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The Making of: Sign Language Recognition in the EU

The Making of: Sign Language Recognition in the EU

EUD team at work Laptop showing the virtual exhibition

Question 1. Can you please introduce yourself, and the people who worked on your exhibition for the Deaf Museums project?



Hello, who am I? My name is Frankie. I work for the European Union of the Deaf (EUD) as a Projects Manager and am involved in the Deaf Museums Project.

Am I working alone on this project? Not at all. EUD has a dedicated team focused on this project, including David Hay (Communication & Media Manager) and Mark Wheatley (Executive Director).

Question 2. EUD made an exhibition about Sign Language Recognition in the EU. Why did you choose this topic?



At EUD, we created an exhibition called "Sign Language Recognition through EU". Why did we select this topic? Well, we examined EUD's work from its foundation in 1985 to 2023, and it became clear that EUD has a red line, a consistent focus on the Sign Language lobby.

As you may already know, our members, national associations of the deaf, are working hard to promote sign languages. But it's not just any sign language; it's their national sign language. All EUD member countries except Switzerland have recognised their national sign languages. We hope Switzerland follows suit soon.

It's impressive to see the evolution of the sign language lobby over the years, and it has influenced the actual work we have implemented in EUD's exhibition. That's why we chose this topic. Our hidden objective is to increase people's interest in this topic, not just for deaf people but also for hearing people. Linguists interested in sign language, students of sign language interpretation, professional sign languages, and researchers could all benefit from this exhibition. We hope to reach a diverse audience.

Question 3: You made a Virtual 3D exhibition. Why did you choose this format?



EUD's exhibition has a unique feature: a Virtual 3D display. What is it exactly? For example, our Deaf museum partners worked on a physical exhibition in a physical room. We at EUD decided to try an alternative way: a virtual exhibition accessed through a laptop.

Why did we select this alternative way? As EUD work on the EU level, we had to try to bridge the gap with local communities and reach as many people as possible. Anyone can access the exhibition through a website anytime without the need to travel far. But that's not the only reason.

We are also trying to imagine what the future may bring and what might happen. Will the physical exhibition still be the primary way? The world is evolving so fast, and the metaverse was in the news 1-2 years ago, and some predict it will impact how we approach the world, such as shopping or accessing anything through VR (Virtual Reality). This new form may also impact education since physical presence may not be necessary. That's why we want to be innovative and close the gap with existing technologies and possibilities. This is a "bet" and an exciting challenge for us.

But is that all? No. The Virtual 3D experience might help us conceptualise the possible preparation for, for example, EUD's 40th anniversary and celebrate with a temporary physical exhibition. Of course, we must first look for partners and funding to make these ideas happen.

Question 4: What is the story or the message of your exhibition? Is it meant mostly for Deaf people or for hearing people?



What is the story and message that EUD wants to convey? We want to emphasise that sign languages connect everyone and make deaf communities visible. With sign languages, they avoid becoming invisible and forgotten in society.

It is essential to keep in mind that sign languages have a significant impact on rights. For example, without sign language rights, there can be no proper education rights, and it can negatively impact the human rights of deaf individuals. This is a serious issue that we want to share with everyone. The EUD's exhibition highlights that deaf leaders share the same lobby on sign languages, and we should be proud of it.

One example in the EUD's exhibition is that, strangely enough, hearing researchers knew more about sign language in specific periods than deaf individuals who knew less about sign language and sign language rights. However, things are evolving today, and more and more deaf individuals are involved in sign language research, lobbying, politics, and national associations of the deaf. This progress needs to be recognised.

Perhaps after visiting the EUD's exhibition, visitors will have some ideas and reflections sparking in their minds about how to imagine the sign language lobby in the future. It is interesting to have an exchange of views on this topic.

Question 5: You used old video clips for your exhibition. EUD must have many hours of video. How did you choose these clips?



As you might notice, the video clips used in EUD's exhibition were selected from the organisation's archives with the keywords "sign language" in mind. However, the selection process took work due to the vast number of videos in the archives.

After the selection, the videos had to be edited to make them shorter and more engaging. This was done to ensure that visitors did not get bored with longer videos and could have a comfortable experience with a better impact on their attention.

It's important to note that the videos were selected with the preservation of the videos in mind. EUD worked on arranging the videos by topic and keeping them well-preserved with good storage organisation to ensure the best possible quality. This will be useful in ensuring the sustainability of the videos for the next 10, 20, or even 30 years. EUD hopes that these efforts will help keep the videos available for future generations.

Question 6: You added a feedback form to the Virtual Exhibition. Have you had any feedback yet? What will you do with the feedback?



Yes, a feedback form link can be found within EUD's exhibition. Although the feedback form is not closed yet, we can say from the forms received that many people viewed it as positive with comments such as "I want the same in my country" or "I want to see more of that."

