ABSTRACT
In this paper, we touch upon the requirement for accessibility via Sign Language as regards dynamic composition and exchange of new content in the context of natural language based human interaction, and also accessibility of web services and electronic content in written text by deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. In this framework, one key issue remains the option for composition of signed "text", along with the ability for reuse of pre-existing signed "text" by exploiting basic editing facilities similar to those available for written text serving vocal language representation. An equally critical related issue is accessibility of vocal language text by born or early deaf signers, as well as the use of web based facilities via sign language supported interfaces, taking into account that the majority of native signers present limited reading skills. It is, thus, demonstrated how sign language technologies and resources may be integrated in human-centered applications enabling web services and content accessibility in the education and everyday communication context, in order to facilitate integration of signer populations in a societal environment that is strongly defined by smart life style conditions. This potential is also demonstrated by end user-evaluation results.
- Chamberlain, Ch., Morford, J., Mayberry, R. 1999. Language Acquisition By Eye. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
- Leigh, I. & Andrews, J. 2017. Deaf People and Society: Psychological, Sociological and Educational Perspectives. Routledge, New York. (2017, 2nd edition).Google Scholar
- Ghari, Z. 2016. The Cognitive, Psychological and Cultural Impact of Communication Barrier on Deaf Adults' Content of Speech in Iran. Commun Disord Deaf Stud Hearing Aids 4:164.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Dicta-Sign project. 2012. Deliverable D8.1: Project demonstrator: Sign-Wiki, February, 2012: http://www.dictasign.eu/attach/Main/PubliclyAvailableProjectDeliverables/DICTA-SIGN_Deliverable_D8.1.pdf.Google Scholar
- Efthimiou, E., S.-E. Fotinea, T. Hanke, J. Glauert, R. Bowden, A. Braffort, C. Collet, P. Maragos and F. Lefebvre-Albaret. 2012. The Dicta-Sign Wiki: Enabling Web Communication for the Deaf, In: K. Miesenberger, A. Karshmer, P. Penaz, W. Zagler), Springer (ISBN: 978-3-642-31533-6 (Print) 978-3-642-31534-3 (Online)), Vol. 7383, 2012, pp. 205--212. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Efthimiou, E., Fotinea, S. E., Hanke, T., Glauert, J., Bowden, R., Braffort, A., Collet, C., Maragos P. and Lefebvre-Albaret, F. 2012. Sign Language technologies and resources of the Dicta-Sign project. In: Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Interactions between Corpus and Lexicon (LREC-2012), pp 37--45. Istanbul, Turkey.Google Scholar
- Elliott, R., Glauert, J. R. W., Jennings, V. and Kennaway, J. R. 2004. An Overview of the SiGML Notation and SiGML Signing Software System. In: Proceedings of 1st Workshop on Representing and Processing of Sign Languages. (LREC-2004), pp. 98--104. Lisbon, Portugal.Google Scholar
- Schnepp, J., Wolfe, R., McDonald, J. 2010. Synthetic Corpora: A Synergy of Linguistics and Computer Animation. In: Proceedings of 4th Workshop on Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpora and Sign Language Technologies, (LREC-2010), pp. 217--220. Valletta, Malta.Google Scholar
- McDonald, J., Wolfe, R., Wilbur, R.B., Moncrief, R., Malaia, E., Fujimoto, S., Baowidan, S., Stec, J. 2016. A New Tool to Facilitate Prosodic Analysis of Motion Capture Data and a Datadriven Technique for the Improvement of Avatar Motion. In Proceedings of 7th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpus Mining (LREC-2016). pp. 153--158. Portorož, Slovenia.Google Scholar
- Efthimiou, E., Fotinea, S.-E., Goulas, T., Kakoulidis, P. 2015. User Friendly Interfaces for Sign Retrieval and Sign Synthesis. In M. Antona and C. Stephanidis (Eds.): UAHCI 2015, Part II, LNCS 9176, pp. 1--11, Springer.Google Scholar
- Stokoe, W.C. Sign language structure. (2nd edition), Silver Spring MD, Linstock Press.Google Scholar
- Prillwitz, S., Leven, R., Zienert, H., Hanke, T. and Henning, J. 1989. HamNoSys. Version 2.0. Hamburg Notation System for Sign Language: An Introductory Guide, Signum, Hamburg.Google Scholar
- Hanke, T. 2004. HamNoSys - representing sign language data in language resources and language processing contexts. In: Proceedings of 1st Workshop on Representing and Processing of Sign Languages (LREC-2004), pp. 1--6. Paris, France.Google Scholar
- Neidle, C. 2002. SignStream™: A Database Tool for Research on Visual-Gestural Language. In: Brita Bergman, Penny Boyes-Braem, Thomas Hanke, Elena Pizzuto (eds.), Sign Transcription and Database Storage of Sign Information, special issue of Sign Language and Linguistics 4/1, 203--214.Google Scholar
- Pizzuto, E. and Pietrandrea, P. 2001. The notation of signed texts: Open questions and indications for further research. In: Sign Language and Linguistics 4 (1/2), 29--45.Google ScholarCross Ref
- McDonald, J., Wolfe, R., Wilbur, R.B., Moncrief, R., Malaia, E., Fujimoto, S., Baowidan, S., Stec, J. 2016. A New Tool to Facilitate Prosodic Analysis of Motion Capture Data and a Datadriven Technique for the Improvement of Avatar Motion. In Proceedings of 7th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpus Mining (LREC-2016). pp. 153--158. Portorož, Slovenia.Google Scholar
