Electronic resource: Endangered Languages Project website

[Scott McGinnis]

Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:20:41 +0200
From: Peter Wittenburg <Peter.Wittenburg at mpi.nl>
Subject: New Web-Site - Endangered Languages Project


             Documentation of Endangered Languages

                 DOBES Project - New Web Site
       ==================================================

                      http://www.mpi.nl/DOBES

We would like to draw your attention to a new web-site which gives
information about the DOBES project (DOkumentation BEdrohter Sprachen).
This project was setup to document a number of Endangered Languages,
establish guidelines about how to do language documentation and archive
all material. The archive will cover photos, sound and video recordings
and, of course, texts of various sort. For details we refer to the
content of the web-site.

The DOBES project was first started as a one-year pilot project in 2000
with 8 linguistic teams and one "archiving" team. It is now entering its
main phase with the intention to ultimately include about 20 linguistic
teams.

The DOBES web-site presents the following information:

- the teams involved in the project,
- the languages they are documenting,
- application guidelines for new projects,
- the chosen linguistic and technological frameworks which
    are the results of the project's internal discussions,
- basic statements about legal and ethical aspects,
- and many useful links to related sites.

The web-site also includes information about tools being developed
and/or used within the DOBES project. At this moment it does not yet
contain material about the documented languages except some video
and audio samples, photos and explaining texts. Many video and audio
recordings have already been digitized and additional material is
expected when other teams will return from their field trips. The
linguistic teams are currently annotating and analyzing a substantial
part of the material. It is expected that the archive will be extended
stepwise.

The web-site will be adapted continuously dependent on the state of the
project. Therefore we would like to encourage you to bookmark the site
and have a look from time to time. We also would like to encourage you
to send us your comments on all matters raised on the web-site. The
DOBES group is aware of the fact that there are other comparable initiatives
and is aiming at an open exchange of ideas, methods and tools.

The DOBES project is founded by the VolkswagenStiftung and the archive
is housed at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics.

For comments and questions, please, use the DOBES email address:
    dobes at mpi.nl

Peter Wittenburg
Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics