[Sw-l] About =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9CSignwriting=E2=80=9D_?=and cursive style

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 15, 2020

Hello Mark and Adam -
Thank you for this interesting discussion about the name "SignPuddle".
Adam's answer is poetic and accurate. The idea behind it, as Adam said, is
that as more and more signs are written on the web, one visitor and one
sign at a time, the databases of written signs from different sign
languages grows, becoming small pools or puddles, and then, becoming larger
like an ocean. The SignPuddle database is quite large now, with extensive
writing in sign languages, since 2004.

That is the poetic answer ;-)

The practical answer is that back in 2004, I met software developer Steve
Slevinski, in a Deaf chat room online. They were playing blackjack cards
written in SignWriting with a cool program that Steve had developed. So of
course I introduced myself and asked Steve if he would be interested in
developing more software for SignWriting. I found out that Steve had
started his own organization called PUDL. He told me that it stood for
"Pittsburgh United For Deaf Literacy". So the software that was called
"PUDL" (pronounced "P-U-D-D-L-E") became SignPuddle.

Steve also has other software, such as "SignMaker" and "SignText". The
"SignPuddle" name has been used now for 16 years. People remember the name
because it is so unusual, a little like the name "Google" which is an
unusual name too!

Steve - want to add to the story behind the name "SignPuddle"?

Val ;-)

---------------





On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 1:16 PM Adam Frost <icemandeaf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Mark,
>
> Welcome to the SignWriting List! Thank you for your questions. I will
> answer your questions about where the name “SignPuddle” came from first.
> Then the next email I will answer your question about cursive writing.
>
> I’m sure that Valerie and Stephen Slevinski can go into more detail about
> the reasoning behind the name “SignPuddle”, but I can tell you what it
> implies for me.
>
> Imagine a field with hundreds of rain puddles. Each of these puddles are
> filled with droplets, and each droplet contains a sign used in specific
> sign language. The result is each puddle is a collection of signs for a
> given sign language.
>
>
> Adam
>
> On Jan 15, 2020, at 12:17 PM, Tuệ Đinh Cao <dinhcaotue03 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Dear Ms Val and Mr Adam,
>
> Why is the platform called “SignPuddle” instead of any other names? And
> whether there are materials to study the cursive style of Signwriting?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mark Dinh
> ________________________________________________
>
>

________________________________________________


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