- Huenerfauth, M. 2008. Evaluation of a psycholinguistically motivated timing model for animations of american sign language. In: 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS08), pp. 129--136. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Adamo-Villani N. and Wilbur R. B. 2015. ASL-Pro: American Sign Language Animation with Prosodic Elements. In M. Antona and C. Stephanidis (Eds.): UAHCI 2015, Part II, LNCS 9176, pp. 307--318, Springer.Google Scholar
- Huenerfauth, M. 2009 A linguistically motivated model for speed and pausing in animations of american sign language. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 2(2), 9. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Wolfe, R., Cook, P., McDonald, J.C., Schnepp, J. 2011. Linguistics as structure in computer animation: toward a more effective synthesis of brow motion in American sign language. Sign Language Linguistics 14(1), 179--199.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Efthimiou, E., Fotinea, S-E., Kakoulidis, P., Goulas, T., Dimou, A-L., Vacalopoulou, A. 2017. Sign Search and Sign Synthesis Made Easy to End User: The Paradigm of Building a SL Oriented Interface for Accessing and Managing Educational Content. In M. Antona and C. Stephanidis (Eds.): Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Designing Novel Interactions (UAHCI 2017), Part II, LNCS 10278, pp. 1--13, 2017.Google Scholar
- Prokopidis, P., Georgandopoulos, B., Papageorgiou, Ch. 2011. A suite of NLP tools for Greek. In The 10th International Conference of Greek Linguistics. Komotini, Greece.Google Scholar
- Efthimiou, E.,. Fotinea, S.-E., Goulas, T., Kakoulidis, P., Dimou, A.-L., Vacalopoulou. A. 2016. A Complete Environment for Deaf Learner Support in the Context of Mainstream Education. In Proceedings of the Conference Universal Learning Design, vol. 5. ISSN 1805-3947 Linz, 13-15 July, pp. 35--44.Google Scholar
- Efthimiou, E., Fotinea, S.-E., Dimou, A.-L., Goulas, T., Karioris, P., Vasilaki, K., Vacalopoulou, A., Pissaris, M., Korakakis. D. 2016. From a sign lexical database to an SL golden corpus -- the POLYTROPON SL resource. In Proceedings of 7th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpus Mining (LREC-2016). pp. 63--68. Portorož, Slovenia.Google Scholar
- Fotinea, S-E. & Efthimiou, E. 2008. Tools for Deaf accessibility to an eGOV environment. In: K. Miesenberger, J. Klaus, W. Zagler, A. Karshmer (eds.) ICCHP 2008. LNCS, vol. 5105, pp. 446--453. Springer, Heidelberg. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ebling, S., Wolfe, R., Schnepp, J., Baowidan, S., McDonald, J., Moncrief, R., Sidler-Miserez, S., Tissi, T. 2015. Synthesizing the finger alphabet of Swiss German Sign Language and evaluating the comprehensibility of the resulting animations. In 6th Workshop on Speech and Language Processing for Assistive Technologies (SLPAT), p. 10--13.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Wolfe, R., McDonald, J., Toro, J., Baowidan, S., Moncrief, R. and Schnepp, J. 2015. Promoting Better Deaf/Hearing Communication Through an Improved Interaction Design for Fingerspelling Practice. In Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Access to Today's Technologies, pp. 495--505. Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar
- Glauert, J. & Elliott., R. 2011. Extending the SiGML Notation - a Progress Report. In Second International Workshop on Sign Language Translation and Avatar Technology (SLTAT-2011), Dundee, U.K.Google Scholar
- Efthimiou, E., Fotinea, S.-E., Goulas, T., Dimou, A.-L., Kouremenos., D. 2016. From Grammar Based MT to Post-processed SL Representations. In R. Wolfe, E. Efthimiou, J. Glauert, T. Hanke, J. McDonald, J. Schnepp (eds) Special issue: recent advances in sign language translation and avatar technology, Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS) 15, pp. 499--511. Springer. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Sign Language technologies in view of Future Internet accessibility services
Recommendations
Interdependent components of web accessibility
W4A '05: Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)Increasingly, the Web is providing unprecedented access to information and interaction for people with disabilities. However, the Web will not be equally accessible, allowing people with disabilities to access and contribute to the Web, until:• ...
Groupware Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities
UAHCI '09: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Part III: Applications and ServicesThe accessibility issues of Groupware applications prevent visually impaired and other persons with disabilities access to these highly graphical interfaces. To address the accessibility issues persons with disabilities have with Groupware, a recent ...
Designing SignSpeak, an Arabic Sign Language Recognition System
HCI International 2020 – Late Breaking Papers: Universal Access and Inclusive DesignAbstractDeaf and hearing-impaired individuals who communicate using sign language face several communication difficulties. Because the vast majority of people do not know sign language, the need for a sign language translator is growing significantly, ...
Comments