The Universal Sign Language Translator Project (USLTP) is an initiative designed to harness the global outreach of the Internet in order to gather signs from sign languages around the world. The hope is to create a basis for an online cross-sign language dictionary reference that can serve as a sign-language translation tool across major world sign languages.
Project Objectives
This project hopes it may:
- Serve as a cross-reference tool in facilitating better communication amongst deaf communities worldwide
- Provide a free online sign language resource for everyone
- Provide a platform to explore sharing a greater number of basic signs across worldwide sign-languages. This project appreciates and celebrates cultural diversity in all its forms and is not out to create an Esperanto sign language. Rather it hopes to offer a platform for exploration and discussion on sharing a larger base set of signs for better and richer communication between deaf people around the world
- Promote deaf advocacy issues concerning deaf and the internet. One salient issue being the regrettable lack of closed captions (CC, i.e., subtitles) on the vast majority of online video content
- Play one small role in improving global communication and making the world a better place (aka Tikkun Olam)
This project is being started on a blog as it offers an easy to setup, cost free, and globally pre-positioned technology. In the long-term, given enough content, interest and some funding, the hope is to deploy this application on its own domain name website, powered by a robust content management system, with sophisticated search and cataloging/labeling tools, so it could serve as a comprehensive online cross-sign language translation web application.
About the Founder and Editor in Chief of USLTP
Noam Rotem is a project and product manager in the IT sector. He holds a BSc. in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University and an Executive MSc. in Marketing from Baruch College, City University of New York. Noam has spent parts of his childhood and adulthood living in Israel and New York City, and has been living for the past 8 years in Tel Aviv, Israel. Noam grew up with his deaf sister--Liora, and they communicate together using a combinataion of PSE and ASL.
How I came up with this idea
In the summer of 2005 I attended with my sister a conference for Jewish deaf in Florida. At the conference there were also several deaf people from Israel who spoke ISL (Israeli Sign Language). On the one hand it was clear that these Israelis attendees were missing out on a lot of what was getting translated into ASL . At the same time there was interest by the Jewish American attendees to know a little more about Israeli signs. -- Noam Rotem
2 comments:
Noam,
Kol ha Cavod!
I met you and Liora in 1972! I came from Gallaudet College to teach your Liora and your family some sign language! I lived with your family for the summer in Beer Sheva! I wound up finishing my MA the following year, and moving back to Israel for the next 30 years! My name was Susan Gaines. Today my name is Susan Zohar- Noam,
I guess your name made an impression on me!
I came across your Blog as I was looking for some Israeli Signs to teach to a social studies class. I am presenting to them about Israel, and thought it might be fun to teach them some Israeli signs. The colors are great!
My work email address is: snoam@rsdeaf.org. I am a speech teacher at Rochester School for the Deaf, and do adjunct work at NTID.
Please contact me! I'd love to reconnect with you and your family.
I think the last time I saw your dad was at the International Conference for the Deaf in Tel Aviv in 1995. Please send warm regards!
I plan to be in Israel during the month of July. Although I've relocated, I still have 2 children and a granddaughter who live in Israel.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Susan
This is wonderful! I am in the middle of a project "Teaching Hebrew in the American Jewish Supplementary School using ASL". I have gone back and forth between deciding if I should use ISL or ASL as a basis for the visual cues of my project. This blog offers amazing resource potential.
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