Sign & Share: Full-Stack International Video Sharing Website

Author

Shuxu Tian, Gallaudet University

Date of Award

Spring 5-13-2016

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Qi Wang

Second Advisor

Irene Tseng

Abstract

Inspired by VL2 bilingual story apps that focus on American Sign Language and English, this project provides a new application for sharing multi-lingual signed and written stories to a worldwide audience. VL2 story apps include only ASL and English, and are for purchase; VL2 also sells the code to develop stories in other languages, but the code requires technical expertise to use. My new app uses a special set of tools to allow sharing stories in any signed language and written forms of spoken languages without cost and without the need for technical expertise. Known as Sign and Share, this new app has been built upon a specific combination of web development tools known as the MEAN stack: MongoDB; Express.js, Angular.js, and Node.js. Each component of the MEAN stack uses JavaScript, which means that the web front-end (what the user sees) and the underlying database are connected by a single programming language. This singularity allows for faster communication and unified code. Overall, the technical structure of the app consists of a front-end website and iOS mobile app (built with Angular.js and Bootstrap), a server (built with Node.js and Express.js) that communicates between the client and the database, and a back-end database (MongoDB) that stores user information and comments on the uploaded videos. The cutting-edge features of the full-stack app provide a social utility to deaf users the world over by allowing them to share their video stories, in both signed and written (spoken) languages, and to view other users’ stories.

Recommended Citation

Tian, Shuxu, "Sign & Share: Full-Stack International Video Sharing Website" (2016). Undergraduate University Honors Capstones. 47.
https://ida.gallaudet.edu/honors_capstones/47