This article introduces the VISTA-SL project, which aims to create an integrated e-learning platform for four European sign languages: German Sign Language, Greek Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, and Dutch Sign Language. Designed as a complement to face-to-face classes, the VISTA-SL platform will combine expertise in sign language education and education technologies to provide an adaptive and interactive learning environment suitable for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing users seeking to learn a sign language, whether it constitutes their first language or not. Building on a co-ordinated curriculum that covers vocabulary, grammar and Deaf culture materials, the platform will provide video material presented by deaf L1 signers, together with games and gamification features to motivate learning, while also providing several assistive technologies. By leveraging cutting edge language processing and computer vision approaches, the platform will provide augmented reality feedback, 3D avatars and an LLM-based virtual instructor, as part of the learning environment. VISTA-SL is developed in collaboration with end-user focus groups, comprising deaf, hard of hearing and hearing individuals. This will serve to ensure that the educational platform aligns with the expectations and needs of its intended users.

Social media has become a powerful tool for research projects, community outreach, science communication, and to recruit participants. Due to its differences to traditional media and presentation modes, it provides a particular focus on producing very concise content that is entertaining and accessible while staying informative. In this paper, we describe how the long-term project DGS-Korpus, creators of a corpus and dictionary of German Sign Language, evolved its outreach strategies over time. One unique aspect of its unusually long project run-time of nineteen years is that it has involved several cases of multiple family members participating in the project at different points in time, resulting in cross-generational participation. The paper describes how the project’s social media campaign uses these cross-generational connections to illustrate important aspects of the project, such as its relevance for cultural heritage and language identity, the different ways that members of the German deaf community were and are involved in the project, and its relevance to interpersonal connections.

In this paper, we tackle the issues of science communication and dissemination within a sign language corpus project with a focus on spreading accessible information and involving the D/deaf community on various levels. We will discuss successful examples, challenges, and limitations to public relations in such a project and particularly elaborate on use cases. The focus group is presented as a best-practice example of a what we think is a necessary perspective: taking external knowledge seriously and let community experts interact with and provide feedback on a par with academic personnel. Showing both social media and on-site events, we present some exemplary approaches from our team involved in public relations. Keywords: public relations, science communication, sign language community, DGS-Korpus project