Sign Language Storybook Production: Leveraging Lessons Learned

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

CIES 2023 Panel Abstract

Title: Sign Language Storybook Production: Leveraging Lessons Learned

Panelists: The Asia Foundation, eKitabu, RIT, and SIL LEAD

The Asia Foundation, eKitabu, RIT, and SIL LEAD have had the privilege of working with Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) to create sign language storybooks. We will share the lessons we have learned with each other and with CIES 2023 attendees who are interested in the creation of digital storybooks for the Deaf. Our organizations use different platforms and may have differing approaches, but one thing we have in common is how much we have learned from members of Deaf communities around the world. We also share the strong conviction that we still have much to learn.

For the more than 93 million children with disabilities, there are few storybooks in local languages and accessible formats to support the development of foundational literacy skills and nurture enjoyable reading experiences. The Asia Foundation (TAF) is challenging this book gap by working with DPOs to create and publish locally created books on its free digital library (letsreadasia.org) with sign language video, alt image tags, and synchronized audio tracks.

eKitabu established Studio KSL in 2018 to produce sign language video storybooks in Kenyan Sign Language. Since then, content has been developed in the sign languages of Rwanda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and Malawi. Along with the other organizations on this panel, eKitabu has built on and contributed to emerging standards for sign language storybook and textbook production, including UNICEF’s Accessible Digital Textbook Initiative, All Children Reading’s Minimum and Gold Standards for the Sign Language Video Storybook, and eKitabu’s Accessible EPUB Toolkit.

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) of the United States developed the World Around You (WAY) platform to promote reading for deaf children and their families, including those in remote areas with limited or no Wi-Fi access in low and middle-income countries. WAY is an open source, web-based editing and publishing platform. On the user interface, users can view stories and training materials. In the creator interface, content contributors (e.g., storytellers, writers, artists, signers) can design new stories combining images, text, and video of signing storytellers into web-based visual storybooks with ease in their local languages and cultures.

SIL LEAD has had the privilege over the past two years to work with DPOs in Mali and Papua New Guinea to produce sign language books using SIL International’s free, open-source software Bloom. Digital versions of these books are available on bloomlibrary.org and can be downloaded for use with the free Bloom Reader Android app and as ePUBs. Bloom will soon provide a tool to seamlessly create videos suitable for sharing via Youtube, Facebook, or WhatsApp.

TAF will share its experience working with local DPOs in Nepal, Fiji, and Indonesia to produce sign language video storybooks for children. From creating new signs within the language that more effectively convey the stories to efficient video compression that allows users to better access the videos, these experiences point to practices relevant to organizations across the globe that aim to support DPOs to produce children’s content. TAF will use video clips and behind-the-scenes images to share the incredible talent of DPOs in the Asia Pacific region and to demonstrate early learnings in the production of content to increase inclusion in education.

eKitabu will address the potential impact of scaling sign language video production in multiple local sign languages in Africa to provide leadership, employment, and training opportunities for persons with disabilities. Through its efforts, eKitabu has demonstrated that accessible digital content production provides leadership and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Such Deaf leadership is consistent with “Nothing about us without us” and “design with users.” They have also demonstrated that sign language video storybooks contribute to Ministry of Education and international development partners’ goals to implement inclusive education policies and access to early grade reading materials. These goals can contribute to a steady demand for local content production and a more sustainable and inclusive local ecosystem. And, developing sign language video storybooks and textbooks contributes to digital content with multiple means of representation in support of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines.

RIT will focus on their replication and sustainability model for creating and translating storybooks, providing training and best practice modules in each new partner country. Because RIT uses crowdsourcing content, local communities may choose to translate an existing book from the library into their local languages. RIT also encourages communities to create new signed stories that can be added to the library. RIT adapts the training and support to meet each country’s needs. Through its community-engaged training, RIT promotes “growing your own” communities of storytellers and creators to contribute to the WAY library and training resources.

SIL LEAD consultants in Mali and PNG will be interviewing Deaf workshop participants to learn about their experiences using Bloom to create sign language books and to share their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the process. SIL LEAD consultants will also reflect on the lessons they learned from working with DPOs over the last two years, in particular the differences between making books for the Deaf and empowering the Deaf to make books for the Deaf. During the panel presentation, SIL LEAD hopes to share subtitled videos of deaf content creators and to reflect on some of the lessons learned by its consultants through their interactions with the Deaf.

It is our sincere hope that this panel will give each of the presenting organizations a further opportunity to learn from each other and to share our combined learnings with other practitioners.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Christof Weber, SIL LEAD, Inc.

Individual Presentations

• Leveraging Lessons Learned in Sign Language Video Storybook Production - Anna Martin, eKitabu

• Sign Language Books by the Deaf for the Deaf - Christof Weber, SIL LEAD, Inc.

• Producing and Promoting Inclusive Children’s Content in National Sign Languages - Jody Ann Roy, The Asia Foundation