CHS: Medium: Improving Information Accessibility with Sign Language First Technology

在美国，美国手语（American Sign Language，ASL）是许多聋人的主要语言，许多聋人学生在学习英语作为第二语言的同时接受ASL的课堂教学。然而，大多数交互式计算工具都是用英语呈现和导航的，即使是为聋人观众设计的。将获得技术取决于对第二语言的充分掌握，这对聋人造成了重大障碍和使用延迟。该项目采用以人为本的计算方法来建立一个基础，以促进对聋人如何在以他们的需求和偏好为首要设计的环境中工作和学习的理解。 它调查了新的SL 1技术的可行性和有效性，该技术将通过允许聋人签名者完全以他们的第一语言（L1）导航，搜索和与技术交互来提供签名语言（SL）内容。基于SL 1的用户界面的优化以前从未尝试过，可能会导致历史沟通和学习障碍的突破;确定聋人用户的偏好，需求和优化的信息呈现将使这一人群和未来的ASL签名者人群受益。真正可供聋人SL签名者使用的技术有能力促进终身学习，增加获得STEM主题等教育内容的机会，改善就业机会，并允许基于SL的SL语料库，评估，词典，学习和就业资源的组织。这项工作将直接影响聋人、家长、口译员、教师和学习SL的学生。 与聋人研究生和本科生、聋人教师和聋人研究人员的直接合作，沿着几所聋人合作学校，将确保聋人社区在设计满足其需求的未来工具方面发挥重要的领导作用。由于没有基于字符的手语书面形式，SL 1技术需要开发基于SL的用户界面组件，包括菜单、导航、搜索功能。基于该团队先前在ASL STEM概念学习资源（ASL Clear）和ASL评估工具（ASLAI）上的工作，该项目将探索手语用户界面的可行性，好处和影响，确定该技术的设计考虑因素和最佳实践，并确定将手语集成到交互式系统中的挑战。一项对成年聋人的形成性研究将探讨现有技术资源遇到的挑战，以及用户对基于SL的工具的需求和偏好。通过迭代和参与式的设计过程，该团队将研究和改进交互式计算环境中的适当布局，搜索和导航设计，然后制定设计指南，优化聋人用户的体验。研究结果将有助于新的人机交互技术，为聋人用户优化技术提供设计指南，暴露需要技术改进的障碍和功能，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.

In the United States, American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary language of many deaf adults, and many deaf students receive classroom instruction in ASL while learning English as a second language. However, most interactive computing tools are presented and navigated exclusively in English, even those designed for deaf audiences. Making access to technology contingent upon a sufficient command of a second language creates significant barriers and access delays for deaf individuals. This project takes a human-centered computing approach to build a foundation that advances understanding of how deaf individuals could work and learn in environments that are designed with their needs and preferences at the forefront. It investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of new SL1 technology, which will provide delivery of signed language (SL) content by allowing deaf signers to navigate, search, and interact with technology completely in their first language (L1). The optimization of SL1-based user interfaces has never before been attempted and could lead to a breakthrough in historic communication and learning barriers; determining preferences, needs and optimized presentation of information for Deaf users will benefit this population and future populations of ASL signers. Technology that is truly accessible to deaf SL-signers has the power to facilitate lifelong learning, enhance access to educational content such as STEM topics, improve career opportunities, and allow SL-based organization of SL corpora, assessments, dictionaries, learning and employment resources. This work will directly impact deaf individuals, parents, interpreters, teachers, and students studying SL. Direct collaboration with deaf graduate and undergraduate students, deaf faculty, and deaf researchers, along with several partner schools for the deaf will ensure that the Deaf community has an instrumental leadership role in the design of future tools that meet their needs.Because there are no character-based written forms for signed languages, SL1 technology requires the development of SL-based user interface components, including menus, navigation, and search functions. Building on the team's prior work on the ASL STEM Concept Learning Resource (ASL Clear), and the ASL Assessment Instrument (ASLAI), this project will explore the viability, benefits, and impacts of sign language user interfaces, identify design considerations and best practices for this technology, and identify challenges for the integration of sign language into interactive systems. A formative study with deaf adults will explore challenges encountered with existing technology resources, and user needs and preferences for SL-based tools. Through an iterative and participatory design process, the team will study and refine appropriate layout, search and navigation designs in interactive computing contexts, then develop design guidelines that optimize the experiences of deaf users. The results will contribute new human-computer interaction techniques, design guidelines for optimizing technology for deaf users, exposure of barriers and features needing technical improvement, and empirical evidence and subjective feedback on the benefits of such interfaces on user task performance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.