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From:
Charles Butler Date: Fri Jul 27, 2001 2:33 am Subject: Re: ASL sign for "cockroach" | ||||||||||||
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Valerie, > Thanks Charles, for telling me this. Back in the 1980's, we placed > the hands to the side of the face more, because in those days we were > writing from left to right. > > But signs are now written relating to the center of the body. The writing system may relate to the center of the body, which helps me greatly in teaching the system, but I don't know how, in typing, people can relate to the center of the body, when the first key they strike using SignWriter is a right hand key, not a left hand key. The system itself, as produced in the program, is right-hand primary. If I have a sign which uses my right hand on my face, then I have to key the face first, then the hand. If the sign is two-handed, then the right hand, again, is the first hand to come up, because the program is based on the right hand being on the left side of the screen, as the system was "receptive" in its original creation. I have to type the right hand, then switch it to the left-handed image. I believe we have an artifact of the original program being perpetuated in the software which has not been examined. If I am typing a sign, the system does not type from the "center" out, as you suggest, or if I typed a face with two hands, I would not have to move the head to put the left hand in place if I started the sign by typing the face. Looking at the software itself, for ease of typing, it should be starting with the left hand, or have a "handedness" as the first keystroke, not the handshape. It is a challenge. Charles | ||||||||||||
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