Signing Language Education Project

OVERVIEW

Come Sign With Me is interactive, educational multimedia software built to give museum goers a basic understanding of American Sign Language in a 2 to 5 minute time period. Come Sign With Me was developed at the direct request of the Children’s Museum of Boston and placed on a computer kiosk in their Access/ABILITY exhibit that opened June 2004. The exhibit is currently touring children’s museums across the United States and Canada through 2008 as part of the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative.

Come Sign With Me contains three sections; “signing basics” which covers some basic signing concepts, “learn some signs” which teaches several everyday signs, and “sign with a friend” which demonstrates three signed conversations. The software was designed to promote engagement and active learning. The trackball-driven interface was crafted to attract attention and be approachable and easy to use for users of all ages. This approach was extended to the design of the kiosk, which includes a mirror next to the display to allow the users to see themselves as they practice the signs.

CREATIVE MERIT

Invited Museum Exhibitions:

• Minnesota Children’s Museum, St. Paul, MN. Scheduled for exhibition June 12, 2007 – September 16, 2007.
• Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA. Scheduled for exhibition February 2, 2007 – May 6, 2007.
• Lied Discovery Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada. Exhibited October 4, 2006 – January 14, 2007.
• Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth, TX. Exhibited June 1, 2006 – September 12, 2006.
• The Children’s Museum of Maine, Portland, ME. Permanent exhibit opened February, 2006.
• Maine Discovery Museum, Bangor, ME. Permanent exhibit opened February, 2006.
• Children’s Discovery Museum, Augusta, ME. Permanent exhibit opened February, 2006.
• The Children’s Museum of Houston, Houston, TX. Exhibited February 2, 2006 – May 14, 2006.
• The Children’s Museum of Memphis, Memphis, TN. Exhibited October 30, 2005 – January 12, 2006.
• Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn, NY. Exhibited May 26, 2005 – Sept. 8, 2005.
• Canadian Children’s Museum, Quebec, Canada. Exhibited January 27, 2005 – May 3, 2005.
• Children’s Museum of Boston, Boston, MA. Exhibited June 17, 2004 – January 9, 2005.

Audience Reach:

• The nine member museums of the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative represent metropolitan area populations of approximately twenty million people in the United States and Canada. The museums directly serve over four million visitors annually. Approximately four hundred full-time staff and over four thousand volunteers support operations in the geographically diverse institutions.
• Interest in Come Sign with Me from the Director of the Family, Health, and Hearing Committee of the Maine State Grange has also resulted in it being placed in three children’s museums in Maine.

ROLE

I was producer, writer, director, and sole programmer for Come Sign with Me, with primary responsibility for interaction design, interface design, multimedia design, videography, and programming. I worked closely with David Stewart on the learning content.

VIEW THE WORK

Come Sign With Me is a computer kiosk that is currently touring museums (see invited museum exhibitions above.)