Conference poster presented at TISLR14 (https://www.tislr2022.jp/) Osaka, Japan (September, 2022)
This poster is a preliminary report of what a Gallaudet Field Methods class as collected as part of a project we call "O5S5: Documenting the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19".
Abstract: “Documenting the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19”
The Gallaudet University Field Methods course is currently conducting a language documentation project about the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19, or “O5S5”. O5S5 is derived from the handshapes used in ASL variants of “document” and “covid”. Since early 2020, the world has been in a pandemic due to COVID-19 and for much of that time since, people have practiced physical distancing, masking, staying home and other measures to protect one another. As with any shift in human behavior, the pandemic has had a profound impact on all of us - from how we think about personal safety and health to how we interact with one another. There are documentation projects collecting information about living in the pandemic. For example, the MI COVID Diaries Project focuses on “documenting changes in the lives and language of Michiganders during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond”. A google search yields many projects, especially broad historical archiving projects that accept a wide range of materials related to life in the pandemic. So clearly, much is being documented by archiving projects but most probably will not include the deaf signing communities. O5S5, our documentation project, seeks to do just that.
That is, O5S5 will document the experiences of ASL communities during the pandemic with a focus on language and communicative practices. Language documentation is basically the act of creating a multi-purpose, digital record of a set of annotated language texts and accompanying materials (field notes, participant metadata, project files, etc) (e.g., Himmelmann, 2006). Such work is done by or in conjunction with the communities, following their lead in which knowledge to record and preserve while valuing the decisions of the communities themselves rather than prioritizing any academic tradition (Dwyer, 2006; Harris et al., 2009; Leonard, 2018). We are interested in capturing the knowledge of any self-identifying member of the ASL communities - deaf, coda, hearing - regardless of the age they acquired ASL. Our project will be e...
This poster is a preliminary report of what a Gallaudet Field Methods class as collected as part of a project we call "O5S5: Documenting the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19".
Abstract: “Documenting the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19”
The Gallaudet University Field Methods course is currently conducting a language documentation project about the experiences of the ASL communities in the time of COVID-19, or “O5S5”. O5S5 is derived from the handshapes used in ASL variants of “document” and “covid”. Since early 2020, the world has been in a pandemic due to COVID-19 and for much of that time since, people have practiced physical distancing, masking, staying home and other measures to protect one another. As with any shift in human behavior, the pandemic has had a profound impact on all of us - from how we think about personal safety and health to how we interact with one another. There are documentation projects collecting information about living in the pandemic. For example, the MI COVID Diaries Project focuses on “documenting changes in the lives and language of Michiganders during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond”. A google search yields many projects, especially broad historical archiving projects that accept a wide range of materials related to life in the pandemic. So clearly, much is being documented by archiving projects but most probably will not include the deaf signing communities. O5S5, our documentation project, seeks to do just that.
That is, O5S5 will document the experiences of ASL communities during the pandemic with a focus on language and communicative practices. Language documentation is basically the act of creating a multi-purpose, digital record of a set of annotated language texts and accompanying materials (field notes, participant metadata, project files, etc) (e.g., Himmelmann, 2006). Such work is done by or in conjunction with the communities, following their lead in which knowledge to record and preserve while valuing the decisions of the communities themselves rather than prioritizing any academic tradition (Dwyer, 2006; Harris et al., 2009; Leonard, 2018). We are interested in capturing the knowledge of any self-identifying member of the ASL communities - deaf, coda, hearing - regardless of the age they acquired ASL. Our project will be e...