Hoi, The creation of a wiki for SignWriting is a* very* exciting development. In the language committee we have indicated that technical issues are what prevents a Wikipedia for sign languages at this time. The SignWriting wiki is effectively an incubator for the technology needed and for the languages to write the minimum number of articles they need for acceptance as a new language.
Given all the technical issues, I am of the opinion that a requirement for localisation can be waved. Sign languages with SignWriting would introduce the writing in lanes ie top to bottom with characters moving slightly to the right or left.
What I am looking for is agreement what technical issues need to be solved before a sign language can become a Wikipedia. Compatible policies are not an issue. I am thinking of being able to include images in the text and having wiki links. What else is absolutely required before we can move forward once there are sufficient articles ? Thanks, GerardM
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Valerie Sutton sutton@signwriting.org Date: 28 May 2010 21:04 Subject: SignWriting Encyclopedia Projects...new SignWriting Wiki To: SLLING-L@listserv.valenciacc.edu
Hello SLLING List members -
We are working towards the goal of providing written literature in sign languages.
We have started a new project. It was just posted on the web yesterday. Here is the information:
New Special Feature Posted May 27, 2010
Go to:
SignWriting Site http://www.SignWriting.org
1. SignWriting Encyclopedia Projects Writing Encyclopedias in the Sign Languages of the World http://www.signwriting.org/encyclopedia
2. SignWriting Wiki Wiki-style Articles written in Any Sign Language http://www.signbank.org/wiki
3. Blogs on the ASL Wikipedia Incubating ASL for new Wikipedia http://www.signwriting.org/blogs/#Meijssen
4. SignWriting Image Server (SWIS) Display and edit SignWriting images with fast installation http://www.signbank.org/swis
The new SignWriting Wiki is open to anyone who wishes to add a category for their sign language, and start writing articles in SignWriting using SignPuddle Online, and then transferring the articles from SignPuddle Online into the SignWriting Wiki for viewing and reading by the general public.
The SignWriting Wiki is the incubator, or the development site, hopefully for a future ASL Wikipedia (or Wikipedias in any sign language we hope someday).
The SignWriting Wiki is the test area for our new software, the SignWriting MediaWiki Plugin, by Steve Slevinski.
In the future, it will be possible to write the SignWriting articles directly in the SignWriting Wiki, without having to transfer them from SignPuddle Online...so there is ongoing software development behind the scenes to make this happen...
But for right now, this is a big "first step" and I want to thank Steve Slevinski, Adam Frost (Deaf ASL editor who posted the first two articles in the SignWriting Wiki in ASL) and Gerard Meijssen from the Language Committee of the Wikimedia Foundation, for their hard work and encouragement...
The first two articles added to the ASL SignWriting Wiki are based on the ASL videos by Lucinda O'Grady Batch, of the history of Charles-Michel de l'Épée and the history of Laurent Clerc. Both videos were first transcribed into SignWriting by Charles Butler, and placed in SignPuddle Online, and then Adam Frost transferred them into the SignWriting Wiki for people to read. You can read them at these links:
ASL SignWriting Wiki http://www.signbank.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:ASL
History of Charles-Michel de l'Épée http://www.signbank.org/wiki/index.php?title=Charles-Michel_de_l%27%C3%89p%C...
History of Laurent Clerc http://www.signbank.org/wiki/index.php?title=Laurent_Clerc
Any feedback is much appreciated, so write anytime -
Val ;-)
Valerie Sutton Sutton@SignWriting.org
SignWriting Read & Write Sign Languages http://www.SignWriting.org
SignPuddle Create SignWriting Documents Online http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle
SignWriting Wiki Wiki-style Articles in Sign Languages http://www.signbank.org/wiki
SignWriting List Technical Support: Ask questions... http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/swlist
SignWriting Literature Project Writing Literature in Sign Languages http://www.SignWriting.org/literature
SignWriting Encyclopedia Projects Writing Encyclopedias in Sign Languages http://www.SignWriting.org/encyclopedia
Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting Center For Sutton Movement Writing a US educational nonprofit organization PO Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038, USA Tel: 858-456-0098 Skype: valeriesutton
On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:43 PM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
...snip... Given all the technical issues, I am of the opinion that a requirement for localisation can be waved. Sign languages with SignWriting would introduce the writing in lanes ie top to bottom with characters moving slightly to the right or left. ...snip....
So what language deviate would the sign language be in? American Sign Language? Australian Sign Language? British Sign Language?
What picture sets would be used (I know for example Australia has about 4 depending on the situation where they are being used)?
Hoi, The request for new projects asks at this time for a Wikipedia in American Sign Language and a Wikipedia in Danish Sign Language. The incubator at the SignWriting Foundation allows for articles written in SignWriting in any sign language.