We also received a comment about explaining more about each frame (background), which we understand. It may be a negative aspect of using a virtual platform as there are no individuals to do a guided tour and explain what the exhibition is about.

If there were a physical exhibition, there would be a chance to have a deaf guide lead and present the exhibition's content and respond to questions. We are keeping that in mind. Overall, the feedback is positive.

Question 7: What will happen next? Are you planning new exhibitions, new activities in this field?



What will happen when EUD's exhibition is finished? As we have learned a lot from creating the exhibition, we will use our experience to explore more ways technology can enhance the visitor experience, for example, by incorporating virtual reality.

The lessons we've learned from EUD's exhibition give our team confidence to try a physical exhibition setting one day, for instance, to celebrate EUD's anniversary.

Whether it will happen in 2025 or 2030 depends on our discussions with cultural and museum partners. There are still many question marks, but we look forward to seeing what the future holds.

Question 8: What lessons have you learned in the process? What advice can you give people who want to do something similar?



What did we learn from this experience? A lot. We learned about selecting files and choosing suitable video clips that align with the audience's expectations. We also learned about the best possible platform used for hosting video content.

EUD gained valuable insights from partner feedback, advice, and shared experiences on creating a clear structure for exhibitions and dedicating subtopics that align with the main topic to ease the selection process. If I could offer only one piece of advice, try. Trying is the first step to everything.

We must also value what we have: papers, pictures, and videos preserve them as much as possible and adequately store them. Everything we have now might look normal (nothing special), but we will have a different perspective in five years. This is also the first step: preserve and archive. One day, these things will become applicable. This is our advice.

Our second piece of advice is to expand your network as much as possible. While you may work well alone, working together with others may be a slow process, but it can yield more in-depth results and give museums/exhibitions much more potential to expand. That is our advice.

Question 9: Anything else that you would like to add?



What do I want to add? I would say, "First, assess what you truly love," like your passions. What do you enjoy the most? Why? Because if you're working on something close to your heart, you'll work with more determination, conduct more detailed research, and approach it with enthusiasm and motivation.

If you're working on topics that were decided by someone else, you're likely to have less incentive to do the research. So, my advice is simple: start with what you love the most.

You can share your passion and inspire others with your interests. Everyone has different interests, so why not open up and share them? That's what I wanted to add.

Thank you.

Quotes:

  • "The Deaf community is international. What binds Deaf people, despite their different national sign languages, is their shared visual communication, history, cultural activities, and the need for a Deaf “space” where people come together."

    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • “Stories of disability are largely absent from museum displays. Where they appear, they often reflect deeply entrenched, negative attitudes towards physical and mental difference. Research reveals that museums don’t simply reflect attitudes; they are active in shaping conversations about difference.
    Projects created with disabled people show that museums hold enormous potential to shape more progressive, accurate and respectful ways of understanding human diversity. Why wouldn’t we take up this opportunity? ”
    Richard Sandell, co-director, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester
  • "What has become clear is that museums don’t just function as custodians of the past anymore; instead, they have embraced their responsibility towards the communities of the present: a responsibility to represent them, to speak to them, and to be open to dialogue with them."
    Tim Deakin, August 2021
  • “If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”
    Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
  • "As recently as the 1970s, deaf history did not exist. There were available sketches of various hearing men, primarily teachers, who were credited with bringing knowledge and enlightenment to generations of deaf children, but deaf adults were absent."

    In: Preface to: "Deaf History Unvailed, Interpretations from the New Scholarship". John Vickrey van Cleve, editor
    Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 1993
  • "Inclusion is moving from “we tolerate your presence” to “we WANT you here with us”.
    Jillian Enright in The Social Model of Disability, 2021
  • "Nina Simon has described true inclusion in a museum context as occurring when museums value the diversity in their audience, value those individuals’ potential and contributions, when they actively link those diverse people across differences, and when the organisation reaches out with generosity and curiosity at the core.
    On a practical level this sort of museum practice would see widespread inclusion of people with disabilities in the planning of museum exhibitions, on museum boards and steering committees, and working in curatorial roles."
    In: Corinne Ball: Expressing Ourselves, 2020
  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/museums-change-lives/
  • "After all, we are all of us explorers, and we all have much to bring to each other from our own
    journeyings."
    Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood.
  • "For many members of the Deaf community their shared history is both personal and social. Deaf people will have gone to the same school, in many cases boarding schools where most of their younger lives will have been spent together, and then met again at their Deaf clubs, Deaf social events, reunions and other more personal events.
    One of the first things a Deaf person will often ask on meeting, before asking your name, is what school or Deaf club you go to. Making this connection is an important part of any greeting, as it will then help an individual to understand what shared history or people in common you may have."
    from: The Cultural Model of Deafness
  • "The most significant function of museums is as centres for cultural democracy, where children and adults learn through practical experience that we all have cultural rights. Having the opportunity to create, and to give to others, may be one of our greatest sources of fulfilment. Culture is everywhere and is created by everyone."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "Deaf mute, deaf and dumb, hearing impaired – the choices are many and not without consequences. Words have many meanings, they convey attitudes and prejudices and may hurt, even when used in a well-intended context."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "And yet, even within a large and, in many ways, traditional organization such as this (Trøndelag Folk Museum, Norway), the museum's encounter with Deaf culture contributed to profound changes and a process, still underway, which challenges our own understanding of what a museum is today, our role in society and our obligations towards more diverse audiences than those we had previously engaged or even recognized."
    Hanna Mellemsether, in:  Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum, 2013
  • "The Finnish Museum of the Deaf) was founded by deaf people, and, thus, its task has been to strengthen their identity and historical communality.

