SignASL year in review 2023
In 2023 32,197,037 searches were made on www.signasl.org a massive +22.5% increase from last year! (This is a 31% higher search volume compared to Sign BSL). Below I have provided a snapshot of the top 50 most searched words during the year.
| Search Query | No. searches | % change |
|---|---|---|
| **** | 62,356 | 96% |
| **** | 45,408 | 109% |
| abortion | 37,692 | 758% |
| you're welcome | 35,950 | 225% |
| **** | 30,649 | 9% |
| **** | 26,458 | 109% |
| **** | 26,199 | 47% |
| **** | 25,883 | 52% |
| **** | 23,845 | 163% |
| translate | 23,161 | 337% |
| have | 19,699 | 35% |
| good | 19,636 | 34% |
| what | 19,063 | 34% |
| like | 18,955 | 34% |
| love | 18,746 | 50% |
| want | 18,742 | 48% |
| how | 18,425 | 31% |
| when | 18,030 | 33% |
| thank you | 17,029 | 40% |
| how are you | 17,005 | 52% |
| to | 16,915 | 53% |
| and | 16,487 | 39% |
| do | 15,786 | 34% |
| is | 15,754 | 31% |
| with | 15,131 | 30% |
| school | 14,970 | 35% |
| where | 14,846 | 28% |
| hello | 14,788 | 28% |
| happy | 14,765 | 29% |
| i | 14,516 | 32% |
| for | 14,456 | 58% |
| why | 14,440 | 41% |
| we | 14,243 | 52% |
| go | 14,233 | 31% |
| you | 14,225 | 60% |
| dog | 14,164 | 44% |
| help | 14,030 | 44% |
| need | 13,927 | 35% |
| the | 13,435 | 68% |
| no | 13,418 | 44% |
| no more | 13,412 | 27% |
| favorite | 13,337 | 14% |
| play | 13,247 | 42% |
| peace | 12,938 | 4% |
| please | 12,913 | 37% |
| glory | 12,862 | 33% |
| not | 12,732 | 52% |
| can | 12,615 | 22% |
| in | 12,557 | 34% |
| know | 12,539 | 54% |
Offensive language and racial slurs continue to see a significant increase in searches, with 7 of the top 10 most searched queries containing offensive terms, this is intriguing compared to the search data from the BSL version of the site where the top 50 searches do not contain any such offensive terms.
The big stand out search query for 2023 is searches for "abortion" which experienced a 758% increase from 2022, making it the 3rd most commonly searched word. This is not surprising given the political situation in the United States in 2023.
Aside from the offensive language, common and neutral terms such as "translate," "have," "good," "what," and "like" have also seen increases in searches, suggesting a diverse range of user interests and language learning activities. Polite expressions like "you're welcome," "thank you," and "please" have high search volumes, indicating a focus on communication etiquette.
Basic language components such as pronouns ("I," "you," "we"), conjunctions ("and," "or," "with"), and prepositions ("to," "for," "in") are frequently searched, reflecting a typical pattern of language learning.
Question words like "how," "when," "where," and "why" are commonly searched, suggesting users are interested in learning how to frame questions. Positive expressions like "love," "happy," and "peace" are searched frequently, indicating a desire for positive and uplifting conversations.
Other news updates
An update to the SignASL android app was released to fix video playback issues and support the latest versions of Android. (Special thanks to Gary Rennie for your support with this app.)
I would also like to thank Zachary Krueger a Sign Language Interpreter from Iowa who has for the last few months been reviewing and improving the quality of the ASL dictionary (removing incorrect signs and fixing the word definition associations for the videos).
For those interested in the technology stack that powers the ASL dictionary, I have upgraded the MySQL database from 5.7 to version 8. I have also upgraded the AWS Lambda functions from dot net core 3.1 to .net6. I have also replaced most YouTube embeds to use self hosted videos for improved playback experience.
Looking forward to what 2024 will bring for SignASL!