Professor E. William Clymer, coordinator of PEN-International, attended the 9th Asia Pacific Congress on Deafness (APCD2006) and 40th Annual Conference of the Japanese Deaf Education Association, in Tokyo and Tsukuba Japan. Professor Clymer was the official PEN representative at this important gathering of educators of the deaf in the Asia - Pacific region, which is the primary location for most of the members of the PEN-International member organizations. More than 1200 delegates, mostly from the region, attended this conference.
On 10 October 2006, a series of posters, "Postsecondary Education Network - International: Facilitating Deaf Education for Deaf Men and Women Around the World", was displayed in the main conference hall of the Chinzno-so Hall, in Tokyo. Professor Clymer was able to meet many of the delegates at the poster session gatherings and describe the efforts of PEN-International. Subsequently the posters were displayed on 11 October 2006 at a gathering of delegates with an interest in higher education, at Tsukuba University of Technology.
Also, on 10 October 2006, Professor Clymer presented a paper, "A Simple Process for Creating Annotated Line Drawings and Photographs of Sign Language". Co-authors of this paper were Dr. Gladys Tang, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Dr. James Woodward of the Dong Nai Deaf Education Project, Viet Nam, both of whom are faculty at PEN-International affiliated programs. This presentation described digital photographic image manipulation and reproduction technologies used to improve the creation and reproduction of sign language drawings and photographs.
Professor Clymer was honored on 11 October 2006 to deliver the keynote address to the delegates with an interest in higher education, at Tsukuba University of Technology. This address, entitled "PEN-International: A Report on Progress in Postsecondary Deaf Education in Asia", was co-authored by Professor Clymer, Dr. Denise Kavin, senior project associate, and Dr. James DeCaro, director of PEN-International. Following Professor Clymer's address, eight oral presentations were offered, including presentations by Dr. James Woodward and Dr. Gladys Tang. Dr. Woodward presented on his work in Viet Nam and Dr. Tang presented on her work developing sign language resources in Asia.