    Most of our materials have a connection to the key experiences that generations of deaf people have shared. These are important in understanding the past and keeping the collective memory alive."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)
  • "Opening ourselves to the Deaf community, listening to and respecting them as co-creators and experts telling the stories they want told, makes our practice richer, and has ongoing positive effects for the community.
    These embryonic relationships hopefully encourage Deaf people to feel welcome in our space — it’s their space too.
    For both side, communities and museum professionals, while genuinely, openly and truly committing to working together can be time-consuming, it repays any investment many-fold."
    Corinne Ball: Expressing ourselves’: creating a Deaf exhibition", 2020
  • "Beyond works of art and objects, museums collect shared heritage, memories and living cultures as well as what we call intangible collectables."
    Source: We are Museums
  • "The UN Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community”. This is based on the principle that citizens are not just consumers of cultural capital created by others; we have agency and the right to contribute through culture to the wider good of society."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "Until the fall semester of 1986, the history department at Gallaudet University had never before offered a course in the history of deaf people.
    In the 122 years, to that point, since the founding of the university, which was specifically intended for the education of deaf peoples, no one had ever taught a course about this very group of people.
    In all of those years the history department had offered courses on a wide range of topics but never deaf history. "
    ENNIS, WILLIAM T., et al. “A Conversation: Looking Back on 25 Years of A Place of Their Own.” Sign Language Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 2016, pp. 26–41. 
  • "Access to and participation in culture is a basic human right. Everyone has a right to representation and agency in museums, and communities should have the power to decide how they engage."
    Source: A manifesto for museum learning and engagement
  • "It was only during the past decade that recognition of the importance of preserving Deaf history has emerged. In the main, Deaf heritage, culture and folklore has been passed down from generation to generation via the medium of sign language and fingerspelling. (..) It is also vital that the history of Deaf people is made available to future generations, especially Deaf schoolchildren as part of their history lessons."
    A. Murray Holmes,  in: Cruel Legacy, an introduction of Deaf people in history, by A.F. Dimmock, 1993
  • “One story makes you weak. But as soon as we have one-hundred stories, you will be strong.”
    Chris Cleave in "Little Bee", 2008
  • the past can hurt

    From: Walt Disney, The Lion King

  • "Museums can increase our sense of wellbeing, help us feel proud of where we have come from, and inspire, challenge and stimulate us."
    Source: Museums Change Lives
  • "This (Deaf) Museum is not intended as a casual show, to be seen once and forgotten. Its pretensions are nobler; it has a humanitarian aim. By its solid and tangible evidences, making history memorable and attractive by illustration, it serves a double purpose: to dispel ignorance and prejudice regarding the deaf, and to raise the victims of this prejudice and ignorance to their true level in society."
    The British Deaf Monthly, Vol. VI (p.265) 1897. In: Deaf Museums and Archival Centres, 2006
  • "Histories have for too long emphasized the controversies over communication methods and the accomplishments of hearing people in the education of deaf students, with inadequate attention paid to those deaf individuals who created communication bridges and distinguished themselves as change agents in their respective field of endeavour."
    from: Harry G. Lang, Bonny Meath-Lang: Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences, 1995
  • "Deaf people have always had a sense of their history as it was being passed down in stories told by generations of students walking in the hallways of their residential schools and by others who congregated in their clubs, ran associations, attended religious services, and played in sporting events.
    With these activities, the deaf community exhibited hallmarks of agency — an effort to maintain their social, cultural, and political autonomy amid intense pressure to conform as hearing, speaking people."
    BRIAN H. GREENWALD AND JOSEPH J. MURRAY, in: Sign Language Studies, Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2016
  • "An important matter for any minority group is that written documents in public archives are often drawn up by the majority group and do not always reflect a minority as it sees itself. Thus, preserving sign language narration is of the utmost importance and a challenge to those working in the field of Deaf history."
    In: TIINA NAUKKARINEN, Finnish Museum of the Deaf: Presenting the Life of Carl Oscar Malm (1826–1863)