7. Conclusion, further work and call for cooperation

This paper presented work that is going on toward promoting the use of deaf sign languages, in written form, on the Web. The two main tools for that are the SignWriting system (a writing system for sign languages that has an intuitive appeal, due to its graphic-schematic principles) and SWML - SignWriting Markup Language (an XML-based format that is being proposed in the work for the representation of sign language documents and databases written in SignWriting).

To give practical evidence of the feasibility of using SWML as a representation format, an SWML-based web application is being developed: SW-WebMail, a webmail system for email messages written in SignWriting. SVG is being proposed as the preferred way of representing SignWriting symbols, and a standard rendering of SignWriting symbols as SVG symbols is being defined.

The SWML initiative - and the SignNet Project that supports it - encompass more than the work presented here, concerning the definition of SWML, its rendering in the SVG format, the research of suitable searching mechanisms for sign language texts, and the application of SWML to the SW-WebMail system.

It concerns also several other problems, such as the:

development of new SignWriting software (new text editors, sign language databases systems and thesaurus, sign language dictionaries, sign language chat systems, etc.)

development of means to help the interoperability of such SignWriting software

development of techniques for the automatic spell cheking of sign language texts

development of techniques for the automatic translation between sign languages and oral languages (and between sign languages and sign languages),

the creation of methods for the animation of written signs.

Thus, due to the wideness of its scope, the SWML initiative and the SignNet Project are always willing to cooperate with every person or group interested in the subject of sign language processing. To make contact, look at the sites indicated in the paper.

Acknowledgments

First of all, the authors should say that they are grateful to Valerie Sutton. Without her long-standing friendship, continuous support, and illuminating views about the problems of sign language writing, this work would not have been possible. And, to Richard Gleaves, for his permanent will of helping, when help is needed. Second, the authors would like to thank CNPq, the Brazilian national research funding agency that, by giving financial support for the SignNet Project, made possible the initial development of SWML. FAPERGS, our regional research funding agency, gave complementary financial support for the SignNet Project. Last, but not least, the authors would like to thank all the deaf friends they have found during this work: their eagerness in learning how to write their sign language, and in disseminating this knowledge in the Deaf community, has been a main source of inspiration.

References

1. Cleve, J. and Crouch, B. A Place of Their Own - creating the Deaf Community in America. Gallaudet University Press, 1989.

2. Kyle, J. and Woll, B. Sign Language - the study of deaf people and their language. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

3. Sutton, V. Lessons in SignWriting. Reachable at https://www.signwriting.org/lessons/lessons.html

4. Costa, A. C. R. The (current version of) SWML DTD. Reachable at https://swml.ucpel.tche.br/