Academic Perspective
ASL was not recognized as a language for most of its existence, and so people did not feel the need to write down or devise any notation systems for signs or for ASL texts. However, it is significant to note that when ASL was first recognized by William Stokoe and his team, they also invented one of the first symbolic notation systems for ASL. It is possible that, along with his academic research, Stokoe notation contributed to the linguistic academic community recognizing ASL as a language.
Over time, as ASL has become more recognized, the transcription systems devised to gloss it have become more sophisticated. At first, glossing would only show the order of the signs (Hoemann, 1976), because that was all that was considered important. However, once non-manual morphemes became recognized as crucial to any analysis of ASL discourse, systems for transcription began to include selected non-manual morphemes (Cokely, 1991). However, Cokely notes that "none of the transcription systems that are currently used in linguistic research on ASL are complete ... we still either miss a lot of the information or don't know how to write it down." (Cokely, 1991, p. 1)
Often, when discussing sign languages, researchers print pictures of the signs being discussed, and then have to devise notation systems to explain the movement of the signs. Because researchers have already encountered the necessity of notating at least the movement parameters of signs, some - such as those at the University of Hamburg - have invented systems to transcribe all the known parameters of signs. This is done for clarity, to break from misleading English glosses, and to save the time, money, and space required for full pictures or videos.
Though both Deaf and non-Deaf linguistic researchers have been involved in developing notation and writing systems for ASL, it is important to note that ASL belongs to the Deaf community, and this must be respected in all its forms - whether signed or written. Attempting to force Deaf people to use an artificial writing system invented by hearing people is the same as forcing Deaf people to use an artificial signing system invented by hearing people. Whether ASL writing becomes widespread, and which system or systems are used, is the choice of the Deaf community and must be respected.
Over time, as ASL has become more recognized, the transcription systems devised to gloss it have become more sophisticated. At first, glossing would only show the order of the signs (Hoemann, 1976), because that was all that was considered important. However, once non-manual morphemes became recognized as crucial to any analysis of ASL discourse, systems for transcription began to include selected non-manual morphemes (Cokely, 1991). However, Cokely notes that "none of the transcription systems that are currently used in linguistic research on ASL are complete ... we still either miss a lot of the information or don't know how to write it down." (Cokely, 1991, p. 1)
Often, when discussing sign languages, researchers print pictures of the signs being discussed, and then have to devise notation systems to explain the movement of the signs. Because researchers have already encountered the necessity of notating at least the movement parameters of signs, some - such as those at the University of Hamburg - have invented systems to transcribe all the known parameters of signs. This is done for clarity, to break from misleading English glosses, and to save the time, money, and space required for full pictures or videos.
Though both Deaf and non-Deaf linguistic researchers have been involved in developing notation and writing systems for ASL, it is important to note that ASL belongs to the Deaf community, and this must be respected in all its forms - whether signed or written. Attempting to force Deaf people to use an artificial writing system invented by hearing people is the same as forcing Deaf people to use an artificial signing system invented by hearing people. Whether ASL writing becomes widespread, and which system or systems are used, is the choice of the Deaf community and must be respected.
Deaf Culture Perspective
ASL teachers both in Deaf schools and in hearing ASL programs have incentives to teach ASL in ways that respect ASL's heritage and its form. When learning new vocabulary, students naturally take notes to aid memory of new signs. Complete writing systems allow this to happen more easily, and without reliance on English. As well, students use notes to remember information for presentations. Another use for ASL writing systems is to look up signs in dictionaries by looking up the sign and not an English "equivalent".
Another group which has a perspective on the benefit of ASL writing are Deaf artists who use it in their visual art, to write down ASL poems and stories, and scripts for plays or movies. This way, a script for a play can be written without influencing the actors about how to interpret, and a poem or story can be analyzed without focusing on a specific performance of it. As well, written ASL can be used as a novel and productive medium for Deaf artists, writers and poets to explore as an alternative art form to performance.
Another group which has a perspective on the benefit of ASL writing are Deaf artists who use it in their visual art, to write down ASL poems and stories, and scripts for plays or movies. This way, a script for a play can be written without influencing the actors about how to interpret, and a poem or story can be analyzed without focusing on a specific performance of it. As well, written ASL can be used as a novel and productive medium for Deaf artists, writers and poets to explore as an alternative art form to performance.
Pros and Cons
There are currently many different systems for notating ASL, and each have their pros and the cons.
Written English Translation
Pro: represents ideas, is typable.
Con: does not represent ASL word order, syntax, structure or sub-structure, will necessarily carry different nuances than the source text.
