Accessible 3D signing avatars: the Tunisian experience

Signing avatars have the potential to produce sign language in its visual/Dynamic form. These virtual characters are actually getting increasing interest form the deaf community and being actively uploaded to the World Wide Web (WWW). In Tunisia, we developed a system called Websign which is able to translate any text information into any signed language through an avatar. This paper outlines the importance of the avatars technology in making the world accessible to deaf people. We put a special focus on how to generate exchangeable signing avatars and the way to make them accessible, indexable and easily located on the Internet.