AW: how would you like to improve the SignWriting List?

Sun Jan 2 20:13:55 UTC 2011

SignWriting List
January 2, 2011

Hello Lucy, Stefan and Shane -

Happy Birthday again, Lucy, and I love the card for Lucy, Stefan...smile...thanks for posting it...

First, I want everyone to know, the SignWriting List continues as always on the Listserve...The SignWriting List is connected with other Lists that discuss sign languages, and I do not want to change from the LISTSERVE software that Valencia Community College is providing for us as a donation.

But ....second....Lucy, would you like to start a SignWriting web forum yourself? That would be fine with me and it would be great if you or others take the responsibility for it, I would be happy to join as one of the members. It may be very popular over time, especially if it is setup well, as you describe below in your message...it sounds like an interesting choice as well...So go right ahead...

The reason I will continue the SignWriting List as it is now, is that our non-profit organization was given a gift of the Listserve by Valencia Community College, and a part of that gift is our connection with three other Lists that are sign language related. Our Archives, for all four Lists, are easily accessible using the same server and same software, and so the Sign Language Linguists, Interpreters, ASL Teachers, and the SignWriting List, share a common bond, that has been ongoing for over a decade. I do not want to lose that bond. Here are the four Lists:

Email Lists on Valencia Community College Server
http://listserv.valenciacc.edu/cgi-bin/wa?INDEX

SLLING-L
SW-L
TEACHASL
TERPS-L

In some ways I agree with Shane. People will not make the effort to go up on the web to read the messages posted there, if they do not have the option of receiving the messages in their email. Can people, in a web forum, choose to receive their messages through email too?

Since the web forums are free, do they throw ads at you? We used to have one of our List Archives on Yahoo egroups, and they forced readers into seeing full page ads before they could read the message they were searching for, and some of those ads were sexually-explicit and I was concerned that an educational group like our SignWriting List might have children with teachers accessing the Archives, and I did not want those ads being thrown at our users, so Bill Reese helped move our second Archives over to LinguistList.org (our Archive 3) ...which was a fortuitous move -

Archive 3
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SW-L

So the SignWriting List continues as the Listserve it is, but if others want to establish other SignWriting-related lists and forums I think that will be great to see how it all works - Facebook and Twitter are other opportunities as well, but I have not focused well on them either -

So thanks for the good ideas everyone -

Val ;-)

-----------

On Jan 2, 2011, at 6:30 AM, Shane K. Gilchrist wrote:

