scholarly journals The impact of vlogging on deaf culture, communication and identity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen S. Hibbard

This thesis presents a framework representing research conducted to examine the impact of website based online video technology for Deaf people, their culture, and their communication. This technology enables American Sign Language (ASL) asynchronous communication, called vlogging, for Deaf people. The thesis provides new insights and implications for Deaf culture and communication as a result of studying the practices, opinions and attitudes of vlogging. Typical asynchronous communication media such as blogs, books, e-mails, or movies have been dependent on use of spoken language or text, not incorporating sign language content. Online video and website technologies make it possible for Deaf people to share signed content through video blogs (vlogs), and to have a permanent record of that content. Signed content is typically 3-D, shared during face-to-face gatherings, and ephemeral in nature. Websites are typically textual and video display is 2-D, placing constraints on the spatial modulation required for ASL communication. There have been few academic studies to date examining signed asynchronous communication use by Deaf people and the implications for Deaf culture and communication. In this research, 130 vlogs by Deaf vloggers on the mainstream website YouTube, and specialized website Deafvideo.TV were examined to discover strategies employed by Deaf users as a result of the technology’s spatial limitations, and to explore similarities and differences between the two websites. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 Deaf people as follow up. The main findings from this research include register of vlogging formality depending on website type, informal on Deafvideo.TV while formal on YouTube. In addition, vlogs had flaming behaviour while unexpected findings of lack of ASL literature and use of technical elements that obscured ASL content in vlogs. Questions regarding the space changes and narrative elements observed have arisen, providing avenues for additional research. This study and more research could lead to a fuller understanding the impact of vlogging and vlogging technology on Deaf culture and identify potential improvements or new services that could offered.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen S. Hibbard

This thesis presents a framework representing research conducted to examine the impact of website based online video technology for Deaf people, their culture, and their communication. This technology enables American Sign Language (ASL) asynchronous communication, called vlogging, for Deaf people. The thesis provides new insights and implications for Deaf culture and communication as a result of studying the practices, opinions and attitudes of vlogging. Typical asynchronous communication media such as blogs, books, e-mails, or movies have been dependent on use of spoken language or text, not incorporating sign language content. Online video and website technologies make it possible for Deaf people to share signed content through video blogs (vlogs), and to have a permanent record of that content. Signed content is typically 3-D, shared during face-to-face gatherings, and ephemeral in nature. Websites are typically textual and video display is 2-D, placing constraints on the spatial modulation required for ASL communication. There have been few academic studies to date examining signed asynchronous communication use by Deaf people and the implications for Deaf culture and communication. In this research, 130 vlogs by Deaf vloggers on the mainstream website YouTube, and specialized website Deafvideo.TV were examined to discover strategies employed by Deaf users as a result of the technology’s spatial limitations, and to explore similarities and differences between the two websites. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 Deaf people as follow up. The main findings from this research include register of vlogging formality depending on website type, informal on Deafvideo.TV while formal on YouTube. In addition, vlogs had flaming behaviour while unexpected findings of lack of ASL literature and use of technical elements that obscured ASL content in vlogs. Questions regarding the space changes and narrative elements observed have arisen, providing avenues for additional research. This study and more research could lead to a fuller understanding the impact of vlogging and vlogging technology on Deaf culture and identify potential improvements or new services that could offered.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma-Jane E. Thompson

Currently, the World Wide Web allows web pages to be produced in most written languages. Many deaf people, however, use a visual-spatial language with no written equivalent (e.g. American Sign Language). SignLink Studio, a software tool for designing sign language web pages, allows for hyperlinking within video clips so that sign language only web pages can be created. However, this tool does not allow for other interactive elements such as online forms. In this thesis, a model for an online sign language form is proposed and evaluated. A study consisting of 22 participants was conducted to examine whether there were differences in performance of preferences between sign language forms and text forms, and between two presentation styles (all-at-once versus one-at-a-time). The results showed that there was no clear performance advantage between sign language and text; however, participants were interested in having online questions presented in sign language. Also, there were no advantages in performance or preferences between presentation styles.


Diogenes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Roydeva ◽  
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Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people is still a young field of scientific research. The article describes collaboration and interaction between a therapist and a prelingually deaf person. This special collaborative relationship has several dimensions: language, Deaf culture, interpreting.


