Lingua Libre/SignIt

Lingua Libre SignIt add-on for Firefox is a demonstrator project which allows you to translate a (French) word into (French) sign language videos on any web page. When you read a text and come across a word you don't know, select that word, click on the SignIt icon: the sign in LSF and the definition of the word in French will appear on a window.

Lingua Libre SignIt

Lingua Libre SignIt add-on enhances your webpages to learn sign languages.
Information
Website	SignIt Firefox Add-on
Started in	2019
Repository	lingua-libre/SignIt (github.com)
Supported by	Wikimédia France, URFIST Occitanie.
Statistics
Recordings	+700
Languages	+1
Signers	+5
Contact
WM France	Adélaïde Calais WMFr Rémy Gerbet WMFr
Main	0x010C, Yug, Seejayer

If a word is not available in LSF, we invite you to record it with our easy-to-use webapp on LinguaLibre. When you select a signed language, the recording studio swtich to video mode. Textual definitions are fetched from the [French] Wiktionary to which you can also contribute.

Mission

Lingua Libre SignIt aims to increase awareness and mastery of signed languages among the general public.

We believe signed languages have general benefits for everyone. The general public can easily gain the ability to communicate on longer distances, through glass windows, in overwhelmingly noisy environments. It would be more inclusive for signers, non-verbal toddlers (see baby sign language), and provide an important safety-net against hearing loss which affects nearly all our elders, some adults and children. We believe universal and transgenerational designs helps individuals and society to be more resilient, inclusive, peaceful and efficient.

Developments

In 2022

• SignIt browser extension working well on Firefox, portable to other browsers.
• Translating the user interface of the extension into 30+ major contact languages and Wikimedia languages, including:

• Germanic languages:
  German (de: Deutsch)
  English (en: English)
  Norwegian Bokmål (nb: norsk bokmål)
  Swedish (sv: svenska)
• Celtic languages:
  Breton (br: brezhoneg)
• Italic languages:
  Spanish (es: español)
  French (fr: français)
  Italian (it: italiano)
  Lombard (lmo: lombard)
  Portuguese (pt: português)
  Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br: português do Brasil)
  Sicilian (scn: sicilianu)
• Finno-Ugrian languages:
  Finnish (fi: suomi)
• Balto-Slavic languages:
  Macedonian (mk: македонски)
  Russian (ru: русский)
  Slovenian (sl: slovenščina)
  Ukrainian (uk: українська)
• Turkic languages:
  Kazakh (kk-cyrl: қазақша)
  Karachay-Balkar (krc: къарачай-малкъар)
  Turkish (tr: Türkçe)
• Indo-Iranian languages:
  Angika (anp: अंगिका)
  Bangla (bn: বাংলা)
  Persian (fa: فارسی)
  Hindi (hi: हिन्दी)
  Western Punjabi (pnb: پنجابی)
• Semitic languages:
  Arabic (ar: العربية)
  Hebrew (he: עברית)
• Bantoid languages:
  Swahili (sw: Kiswahili)
• Austronesian languages:
  Indonesian (id: Bahasa Indonesia)
  Tagalog (tl: Tagalog)
• Eastern Asian languages:
  Japanese (ja: 日本語)
  Korean (ko: 한국어)
  Simplified Chinese (zh-hans: 中文（简体）)
  Traditional Chinese (zh-hant: 中文（繁體）)
• Auxiliary languages:
  Interlingua (ia: interlingua)

In 2023

• Restore video recording studio.
• French Sign Language demonstrate the viability and speed of video recording via Lingua Libre video recording studio.
• Doing... Call for volunteer contributors, see below.

Most needed skills

• Fluent signer(s), willing share is point of view on this nascent project, video record hours. Our tool will allow native signers to record around 200+ words per hour, adding them to the Wikimedia Commons' database and SignIt. A decent dictionary >3000 words can be built in just 10 hours. Those activists are the most valuable resource.
• Web and JS developers, willing to code, discuss, improve the extension.
• Language or country-specific project manager, willing to set up and organize with sign language activists some low cost video recording sessions.

Please share this call in your country and let get in touch when some volunteers are available, emailing Yug or on wiki talk page.

Project phases and stakeholders

• Phase 0 (pre-launch, by the initial team):
  • We create a rapid video recording system.
  • We create a demonstrator with LSF.
  • We insure recording chain's integrity.
  •  (ongoing) We raise project awareness.
  •  (ongoing) We demonstrate community's interest.
  •  (starting) We plan outreach to the general public.
• Phase 1 (production): The deaf community leads content creation via Lingua Libre's video recorder.
• Phase 2 (consumption): The general public consumes contents, increase awareness, learn sign languages basics via extension, wiktionaries and others.
• Phase 3 (benefits): The whole community harvest fruits, with a more bilingual and deaf-inclusive societies.

Visuals

• 
  Lingua Libre SignIt for Firefox — Works on Chrome/Chomium/Edge if installed manually. Works on 660 French words as of 2022.
• 
• The word “poisson” (fish) in French Sign language.
• « bibliothèque »
• « merci »
• « crabe »

See also

Current logos

• 
  logo with text
• 
  no-text
• 
  no-text-square

For end users

• Lingua Libre SignIt for Firefox — a browser extension to click words in browser and show sign language videos generated via Lingualibre.

For content creators

• Minimal Sign Language Studio guidelines
• Lingualibre.org audio and video recording studio — online tool to record words, once you specify a sign language, you can record videos of signed word at 400 per hour. They will be automatically available to SignIt.

Development and internationalization

• Lingua Libre/SignIt's github repository
• Translate SignIt's user interface

Periodic reports

• 2022: Phase 1 · Phase 2
• 2023: Phase 1 · Phase 2