[Sw-l] Learning About Signwriting - Was Re: Presentation 42

[Stephen E Slevinski Jr]

On 7/24/15 4:20 PM, Adrean Clark wrote:

> One example of that is the Symposium. The presentations are a good 
> idea but it feels like academics talking with academics or programmers 
> speaking with programmers. Where would everyday people like me come 
> in? Are we even a part of the intended audience? It's impossible to be 
> universal when everyone has separate, specific needs.

Interesting points.  The symposium is for everyone.  For each person, 
some topics will be more valuable than others.  I know that some of my 
presentations were very detailed.  Not everyone needs this information, 
but some do.

The presentations at the symposium are about SignWriting.  Whoever wants 
to present, is invited to present.  The symposium is what people make of 
it.

> To be direct, and I'm sharing my personal feelings here -- I feel that 
> it's unfair that I, a native speaker of ASL, log in to Signwriting's 
> presentations only to see spoken voice as the main means of access to 
> information. How can I trust that Signwriting has the best interests 
> of SL at heart when the barrier to entry is so high, and when it 
> echoes the very oppression of spoken language that written SL is 
> supposed to overcome?

This is a fair point and a valid concern.  We struggled with this issue, 
but decided it was better to do what we could rather than fight technology.

Last year we tried live interpreting, but the technology was frustrating 
and got in the way.  We have plans for captioning and interpreting, but 
it is a big job.

With 3 people, no budget, and a lot of inspiring presenters, I believe 
the symposium was a great success.  We have plans to make the 
information more widely accessible.  Please be patient.

Regards,
-Steve

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