Spread the Sign:-Doncaster Deaf Trust Deaf has been involved with other European partners since 2006 in Spread the Sign, which is an international web based translation tool for sign language. The tool provides the possibility to directly translate words and sentences into sign language and is shown as video clips. These words can be shown in more than 20 different sign languages and access is immediate.
The home page www.spreadthesign.com facilitates and is helpful for contacts between deaf and hearing people and for users of different sign languages in the world. The website has 300,000 visitors per month and nearly 100,000 downloads of the app ‘Spread Sign’ that is iOS and Android. Today there are over 300,000 signs, the translation tool is free to use.
This project funding has finished but the partners involved will continue to update and improve the site.
Doncaster Deaf Trust is presently involved in two further European projects funded
through Erasmus +
Spread the sign - 360 - This is a three year project running up to August 2021. It builds on the work done previously on the Spread the Sign project. The aim of this project is to produce photos that can be viewed in 360 degrees with interactive hotspots that allow the user to see BSL signs for various objects within the photo. An example is show below (Water Tap). Also the project aims to continue to improve the quality and number of videos of BSL words within the Spread the Sign website.
Vocational Sign Language on Tourism -This project runs up to August 2023 and includes partners from Turkey, Germany and Portugal.
The outcomes of our project are as follows;
- An Education Management System that tour guides and other interested parties can use free of charge,
- Sign language curriculum for tourism and tour guides at A1 and A2 levels,
- Training materials at A1 and A2 levels,
- A Tourism Sign Language Dictionary will be created in the A1 and A2 programs and in the field of tourism with frequently used signs.
Some of the past projects that have been completed are listed below;
Spread Share - A new project Spread Share continues the work of Spread the Sign in that it will further develop the Google Map feature to include signed videos of European cities, towns, national landmarks and places of historical interest. Another outcome of this project will be a sharing platform for free educational materials at national and international levels for the education of the Deaf.
Give me a Sign – This project aims to create a sign language programme (A1/A2) in Portuguese, Turkish, English and Austrian. Each programme will last approximately 30 hours and will allow say, an English BSL user to learn one of the other sign languages listed above. The aim will also be to convert these into e-Learning courses
Deaf Learning – This project aims to create a national written language programme in English, Polish, Austrian, Lithuanian and Italian at levels A1 to B1 for deaf learners to help improve their literacy skills. Once a handbook and materials have been created they will be further developed as eLearning materials.
The second stage of this project has been approved and is up and running. Doncaster Deaf Trust felt we did not have the expertise to contribute at this stage.
Website www.pzg.lodz.pl/deaflearning 
Tour Guides-This project aims to provide a Tour Guide certificated course for deaf and hearing impaired in Turkey. It is hoped to create a new employment area for hearing impaired people and will give importance to sign language in a new vocational education area. It will help create a workforce that can adapt to evolving technology. The project will give deaf learners intercultural recognition.
No website at present
Partner Project of Interest
Aims of the project
Sign Media Vocational Training (SMVT) is an Erasmus + and follow up project of SignMedia. On the SignMedia website (www.signmedia.eu) you can find different interactive learning resources for the deaf. One of them is the website of the SMVT-project.
The aim of the SMVT project is to develop a course in digital, online and mobile media for deaf media professionals and enthusiasts. The project partner will also give a face-to-face course at the end of the project; the course will last 5 days.
The target group of the course are people who are deaf and have ambitions to work in the media industry, or want to explore digital technology, or just want to make better films.