Signing Made Easy
From: National Science Foundation - 09/27/2010
By: Miles O'Brien 

Georgia Tech professor Thad Starner is leading the development of interactive
tools designed to make sign language easier to learn for both the deaf and
hearing communities. Starner and his team have developed a cell phone
application called SmartSign that provides videos of different signs to help
hearing people who get stuck on a word. "You speak the word you want, it uses
voice recognition, and it'll just bring up the video right for you," says
Georgia Tech researcher Jeff Wilson. Another system, called CopyCat, is being
developed primarily for classrooms. CopyCat involves the user wearing a pair
of special gloves equipped with motion sensors. A camera tracks the user's
hand motions and when a sign is performed correctly, points are awarded.
"We've tested CopyCat in three different schools and each time, we're seeing
significant results in just two weeks," Starner says. "The children actually
were able to improve their ability to understand sign, be able to generate
sign, and to repeat sign phrases."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/index.jsp

Links:
Sign language learning made easy
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/videos/sign-language-learning-made-easy

SmartSign
http://www.cats.gatech.edu/content/smartsign

CopyCat
http://www.cats.gatech.edu/content/copycat

Thad Starner
http://www.cats.gatech.edu/content/thad-starner