WordSign News

NEWS ARCHIVE

WordSign Strategic Planning Meeting Held

September 2, 2009 (Waxhaw, NC, U.S.A.) - The WordSign project team met for two days on the campus of JAARS to review development progress and to prepare plans for the next six-months. The six members of the team (Terry Smith, Shawn Collins, Kirby O'Brien, Michael Fleming, Josh Stuck, and Michael Rennert) were joined by Steve Parkhurst, who heads the SIL sign language translation program in Spain, John Wickberg, JAARS liaison to WordSign, Keith Betsch, Sr. VP of JAARS to whom the WordSign project reports, and David Reeves, President of JAARS. This was the first opportunity for the team members to view a live demonstration of the stereo camera used for motion capture. The main technical topics covered in this meeting were: motion capture, character development, scenery development, story board preparation, and production editing. For each topic, team members demonstrated examples of their latest work and led discussions about technical solutions within each area.

WordSign Project Team Expands

June 10, 2009 (Waxhaw, NC, U.S.A.) – The WordSign project team is expanding with the addition of three new volunteers who are located in California, Oregon, and British Columbia, Canada. These volunteers are individuals with skills in computer graphics art, 3D animation and character development, graphics software development, and American Sign Language. The WordSign project is being developed by a multi-site virtual team, that previously included full-time members located in Waxhaw, NC, Los Angeles, CA, Silicon Valley, CA, and Dallas, TX. In parallel with motion capture and 3D editing software development, the animation and graphics team are preparing characters and scenery for a ‘test story’ based on the Bible’s description of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night with important spiritual questions in John 3:1-17.

WordSign Project Formally Launched

July 19, 2008 (Grand Forks, ND, U.S.A.) – At a meeting held at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where SIL International conducts courses in sign language linguistics, representatives of JAARS and SIL agreed to formally establish the WordSign Project under the management of JAARS, to develop sign language animation tools and support capabilities. Subsequent to this meeting a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by both organizations, defining the objectives of this multi-year project.

Sign Language Animation Planning Meeting Held

May 28, 2008 (Waxhaw, NC, U.S.A.) – At a two-day meeting held on the campus of JAARS, Inc., representatives of JAARS, Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL International, and DOOR International, met with animation experts to discuss the needs and opportunity to apply 3D animation technology to the production of sign language video translations of the Bible. Experts in sign language linguistics presented overviews of existing projects including examples of animation produced in Spanish sign language.

Coordination of Sign Language Tools Strategy

February 6, 2008 (Belfast, Northern Ireland) – Representatives from JAARS and the Eurasia Area of SIL met to develop a coordinated strategy and plan to create more efficient tools for sign language translation teams, and to apply animated characters to sign the Scriptures for deaf communities. A contract with Pendulum Studios in San Diego was initiated to conduct a test of the applicability of motion capture for animated sign language. Encouraging results were obtained from these professional tests.

Beta Test of Commercial Animation Software

May 8, 2007 (San Jose, Costa Rica) – Simple animation tests were hand-built in Argentine Sign Language using a beta version of the SignSmith™ software, provided by its developer Vcom3D; this software was intended for use with American Sign Language. Although it was determined that this particular product was not ideally suited to the needs of Wycliffe and SIL, the potential applicability of 3D animation for signed language production was validated through this beta testing.

Opportunities Identified for Acceleration of Bible Translation

Dec 5, 2006 (San Jose, Costa Rica) – Representatives from JAARS and SIL met in Costa Rica to explore opportunities for the acceleration of Bible translation programs in the Americas. One of the areas identified was production of the Scriptures in more than fifty sign languages found within the hemisphere of the Americas. During these strategy meetings the potential for significant efficiency gains through the use of 3D animation of sign languages was identified for further investigation.