Our Manifesto
The principles that guide everything we build. Why Signifyr exists, how we work, and what we believe technology should be.
Digital meetings have become the default way we communicate—for work, education, healthcare, and community. But for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, these platforms often create more barriers than they remove.
Signifyr exists because this shouldn't be acceptable. We're building real-time sign language transcription that works with the tools people already use—Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams—making accessibility seamless, not an afterthought.
But more than that, we're doing it the right way: open source, free forever, community-driven, and privacy-first. This manifesto outlines the principles that guide every decision we make.
Accessibility is a right, not a privilege
Communication barriers shouldn't exist. We believe everyone deserves equal access to participate in digital conversations, whether they communicate through spoken words or sign language.
Open source by default
Technology that serves the community should belong to the community. Signifyr is free, open source, and always will be. We build in public, accept contributions, and make our code available for anyone to use, modify, and improve.
Privacy and control belong to users
Your conversations are yours. We process video locally when possible, encrypt data end-to-end, and give you full control over your transcriptions. No surveillance, no data mining, no hidden agendas.
Technology should be empowering, not limiting
AI and machine learning can be tools for inclusion. We're using these technologies to break down barriers, not create new ones. Every feature we build should make communication more accessible, never less.
The best solutions are built by the communities they serve
We're building Signifyr with input from Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, interpreters, accessibility advocates, and anyone who believes in inclusive communication. If you have ideas or feedback, we want to hear from you.
Free means free forever
No freemium models, no paywalls, no 'free until it's popular' bait-and-switch. Signifyr will always be free. When we say open source, we mean it—no strings attached, no enterprise-only features, no usage limits.
Join us
If these principles resonate with you, we'd love to have you join our community. Contribute code, report bugs, share feedback, or simply star us on GitHub. Every contribution makes Signifyr better.