SignMeet

Using technology such as AI as an aid for the translation of ASL to closed captioning enables a universal understanding of sign language in a video conference call

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Inspiration

The problem with technology is that it’s simply not accessible enough. In this day and age, new technological advancements are pursued around the clock, but yet, not all of this new software is fit for use for everyone.

That is why we made SignMeet! It is an AI software that translates ASL into CC to be used for conferencing applications such as Google meet.

Technology has enabled the “new normal” in the workforce. From 2010 to 2020, there was a 400% increase in employees who worked from home at least once a week, with video conferencing users increasing. It is also equally as important to make these video calls accessible to everyone. Video conferencing websites have already made accessibility adjustments to their programs – but it’s not good enough.

In 2017, a US survey found only 53% of deaf people were employed, compared to 76% of hearing people, an employment gap of almost 23%.

What it does

SignMeet offers a unique solution from a technological standpoint to even the playing field for those who are deaf, or hard of hearing, in the workforce. If sign language is the native language of a deaf person, they may feel more comfortable with an interpreter present during interviews – and for the hiring company, this may pose another step and expense. When two candidates with the exact same qualifications are compared– one of them is deaf, more often than not the hearing person is more likely to be hired. For the deaf community, employment discrimination is very real.

How we built it

For the extension, I used manifest v3, which is a new feature for the extensions platform. However, I only coded the basic information, such as the product name and the logos. For the implementation of the extension, I used the developer mode on chrome extensions to access my code. Because of the minimal time and knowledge on this overall, we did not get to include html, css and javascript.

Challenges we ran into

Since most of us only had experience making Websites. we spent most of our time trying to learn how to make an extension. With our new-found knowledge we used our skills in JavaScript to make a functioning plug-in. But since we had limited time and resources we were not able to make and train a properly functioning AI. But we plan on finishing this extension even after this hackathon. Because we believe that this extension can fully revolutionize how not only how we communicate but how we view the importance of accessibility as a whole.

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