Using Lean UX in the Design and Evaluation of a Prototype for Automatic Translation Between Sign Languages.

Although an International Sign Language has been created, only a small percentage of people in the world are able to use it. Given this context, it is important to support communication among deaf persons who use different sign languages and who want to meet other deaf persons. A mid- to long-term alternative for accomplishing this is the construction of an automatic system that would translate one sign language into another sign language (SL2SL). Just designing the user experience of such SL2SL translator between sign languages entails a significant challenge. In this paper, we present how proto-personas and user stories specification have been used to foster ideas during user evaluation of a first low-fidelity prototype that explores how deaf persons might communicate via a SL2SL translator. A result of the current stage is the consideration of diverse volunteer profiles, which has helped us learn from different viewpoints, with participants contributing multiple suggestions and highlighting improvements on the proposed interface elements. One of our main contributions is the introduction of conversational proto-personas pairs in our user stories, since we wanted to gain insights into the bilateral needs of users who face the challenge to interact when using different sign languages. This way, we aim to improve our learning curve for designing natural user interfaces for sign language users and to establish the next research stages.