TechWhiz is an Erasmus+ project aimed at the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing people in higher education. The first language of the deaf in Slovenia is Slovene Sign Language, which has different rules than Slovene. As a result, and for various other reasons, deaf people often have problems understanding written texts. In higher education, this can be particularly acute when deaf people want to follow the content of study programmes and are introduced to new technical terms that often do not even have signs to name it. The definitions of these terms are typically very specific and necessary for the understanding of the given materials. The aim of the project was to create a dictionary (and supporting solutions) that could be used to provide definitions of technical terms in different fields using sign language. Presenting these definitions to deaf people in their primary language enables them to understand the basic concepts needed for their studies in their own mother tongue.
The main challenges in the development of the solution are certainly the digital representation of signing in sign language (in the project sign languages from Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia are supported) and the mapping between written and sign languages. The signing in sign language is created in TechWhiz Studio, where an avatar is configured to visually represent the sign language while a Gloss Loader is used to define the mappings between written and sign languages. Automatic conversion between sign language and written language is almost impossible because, due to the limitations of sign languages, the content is often context-dependent.
To showcase the results of the TechWhiz project, a course has been created which is freely available to all. The course consists of videos that introduce the purpose of the project, the elements that make up the final solution and individual tools are presented (TechWhiz Studio, Gloss Loader and Dictionary). The course also includes instructions on how to access these tools so that you can try them out for yourself. At the end of the course, there is also a certification, which you get by passing an exam that demonstrates your knowledge and ability to use the TechWhiz environment and its tools. The TechWhiz course is available here (Athena Moodle registration required). You can also watch the videos directly on YouTube.
