Building a sign language corpus for use in machine translation

In recent years data-driven methods of machine translation (MT) have overtaken rule-based approaches as the predominant means of automatically translating between languages. A pre-requisite for such an approach is a parallel corpus of the source and target languages. Technological developments in sign language (SL) capturing, analysis and processing tools now mean that SL corpora are becoming increasingly available. With transcription and language analysis tools being mainly designed and used for linguistic purposes, we describe the process of creating a multimedia parallel corpus specifically for the purposes of English to Irish Sign Language (ISL) MT. As part of our larger project on localisation, our research is focussed on developing assistive technology for patients with limited English in the domain of healthcare. Focussing on the first point of contact a patient has with a GP’s office, the medical secretary, we sought to develop a corpus from the dialogue between the two parties when scheduling an appointment. Throughout the development process we have created one parallel corpus in six different modalities from this initial dialogue. In this paper we discuss the multi-stage process of the development of this parallel corpus as individual and interdependent entities, both for our own MT purposes and their usefulness in the wider MT and SL research domains

Hand in hand: automatic sign Language to English translation

In this paper, we describe the first data-driven automatic sign-language-to- speech translation system. While both sign language (SL) recognition and translation techniques exist, both use an intermediate notation system not directly intelligible for untrained users. We combine a SL recognizing framework with a state-of-the-art phrase-based machine translation (MT) system, using corpora of both American Sign Language and Irish Sign Language data. In a set of experiments we show the overall results and also illustrate the importance of including a vision-based knowledge source in the development of a complete SL translation system

Mobile Operator Supports Refugees and Disabled in Georgia

Collapse of USSR and declaration of independence by Georgia was followed by ethnic conflicts provoked by Russia, and de-facto loosing of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, with about 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). New wave of tens of thousands IDPs - mainly from South Ossetia and Shida Kartli - have emerged since recent Russian occupation of Georgian territories in August 2008. Refugees, considering their economical and psycho-social problems, are needy for communication as cell phones often remain a main hope for establishing contacts and new social networking. One of the major mobile operator (MO) – Geocell introduced during 4 months special tariff for refugees – 0, 09 GEL (0,044€) per min –70% reduction of basic rate. Around 56% of refugees have used that emergency relief measure. MO also helps deaf-mute persons by providing special SMS rate – 0, 02 GEL (1/3 of usual) and supporting computer center where it educates such disabled with future employment prospects (7 persons – at MO office).Georgia, Georgian-Russian war, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDP), mobile communication, mobile tariffs, needy, disabled, social responsibility

Diffracting Histories of Performance

This article aims to explore the historicization and archiving of performance artworks created during the Portuguese dictatorship (1926–74), through diffraction - a conceptual framework grounded in new materialisms. Drawing on feminist frameworks, it proposes that the reconstruction of performance art’s historical milieu works on stages of appearance and disappearance in relation to ideas of absence and the performative archive. This is particularly relevant in the case of performance artworks created in Portugal in the 1960s and 1970s. Framed by their disappearance in periods leading to the 1990s, this art genre has been characterized as dormant, lacking inscription, or absent from art history. This paper investigates forms of historicization that question the official art historical narratives and that come to the fore through the gaps of the social fabric where these narratives emerge. In questioning how we can recover the performative potential of those works, the article analyses two artworks – Negative Music (1965), by E. M. de Melo e Castro, and Identificacíon (1975), by Manoel Barbosa. The gaps that emerge through the works’ multiple existences after the event are made apparent, reframing the process of their disappearance as a radical gesture of potentiality. Through the discussion of the re-enactment process of Identificacíon, led by the artist and choreographer Vânia Rovisco in the context of her project REACTING TO TIME: The Portuguese in Performance, this paper shows how the existent gaps reclaiming the transformative potential of those absences through participation. The article then proposes that the transformative potential of the gaps in that history comes to fore by diffracting centres of authority to Others. Otherness, in this sense, amplifies the dislocation of authority from the artist and radiates towards a multiplicity of perspectives and bodies, creating an abundancy of material and ethical intra-actions at each encounter

Fernando de Almeida (†1660): Tradición e innovación en la música sacra portuguesa de mediados del siglo XVII

The Library of the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa preserves three large choirbooks of polyphonic repertoire intended for Holy Week, prepared between 1735 and 1736 by a copyist of the Patriarchal Church. These choirbooks contain all the known extant works by Fernando de Almeida (died in 1660). When comparing the music of Fernando de Almeida with that of his near contemporary João Lourenço Rebelo (1610-1661), the different trends in Portuguese early- to mid-seventeenth-century church music become clear, especially if viewed in the light of the acknowledged aesthetic and compositional premises explained in the 1649 Defensa de la mvsica moderna by King João IV. Rebelo’s concertato works incline towards the style of north-Italian composers. The ingenuity of Fernando de Almeida’s style, which is particularly noticeable in his eight-voice Holy Week responsories, lays in the integration of prominent Baroque features within the mould of Iberian Mannerist tradition.La Biblioteca del Palacio Ducal de Vila Viçosa posee tres grandes libros de coro con repertorio polifónico destinado a la Semana Santa, preparados entre 1735 y 1736 por un copista de la Iglesia Patriarcal. Estos libros de coro contienen todas las obras de Fernando de Almeida (m. 1660) que hayan sobrevivido hasta los días de hoy. La comparación de la música de Fernando de Almeida con la de su cási contemporáneo João Lourenço Rebelo (1610-1661) evidencia las distintas orientaciones en la música sacra portuguesa de principios a mediados del siglo XVII, especialmente cuando observadas bajo las premisas estéticas y composicionales explanadas en la Defensa de la mvsica moderna (1649) del Rey D. João IV. El estilo concertato de Rebelo se acerca de los compositores del Norte de Italia. La inventiva del estilo de Fernando de Almeida, particularmente notable en sus Responsorios a ocho voces para la Semana Santa, incorpora prominentes características barrocas en el molde de la tradición manierista ibérica

ARTiVIS Arts, real-time video and interactivity for sustainability

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Media DigitaisPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/42555/2007

HCI for the deaf community: developing human-like avatars for sign language synthesis

With ever increasing computing power and advances in 3D animation technologies it is no surprise that 3D avatars for sign language (SL) generation are advancing too. Traditionally these avatars have been driven by somewhat expensive and inflexible motion capture technologies and perhaps this is the reason avatars do not feature in all but a few user interfaces (UIs). SL synthesis is a competing technology that is less costly, more versatile and may prove to be the answer to the current lack of access for the Deaf in HCI. This paper outlines the current state of the art in SL synthesis for HCI and how we propose to advance this by improving avatar quality and realism with a view to ameliorating communication and computer interaction for the Deaf community as part of a wider localisation project

Expressive Copying Behavior for Social Agents: A Perceptual Analysis

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