#slwrite

Happy pi day image with signing variant on pi and day courtesy of Minnie B, 2026 in BeeOlive V.1.7

Go to slwrite.org to see how MB describes their process, the signs they used, and if they've made any changes since this post date.

https://slwrite.org/t/ASL%20Writing%20Feedback/b5c689df-636e-44f4-9ee2-82fab1376304

There are a lot of great websites, like lifeprint (run by Bill Vicars, an icon in Teaching ASL) or ASLcore (which I just discovered and omg I'm geeking out over).

But one of my favorite is handspeak. You'll probably see a lot of links or references here, and its because there are always goodies on the site. Jolanta Lapiak, the person who runs it has at least a decades worth of material (I think, don't hold me to the time estimate). There's everything from a dictionary to articles and videos on childhood language development.

Today's goodie is an article on the history of sign language writing which breaks some things down, and it also has a graphic by Adrean Clark, which I find fascinating (I don't know what year it was put out, but I'll keep hunting and label it if I can)

I love pouring over these evolutions and comparisons. We're really looking at history, in both the graphic and the site, that should be preserved for years down the line.

Maker: Adrean Clark of ASLwrite.com; Source: Handspeak

Today's post is about Mark Dienh, a former contributer to the facebook group and how amazing his work has been.

Mark spent a lot of time studying the ASLWrite system and then began posting in the group asking for feedback. He had a strong foundation and took feedback enthusiastically, including source videos etc.

I wish I could spend time elaborating on all of the various signs he shared and how they influenced my own practice (and others) but I'd never get this post out.

This video highlights you don't need to know Vietnamese sign language to be able to see how the signs are expressed by the orthography,

It might feel odd to think of Vietnamese sign language being written in ASLWrite, but it really highlights why calling it all SLWrite is a healthy change. Marks work is a foundational example (though of course not the only one). I'd love to move a copy of his videos over here because facebook could easily eat them and that would be a loss for the archives, but I'd like to reach out to him first. Unfortunately a lot of people have ditched facebook so its getting challenging to do.

Happy pi day Image courtesy of Minnie B, 2026 in BeeOlive V.1.7 Go to slwrite.org to see how MB describes their process, the signs they used, and if they've made any changes since this post date.

https://slwrite.org/t/ASL%20Writing%20Feedback/519af5b9-eeb7-4040-b1cd-54df4e9d1fd3

Last month I shared the link to this experiment, which I posted on Cara first.

As part of my preservation efforts, I would like things to reside on more than one server, not just have links shared on more than one server. So, even though you might have seen the previous post, here it is again.

(I copied and pasted from Cara, which I think compresses it a bit to protect artists, so its not the highest quality. I don't want to struggle to figure out how to upload it here.

Here was my commentary:

This piece explores how to write the ASL sign "MEAN" (as in "to mean" or "meaning" using the ASLWrite script. One experiment is in a pink box with a blue lining and one is in a yellow circle with a green lining. They share all of the same components except one extra edge line. The upright B hand shows the left hand in the word MEAN, the upright edgeline shows that the B hand sits on the edge of its palm. The sideways V hand shows the right hand in the word mean, the thumb angle indicates the hand faces away from the signer. The circle at the base of the V indicates the wrist twists. The ASLWrite version in pink, on the left, only has a vertical edgeline for the B hand. The ASLWrite version in yellow on the right has an additional edgeline underneath the V hand that would indicate the V sites on the edge of the hand with the thumb. The fundamental question is, do we need the second edgeline (I feel confident we need the first). Can we read this sign correctly without the second edgeline so it isn't confused with another sign, given that the goal is a script that can be written with ease, with the idea of picking up the pencil as few times as possible. I feel like for full legibility the answer is yes to the second edgeline, but those who have more experience might feel no, its self-explanatory. This graphic ponders this question. Take proposed signs with potential and a grain of salt. People are welcome to take this graphic into the slwrite.org group and ask the group for its thoughts, or to reproduce the signs and take those reproductions into the group.

I put my first experiment with a sign, all gussied up to be pretty, on Cara, an anti-ai, volunteer social media platform for artists (and artists is construed broadly)