----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Steve Slevinski

To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 12:00 PM

Subject: Advanced searching for symbols and their approximate locations

Hi list,

I've added a new feature to SignPuddle: advanced symbol searching.  It is flexible and it is fast.  It searches both individual signs and sign texts. There are 5 new possible searches you can perform: 4 available for sign entries, and a separate custom search.

The four sign entry searches
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==Search Location - Exact==
Find signs that are exactly the same.  Same symbols, same exact position. 

==Search Location - Approximate==
Find signs that are approximately the same.  Same exact symbols, approximate locations.  The search location for each symbol uses a range of values.  These values are based on the symbol position relative to the sign's center.

==Search Symbols - Exact==
Find signs that have the exact same symbols.  Location is ignored.

==Search Symbols - Base==
Find signs that contain the same base symbols.  Fills and rotations are ignored.


For sign entries, these 4 search links are available.  Let's consider the entry for "season" in ASL:
http://signbank.org/sp16/canvas.php?ui=1&sgn=4&sid=1309


Staying in the ASL dictionary puddle, a search for an exact sign match, will only find the entry for season.
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&ksw=M16x24S1fb20n1xn23S15a18n15xn24S2e7001xn1

Searching for approximate locations will find 2 entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS1fb20499x477S15a18485x476S2e700501x499

Searching for the exact same symbols, ignoring location, will still only find 2 entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS15a18uuuxuuuS1fb20uuuxuuuS2e700uuuxuuu

Searching for the base symbols, ignoring location, will find 5 different entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS15auuuuuxuuuS1fbuuuuuxuuuS2e7uuuuuxuuu


If we return to "season" and select the Search Location - Approximate link, we are given the option to search a different puddle:
http://signbank.org/sp16/signsearch.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS1fb20499x477S15a18485x476S2e700501x499

If we select the ASL Bible puddle ,  we will find 6 different signs that look very similar to the sign for "season", but they have different strings.  One of the entries was used 38 times, the other entries were only used once each.  If we click on the sign that was used 38 times, we will view all of the signs or sign texts that used this exact sign:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=28&ksw=M16x24S1fb20n1xn23S15a18n15xn24S2e7001xn1

This last page takes a few seconds to load due to all of the column images that are downloading.


Custom Symbol Search
-------------------
The 5th search is the revamped "Search by Symbols".


The first thing you'll notice is the new cross-hairs in the center.  These are used to specify the position of each symbol.  Different positions have different results.


Searching for the index above the center:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS10000493x459


Searching for the index below the center:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS10000489x506



You can search for more than 1 symbol.  Each symbol can have 1 of 4 different types of symbol match.  The default for each symbol is the "Exact Match", which matches the base, fill, and rotation.  The "Any Match" matches the symbol base only.  The "Fill Match" will match the fill (palm facing), but ignore the rotation.  The "Rotation Match" will match the exact rotation,but ignore the fill.


Reflections
---------
Searching was one of the last barriers to being able to efficiently process the SignWriting script.  This new searching technique uses relatively simple regular expressions.  It is easy to code and fast to execute.  No matter the programming language or the device, real searching of the SignWriting script is now a reality.

Most importantly, this technique does not require artificial restrictions on the SignWriting script.

Regards,
-Steve