Author: Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram As the dust settles on the febrile buzz surrounding the Oscars, it becomes possible to take a step back, delink cinema from this veneer of glitz and glamour and reframe it through a broader global cinematic filter. The last couple of years, in particular, have conjured an eclectic and heady mix […]
Month: March 2014
Vow of Silence: One week later
(After a week of self-imposed silence, acknowledging the British Deaf Association’s Sign Language week, Professor Graham Turner reflects on a week in a signing world.) I don’t remember ever being described as ‘Christ-like’ before. There was a considered and thoughtful explanation. But the starting-point for the person’s comment was a reference to the ‘sacrifice’ that […]
Vow of Silence: Day 4
Having committed to a week of silence to demonstrate solidarity with the UK’s Deaf sign language users, Professor Graham Turner has made it to Thursday without a squeak. Will everyone else’s luck run out before the weekend? Imagine you’re completely blind. Can you do that? It’s not too difficult: you start by closing your eyes… […]
Vow of Silence: Day 3
In solidarity with British Sign Language users in the UK, Professor Graham Turner is subject to a self-imposed vow of silence. Can he remain speechless and last for an entire week in BSL? What will he learn from the experience? Living in Edinburgh, I can barely step out of my front door before someone’s playing […]
Vow of Silence: Day 2
Surgery performed on Deaf people without their consent. Signers unemployed or under-employed, their talents wasted. Shockingly frequent mental health problems as Deaf people struggle to live within a hostile social system. Deaf children in classrooms where they can’t understand the language of instruction. Police, prisons, banks, Inland Revenue – an endless list of institutions not […]
Prof’s Vow of Silence
It’s going to be a quiet week in my office. This week is the British Deaf Association’s ‘Sign Language Week’ (http://www.bda.org.uk/). My contribution? I’m going to shut up. So if, when you see me this week, you cheerily wish me good morning and hear not a sound in reply, it’s not (just) because I’m a […]
Bouncing Ball Research
Is research more like a vase or a bouncing ball? Vases are pretty. They are wonderfully ornamental and can even inspire poetry. What they do not do, however, is leave a mark. They look good and are to be admired but that’s it. Vase-style research is similar. It is admirable, excellent and might even inspire […]
Insign: Breaking new ground in video remote interpreting research
Pioneered in Sweden, both video remote interpreting (VRI) and video relay service (VRS) platforms use web-based video technology to enable Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (HoH) sign language users to talk to (hearing) non-sign language users using their preferred language (i.e., a signed language) via an interpreter, either with the interpreter situated remotely and the deaf and hearing person together in […]