EASIER was presented at the EUD General Assembly that took place in Marseille, France on May 26-28, 2022. The presentation of the project was delivered by Davy Van Landuyt, one of the key people involved in the ‘User Involvement’ Work Package led by the European Union of the Deaf (EUD).
Among other aspects, Davy’s presentation provided a sneak peek into the Machine Translation technology researched and developed within EASIER. The presentation was very well received by delegates who appreciated the clear explanation, which allowed them to learn more about the capabilities of Machine Translation technology and its potential applications.
An issue of under-resourced sign languages has also been discussed. Taking advantage of the gathering, the EUD emphasized the need for bigger involvement of European Deaf communities in sign language documentation, highlighting the importance of investing time in building and collecting new data, which in turn, will result in the uptake of new technologies for more sign languages and more Deaf communities in Europe.
The presentation concluded with the call for involvement in the EASIER evaluation phases. Delegates from National Associations of the Deaf from most of the countries involved in EASIER expressed interest in providing feedback and support, for which the EASIER team is grateful. It is the strong involvement of European Deaf communities that will allow the project to cater to the needs of end users.
Davy’s presentation can be found here.
About the European Union of the Deaf (EUD)
EUD is a not-for-profit NGO based in Brussels, Belgium, which represents National Associations of the Deaf of all EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.
The work of EUD focuses on realizing the following objectives:
- recognition of the right to use an indigenous sign language
- empowerment through communication and information
- equality in education and employment
so that Deaf people across Europe enjoy equality in both public and private aspects of their lives.
Role within EASIER
EUD plays an important role within EASIER, leading Work Package ‘User Involvement’. EUD team is responsible for providing the definition of evaluation metrics and the evaluation protocol, assessing user requirements, needs, and gaps, recruitment strategies of end-user groups, as well as the performance of project evaluation studies.
