Asl-stem forum: enabling sign language to grow through online collaboration

American Sign Language (ASL) currently lacks agreed-upon signs for complex terms in scientific fields, causing deaf students to miss or misunderstand course material. Furthermore, the same term or concept may have multiple signs, resulting in inconsistent standards and strained collaboration. The ASL-STEM Forum is an online, collaborative, video forum for sharing ASL signs and discussing them. An initial user study of the Forum has shown its viability and revealed lessons in accommodating varying user types, from lurkers to advanced contributors, until critical mass is achieved.