Grants:Project/MSIG/Shared Knowledge/Sign language content as a new form of knowledge/Report
Accepted
This is the final report for the Sign language content as a new form of knowledge project.
Implementation
[edit]The project was implemented in three phases from April to October 2024.
- Phase 1 (April-May 2024): Economic and legal experts were commissioned to compile two lists of 100 basic terms in their respective fields. The experts were guided to prepare a brief definition and an example for each term. After the lists were compiled, they were submitted to a professional interpreter in the Macedonian Sign Language, who had to devise a way to interpret them so that they could be easily comprehensible.
- Phase 2 (May-June 2024): The production of the videos took place. Arrangements have been made with the years-long producer of the scientific experiments as part of the Wikiexperiments project was hired to record and process the videos so that the desired quality is achieved. The economic and legal experts attended and monitored the recording of videos. A total of 100 videos documenting 100 economic terms and 99 videos documenting slightly over 100 legal terms were produced. After the videos were recorded, a post-production checks of the produced content were made in order to assure that the desired quality has been achieved.
- Phase 3 (July-September 2024): The videos were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons where they are available in corresponding categories for economic terms and legal terms. Additionally, each video was enriched with Macedonian subtitles of the interpreted content.
The project concluded with a gala event for the members of the Macedonian Sign Language community that took place on 18 October 2024 in Skopje. During the event, the rationale behind the project was explained with a reference to the results from the research phase of the Capacity development for underrepresented communities project. Then, the sign language users were guided to the categories on Wikimedia Commons containing the recorded videos. Finally, sample recordings of both economic and legal terms were played.
Lessons learnt
[edit]The main lessons learnt from the project are presented in turn.
- Lists have to be compiled in collaboration with specialists in the fields. Specialists have advanced knowledge in their respective fields and can identify the most commonly used basic terminology. They are also apt to provide clear definitions that could be easily comprehensible for the target audience.
- Videos documenting the words should be brief and concise. Educational videos should always illustrate the point in as few words as possible because the target audience may find it cumbersome to abstract the general point if the explanation is unnecessarily long. Therefore, it is recommended to use one-sentence definitions with a deliberately chosen layman's wording.
- Examples improve the level of understanding of the definitions. Definitions may be insufficient to explain certain terms, so it is strongly recommended to use examples where possible. Examples provide additional explanation of the term and disambiguate between multiple related meanings.
- Subtitles help to translate the interpretation into written context. Sign language users may have read about the interpreted terms somewhere else or may be interested to read more in the future. Therefore, it is highly useful if the interpreted definitions are written in the primary spoken language.
- Sign language users always give the last approval. Since the sign language users are the final consumers of the videos, they should always be consulted on the comprehensiveness of the recorded materials. This is helpful in determining the level of difficulty of the interpreted terms, as well as to give a clear direction on how the project could be improved in the future.
Outcomes
[edit]The project achieved the following outcomes:
- 100 videos recorded documenting 100 economic terms
- 99 videos recorded documenting 107 legal terms
The recorded videos are available in the following categories on Wikimedia Commons:
Metrics
[edit]- Number of new files produced: 199
- Number of people involved: 8
Financial report
[edit]The financial report for the project is available on the following link.
- Total approved funds: €20,750.44 (MKD 1,290,450)
- Total spent funds: €20,744.26 (MKD 1,290,066)
- Total unspent funds: €6.17 (MKD 384)