Transcriber: Emilio Oscar Marchetti Reviewer: Denise RQ
[The interpretation provided for this presentation
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Interpreter(s) assigned
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Inaccuracies related to the content of the material
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This interpretation has not been reviewed by the presenter.]
Hello.
Good afternoon everyone.
I'm curious how many of you out here have smartphones today?
Let me see just by a show of hands?
A great many of us have smartphones. Technology has advanced so rapidly.
How many of you have iPads or tablets of some sort?
I see many of you. Many of you.
So how many of you are familiar with QR codes
otherwise known as quick response?
I see some of you are.
If you're not familiar with it, I'll let you know you can often find them
in magazines, in subway stations, on billboards.
There's often a small area with a QR code, a pixelated symbol
that you can then take a picture of
that will automatically transfer you to a link,
to a promotion, to a website, or something of the sort.
In today's technology,
we have a number of different ways to access information
that are very different than we did some 50 or 60 years ago,
well before smartphones.
Accessing information was very different.
You could read it in a written form,
you could share information by word of mouth,
and information would disperse through a number of different means.
And in fact, preservation of stories and passing down of stories
occurred very often through the written form.
And ASL has faced a difficulty of not having a written form
for a great many years.
The preservation of sign language conceptually, first came up through film
in the 1913 film by George Veditz.
George Veditz said
that the education and the preservation of Sign Language had to require film
because we did not record it in a written form,
but that by using the technology of film
we could record and disseminate our language much better.
The formula that we have for capturing Sign Language
was through originally reel to reel film
and then VHS and then now DVDs.
So all of these newer forms are digital in nature
from YouTube to Facebook,
and they can be widely disseminated.
QR codes could actually be taken advantage of for this purpose.
All QR codes could be used
to access signed-format information.
I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a moment.
So using that quick code brings you to video information
that is a much more human connection
in American Sign Language in a 3D form.
It's not linear in the way that written English text is,
and it's much more connectible to our audience.
There is also the added advantage
that you can have the written textual information
mapped onto, having included the QR code
that can then take you to a signed version,
or a signed expansion of that information.
It would also be beneficial to international visitors
for whom English is not their first language.
If there's some English text information, with the QR code,
they could click on that and connect then to a version
in their own sign language or native language.
QR codes actually can have an impact on a number of domains.
I'm going to look at three in particular:
community, education, and business environments.
QR codes can be very useful to many of them.
Student organizations, fraternities, sororities,
the Rainbow Society that we have
are all student organizations that could benefit from this
because they have fliers and advertisements
that are often in written English.
But if you like more detailed information,
you can simply use your smartphone, access the QR code,
and that would bring you to a link,
giving you more information on the goal of the event,
how many tickets, what date the event is for,
all in American Sign Language.
Easily accessible by using the QR code.
Also, if we look at students who are coming here to take courses.
And these international students don't have English as a first language.
In fact, it might be a third or fourth language.
So that text would not be as accessible.
The use of a QR code on a smartphone or an iPad
could then access signed information
that they could see alongside the written text.
This presents a strong, bilingual advantage to its users.
In fact, large organizations like CSD, RID,
the National Association for the Deaf,
all of these could extend their reach of information
by the use of QR codes.
Very often, people will not peruse written information
with the same depth that they would if they had it accessible via QR code,
and they could quickly access a signed version
and be willing to stay for the duration of the text.
Much more so than were it simple English text.
That's in part because it's a more human connection.
This presents an opportunity to disseminate information more widely.
It can also be used in transportation environments,
for example at a bus station or a subway station.
If you need updated information on the schedule for the public transport,
or frequently asked questions,
all could be accessible in American Sign Language
using the QR code.
These public spaces could also benefit from having QR codes
linking to American Sign Language formats.
In the field of education, we can also see benefits.
They could be using QR codes to their own benefit.
The field of Deaf studies and ASL studies
both can use QR codes
for a number of different applications.
The syllabus is generally in English text,
but could also link via QR codes
to signed versions of each passage of the syllabus.
The same is true of APA style guides
or the various style guides for your discipline.
Those papers could also include QR codes
that include their thesis statement
or whatever section they would like to make accessible in that way.
And the references could also be done in APA format, Chicago format,
all of these citations could be done in the relevant format
in Sign Language by use of QR codes.
Also, various departments - as I'll show you in just a moment,
I have a graphic that I'll be sharing with you shortly -
often have scheduled tours
that could be done in Sign Language
that talk about their own department, its aims, its goals.
And if someone were to come for a tour that wasn't scheduled,
and would like access to that,
they could use a QR code such as the one I'm about to show you.
This comes from the Deaf Studies Department
and each department generally has a bulletin board
where they share updates about their programs,
their graduate studies groups and what they're doing.
And I'd like to demonstrate for you
what is happening here on this particular flier.
There's actually free QR reader apps out there in abundance.
They're very easy to download.
They look like this.
It looks like you're seeing your regular camera view,
but you simply hone in on the QR code itself.
And there you have it.
It links right to the video.
Simply snapping a picture of the QR code
allows people to independently access this tour information for the department.
By taking a picture of that QR code,
they can easily access this.
Each department could have that and have their own self-guided tour,
which is much more visitor friendly and relatable being a human connection,
as opposed to just the written English text.
This could be a recruitment tool as well.
Recruitment materials could have QR codes
for different programs and departments
to access immediately to signed versions of their information.
In fact, there's one person
who is working on their master's thesis and looking at museum visitors
and the use of QR codes for those museum tours.
Very often, they have English text there
nearby the piece of art or exhibit.
But self-guided tours are often done
through wearing headphones.
But the QR codes would be a very efficient way
to use your smartphone
to access signed versions of this information.
In looking at the domain of business,
many people are small business owners
and use their business cards.
They typically have a very limited field of information,
contact information,
your video phone number perhaps.
But if that business card or advertisement has that QR code,
you may not have time to explain
to every potential person that you hand out your card to
what your business is about and what you do.
But if it has a QR code, they can link directly to a signed video
where you tell them
about your business and the opportunities that your field or business presents.
If we look at some of the Deaf expos, conferences, and job fairs out there,
very oftentimes, they're littered with booths all over the place,
and not everyone will have time to go through all of the booths,
and there may be too many people surrounding a booth.
So you can't have access to that booth
at the moment that you're walking by.
But if that booth had a QR code on their brochure or their banner,
then you could simply take that
and at your convenience, follow the QR link to signed information
that the booth was there to provide.
QR codes present a wonderful opportunity
for access for us.
ASL, not being a written language, should not limit us
because even somebody whose strength
is not in written English as a first language
could still have access to all this.
We should take advantage of this burgeoning technology of QR codes
to make all of our information more accessible
and more widely dispersed in our native language of ASL.
I'd like to thank you all for the opportunity to present.