Elle, they're not quite the same. SEE is not only a sign for every word, but it's also not the same grammar or structure. ASL has an entirely different grammar all its own. Instead of saying something like "I am going to the store," you would say "me go store." And a lot of stuff is in different order... like for asking someone why they did X, you'd say "you do X, why?" It's like any other language, where the grammar is not in the same order as English.
As for SEE being the up and coming thing... not really. Since sign language has been in existance, it has been seen as inferior and not a real language. It has been said to have "no order, structure, or grammar," which of course, is untrue. SEE was basically a way for people who thought ASL was not a real language to "make it into" one (mind you, SEE started hundreds of years ago). They take the "lack of grammar and structure" and forceably mold it into the structure of English, so that it has "proper grammar." You see what a mean? Technically, SEE is not a language its own, only the visual representation of English. ASL is a language its own, though. Not only that, but in "nature," Deaf people don't actually use SEE to communicate. If they are trained to use SEE because it's a "proper" language, they can. But if left to their own devices, they always convert back to the natural grammar of ASL.
Mind you, I'm not calling you down or anything. Haha. Learning any sign at all is nifty in my book. But you asked of the nature of SEE, so there it is. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
