How Do You Sign That Word?
Andrea: I’m here with Mary Kane, expert and teacher of American Sign Language (ASL) to talk about how she’s putting lenticular technology to task using it to as a tool in the classroom, She is the founder and owner of Say It in Sign, an ASL-instruction company utilizing 3d flashcards to facilitate ASL education.
How did you get started with ASL and where did the inspiration come from to create the flip cards?
Mary: My career in teaching ASL (American Sign language) began in 1993 when I decided to go back to graduate school and get my Master in Arts degree in Deaf Education at San Diego State University. When I began graduate school I had the opportunity to teach ASL to undergraduates. I loved it! It was so much fun. I ended up staying at San Diego State University after graduate school and continued to teach ASL. Eventually I became the ASL coordinator in the School of Speech Language and Hearing Science from 1998- 2005.
For years ASL students told me about their difficulties in reading the pictures and arrows in the ASL dictionaries. I thought about this for a while. We had plenty of resources in the form of VHS tapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs and ASL websites but students still relied on their dictionaries to find a quick solution on how to sign a word. I love technology and all the advances our computers give us. I even started creating ASL video clips that were specific to each lesson I taught. Still, the students relied on their dictionaries more often.
I thought about this some more and was having a stream of consciousness moment talking with my friend about people wanting to hold things in their hands. After sometime I realized what I really wanted was a form of technology called “lenticular graphics”. It was time to get to work.
Andrea: But what makes ASL so different? I’ve learnt a few languages myself and have seen some students successful with flash cards but others have done well without them.
Mary: I continued to say, “The challenge is ASL has depth and movement – it is a 3 dimensional language. How can we do this?” Then I said to my friend, “You know – something like those hologram baseball cards we had a kid. Remember those?” As soon as I said it I thought, “That’s it!” “Hologram ASL cards!” I ran home, jumped online and Googled “hologram”.
I really believe in this idea. I want people to enjoy learning ASL by making it fun and easy – not to mention all the positive benefits children get when they learn to sign at an early age.
Andrea: How does that influence precisely what images and signs make it to the flashcards?
Mary: The Children. Most of the children in the images are deaf or have deaf family members. My goal is to use native or near native signers so I can capture the most natural poses and movement in each of the signs. For me it is the facial expressions that really make me choose which photo makes it to the printing press.
The facial expressions not only show the correct grammatical structure of the sign but can also show the nuances and personality of each person. I hope you can pick up on and enjoy the nuances of each person’s personality as you “read” each card.
Andrea: Making language-learning fun is certainly a difficult task. Was that also a factor in deciding to go this route? It seems like a tremendous personal investment to move on this initiative.
Mary: It was time to do something about it. In the spring of 2005 I decided to sell my condo and quit my job to put all my energy into this project. Yup! I took a big leap of faith and as I write this I couldn’t be happier about my decision.
Andrea: So go into a little a more depth, if you can, about what lenticular graphics bring to the table in your field.
Mary: The mission of my business, Say It in Sign, is to provide a better and more tangible medium for reading American Sign Language (ASL). It is well known the sign languages around the world do not have a written form. Currently, the ASL dictionaries use pictures with arrows to show how to move your hands to make a sign. It is often challenging to understand how to read the arrows to make the sign correctly. Videos and CDs are good resources but I believe people still want to hold something in their hands when learning ASL.
Lenticular graphics gives us the ability to see the movement of a sign in a two dimensional format similar to that of a book or dictionary. By tilting the cards back and forth you can see the beginning location of the sign and the ending location of the sign. Our brains have the ability to “fill in the blanks” between the beginning and ending location of the sign so we know how to complete the whole movement.
Andrea: So put into words for me your overall mission. What are you all about?
Mary: My goal is to create ASL greeting cards, educational flash cards and in the future children’s books, games and posters all using lenticular graphics. My dream is to see deaf children walk into a classroom and “read” information on lenticular ASL posters, books and cards along with the English text. We are getting closer to a true bilingual experience in a 2 dimensional format.