X Sign Language (xSL) Forum: Considering Deafness as a Language Rather Than an Impairment

In this paper, we describe a video based, text fre e, online forum called xSL Forum. The aim of this work is to provide a tool for signing deaf people, allowing th em to communicate using sign language(s). In contrast to the widely used, real time, video chat system, xSL Forum does not require people to be present at the same moment, fa cing their webcam, in order to communicate. Beyond a digital library, xSL Forum can be used as an asynchronous communication tool and thus, can be useful for variety of other a pplications such as entertainment, education, or administration .