American Sign Language in virtual space: Interactions between deaf users of computer-mediated video communication and the impact of technology on language practices

Abstract

A B S T R A C TAccording to some discussions concerning new information technologies and technologically enhanced communication, we are now in a revolution as profound as the printing press. The Internet is creating new kinds of meetingplaces and work areas and the possibilities of new types of relationships across time and space. This article reports on some ways that the Internet is shaping language practices in the Deaf community, with an interest in how new tools mediate and influence human behavior, including language and the organization of interaction. This includes the development and manipulation of a computer-mediated image of self and other, creativity and problemsolving in new communicative spaces, creating reciprocal perspectives, new participation frameworks, and specifics of language change. For the first time, deaf people can communicate using manual visual language, in many cases their native language, across space and time zones. This groundbreaking situation makes the Deaf community a particularly productive site for research into relationships between technological innovations and new communicative practices. (American Sign Language, computer-mediated communication, language and technology, Deaf.)* I N T R O D U C T I O NAccording to some discussions concerning new information technologies and technologically enhanced communication, we are now in a revolution as profound as that initiated by the printing press (Poster 1984). The Internet is creating new kinds of meetingplaces and work areas and the possibilities of new types of relationships across time and space. New socio-technical relations involve linking the local and the nonlocal in intimate, relational, and reciprocal connections, and offer new forms of access to others, with new space-transcending capacities and new techno-cultural visions (Robins & Webster 1999:221). Relationships can even involve a "tactile" dimension (Mitchell 1995). The new arenas for so-

Establishing Recipiency in Pre-Beginning Position in the Second Language Classroom

“…In particular, this study adds to the discussion of turn beginnings (Mondada, 2007;Streeck & Hartge, 1992), and thus extends the boundaries of traditional linguistics. Similarly, it adds to the existing literature on the use of multimodal resources as "an ecology of sign systems" (C. Goodwin, 2003a) that is used in and through interaction to perform a range of social actions (e.g., C. Goodwin, 2001Goodwin, , 2003bHindmarsh & Heath, 2000Keating & Mirus, 2003;Lazaraton, 2004;Szymanski, 1999). In this article this is related to, and based on, video recordings from second language classroom interaction, and is discussed in related to pedagogical implications for second language teaching.…”

<b>Deaf-Blind Interpreting: Building on What You Already Know</b><br>DOI: 10.5007/2175-7968.2010v2n26p237

“…The limitations of this smaller viewing area result in signers making adjustments, one of which is decreasing the size of their signing space. In a study of four Deaf families over a two-year period, Keating and Mirus (2003) found radical differences in the size of the signing space used during computermediated signing. This included:…”

“…However, there are still many calls in which the image is blurred, pixilated and difficult to see due to issues with transmission speeds, technical problems, or older equipment. Keating and Mirus (2003) stated that the ability to manipulate features of language and alter signing speed were important skills Deaf people used as they signed with each other using videophone technology. In order to accommodate problems with the clarity of the transmitted images, they observed the following:…”

Design frictions

“…Results demonstrate that patient response to telemedicine is overwhelmingly positive, above 90 percent (e.g., Dick et al 1999). Keating & Mirus (2003) report positive results from mediated spaces which enable deaf people to communicate using manual visual language, in many cases their native language, across space and time zones. 20 It is very likely that the context of use was also a contributing factor: all patients were ill and very grateful for the possibility of faster treatment through participating in the study.…”