Questions/Answers

Suite VLibras is an open source platform that machine translates digital contents (audio, video and texts) to Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), making computers, mobile devices, websites, TVs and Cinemas accessible to deaf people. The VLibras main components are: - VLibras-Plugin: a browser extension that allows the translation of selected texts to Libras; - VLibras-Mobile: a VLibras client for mobile devices (iOS and Android); - VLibras-Desktop: a tool used to translate marked texts taken from applications running on personal computers into sign language; - VLibras-Video: a portal that allows translation to Libras of audio tracks or subtitles associated with videos; - VLibrasTV} an adaption of VLibras for the Brazilian Digital TV system. The Suite VLibras is the result of a partnership between the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, (MP), the Brazilian National Network of Education and Research (RNP) and the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). Currently, the VLibras tools has more than 100,000 downloads, and is being used in more than 1,500 websites, including the websites of the Brazilian Federal Government, the Chamber of Deputies, the Federal Senate and several commercial websites. This type of resource helps reduce the barriers of the deaf community to communicate, to access digital information and to acquire knowledge.

Deaf people naturally communicate using sign languages. As a result, many of them have difficulties in understanding and communicating through texts in spoken languages. In addition, the Information and Communication Technologies rarely address the specific requirements and needs of deaf people. In Brazil, for example, only about 5% of the sites are accessible. These difficulties result in major barriers to communicate, to access information and to acquire knowledge. Offering free tools to be used by the deaf directly or by companies and public institutions to facilitate access to their sites by this community makes the use of services and information more equitable and inclusive.

The focus on digital inclusion of our initiative is strongly aligned with SGDs 4 and 10 and also with the underlying principle of agenda 2030: "leaving no one behind." It addresses a relevant part of the world population, the deaf people, that faces several challenges when accessing digital information. To allow adequate access to information for deaf people, one solution is to translate/interpret spoken contents into the associated sign language. However, considering the volume and dynamism of information in some environments and platforms, such as the Web, performing this task using human interpreters is a very difficult task.

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 466 million people worldwide have some level of hearing loss. In Brazil, according to the 2010 census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), there are approximately 9.7 million Brazilians with some type of hearing loss, representing approximately 5.1% of its population. Most deaf people are not proficient in reading and writing the spoken language of their country perhaps because these languages are based on sounds. A study conducted in 2005 on 7- to 20-year-old deaf individuals from the Netherlands found that only 25% of them had a reading capacity equal to or greater than that of a 9-year-old child without a disability. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that the deaf communicate naturally through sign languages, and spoken languages are merely a ``second language". To allow adequate access to information for deaf people, one solution is to translate/interpret spoken contents into the associated sign language. However, considering the volume and dynamism of information in some environments and platforms, such as the Web, performing this task using human interpreters is a very difficult task, considering the high volume of content published daily on the Internet.

To address the question of digital inclusion of deaf people pragmatically, one of the most mundialmente adopted approaches is the use of machine translation (MT) tools to translate spoken languages into sign languages (SL). There is no universal SL, each country usually has its own SL and its specific machine translation platform. In Brazil, VLibras was one of the pioneering initiatives and the only one with the innovative approach of being totally public and open. Besides that, the Signs Dictionary of the VLibras has approximately 13,500 modeled 3D signs, one of the largest bases of its kind in the world.

To the best of our knowledge, VLibras is one of the largest and most complete free toolkits for automatic translation into sign language in full operation in the world - we believe there are few initiatives in the world with this reach and penetration. One of the key success factors for the creation and implementation of VLibras Project was the Brazilian government's perception of the importance of financing an accessibility platform like that, open and free, and the use of researchers and students of a public university for development, which lowered costs and improved the quality of the components developed.

Yes. Currently we are extending this platform to support other sign languages (SL). This new solution is called OpenSigns. OpenSigns has several common components for generic functionalities, initially originated from the VLibras, including the creation and manipulation of 3D animation models, and interchangeable mechanisms specific for each SL. Our motivation is that the concentration of efforts and resources around a single solution could provide some state-of-the-art improvement, such as a standard solution for the industry and a greater functional flexibility for common components. In addition, we could also share techniques and heuristics between the translation mechanisms, reducing the effort to make a new SL available on the platform.

