Sign Along Michael Peterson Christian White Filippa Karrfelt Nathan Schager

http://web.stanford.edu/class/cs194h/projects/SignAlong/

Problem Description A member of the CS 147 team that started work on Sign Along has a friend whose parents are both deaf. Growing up, this friend noticed how difficult it was for her parents to enjoy live event experiences -- such as concerts or speeches -- due to the lack of American Sign Language (ASL) services provided at these events. Often, her parents felt uncomfortable at these events or didn’t want to attend altogether. However, there are actually a number of qualified ASL interpreters who could provide and are interested in providing interpretation, as can be seen through simple Google or YouTube searching “ASL”. Despite the existence of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires “places of public accommodation” by law to provide “auxiliary aids and services” when necessary, many live events still do not offer ASL services due to the lack of a clear way for someone to request an ASL interpreter for an event and the difficulty for an event to both find an interpreter nearby and contact them in time.

Solution Overview Sign Along exists to make more live events accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing. We designed Sign Along as an iOS application that gives the deaf and hard of hearing community a simple way to request that a specific event provide ASL services, offers ASL interpreters a platform to showcase their abilities and find exciting events to interpret at, and provides those hosting events with a wide network of ASL interpreters to connect with. After a user of the application requests for an event to have an ASL interpreter, we reach out to the event and tell them that there is interest in having ASL services at the event. By law, the event must provide ASL interpretation. We then offer our services to the event by posting the details of the event on our application as a sign that the event is looking for an interpreter. From there, ASL interpreters can apply to the event through our application, users of the application can provide feedback by voting for their favorites, and the event can connect with the interpreter they like.

Famous ASL interpeter Amber Gallaway Gallego providing ASL interpretation and performing alongside Wiz Khalifa

Tasks

Simple task

Request that an event provide an ASL interpreter. The user wants to go to an event and the event is not listed in the upcoming events view. The user clicks the plus button in lower-right corner of the home screen (the events page) and fills out the information in the following screen to request an event. We chose this, both as a task and specifically as our simple task, because this is a core component of our application and the most important one to be simple. We want the deaf and hard of hearing community to be able to easily request ASL services for an event and trust that they will be provided if requested through our application.

Medium task

Vote for an interpreter to perform at an event. The user looks through the view with all events and finds one that they want to go to. The user clicks the event, looks through the interpreters who have applied (can also go to their profile to look at their information and videos) and votes for the one that they want to perform. We chose this task because we both want the deaf and hard of hearing community to be able to have an influence in picking interpreters for the event and we want events to have an easier time finding someone who is qualified. While we allow the event to choose whichever interpreter they want, we believe they want to know who their

audience wants to see and will find the community’s feedback helpful in determining which interpreter to contact.

Complex task

As an ASL interpreter, upload a video and apply to an event. An interpreter looks through the list of events and finds one that they want to sign at. The interpreter goes to their profile, clicks the add video button, picks the video to upload, and fills out some information. The video is then uploaded to their profile. The interpreter goes back to the event and presses the apply button. While this could be grouped into two distinct actions -- uploading a video and applying to an event -- we chose to link them together in a single task because both uploading and applying are linked to the same end goal of an interpreter putting themselves into consideration for an event. In order for the application to be successful, we need a wide network of willing and talented interpreters with content applying to events, so it was crucial for us to define this task.

Task Flows

Simple task

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYi1Lmz_vuI&feature=youtu.be

Medium task

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoOaqWBbfGU&feature=youtu.be

Complex task

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9LHjZ-qNAU&feature=youtu.be

Design Evolution Over the course of the project we made some changes to the scope that the group had envisioned in CS 147. One change we made was to include other types of events than just concerts. Another change was to get rid of the chat feature that the CS 147 team had envisioned. We also revised the interpreter application process; previously interpreters would apply by uploading a video, now they apply with their profile, where all their videos and information are available. We also added the ability to request that an event provide ASL interpretation. The 147 team also did not utilize a backend, so our first major steps were to convert to Swift 3, fix broken code, remove chat, and connect everything in the app with saving to our Firebase backend.

Expanding to several types of events

Change in our home page, which is a feed of events

Applying with profile The user can upload videos from their profile. There is also an additional edit profile option now, where the interpreter can remove videos and change information.

How interpreter gets selected

Previously, interpreters would upload videos and users would “vote for their favorite”. After talking to people in the music industry, it is not feasible that the users have total control over who gets selected, and therefore we have changed this to that the user can “like their favorite”. This feedback will be used by the event in picking the interpreter, but it will not determine the interpreter.

Change in event screen and method of user voting

Request interpreter at event

This was something that the 147 team did not implement, but had envisioned. Since we also wanted to have a flow for someone associated with an event to have use of the app, this was an important feature. We started simple with having a link to a google form, but then eventually developed a page where the user can fill in the information.

Change in our concert request form

Most valuable evaluation techniques

We had three main groups of people: the deaf and hard of hearing community, ASL interpreters and event planners/networks. We found that different techniques were better for evaluation for the different groups, and that they also wanted different things from the application. The flow for a user is not very complicated, so for those users we mainly wanted to gauge interest, ideas and concerns, which we did by sending surveys and contacting different people on and off campus. For ASL interpreters, there is more functionality involved when applying and uploading videos, so for them our most valuable information came from user testing. We observed where they got hung up and where they were having issues, and changed our interface to make that better. For the event networks, the most valuable information we got were from conversations where they told us how they work, what they are looking for and what problems they usually run into. Since we didn’t know much about the process prior, that helped us to design a user interface to fit their needs and more importantly an overall process that fit their needs.

