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From:
Cheryl Zapien Date: Wed Oct 28, 1998 5:13 pm Subject: Re: Iconicity (was Re: Frequently-Asked Questions) | |
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My background (calligrapher, specializing in Medieval calligraphy) also colors how I view writing systems. For practical day-to-day purposes, I favor legability and speed over beauty and careful placement. SW, IMHO, is highly legible. As for speed, well, I haven't been writing it long enough to be able to tell. I side with Charlamagne on the issue of legible writing--if you can't read your missives, it's hard to run the Empire. *smile* Cheryl Karlin, Ben wrote: > Angus' list of problems with SW is certainly thought-provoking. The one > that concerns me most is of indexability. > > My interest in writing systems is long-time and parallels my background as a > typographer. It is interesting to me that recently I have been involved in > a number of conversations about problems with other writing systems and the > esthetics that govern their use. Most notable is the development of the > blackletter or fraktur faces in central Europe. They were also called > "textur" faces; fitting since a page of this stuff has the text woven so > tightly that the individual characters, even the words, were illegible, > sacrificed for an overall texture and color to the page. > > Even in modern times there are sometimes esthetics beyond legibility that > govern how a writing system is used. In setting type for documents I would > frequently think of who the reader and what type of reading this would be, > adjusting design to make reading easier or harder in the cases of texts that > would require slow, careful reading. > > My point is that once a system gains widespread use, its use is adjusted to > fit a variety of applications. I suspect that at some time the > relationships of the various parts of a SW symbol will become codified so > that it will be possible to index using SW. At present it is cumbersome but > the number of people using SW at present is also teeny tiny. And our > applications are, compared with other systems which have been used for > centuries, rudimentary. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Ben Karlin > Staff Interpreter for the Deaf, St Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center > 5300 W Arsenal St, St Louis, MO 63139-1494 > Phone 314 644-8270 V/TTY | Fax 314 644-8115 > > ---------- > > > 2) searchability. A friend pointed out to me that SignWriter's use of > > non-standardized coordinates (as well as using GIF images) means that text > > in SignWriting can never be indexed and searched. Unless significant > > changes are made to the software-internal representation of SignWriting > > and some system is in place for displaying them on the Web, we'll never > > see AltaVista in SignWriting, and you'll never be able to so much as look > > up a name in an address book in SignWriting. > > |
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