Asl-stem forum: enabling sign language to grow through online collaboration

American Sign Language (ASL) currently lacks agreed-upon signs for complex terms in scientific fields, causing deaf students to miss or misunderstand course material. Furthermore, the same term or concept may have multiple signs, resulting in inconsistent standards and strained collaboration. The ASL-STEM Forum is an online, collaborative, video forum for sharing ASL signs and discussing them. An initial user study of the Forum has shown its viability and revealed lessons in accommodating varying user types, from lurkers to advanced contributors, until critical mass is achieved. ACM Classification Keywords K.4.2 Social Issues: Assistive technologies for persons with disabilities; H.5.3 Information Interfaces and Presentation: Group and Organization Interfaces General Terms Human Factors, Design Author Keywords American Sign Language, Deaf, STEM, Video, Forum

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Anna Cavender, Daniel S. Otero, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Richard E. Ladner
• Keywords: ACM Classification Keywords, American Sign Language, CHI 2010, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords American Sign