Ingenious.....
GIFs can do more than add a sassy quip to the end of your tweet. Now, they can even help you learn a new language.
Giphy released an extensive GIF library on Thursday with more than 2,000 words and phrases in American Sign Language. To create the GIFs, Giphy cut videos from the popular educational series Sign With Robert, adding text descriptions to make the GIFs look like looping flash cards.
At first glance, the GIFs might seem a bit unremarkable — they simply show Sign with Robert creator Robert DeMayo, who has been deaf since birth, signing a word over and over.
But these GIFs weren't created to showcase the same theatrics we're used to seeing in the most captivating animations. They were designed to teach hearing people ASL — and to empower the Deaf community.
"GIFs, as a visual format untethered from audio, makes them a perfect medium for sign language," said Hilari Scarl, director and producer at Sign With Robert.