so brave to present at any conference - It takes courage to present in front of a skeptical audience (if that was what they were...they may not have been)...
> > 
> > I am sure you did an excellent job and please do not be hard on yourself...
> > 
> > All presentations help SignWriting, no matter what the reaction, because people become interested later. Even if they express some doubts right now, it is because it is the first time they have heard of it and we all are skeptical about new ideas - but then later, they hear about it a second time from someone else, and they remember the discussions with you the first time they heard about it, and they decide to look into it because now their interest has been stimulated a second time -
> > 
> > So you have really helped SignWriting no matter what - 
> > 
> > Thank you for telling us about the presentation so quickly after it happened - 
> > 
> > And Kelly Jo was there? Wow - that is so great!
> > 
> > So is there more time at the conference now? It will give you a chance to talk to some of the people with questions - don't worry, Charles, this was a real blessing -
> > 
> > Val ;-)
> > 
> > -----
> > 
> > 
> > On Sep 26, 2010, at 5:33 PM, Charles Butler wrote:
> > 
> >> Well, I presented the workshop but I felt that I fell on my face for the following reasons:
> >> 
> >> 1) Too much information, too little time.
> >> 2) Lack of vocabulary, all of the attendees were interpreters AND teachers of the deaf, and my vocabulary was inadequate to the task.  I should have asked for help from KJ or another interpreter at the beginning.
> >> 3) I got positive responses from a couple of people, but the most common one was "how many people IN OHIO are using this system", "why should MY students have to learn anything else?"  Half of them maybe "got it" but the others just kept with questions.
> >> 4) I should have simply linked to the website and gone from there as the website is informative, answers most of the common questions, and I could have had a Deaf Advocate actually talking to the group.  
> >> 
> >> Lessons learned, but I feel very small and inadequate right now.
> >> 
> >> Charles Butler
> >> 
> >> 
> > 
> 