iPhone App

[Arthaey Angosii]

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:
> Regarding a SignWriting app for the iPad… Yesterday for the first time, I
> heard that a German programmer has developed or is developing a SignWriting
> app for the iPad… Stefan Woehrmann told me about it in a Skype conversation.
> I am excited to learn more about it myself …

Do let us know if you hear any more about this!

> Regarding SignWriting Shorthand, it is not handwriting, but a little like
> Pitman or Gregg Shorthand in English - and was used in the 1980's to take
> notes for Deaf signers in the classroom, writing the signing of the
> interpreter at speed. And it worked for the students who took notes with the
> Shorthand. However, SignWriting has changed since and the Shorthand needs to
> be updated to match the way we write today and we have not done that yet…

I hadn't realized SignWriting had evolved so much — but that's a good
thing! That means it's improving as folks use it, right? :)

I ask about shorthand and cursive because I'm concerned that print
SignWriting is too cumbersome to use for writing notes in class. I
wanted to see examples of people's personal shortcuts they've taken to
make SignWriting look less like a bunch of diagrams and more like,
well, writing. ;) But I am interested in forms of SignWriting that are
complete enough to not need immediate re-transcription, the way true
shorthands do.

Do you have any samples of letters, or notes, or what-have-you, that
are good examples of quickly-written but still-legible(-to-the-author)
SignWriting?

> If you are thinking of texting on iPhones or iPads with SignWriting, I
> believe there will be a day when SignWriting texting will occur - and that
> just might become the new "Shorthand" - who knows?!!

In order for SignWriting to be supported for texting, it would have to
be supported directly by Apple — which seems unlikely to happen. But
it *would* be possible to create an iPhone app that was dedicated to
SignWriting, which wouldn't need any official recognition by Apple
apart from normal approval in the app store.

> So Arthaey - tell us - are you interested in developing a SignWriting app
> for the iPhone?

I am a programmer by trade, but I haven't done any iOS programming
before. Although I *am* interested in making an iPhone app, I would
not do justice to a SignWriting app until I've learned both ASL and
SignWriting better first. :)

On the other hand, I do have a lot of professional web development
experience and would consider making a smartphone-friendly version of
the SignPuddle website. (The site does work on my iPhone's web
browser, but it could definitely be a smoother, easier experience.)
Would you be interested in that?


--
Arthaey