> if we move it to web forum, then many people wont get to read it unless youre dedicated to the issue itself.
> 
> Discussion groups by email is still more effective (even thought its not always the best way) - yes I agree that web forums are easy to deal with it won't get the same readership you have with SW-L :-(
> 
> Shane
> 
> On 2 January 2011 12:22, Lucy <lists at onet.eu> wrote:
> Thank you, Valerie, for your wishes and all your nice words.
> Yes, I know the List Archive could be accessed via the web. But there are many free web forum services, we could just choose one and create a new forum divided into thematic sections, with the sections divided into individual topics... Each of the section could have also different moderators... You can have a FAQ section there and also national sections... I think it would be a more friendly interface and environment for us the users and the new users. When you are logged in you can see where (in which sections) there are new postings, who is online, which topic is the most popular, which issues are the most interesting to the users etc.. And the users can more easily find the issue they are interested in.
> Of course, I don't deny that this List works well, too, and that Valerie and others do a great work here to help the others scattered throughout the world. But I just think that a regular web forum would be just a bit better.
> For some time we could have two SW forums: the List and a web forum to see which is better. Some of you would need some time to get used to the new forum, mind that.
> 
> Lucy
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Valerie Sutton" <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG>
> To: <SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 4:44 AM
> Subject: Re: AW: how would you like to improve the SignWriting List?
> 
> 
> 
> SignWriting List
> January 1, 2011
> 
> Hello Stefan and Lucy!
> Thank you for your kind remarks. I do appreciate your good suggestions.
> 
> I also want to thank other members who have written to me privately today - Your friendship and support gives the feeling of family. We all need that...
> 
> I enjoy sharing with all of you and am open to suggestions, so continue to feel free to post suggestions and to start new topics of discussion related to writing sign languages.
> 
> There are around 180 members of the SignWriting List, but only around 20 members post regularly...maybe even fewer...so those who are reading in the background...I want you to know that we welcome comments from you too...smile...or just keep reading...that is fine too...we are glad to have you all on board.
> 
> So Stefan - yes I know you want more messages written in SignMail, and I do agree. Steve has been working on a new version of our software that will fix the link-problem with the current SignMail, but it will be another month perhaps, before SignPuddle 1.6 will be ready (we are using 1.5 right now), so until 1.6, we will have to continue to ignore that link - if you can ignore that problem then I am happy to post more SignMails - it just means that you cannot respond to the message but start a fresh new SignMail message each time -
> 
> The only other thing about SignMail that concerns me is that most of the time we are doing the mail in ASL, and some people on the List know other sign languages, like LIBRAS from Brazil, or German Sign Language or British Sign Language for example...so it would be good to balance out the SignMails so they come in different sign languages from time to time - so maybe I can work with Suzanne from the UK to help us create some SignMails in BSL? and perhaps someone who knows LIBRAS, like Charles or Eda or others on this List who are from Brazil, can help us create some SignMails in LIBRAS? And Lucy in Poland, I will teach you how to create a SignMail too...I haven't forgotten your request to learn how to create a SignMail...I will also create the Polish User Interface for you for the Polish SignPuddle ...thank you for the Polish translation...
> 
> So SignMail and video transcriptions and more SignSpelling discussions are all good - I want more of those too ;-)
> 
> I hope that more people ask questions on the List as to how to write a sign here and there to get those discussions going - and more teachers jump in to help if you can - and I hope that more people will post information about their current SignWriting projects...
> 
> Lucy - your idea of a web-based SignWriting List has not gone unnoticed - at the moment we are setup at Valencia Community College, on their server, connected with other Lists related to sign languages, such as the Sign Language Linguists List (SLLING) and the TeachASL List and the Interpreters List (TERPS) so it is nice for us to be in that group of Lists with others interested in similar professions - and in some ways it is web based in that you can access the messages through the Archives on the web and respond right there on the web..did you know that you could do that? Would other members of the list be interested to learn how to do this?
> 
> And Lucy - Happy Birthday! I know January 2nd is your birthday, and we are so happy to know you and to work with you - Your work with SignWriting in Poland is a pioneering effort...Thank you for all you are doing...and enjoy your birthday tomorrow.... ;-)
> 
> Val ;-)
> 
> -----------
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 1, 2011, at 3:26 PM, Stefan Wöhrmann wrote:
> 
> Hi Valerie -
> 
> your Website is fantastic and the way you moderate this sw-list could not be
> better. Again and again you show so much respect for newcomers. And even if
> somebody shows up with some kind of "rude" or "unfriendly" critics you find
> a way to handle this in an amazing way.
> 
> I just would love to see more signmails - which would become easier once
> Steve has fixed this SignPuddle mail option problem "Load to SignBank" which
> is not working right now. I am looking forward to the day that the Signmail
> - reload option will function again.
> 
> I would love to see more spelling discussions. Studying your unique style of
> writing signs is a never ending enrichment.
> 
> There are so many online SL video clips that we will find plenty of examples
> ....
> 
> Remember these days when we started to discusse video transcriptions with
> Marc Penner and other sw-list members?
> 
> I do not think that a different platform like a web-forum would be an
> advantage. ... May be that I do not understand - ...
> 
> Stefan ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: SignWriting List: Read and Write Sign Languages
> [mailto:SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU] Im Auftrag von Lucy
> Gesendet: Sonntag, 2. Januar 2011 00:00
> An: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU
> Betreff: Re: how would you like to improve the SignWriting List?
> 
> I know I repeat this like a parrot: Make it just modern - move to a web
> forum :-)
> Happy New Year!
> Lucy
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Valerie Sutton" <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG>
> To: <SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACC.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 9:38 PM
> Subject: how would you like to improve the SignWriting List?
> 
> 
> SignWriting List
> January 1, 2011
> 
> Dear SW List Members -
> 
> How would you like to improve the SignWriting List?
> 
> Please post your suggestions...
> 
> What are you interested in, related to writing sign languages?
> 
> Name some topics -
> 
> We can make the list interesting and relevant...but we need your input...

Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
SignWriting List moderator
signwriting at mac.com

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