multi Symbols for Disasters

[William Overington]

Symbols for Disasters

Hi

In

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L-curdoc.htm

I saw some time ago the following.

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20078-n4710-liaison-stmt.pdf

Today I have just seen the following.

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20136-sc2-response.pdf

Well, no money in it, but if people want to have a go in this thread debating design and posting designs  produced using Affinity products, maybe something good might posssibly come of it. This post is just on my own initiative, as a forum member.

I declare an interest in that communication through the language barrier is my personal research interest in retirement and I have included some idea about seeking information about relatives and friends after a disaster in my research.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/localizable_sentences_research.htm

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/localizable_sentences_the_novel_chapter_042.pdf

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/locse027.pdf

But that is not the same thing as this, but I want to be open about it as it is in the same sort of area.

William

 

[William Overington]

 

Just my initial thoughts, don't let them cramp your style!

I am wondering if a theme for the set might be a good idea.

Suppose that at 12 point it goes to 16 pixels by 16 pixels.

With a 1 pixel blank border all around, that leaves 14 pixels by 14 pixels.

So suppose that the bottom row is a solid bar one pixel wide and there is a blank row above it. This is to show that it is all one glyph.

Red in a colourful version, black in a monochrome version.

So 14 wide gby 12 high remaining to use.

Then the left 4 columns of that space are two exclamation marks and spacing to the right of each.

Red in a colourful version, black in a monochrome version.

So 10 wide by 12 high left to use.

So maybe a pictograph in there, a different pictograph for each type of disaster.

Abstract designs might be clearer, but people would need to know for what each stood, and people might not  know or have a quick way to find out.

So now I can try to produce that basic theme indicator (is that the correct phrase?) usingb an Affinity product.

William

 

[William Overington]

36 minutes ago, William Overington said:

So now I can try to produce that basic theme indicator (is that the correct phrase?) using an Affinity product.

 

Made using Affinity Publisher since posting the previous post, 23 minutes ago.

William

 

[William Overington]

It is helpful that the Transform tab in Affinity Publisher seems to work the same as in Serif PagePlus X7.

William
 

[William Overington]

Monochrome version.

William

[William Overington]

Symbols are needed for

quote from the first-linked document in this thread

...  the standardization of Unicode-based language-independent contents representing earthquake, tsunami, fire, flood, typhoon, hurricane, cyclone, tornado, volcanic eruption, epidemic and chemical hazard. 

end quote

So eleven symbols needed.

William
 

[William Overington]

I have been looking at this again and I am wondering if the best way to do this is to use numbers from 1 to 11 in the remaining space area.

Like numbers are used in recycling symbols for some types of polymer.

But recycling symbols are there to help people who are likely to know what they mean, not for critical disaster notification for the public more generally.

Yet clear if one knows what they mean.

William
 

[William Overington]

Here is what I have so far. The font is monochrome. The red version was produced using Affinity Publisher.

The symbols can be accessed using the Glyph Browser of Affinity Publisher

The symbols are located in the Private Use Area of the font, at code points U+ED01 to U+ED0B.

William

 

DISASTER.TTF

[William Overington]

https://forum.high-logic.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8406

William

 

[A_B_C]

Just out of interest, does your language (or communication system) include a principle of compositionality? In other words, is the meaning of a grammatically complex expression like ∫ 781 determined by the meanings of its parts (∫, 7, 8, 1, or however the expression is to be segmented) and its grammatical structure? I’ve read your first paper, and it seemed to me as if there was just an arbitrary link between complex expressions and their meanings. Which would entail that your language wouldn’t be productive in the sense that you can use it to form new expressions conveying new meanings, as you can do with the natural and the more useful formal languages.

[William Overington]

Thank you for reading the document.
 

11 hours ago, A_B_C said:

Just out of interest, does your language (or communication system) include a principle of compositionality? In other words, is the meaning of a grammatically complex expression like ∫ 781 determined by the meanings of its parts (∫, 7, 8, 1, or however the expression is to be segmented) and its grammatical structure?

No, the number781 is simply a code number in that system, with the integral sign at the front to show that it is not to mean 781 as an the ordinary number. The integral sign just as a marker, not its normal mathematical use.

There is a list of codes in the following document.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/A_List_of_Code_Numbers_and_English_Localizations_for_use_in_Research_on_Communication_through_the_Language_Barrier_using_encoded_Localizable_Sentences.pdf

 

11 hours ago, A_B_C said:

 I’ve read your first paper, and it seemed to me as if there was just an arbitrary link between complex expressions and their meanings.

Well, I chose the numbers with care and thought, so not quite arbitrary, but you are essentially correct.

11 hours ago, A_B_C said:

Which would entail that your language wouldn’t be productive in the sense that you can use it to form new expressions conveying new meanings, as you can do with the natural and the more useful formal languages.

Correct

It is not a constructed language in the same sort of way as Esperanto.
It has a different purpose.
The slide show may help explain.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/slide_show_about_localizable_sentences.pdf

I have also written a novel based on my ideas and I am writing a second novel.
The following chapter might help explain the limitations of the system.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/localizable_sentences_the_second_novel_chapter_027.pdf

The completed novel is at the following page.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/novel.htm

The sequel is at the following page.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/locse_novel2.htm

Free to read, no registration required.

William

 

[A_B_C]

Thank you! I’ll have a look. 😀

[William Overington]

I have been thinking.
I suppose that if the symbols need not all be square that the symbols for disaster type 10 and disaster type 11 could be wider so that the same size digits could be used as for the other symbols; which would also allow for the possibility of more types of disaster being encoded.
Also, I wonder if a decoding chart for the language of the user of the device could be engraved into the shell of the device.
As a start a sticker could be used.
Just as one can buy different replacement shells for some mobile telephones now, maybe replacement shells could be made available, several types, one for each language.
There could also be credit card size carts to have in a wallet with a decoding chart.
William
 

[A_B_C]

I think I understand your concept now. 😀

Just as a side note, William, I’m sure you’ll know that symbol-based approaches to everyday communication have long been used in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Regarding your interest in communication through the language barrier, some TED Talks by Ajit Narayanan come to my mind, who has been advertising his Free Speech concept not only as a tool in AAC contexts, but also as a device for communicating across the language barrier. Free Speech is even productive in a basic sense. If you’d like to have a look here are the links to some of his presentations:

https://www.ted.com/talks/ajit_narayanan_a_word_game_to_communicate_in_any_language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gim_wBBQNn0

Best regards, Alex 😀

[William Overington]

You might like to know that there are some threads about localizable sentences in the following forum.

https://community.serif.com/discussions

William