Deaf and Hard of Hearing WG Meeting - 2024-11-26

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Working Group met to discuss the retrospective of the Salt Lake City Kubecon conference, including accessibility challenges and successes. Key topics included improving interpreter communication, increasing Deaf and Hard of Hearing community visibility at Kubecon, and leveraging an open-source captioning tool for local events. The group also discussed upcoming Kubecon events, including London and India, and the development of a Kubernetes glossary in sign language.

Kubecon Salt Lake City Retro

• 00:04:12 The group discussed the retrospective of Kubecon Salt Lake City, focusing on the kiosk, keynote, and general accessibility. Issues like interpreter availability and visibility, as well as the need for a more centralized communication channel for interpreters, were highlighted. They also discussed the difficulties of coordinating volunteer duties and the need for clearer communication and scheduling in advance.

Kubecon Talk Promotion

• 00:21:15 The group agreed that the talks given at Kubecon Salt Lake City need to be promoted. Each speaker is responsible for writing a social media post for their talk, including best practices for content and relevant hashtags. The goal is to increase the visibility of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing working group and the broader topic of accessibility in the CNCF.

Kubecon London Submission

• 00:24:54 The group discussed the upcoming Kubecon London application process. They emphasized the need to submit as many talks as possible and strategize to increase their chances of acceptance due to the increased number of applications. Katherine added that it's beneficial to submit talks to collocated events as a backup plan if Kubecon acceptance isn't achieved.

Deaf in Cloud Native Meetups

• 00:29:54 The group plans to resume their Deaf in Cloud Native meetings and meetups, with a December meeting focused on Kubecon North America. This will include a wrap-up and recap of the conference, including the panel format and other activities. Anastasia also invites presentations on tech topics for future meetups.

Kubernetes Glossary in Sign Language

• 00:31:39 The group discussed the progress and future plans for the Kubernetes glossary in sign language. They're currently working on the Spanish version, and the English version is ready to be uploaded. The maintainer needs to be contacted to determine the optimal placement of the sign language videos within the glossary. Community feedback on the placement and overall experience is sought.

OSS Captioning Tool

• 00:42:28 Katherine introduced an open-source captioning tool developed by Andrew Olsen in collaboration with a Deaf individual for local events. This tool is a more affordable alternative to traditional captioning services and is based on Google's API. The working group plans to develop a guide on how to use the tool for local events and KCDS, and share it with the wider community.

AI Interpreters

• 00:51:07 Zeno raised a question about AI interpreters, which the group acknowledged is still in its early stages. Rob highlighted that AI sign language interpretation is challenging due to the complexity of sign language. They discussed the limitations of current AI sign language models, which are trained on a limited vocabulary and are labor-intensive to develop.

Sign Language Evolution

• 01:00:00 The discussion turned to the evolution of sign language, particularly the trend to remove initialized handshapes in American Sign Language, which is different from many other sign languages. This evolution reflects a movement towards a more universal and creative sign language, away from the traditional emphasis on incorporating English letters into signs.