Author(s):  
Franc Solina ◽  
Slavko Krapez ◽  
Ales Jaklic ◽  
Vito Komac

Deaf people, as a marginal community, may have severe problems in communicating with hearing people. Usually, they have a lot of problems even with such—for hearing people—simple tasks as understanding the written language. However, deaf people are very skilled in using a sign language, which is their native language. A sign language is a set of signs or hand gestures. A gesture in a sign language equals a word in a written language. Similarly, a sentence in a written language equals a sequence of gestures in a sign language. In the distant past deaf people were discriminated and believed to be incapable of learning and thinking independently. Only after the year 1500 were the first attempts made to educate deaf children. An important breakthrough was the realization that hearing is not a prerequisite for understanding ideas. One of the most important early educators of the deaf and the first promoter of sign language was Charles Michel De L’Epée (1712-1789) in France. He founded the fist public school for deaf people. His teachings about sign language quickly spread all over the world. Like spoken languages, different sign languages and dialects evolved around the world. According to the National Association of the Deaf, the American Sign Language (ASL) is the third most frequently used language in the United States, after English and Spanish. ASL has more than 4,400 distinct signs. The Slovenian sign language (SSL), which is used in Slovenia and also serves as a case study sign language in this chapter, contains approximately 4,000 different gestures for common words. Signs require one or both hands for signing. Facial expressions which accompany signing are also important since they can modify the basic meaning of a hand gesture. To communicate proper nouns and obscure words, sign languages employ finger spelling. Since the majority of signing is with full words, signed conversation can proceed with the same pace as spoken conversation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Hiddinga ◽  
Onno Crasborn

AbstractDeaf people who form part of a Deaf community communicate using a shared sign language. When meeting people from another language community, they can fall back on a flexible and highly context-dependent form of communication calledinternational sign, in which shared elements from their own sign languages and elements of shared spoken languages are combined with pantomimic elements. Together with the fact that there are few shared sign languages, this leads to a very different global language situation for deaf people as compared to the situation for spoken languages and hearing people as analyzed in de Swaan (2001). We argue that this very flexibility in communication and the resulting global communication patterns form the core of deaf culture and a key component of the characterization of deaf people as “visual people.” (Globalization, sign language, international sign, Deaf culture, language contact, multilingualism)*


Author(s):  
Samantha Panning ◽  
Rachel L. Lee ◽  
Sara M. Misurelli

Abstract Background Research suggests Deaf individuals have longstanding negative perceptions of their interactions with health care providers, primarily due to communication barriers. One way to improve relations would be for audiologists to learn clinically relevant sign language. Purpose The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of audiologists' knowledge of Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL) and evaluate motivation for instruction in signing abilities. Research Design A 21-question survey was emailed and advertised in a social media group for audiologists. The survey was divided into four sections: (1) demographics, (2) education of ASL and Deaf culture, (3) experience with ASL and Deaf culture, and (4) motivation to learn clinical signs. Data Analysis Descriptive statistics were analyzed for quantitative analysis of survey responses. Results A total of 489 responses were obtained and analyzed. Majority of respondents (82.6%) completed a manual ASL course, though only a third reported exposure to clinically relevant signs (37.4%). The majority of respondents rated their signing abilities at the word level, and knowing somewhere between 5 and 20 signs, expressively (50.5%) and receptively (53.9%). Results illustrate the majority of audiologists (54.5%) feel their clinical signing abilities need to be improved and were either highly (30.9%) or somewhat motivated (42.1%) to do so. Conclusion Study results suggest that although participants are enrolling in and completing ASL courses, clinical signs are not routinely included. This omission leads to reduced signing ability, potentially harming the provider–patient relationship. The majority of survey respondents reported that they are strongly motivated to improve their signing abilities. Results of the present study suggest there is need for a comprehensive clinical signs resource for audiologists to provide quality patient care to their Deaf patients. At present, there is no known, available tool to help accomplish this need.


Author(s):  
Joseph Hill

This chapter describes how ideologies about signed languages have come about, and what policies and attitudes have resulted. Language ideologies have governed the formal recognition of signed language at local, national, and international levels, such as that of the United Nations. The chapter discusses three major areas in the study of attitudes toward signed languages: Attitudes versus structural reality; the social factors and educational policies that have contributed to language attitudes; and the impact of language attitudes on identity and educational policy. Even in the United States, American Sign Language does not get recognition as a language in every region, and the attempt to suppress sign language is still operative. This is a worldwide issue for many countries with histories of opposition tosigned languages that parallel the history of the United States.


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