For your information, SignWriting is the only script used for both casual and not so casual writing. It is a script to write in the language not a script to describe the use of the language. Thanks, GerardM
On 29 May 2010 16:26, K. Peachey p858snake@yahoo.com.au wrote:
On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:43 PM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
...snip... Given all the technical issues, I am of the opinion that a requirement
for
localisation can be waved. Sign languages with SignWriting would
introduce
the writing in lanes ie top to bottom with characters moving slightly to
the
right or left. ...snip....
So what language deviate would the sign language be in? American Sign Language? Australian Sign Language? British Sign Language?
What picture sets would be used (I know for example Australia has about 4 depending on the situation where they are being used)?
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Gerard Meijssen wrote:
Hoi, The creation of a wiki for SignWriting is a* very* exciting development. In the language committee we have indicated that technical issues are what prevents a Wikipedia for sign languages at this time. The SignWriting wiki is effectively an incubator for the technology needed and for the languages to write the minimum number of articles they need for acceptance as a new language.
Given all the technical issues, I am of the opinion that a requirement for localisation can be waved. Sign languages with SignWriting would introduce the writing in lanes ie top to bottom with characters moving slightly to the right or left.
What I am looking for is agreement what technical issues need to be solved before a sign language can become a Wikipedia. Compatible policies are not an issue. I am thinking of being able to include images in the text and having wiki links. What else is absolutely required before we can move forward once there are sufficient articles ? Thanks, GerardM
They seem to be using this plugin http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SignWriting_MediaWiki_Plugin
I'm not sure about its viability, though.
Hoi, I am interested to learn why there are questions about the viability of an extension for the SignWriting script. The script is in existence and has evolved for the last thirty years. More and more schools are making it part of their curriculum and it is used all over the world. It is even taught at university level in some countries.
This month there were queries for support in Great Britain and it may be that either someone local or someone from Germany will help out. SignWriting is very much a grass roots development. When you consider the evolution of languages, it is astounding what has already been achieved.
My expectation is that once a first Wikipedia in a sign language exists, many more will follow. Consider; there is a lack of literature in any sign language. There is a need both to practice reading and writing. If anything it has more potential because the intrinsic motivation for making this happen is sky high. Thanks, GerardM
On 29 May 2010 16:30, Platonides Platonides@gmail.com wrote:
Gerard Meijssen wrote:
Hoi, The creation of a wiki for SignWriting is a* very* exciting development.
In
the language committee we have indicated that technical issues are what prevents a Wikipedia for sign languages at this time. The SignWriting
wiki
is effectively an incubator for the technology needed and for the
languages
to write the minimum number of articles they need for acceptance as a new language.
Given all the technical issues, I am of the opinion that a requirement
for
localisation can be waved. Sign languages with SignWriting would
introduce
the writing in lanes ie top to bottom with characters moving slightly to
the
right or left.
What I am looking for is agreement what technical issues need to be
solved
before a sign language can become a Wikipedia. Compatible policies are
not
an issue. I am thinking of being able to include images in the text and having wiki links. What else is absolutely required before we can move forward once there are sufficient articles ? Thanks, GerardM
They seem to be using this plugin http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SignWriting_MediaWiki_Plugin
I'm not sure about its viability, though.
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
On 29/05/10 23:43, Gerard Meijssen wrote:
What I am looking for is agreement what technical issues need to be solved before a sign language can become a Wikipedia. Compatible policies are not an issue. I am thinking of being able to include images in the text and having wiki links. What else is absolutely required before we can move forward once there are sufficient articles ?
Well, you could start a wiki right now, but obviously it wouldn't be very functional. You only need to glance at the wiki at signbank.org to see that. Pretty much any MediaWiki feature you can think of would be broken.
Things like: * In-place editing. It currently requires going to an external server, writing what you want to write, encoding it to binary and pasting the unreadable encoded form into the article. * SignWriting page titles (and interlanguage links from other projects) * SignWriting edit summaries * Readable diffs * Links
There is also the issue of its unauthorised use of an unallocated part of the Unicode code space. The UTF-8 decoding feature of the MediaWiki extension should probably be disabled to avoid conflicts with future official Unicode allocations.
You could go ahead right now with an inherently bilingual wiki: with things like page titles and edit summaries in some common language, like Danish for DSL or English for ASL. But without in-place editing, it seems unlikely that it would advance the SignWriting cause very far.
What I'd like to see in a SignWriting wiki is a feature to encode SignWriting to video, showing a computer-generated figure acting out the text. Then those who do not know SignWriting (which includes the vast majority of the deaf community) would benefit from it. Just an idea.
-- Tim Starling
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