Deafspace in Cyberspace

The use of digital technologies as cyberactivism by deaf artists

Abstract

Currently, about 152 million Brazilians use the Internet, being considered the fifth most connected country in the world. In this virtual world, the deaf have become an increasingly user group of this communication tool. Those who master only LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language) as a means of communication – the vast majority – tell their stories and report their world views from a gesture-visual linguistic modality, whose main form of apprehension is the production of the imagery text. In general, the sign languages of each country are still unwritten, that is, they do not have a consecrated form of spelling, in part because of their three-dimensionality. In this way, social networks made it possible for the deaf to use sign language not only to communicate with their peers, but also to spread the social movement itself among non-deaf people. Thus, this article intends to draw a debate between the study of digital technologies and the recent use of social networks by deaf artists in the visibility of the social movement of this group through their artistic productions. To this end, we will use the concept of “deafspace” in dialogue with cyberspace and the possibilities of producing cyberactivism.