A query...

Tue Oct 24 16:01:23 UTC 2006

By the way, these points are all part of my field work manual in  
progress for CUP.

If anyone would like to see a .pdf file of the ms let me know.

Dan

On Oct 24, 2006, at 10:40 AM, Daniel L. Everett wrote:

> Claire's objections are not unreasonable. Everyone of us who does  
> fieldwork knows that it horrendously complicates our jobs to do  
> this kind of archiving and data processing.
>
> But I still believe that what I have (vaguely) suggested should be  
> a goal, a very important one. People in the sciences cannot fail to  
> document data precisely in a way that any third-party could check  
> it simply because it is too hard and time-consuming. These are  
> certainly factors to consider in preparing for field research or  
> deciding whether one is cut out for that. But they are not  
> decisive. And, sure, this makes linguistics much more expensive.  
> But one reason that linguistics grants are lower is because we have  
> given less service in the past by not doing these things.  
> Linguistics research, especially grammars, should involve teams,  
> not individuals only, and need to have higher budgets. I would  
> rather see fewer languages studied and grants more competitive if  
> it comes to that.
>
> It is not part of linguistics culture to do this. I am saying that  
> perhaps it should be. It won't be of course unless field  
> researchers begin to reconceive their task. Why do we write  
> grammars? If there isn't documentation that future generations can  
> use, then we have provided a much-inferior service. Money,  
> personnel, and level of difficulty cannot be excuses for poorer  
> science.
>
> I have always used them as excuses, however! So I am not claiming  
> to have any moral high ground in this. I have been doing field  
> research for 30 years, every year (and every year I wonder why I am  
> still putting up with bugs, mud, humidity, and accusations that I  
> am with the CIA). This 'quality control' movement in language  
> documentation is relatively recent. Many of us haven't been trained  
> for it. But in my last grants I was able to get enough money to  
> hire postdocs and PhD students who can do all the stuff in this  
> regard that I haven't learned to do well. I think that we need to  
> take up the challenge.
>
> I have always found that the money is there if the case is made well.
>
> Dan
>
> On Oct 24, 2006, at 10:28 AM, Claire Bowern wrote:
>
>>> Solutions to this kind of thing include peer-review (I believe that
>>> it fails a lot, but it is still vital), making data available, and
>>> replication of results. In today's fieldwork, for example, I would
>>> like to see every fieldworker (with appropriate permissions from
>>> native speakers, governments, etc.) make their data available
>>> on-line, field notes, sound files, etc. To do this, future grants
>>> would need to have funds for digitization of data and storage of
>>> data, following guidelines that are now becoming standard in the
>>> field.
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>> Three points on why I don't think this is a blanket good idea:
>>
>> . Some grant organisations don't allow data processing as a grant  
>> expense. ELDP grants, for example, do not allow funds to be  
>> disbursed for things like paying someone to get files ready for  
>> digital archiving or metadata documentation, so I have to do it.  
>> That obviously puts a limit on what can be done. And of course,  
>> web-storage and archiving aren't the same thing, and both need doing.
>>
>> . Applying for such funds would put the grant totals through the  
>> roof. Not only are linguistics grants usually smaller than physics  
>> grants, etc, the pool of available money is much smaller. If more  
>> people apply for bigger grants which include a large digitization  
>> component (on top of other expenses) we're soon going to have to  
>> choose between recording the last speakers of undescribed language  
>> Xish and putting materials of Yish on the web.
>>
>> . Such work is incredibly time-consuming, even when the materials  
>> are recorded digitally in the first place. To put it bluntly - I  
>> can't spend time creating a Bardi online digital archive, even  
>> assuming I got speakers' permission (which I don't think they'd  
>> give), because a) it would take time away from doing things that  
>> the Bardi community can access; b) it would hurt my tenure  
>> chances, because it would take time away from doing work that  
>> counts in tenure cases (and I already spend as much time as I  
>> think is wise on point (a)); c) I have a heap of things that I  
>> want to write about on the language, and I'd rather do that than  
>> let someone else do it because I've spent my time making data  
>> available. After all, that sort of work is the main reason I'm an  
>> academic linguist.
>>
>> Even the "permissions" aspect Dan mentions is not a minor issue.  
>> How do you get informed consent for putting language materials on  
>> the web from people who've never used a computer?
>>
>> I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, just wanting to urge some  
>> caution.
>>
>> Claire
>>
>> -----------------
>> Dr Claire Bowern
>> Department of Linguistics
>> Rice University
>
> **********************
> Daniel L. Everett, Professor of Linguistics & Anthropology and Chair,
> Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
> Campus Box 4300
> Illinois State University
> Normal, Illinois 61790-4300
> OFFICE: 309-438-3604
> FAX: 309-438-8038
> Dept: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/default.asp
> Recursion: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/rechul/
> Personal: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/
>
> and
>
> Honorary Professor of Linguistics
> University of Manchester
> Manchester, UK
>
>

**********************
Daniel L. Everett, Professor of Linguistics & Anthropology and Chair,
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Campus Box 4300
Illinois State University
Normal, Illinois 61790-4300
OFFICE: 309-438-3604
FAX: 309-438-8038
Dept: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/default.asp
Recursion: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/rechul/
Personal: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/

and

Honorary Professor of Linguistics
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK