[Sw-l] [SPAM] Re: The first episode of the SignWriting Stream

Mon Apr 13 19:13:56 UTC 2020

Hi Steve,.

     Thanks for your live stream today.

     I was wondering if when you switch the SignPuddle 2.0 server and 
that it will only export and not be the main source of data, will export 
continue getting changes from the main sources of information on 
SignPuddle 3.0?  Or only old information.  Will there be a delay? Does 
this also mean that it won't be possible to add or update signs in 
SignPuddle 2.0?

     Nice to see that we have a convert function in the core package for 
going between the character encodings.  What are all the encodings that 
are supported?  Do you have KSW?  It would be good to have for backward 
compatibility, especially sending a sign programmatically to SignPuddle 2.0.

     Will SignPuddle 3.0 export JSON of the puddles?  What schema do you 
have?  Are you still accepting input on the schema or is it already 
pretty decided how it will be? I am willing to look it over and give 
feedback.

     Thanks for explaining what the core library can do.  It looks 
good.  It's nice that you have the parse function that return JavaScript 
objects, which will make it a lot easier for other programmers to work 
with SignWriting.

     When I wrote QuickSignEditor, I wrote it in ELM which compiles down 
to JavaScript. I tried using the older Javascript API, but due to that 
language's implementation,  it was hard to use it. Also, I would've 
liked access to smaller functions that weren't exported on the API like 
for example converting a symbol to the Font's character code.  This is 
because QuickSignEditor is a sign editor and I needed a lot more 
low-level interaction than the API allowed. Converting to FSW all the 
time to go between my program and the library seemed to be a bit more 
computationally intensive that I wanted. So I ended up re-implementing a 
lot of that API directly in my ELM program.

Of course,  we don't want to over-complicate the API for other 
programmers but maybe you could have a Utils object on the Core library 
with other smaller less used functions if we want to create our own view 
instead of using the ssw.svg output for example.  On the other hand, the 
older Javascript API seems to work well with documents and I am using it 
in SWSignwriter.  Thank you for those libraries and fonts.

I enjoyed the technical details.  If I was just starting out I would've 
learned a lot and made any new project with SignWriting a lot easier. 
This will be good for anybody wanting to start a SignWriting project.

I am more interested in the technical details.  Once and a while when 
you show off the websites and programs we have, that will be interesting 
too.

Or if Val wants to be interviewed as to the history of why some things 
are a certain way now.  I know sometimes not know why things are a 
certain way can be perplexing especially if we have an idea that we 
think would be better. Talking to Val has helped me understand some of 
these, particularly around the symbols.  I know everything may not be 
exactly the way she would've liked them to be, but due to time, 
economics and energy constraints, we are privileged to have what we do.  
Understanding this makes it easier to overlook some of the smaller 
pitfalls and be grateful for all the works of love you and her have put 
into the ISWA and fonts since then.

The mind maps are good I liked those.

I have one other suggestion about the stream.  It could be a bit 
shorter. I know making YouTube videos takes a lot of time and effort 
besides the time you are filming.  And a shorter video is also easier to 
fit into anybody's schedule than a longer one and also easier to find if 
we are looking for that specific topic.  I think anywhere between 7min 
to 20min would be great.  Time will tell if doing a live stream is 
valuable for your audience or not, or just have videos.  I don't think I 
would personally be able to watch them live but will watch them all when 
I have a moment.

Thanks for your great work

Jonathan

On 4/12/2020 12:43 PM, Stephen Slevinski wrote:
> Hi SignWriting List,
>
> I successfully recorded and posted the first episode of the 
> SignWriting Stream.  It's about half an hour.  Not professional. No 
> captions yet, unless auto caption works. Let me know. Skip to the end 
> to see the hand shapes rain.
> * https://youtu.be/Z2iJEMuENVk
>
> Regards,
> -Steve
>
> PS - Here are the show notes
>
> The SignWriting Stream is a live show where we show, teach, and demo 
> all about Sutton SignWriting.  The purpose of the show is to highlight 
> our current efforts and offerings so that we demonstrate the value we 
> provide.  If you find our work interesting or helpful, consider 
> joining the Patrons of SignWriting and becoming a member on 
> Patreon.com/signwriting , or donate directly to slevinski at signwriting.org
>
> The show premise is one shot without a script.  I have five bullet 
> points, a few mind-maps, and several websites.  The target audience is 
> not well defined.  People who know SignWriting and sign language, 
> don't care about the technical details.  People who care about 
> technical details don't want to know about writing sign languages. 
> This is why your feedback is so important.  What's good, what's bad, 
> and what's interesting?  What topics and what formats would you like 
> to see?
>
> Our current infrastructure and websites need massive work with minimal 
> resources.  We do what we can.  Look for improvements over time and 
> updates as we continue to grow.
>
> Stuck in the past, ready for the present, working towards the future.  
> SignWriting is complex and has had massive technological churn over 
> the years.  My work with SignWriting has evolved as I've built system 
> after system for SignWriting with the limited technology of the day.  
> Over the years, I had to rebuild systems for the new technology of 
> today.  Years later, I found out that I needed to rebuild the systems 
> for the technology of tomorrow as well, so I mapped out the optimal 
> path for future growth. Building on the Sutton SignWriting Standards 
> of 2010, 2012 and 2017, I am hopeful and excited for the future of the 
> Sutton SignWriting packages.  I am especially pleased with the 
> @sutton-signwriting/core package. I will extensively demo this package 
> in a future episode.
>
> And finally, in this episode, I announce that I will be open sourcing 
> SignPuddle 2 software later this year.  Before the SignBank.org 
> website can be moved to the new server, SignPuddle 2 needs to be 
> rewritten to use a database (MySQL or SQLite) rather than SPML.  SPML 
> will be supported in SignPuddle 2 as an optional export, but it will 
> not be supported in future offerings.  I can reuse the database work 
> from SignPuddle 3 and I can update the software to use the font files 
> rather than the slow and expensive PHP image scripts.  I will start 
> this project after the simple websites are moved to the new server.  
> Next Saturday, I will move https://SteveSlevinski.me to the new server.
>
> Thanks for reading and watching.
>
> Other websites in this video:
> https://signwriting.org/
> https://www.patreon.com/signwriting
> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXu4AXlG0rXFtk_5SzumDow/featured
> https://steveslevinski.me/demo/fsw.html
> https://steveslevinski.me/demo/swu.html
> https://github.com/sutton-signwriting
> https://sutton-signwriting.github.io/core/
> https://unpkg.com/browse/@sutton-signwriting/font-ttf@1.1.0/font/
> https://slevinski.github.io/SuttonSignWriting/components/fonts.html
>
> ________________________________________________
>
>
> SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION
>
> Valerie Sutton
> SignWriting List moderator
> sutton at signwriting.org
>
> Post Messages to the SignWriting List:
> sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu
>
> SignWriting List Archives & Home Page
> http://www.signwriting.org/forums/swlist
>
> Join, Leave or Change How You Receive SW List Messages
> http://listserv.valenciacollege.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=SW-L&A=1

________________________________________________

SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION

Valerie Sutton
SignWriting List moderator
sutton at signwriting.org

Post Messages to the SignWriting List:
sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu

SignWriting List Archives & Home Page
http://www.signwriting.org/forums/swlist

Join, Leave or Change How You Receive SW List Messages
http://listserv.valenciacollege.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=SW-L&A=1