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#MLBerlin - Communication and deaf track

How might we?

Standard and Guidelines


In this cluster we are talking about design principles and guidelines for anything from products to spaces to ads

we have mentioned already airport scenario, a lot of culture is visual and ads make visual space polluted and idea of algorithm device to work out accessible value.

a design system to help people more easily get into the mentality for design for and with deaf people

You can't have a deaf person on your team every time you design a product or experience. maybe we can capture the needs and frictions - and incorporate that into the balance

Zoe: when you say you can't have deaf people involved - means we have to train and incorporate them into the process

CK: both short and long term. we need both.

Emphasize the idea with standards and guidelines; short term - maybe sensitivity training. emphasizing everyone in the community needs different things.

we need to get rid of the old mindset that we "can't have" or "why isn't" and one of the reason why this is a reality is that we..

This is in the design process.


How might we:

  • capture experience of deaf people

  • train deaf people for design / english

  • we sell accessible design (business is incentive based)

  • make airports more readable

  • stop offering deaf individuals wheelchairs

  • do we figure out implementation of the guidelines

  • to their intended audience / implementation

  • connect between guidelines and practice

  • change alerts for D, HH and Zoe

  • help prioritize interactions with deaf people in public spaces

  • make visual signage be better in public spaces

  • make an information system for notifications for travelers / hotels / etc


Increasing levels of expression


This is a big topic.

This includes abstract/emotional feedback as well as symantic meaning - literal the meaning of word or sign - but also the emotional nuance

We talked about how Sign Languagehas a depth and beauty.

We generated a number of questions:

  • What kinds of apps could you create to help people learn Sign Language?
  • How do you use tools to augment peoples levels of physical expression in a culture that it isn't
  • How do you incorporate mistakes
  • How can you tell a joke
  • How can you make sure you can read the emotions of the audioence

How might we:

  • capture and transmit expressions and feelings in a translation service

  • we find a way to express feelings

  • keep eye contact as part of one of the demands of communicating. make eye contact compulsory

  • keep things equal

  • equalize the playing field in regards to communication?

  • motivate people to learn Sign Language

  • define a minimal vocabulary of Sign Language

  • think about how learn from dance to help teach Sign Language

  • teach people to icebreak and be comfortable with people who are deaf

  • break the ice before a hearing person encouters a deaf person

  • use Sign Language patterns and movement in regular communication

  • use deaf culture to colonize hearing culture

  • teach Sign Language to all children (deaf and hearing)

  • create a better feedback loop for timing and humor

  • create awkward or new experiences to create empathy

  • find signs that rhyme along with words that rhyme


Digital Commons for Sign Language


Commons is the idea of a space(physical or digital) where everyone can feel a sense of ownership and draw from the resources

Wikipedia is an exmaple of the digital commons

It doesn't literally belong to everyone but it is very much a public space

It is an idea that ideas can be exchanged and is a public force

examples: wikipedia, opensource, etc

Digital commons for sign language could be a data base that creates semantic links between pieces of content. It could be a facial expression catalog. A catalog of Gifs.

How might we:

  • we create content (one language coupled with Sign Language) that enable better ML

  • create standardized ways for Sign Language to be labeled

  • create a space that allows the Sign Language users to have a living document that is useful for creating tools and

  • create a focus on the content to increase the visibility of deaf communities

  • create non official languages, Gifs, emoji)

*leverate the resource to increase visibility or awareness

  • create a Gif interpretor

  • collect or categorize or assemble meanings of Gifs

  • do Gif to sign or sign to Gif

  • make the deaf experience really cool

  • capitalize on deaf celebratory

  • train deaf users on social media advocacy / awareness

  • make it easier to upload and create deaf content

  • search using sign (visual)

  • create non verbal, but gestural languages (in relation to images)

  • make signs that are commands

  • do we digitize Sign Language

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