IMWA
From PuddleNet
The International MovementWriting Alphabet is the predecessor of the ISWA 2008.
Contents |
[edit] Original Purpose
Valerie Sutton created the IMWA as a storage closet for the various symbols of MovementWriting. This project was a work in progress when the Sutton-Slevinski collaboration began.
[edit] Unlimited Access
The creation of SignMaker allowed for unrestricted access to the entire symbol set of the IMWA. Even though this use of the IMWA was never intended, the easy access to all the symbols via the SymbolPalette proved to be very useful for writers.
[edit] Incremental Adjustments
Over the months and years of using the IMWA, many small changes were made to the symbol set.
[edit] Tight Bounding Box
Initially, the symbols of the IMWA had a white border of several pixels around each symbol. This empty border was removed and the symbol lines went all the way to the edge of the image.
[edit] Transparency
Initially, the symbols were black and white. During the beginning of the Sutton-Slevinski collaboration, ImageMagick was used through the command line to convert the white color to transparent. Later the source images were updated with PhotoShop. Sometimes hands would overlap and the palm area would become busy. The overlap was useful sometimes, but mostly ugly. An additional layer was later added to the symbols. No longer black & white , nor black & transparent , but black & white & transparent . The black is called the line; The white is the fill; Transparent is the empty background. When symbols are placed, they overlap the line and the fill of the previous symbols. In the ASL sign for world, you can see the white fill overlap with the palms of the hands. Arrows also have fill. This standard use of fill was incomplete in the IMWA 2004 and completed in the ISWA 2008.
[edit] Binary Rows and Columns
Under each BaseSymbol there can be up to 96 symbols. These symbols appear on a 6 by 16y grid. So that the existence of symbols could be predicted with SignMaker, each BaseSymbol has a valid list of rows and columns. A symbol can exist if and only if it is in a valid row and column.
[edit] Additional Symbols
Hand shapes, different shape arrows, even skateboards and axes were added to the IMWA. Symbols were sometimes moved and ids were changed. The changes were not properly documented. This caused problems with compatibility within the IMWA symbol sets.
[edit] Conversion to the ISWA
After using the IMWA for several years, Valerie Sutton decided that the focus of the symbol set should be SignWriting alone. She spent over a year reorganizing and polishing the new symbol set called the ISWA 2008. The conversion was fully documented so that an automatic conversion with the existing dictionaries and documents on SignPuddle Online was nearly flawless. The conversion was 99.9% perfect. The only flaws were slight positioning differences due to improved symbol images.
The conversion document and package is available under Creative Commons and the GPL.
[edit] IMWA Reborn
The SignWriting script is highly organized and logical. This is needed to store a spatial script as sequential text. Defining meaningful symbols with specific character codes that fit within a hierarchy enables us to parse the data using the model of Binary SignWriting.
When writing by hand, the SignWriting script is natural and flexible. The whole system of MovementWriting becomes possible. Here is the updated numbering system for the IMWA that is compatible with the ISWA.
- Category 8: Movement Writing
- SymbolGroup 31: Full-Body Parts, Positions & Viewpoints
- SymbolGroup 32: Full-Body Movement Symbols
- SymbolGroup 33: Full-Body Spatial Relationships
- (which includes relating to the space in a room or on stage, relating
- to props, and groups of people relating to each other)
- SymbolGroup 34: Music Scoring, Rhythm, Dynamics & Timing
- SymbolGroup 35: Animals, Insects & Inanimate Objects (Props)
[edit] MovementWriter
MovementWriter is planned for 2010. It will be part of the Sutton-Slevinski collaboration.
Features:
- SVG based symbols (line and fill)
- individual symbol scaling
- keyboarding support
- gesture integration
- ISWA support
- ISWA 2008 encoding
