Presentation and evaluation of a digital tool for sign language ( Presentación y evaluación de una herramienta digital para la lengua de signos )

Abstract

This research draws from the communicative problem of the unfamiliarity of people with deafness and the rest of the population with the learning, mastery and use of sign language. Given this situation, people with deafness are presented with a platform based on accessibility. The platform is also intended for hearing people and even for non-deaf people. There are 1,253 adaptable interactive objects registered through videos, braille lines and screen readers. The study methodology was developed under the design-based research model, which validates the construction of the design in the context where it is to become usable. Pressman’s methodology for software engineering was employed for developing the EnSenias platform. As a qualitative evaluation method, focus groups with potential users validated the process by applying content analysis to their complements and by completing quantitative analyses, resulting in the categories ‘general validation of the platform’, ‘validation of the platform to learn’ and ‘to teach’. There are no digital online resources, as far as we know, created from the model employed on this occasion neither for its context nor its language, and EnSenias has shown itself as a paradigmatic example of its necessity.