Final Interface

UI Design & Functionality

In our final design users can find events that are seeking or will provide ASL interpretation, request that a specific event provides ASL interpretation, like interpreters who have applied for an event, explore interpreters profiles, and watch interpreter videos. This helps us achieve our goal of letting the deaf and hard of hearing community easily request events and provide feedback on interpreters. Interpreters can apply to sign at events, build strong profiles by updating their information and uploading videos, and make connections with new event networks. This allows us to build a wide network of talented interpreters. Event networks can request ASL interpretation at events and see the profiles and feedback on all interpreters who have applied. This gives us the ability to actually connect interpreters with events.

Tools

The application is an iOS app written in Swift. The database is developed using Google Firebase. For authentication we added an option of using Google Sign In. The videos that users upload are not hosted on our database but instead stored on YouTube, with a link to the YouTube video stored in our database. To make this happen we used the Youtube API. This made it very simple in terms of what we needed to store in our own database. We used Sketch and Figma to help design our application, which were both very useful. We use iMovie to create our final prototype video. We used html and css to implement our website.

What’s left unimplemented

Right now, when someone requests an event, we have to review the event and manually move it to the correct table in the database. We did this because for an actual flow, we would need to contact an event prior to listing that event in our application. Additionally, There are currently no instructions for how an event organizer should contact us about hiring an interpreter that has applied to an event, nor a specific account or profile given to event networks. This would be the very next thing we would implement with additional time. Lastly, interpreters and users do not have the option to filter their search on events by location as the app would begin by likely focusing on only one specific location, then later expand to nationwide.

Directions on how to download

The app is available for download in the App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sign-along/id1214161541?mt=8.

App documentation

Login

Login screen

Signup screen

Interpreter flow

View all events as interpreter

Event view interpreter

Upload video from profile

Settings and edit profile

User flow

Event feed, event page and request event for user

Making It Real While none of our team identifies as deaf or hard of hearing, or as a certified ASL interpreter, through our research, we have come to understand the unique challenges that the deaf/hard of hearing community faces when it comes to live events. In addition, through our user testing and discussion with concert networks, we have found common interests between the community, interpreters, and concert networks, all of which can benefit from Sign Along. If nothing else, we are qualified because we have come to grasp the impact of the problem which Sign Along solves and have a passion for improving accessibility for the deaf/hard of hearing community. To make Sign Along viable, we would need to attract both ASL interpreters and event networks. This would allow us to connect these two parties to make live events better for the deaf/hard of hearing community. To achieve this, we would most likely have to start locally, with a small group of interpreters as well as some more local event networks. Since, through our research and user testing, we discovered that most information is spread by word of mouth, we would rely on the app getting more publicity through word of mouth, as far as interpreters. Word of mouth would also assist us in engaging our most important users, those from the deaf/hard of hearing community. We want this to be the most convenient and used way to request interpreters at events and that would require us having robust connections of event networks

as well as interpreters. As far as the event networks, it would take some leg-work from us, to cold call the respective accessibility chairs and get them to try out the app. But once a few major networks (Coachella would be an awesome place to start) begin using Sign Along, we would be well on our way. Our target customers are ASL interpreters, event networks, and deaf/hard of hearing people. For ASL interpreters, Forbes reports that there are roughly 50,000 Americans working as interpreters and the profession is expected to grow by about 50% in the next 5-7 years, for a total of around 75,000 jobs. Because we are targeting any certified interpreters, this gives us a market of 50,000-75,000, just looking in the US. For event networks, our research in talking to the Coachella staff told us that some networks run a lot of the major events. While this is only on a major event level, we think our market here would be a roughly 1,000-3,000, counting all kinds of events and all sizes of events. Last, we want to target deaf/hard of hearing people of all ages, which comprises about 20% of US population, or 48 million people. To monetize Sign Along, we would take a cut from event networks as well as interpreters. We could charge event networks because they are advertising their event through our platform, getting good publicity, as well as ensuring that they abide by the ADA requirement that they must provide an interpreter if one is requested. Interpreters are paid by event networks, and because we are helping to find them gigs, we would take a small cut from the money that they are paid by the network. We would make this sustainable by becoming the go-to way to request interpreters and the go-to way for finding interpreters for live events. In the long-term, the impact of Sign Along can be huge in the deaf/hard of hearing community. Since there is no dedicated channel for ensuring that there are interpreters at live events, we can streamline the process and provide a central platform for making all kinds of events more accessible. We think we can engage a community that is seldom considered at live events and make them not only attending, but also enjoying live events the norm.

Summary Through the course of this project, we were able to identify a real need in the world and build a platform to solve that need. Our key innovation is that we were able to design a platform that allows the deaf and hard of hearing community to request ASL interpretation, makes it easier for interpreters identify opportunities to find gigs in which they can perform, simplifies the connection process between events and interpreters, and creates a way for users to have a say in which interpreters they would prefer seeing at those same events. Additionally, we created a way in which organizations can utilize a broad network rather than having to hire interpreters on a who-knows-how basis. Overall, we setup a platform to make more live events accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community. We hope that our project lives on and is able to serve people in the way that we intended. From the origin of the idea to the final implementation, we gained insight into the deaf and hard of

hearing community, and we think we managed to put that insight into the application. If put in the right hands, we think the application can grow to fill its intended niche and serve many people, making the world a more accessible place for those in the deaf and hard of hearing community.