[Sw-l] RAND KEYBOARD FOR SIGNWRITING

Thu Nov 19 19:02:20 UTC 2020

I have answered questions 1-4 below as question 5 has been answered by Val. ;-)

See my answers below.

Adam

> On Nov 19, 2020, at 10:36 AM, Valerie Sutton <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG> wrote:
> 
> SignWriting List
> November 19, 2020
> 
> Hello Rubens Almeida, Yair Rand, Adam Frost, Steve Slevinski, Jonathan Duncan, Rich Gleaves and the research group in Santa Catarina, Brazil!
> 
> What a pleasure to hear from you, Rubens. Your LIBRAS SignWriting projects, and Wikipedia articles in LIBRAS using the RAND Keyboard, are an inspiration to me and so many around the world. Thank you for our continued communication.
> 
> There are actually several different Keyboards designed to type SignWriting symbols, however, in this message, I will focus on the RAND Keyboard:
> 
> Wikipedia articles can be written in SignWriting with the RAND Keyboard. For example, here are two examples of articles in Wikipedia written with the RAND Keyboard. One article is Brazilian and one is Tunisian (must be viewed on a computer):
> 
> LIBRAS
> https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/bzs/AS14c10S14c0aS2490cM527x536S14c10491x465S2490c508x500S14c0a473x500 <https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/bzs/AS14c10S14c0aS2490cM527x536S14c10491x465S2490c508x500S14c0a473x500>
> 
> TUNISIAN SIGN LANGUAGE
> https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/tse/M537x541S30a00482x483S33e00482x483S16c48479x461S18551504x460S18535510x522S29a04522x482S37a0a456x470S3770d456x510 <https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/tse/M537x541S30a00482x483S33e00482x483S16c48479x461S18551504x460S18535510x522S29a04522x482S37a0a456x470S3770d456x510>
> 
> 
> The RAND Keyboard was developed by Yair Rand, first presented at the SignWriting Symposium 2015. Plus there were updates in 2016. Thank you Yair!
> 
> Here are some important links:
> 
> Use the RAND Keyboard on the Web:
> https://swkb-35431.firebaseapp.com/ <https://swkb-35431.firebaseapp.com/>
> 
> The version without the plaintext options:
>  https://swkb-35431.firebaseapp.com/plain.html <https://swkb-35431.firebaseapp.com/plain.html>
> 
> SignWriting Symposium Presentation 41:
> "The Javascript-based SignWriting Keyboard for Use on Wikipedia and throughout the Web” by Yair Rand
> http://www.signwriting.org/symposium/presentation0041.html <http://www.signwriting.org/symposium/presentation0041.html>
> 
> Instruction Manual #1 for the RAND Keyboard by Dali Balti
> http://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs12/sw1178_RAND_Keyboard_For_SignWriting_Instruction_Manual_Dali_Balti.pdf <http://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs12/sw1178_RAND_Keyboard_For_SignWriting_Instruction_Manual_Dali_Balti.pdf>
> 
> Instruction Manual #2 for the RAND Keyboard
> https://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs12/sw1185_RAND_SignWriting_Keyboard_Instruction_Manual_Rand_Balti_Sutton_2016.pdf <https://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs12/sw1185_RAND_SignWriting_Keyboard_Instruction_Manual_Rand_Balti_Sutton_2016.pdf>
> 
> On the web, Yair’s email address is:
> 
> Yair Rand
> August 30, 2016
> yyairrand at gmail.com <mailto:yyairrand at gmail.com>
> 
> As far as I know, the RAND Keyboard is still functional but maybe Adam and I and others can test it to see? Can you help, Adam?
> 
> Thank you again, Yair, for your generous gift of a keyboard, which has been used to write many articles in Wikipedia and it works on the web too...
> 
> Val ;-)
> 
> PS. Next message I will tell you about other keyboards for SignWriting.
> 
> -----------
> 
> 
> 
>> On Nov 19, 2020, at 6:56 AM, Profo Rubens Almeida <rubens.escritadesinais at GMAIL.COM <mailto:rubens.escritadesinais at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Valerie, Adam and Steve,
>> and also to all members of the SignWriting List!
>> The research group in Santa Catarina - Brazil, needs your support to explain the following questions that will help direct research related to the use of the specific keyboard for Libras Writing by the SignWriting system:
>> 1) Is the SignWriting RAND keyboard functional?

Yes, the keyboard is still functional within the Wikipedia environment.
>> 2) Is it possible to type SignWriting more quickly and quickly using the RAND keyboard than other software?

There is a learning curve, as with any keyboard, and there hasn’t been much research - that I know of - to point to it being faster or not for typists as compared to other methods of writing SignWriting.
>> 3) Is the keyboard in question still active? If so, are there reports of people using it to write Wikipedia articles in written sign languages? How many can you measure?

I know that some of the Wikipedia articles have been written with the RAND Keyboard, but I have no way of knowing which and how much was written with only that keyboard. In fact, I know that I have use the keyboard to make edits to various articles, including articles that I had written before the keyboard was available.
>> 4) In addition to Wikipedia, is it possible to use the SignWriting RAND keyboard in another virtual environment, websites? Or install it on the computer for producing texts in SignWriting? As in Microsoft programs?

My understanding is that the RAND Keyboard is a web browser application written in JavaScript. It is possible to use this coding to convert text fields in the web browser to use that keyboard. I don’t believe the application has been converted to be useable as a desktop application, so it wouldn’t be useable within other Microsoft programs outside of the browsers. It would take some time to do so, but it would require someone with the skills and expertise to create such a conversation.
>> 5) How to learn to use the SignWriting RAND keyboard? Are there courses? Or teaching materials for this purpose?
>>  
>> We thank you for your attention and support.
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>> ________________________________________________
>> 
>> SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION
>> 
>> Valerie Sutton SignWriting List moderator sutton at signwriting.org <mailto:sutton at signwriting.org>
>> Post Messages to the SignWriting List: sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu <mailto:sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu>
>> SignWriting List Archives & Home Page http://www.signwriting.org/forums/swlist <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 <http://listserv.valenciacollege.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=SW-L&A=1>
> ________________________________________________
> 
> SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION
> 
> Valerie Sutton SignWriting List moderator sutton at signwriting.org <mailto:sutton at signwriting.org>
> Post Messages to the SignWriting List: sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu <mailto:sw-l at listserv.valenciacollege.edu>
> SignWriting List Archives & Home Page http://www.signwriting.org/forums/swlist <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 <http://listserv.valenciacollege.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=SW-L&A=1>

________________________________________________

SIGNWRITING LIST INFORMATION

Valerie Sutton
SignWriting List moderator
sutton at signwriting.org

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