VLibras has been developed since 2009 by a multidisciplinary team of 150 people consisting of software engineers, software developers, Libras specialists, deaf users, 3D designers, 3D animators, among others. It was funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Planning (MP) and the Brazilian Education and Research Network (RNP) and had a budget of 1 million dollars. Currently, the costs to keep VLibras operational and available to the deaf Brazilian community is approximately $150,000 per year.

Since VLibras is a public and open solution, it is sustainable since it can be maintained by the free software community. In addition, the WikiLibras tool allows deaf people to collaborate on the evolution of the solution by adding new signs and translation rules and improving existing ones, which allows them to have autonomy and control over the linguistic aspects of the platform. Additionally, in 2015, Brazil created the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (Law No. 13146 of 6 July 2015), which obliges all institutions (public and private) based in Brazil to keep their websites accessible, including support for Libras. This legal mechanism will assist in sustaining VLibras since these institutions need to maintain Libras support on their sites.

Yes

Besides several technical evaluations of the quality of the translations produced involving the deaf community, other evidence shows the impact and relevance of VLibras for the deaf community in Brazil: 1) it is being daily by hundreds of thousands of deaf people, as can be attested from its widespread adoption in the country; 2) its importance has been recognized through national and international awards in categories which involves accessibility and equality. 3) its utilization as a reference for the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) 15610-3 specification, which defines the standard for transmission of Libras contents in the Brazilian Digital TV System.

Quantitative indicators of use: - use on more than 1500 Brazilian websites - 100,000 downloads of its components Currently, VLibras is being used to provide accessibility in Libras on various websites of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary of Brazil. Among the sites that index/adopt VLibras as an accessibility solution in Libras, we can highlight: - Federal Government (Ministry, Secretariats, among others); - Chamber of Deputies; - Federal Senate; - National Council of Justice; - Regional Labor Court of the 7th Region; - Federal Court of Paraíba; - João Pessoa Transparency Portal; - Some commercial sites such as Vivo Telefonica, Claro, Tim, Oi, Net, Sky, UNIPÊ, among others.

Quantitative indicators of relevance: VLibras project also received two important awards: 1) National 2016 Web Accessibility Award (Todos@Web), in the Applications/Assistive Technology category. The Todos@Web award is an initiative of the Center for Studies on Web Technologies, in partnership with the Internet Steering Committee among others institutions. 2) LATAM Smart City Award 2018, in the category Equitable and Collaborative Society. The award aims to bring together and recognize the most innovative transformation projects in Latin America that have a positive impact on inclusion, equity, security, sustainability and participation, in an effort to improve citizens' quality of life.

The responsible for designing and developing VLibras is the Digital Video Applications Lab (LAVID) of the UFPB. But, RNP and MP played important roles in this process. RNP helped boost the solution early by fostering research and development of the first prototypes, as well as articulating assessments with deaf communities and users. The MP provided greater financial support and institutional support to enable the solution to evolve and become robust to be made available to the population as a public service. In addition, currently the MP is funding the maintenance and support of VLibras. Regarding the evaluation of the solution, VLibras also had important partners who continually provided feedback and evaluated the platform, such as the Foundation Integrated Support Center for Persons with Disabilities in Paraiba (FUNAD-PB), the National Institute of Education of the Deaf (INES-RJ), as well the the accessibility team of the Chamber of Deputies, among others. In addition, during its development it was evaluated by deaf students of the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS), Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR) and Federal Center of Technological Education of Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG), among others.

When creating a solution to this problem in Brazil, we realize that the same problems also occur in other countries, and several parts of the VLibras platform can be reused to develop a similar solution for other countries. Thus, currently, we are extending it to support other sign languages. This new solution is called OpenSigns, and aims to reduce the effort to make a new sign language available on the platform, which may further enhance digital inclusion and accessibility in other countries, especially the poorer one. Thus, the available translation mechanisms between spoken languages can be integrated to allow a Brazilian or Mexican deaf to understand, in Brazilian Sign Language or Mexican Sign Language, respectively, a text in English, for example.