[sugar] Image Recognition

[Benjamin M. Schwartz]

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| A low-cost, low-power laptop with a built-in webcam and a somewhat
| iconic interface offers some interesting possibilities for folks whose
| primary means of communication is via sign language.
|
| I'm beginning to generate some interest on campus in the XO, and will
| be hosting the next meeting of the OLPC Learning Club of DC when I get
| back from PyCon 2008 (Chicago).  With any luck, some of the people on
| campus who claim to be interested in improving deaf ed outside the US
| will attend.

Higher rates of deafness in the OLPC target countries make this even more
important.  The XO has a distinct focus on real-time text-based chat
("IM").  I suspect that this will do a lot to improve communication
between deaf children and hearing children, much as it seems to have done
in the US.  Chat also provides an easy opportunity to bring deaf children
into the classroom, simply by designating one or two hearing students as
transcribers for each lesson, and letting the trancribers and deaf
children share a chat session.

Regarding sign language, I doubt that automated video analysis and
transcription of sign languages will be possible.   The CPU is similar in
processing power to the best desktops of 1997.  In 2000, real time video
analysis could recognize fewer than 100 gestures, with an error rate of
almost 10% (http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICPR.2000.906112).
~ Today, sign language recognition is still just a research project, even
with unlimited processing time.

Video capture is already possible on the XO, and may be useful for
learning sign language if the teacher is only available over the internet.
~ Video playback could certainly be useful for learning a sign language,
perhaps with a video course provided on a USB stick.

There appear to have been a number of efforts to codify written forms for
sign language, notably "SignWriting" (signwriting.org).  There is even a
Python-based program for "SignWriting" (http://signwriter.takdoc.de/).  Is
this writing system, or another writing system, viewed favorably by the
community at Gallaudet?  If so, creating a sign-language writing Activity
for OLPC might be an appropriate endeavor for Gallaudet students.

- --Ben
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