hiding some dictionary data

[Warner, Natasha - (nwarner)]

Hello,

what software are you currently using for your dictionary?  Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx) will allow you to filter out items before you export a dictionary, based on the value of pretty much any field.  So you can give items you want to hide a certain value in the "Status" field for example, or a certain value in any of several other fields that you might not be using otherwise, and then filter out anything with that value in that field.  For example, give those words a status of "private" and then filter so that items with status=private are filtered out.  Then you export your dictionary, and those words won't be included.  You would have to watch out for whether any other word's entry cross-references the words you want to hide, if you fill in fields that cross-reference other words.

This wouldn't hide the words if you gave a copy of the whole database to someone else to use on their computer, using the FLEx software.  But it would keep the words from appearing in a dictionary that you create as a pdf or other document to give copies of to someone else.

If you're also creating a text collection with translations, then it would be more complicated to hide specific words, since they might occur right in the middle of a sentence.  But I think that would be difficult no matter what software you're using, and it would only be about text collections, not the dictionary.

I suspect that other software can do this too, and it might be that FLEx wasn't the best choice for other reasons, but it can do this.

Good luck with your work,
Natasha Warner

***************************************************
Natasha Warner, Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Dept. of Linguistics, Box 210028
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0028
USA
520-626-5591
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________________________________
From: ilat-request at list.arizona.edu [ilat-request at list.arizona.edu] on behalf of Wayne Leman [wleman1949 at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 2:32 PM
To: ilat at list.arizona.edu
Subject: [ilat] hiding some dictionary data

Someone suggested I post this message here, besides where I first posted it, on the Lexicography List:

Sometimes we discover lexical items which need to have a restricted status within the language and academic communities. I want to be able to enter that data in my dictionary program but it must be accessible only to those who are authorized to view it.

Besides working as a lexicographer for my job, I do genealogy as a hobby. My genealogy program allows for certain kinds of information to be hidden from other viewers. I need the same ability to hide certain kinds of lexical information.

Have any of you encountered this issue before?

What solutions have you found?

Do you know of any dictionary software that allows us to hide some information?

Wayne
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