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 […]
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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 […]
Chances to Join LINCS
For over two years, LifeinLINCS has brought you news, views and discussion from the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies. Now, we would like to offer you two chances to join us. The first is our new advertisement for PhD scholarships. If you would love to study child language brokering, quality in Public Service Interpreting, […]
How Open is Research?
Back in May last year, I wrote the following words in a column in the ITI Bulletin, “Researchers could discover a way to double efficiency, win new clients and increase translators’ status but, unless those at the sharp end of the profession take an interest, none of this would ever filter down to practice.” Since […]