Deaf News Briefs: Chinese AI anchor; First deaf “sign-over” credit

Here are two Deaf News briefs.

Chinese AI anchor for Winter Olympics

The first — ChinaDaily.com reported that during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, China’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV will broadcast an AI sign language anchor to provide information and interpretations of the games on the CCTV app. Check out this brief clip.

[Video Clip Credit: YouTube/Baidu Inc.]

Alex: The article said the anchor’s signs are supported by a sign language database that has up to 200,000 pieces of data. The article explained that a team of faculty members and deaf students at the Technical College for the Deaf at Tianjin University of Technology developed the database.

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First deaf person credited with “sign-over”

The second news brief is an article from “The Hollywood Reporter” about Shaylee Mansfield, a 12-year-old deaf actress who is said to make history as the first person to be credited for a “sign over” artist, which is just like how voice-over artists are credited for providing their voice performances for animated work.

Shaylee’s ASL performance was used for a signing deaf character in an episode in Season 6 of DreamWorks’ “Madagascar: A Little Wild.” The role is an animated girl who is also named Shaylee, who signs with a deaf chimp named Dave, which is already a key part of the animal cast since its first season in September 2020.

The Madagascar production team has three ASL consultants, two deaf and one Coda, but no deaf actors until Shaylee came into the picture.

The article included two video clips where you can see the characters signing and a mini-documentary about the ASL consultants and the process involved in creating ASL animations. The team uses Zoom for this process.

The links are in the transcript. “Madagascar: A Little Wild” is available on Hulu or Peacock. Shaylee’s role is in Season 6, Episode 5.

That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.

Links:

Chinese AI Anchor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0xLa9NCWU4

Shaylee Mansfield: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/madagascar-a-little-wild-dreamworks-deaf-representation-sign-over-actress-1235077254/

“Mini-Doc” of ASL animation process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-IRMI7cSZE

Shaylee IG Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYrXqwyOr_B/