Gloss
Pro: represents ASL word order, is typable.
Con: does not represent non-manual or other sub-structural information, may reenforce mistaken one-to-one correspondences between ASL and English words.
Description
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is typable.
Con: may be unclear and take several English sentences to describe a single sign, since English is poorly equipped to describe spacial information in detail.
Transcription
Pro: May capture word order and some non-manual syntactical information, some spacial information incorporated with translation and/or description.
Con: Ties ASL signs to English words, same problems with written translations and with descriptions.
Example:
tight lips
you-INFORM-"each other"*
Note that this sample contains the iconic symbols of 'movement lines' and thick arrows, the arbitrary symbol of an asterisk, the lexical gloss INFORM, the morphological translations "you-" and -"each other", and the phonemic featural description of "tight lips".
"Phonemic" Transcription
(Wiktionary notation, SLIPA, Bencie Woll Sign Notation, ASL Orthography, ASLSJ)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is typable, may be used to show variations of signs.
Con: Lengthy constructions are required even for simple signs, cannot describe spacial elements of ASL sentence structure.
Pictures
(Photographs, Illustrations, Functional Notational)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is relatively succinct, may include symbolic elements for movement parameter, does not rely on English, may be used to show variation of signs.
Con: Some signs are difficult to read because of camera angle, pictures do not show discourse elements - only the beginning/end of individual signs, requires technology, artist skill, and set up, may show idiosyncrasies produced in a single utterance not generally true of a the citation form of a particular sign (for example, a sign might be done with a range of emotional affect while a picture can necessarily only show one example), utterance linked to specific performer and performance.
Symbolic Writing
(Stokoe, SignWriting, HamNoSys, SignFont, ASLphabet, SignScript, si5s, ASLwrite)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, may be used to show variation of signs, may incorporate spacial sentence structure, does not resort to English to describe ASL, utterance not linked to specific performer and performance.
Con: Requires the reader and writer to learn the symbols, may not be typable.
Video
Because of social media sites which support embedding, video recordings have become a very powerful tool in the Deaf community, to the point where some describe it as an adequate "replacement" for writing. Others disagree, saying that there are cases where writing has advantages over recorded video.
Written English Translation
Pro: represents ideas, is typable.
Con: does not represent ASL word order, syntax, structure or sub-structure, will necessarily carry different nuances than the source text.
Gloss
Pro: represents ASL word order, is typable.
Con: does not represent non-manual or other sub-structural information, may reenforce mistaken one-to-one correspondences between ASL and English words.
Description
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is typable.
Con: may be unclear and take several English sentences to describe a single sign, since English is poorly equipped to describe spacial information in detail.
Transcription
Pro: May capture word order and some non-manual syntactical information, some spacial information incorporated with translation and/or description.
Con: Ties ASL signs to English words, same problems with written translations and with descriptions.
Example:
tight lips
you-INFORM-"each other"*
Note that this sample contains the iconic symbols of 'movement lines' and thick arrows, the arbitrary symbol of an asterisk, the lexical gloss INFORM, the morphological translations "you-" and -"each other", and the phonemic featural description of "tight lips".
"Phonemic" Transcription
(Wiktionary notation, SLIPA, Bencie Woll Sign Notation, ASL Orthography, ASLSJ)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is typable, may be used to show variations of signs.
Con: Lengthy constructions are required even for simple signs, cannot describe spacial elements of ASL sentence structure.
Pictures
(Photographs, Illustrations, Functional Notational)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, is relatively succinct, may include symbolic elements for movement parameter, does not rely on English, may be used to show variation of signs.
Con: Some signs are difficult to read because of camera angle, pictures do not show discourse elements - only the beginning/end of individual signs, requires technology, artist skill, and set up, may show idiosyncrasies produced in a single utterance not generally true of a the citation form of a particular sign (for example, a sign might be done with a range of emotional affect while a picture can necessarily only show one example), utterance linked to specific performer and performance.
Symbolic Writing
(Stokoe, SignWriting, HamNoSys, SignFont, ASLphabet, SignScript, si5s, ASLwrite)
Pro: May capture all relevant information, may be used to show variation of signs, may incorporate spacial sentence structure, does not resort to English to describe ASL, utterance not linked to specific performer and performance.
Con: Requires the reader and writer to learn the symbols, may not be typable.
Video
Because of social media sites which support embedding, video recordings have become a very powerful tool in the Deaf community, to the point where some describe it as an adequate "replacement" for writing. Others disagree, saying that there are cases where writing has advantages over recorded video.