[Linganth] Computer apps for Native language revitalization

[O Neill, Sean P.]

Subject: Computer apps for Native language revitalization

Many of you who work in the areas of indigenous language revitalization may be interested in some of the cutting-edge computer applications that are now available for tribal heritage projects.  The materials that we linguists produce can easily be put to use for the purposes of teaching languages in everyday settings—even on iPhones or other touchscreen apps—creating valuable resources for heritage language learners.  In this setting, please let me introduce Biagio Arobba of Wave Interactive software, who has been developing a powerful program he calls the Booklet Builder; details are given below, including contact information for the developers.

Best wishes,
Sean O'Neill

Sean O'Neill
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Oklahoma

Email: sean.p.o-neill-1 at ou.edu;
shiningnationalguitar at gmail.com

http://cas.ou.edu/sean-oneill

https://ou.academia.edu/SeanONeill

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The Booklet Builder helps tribal language departments create and manage experiences in a Native American language. The software runs on a server, onsite, and it is actually focused more on helping with creative authorship. What makes this project unique is (1) the concept of a booklet, and (2) that a language department can send their booklets to third-party app developers using standards.

The idea is to lower the costs and the turn-around time for creating apps, so that more experimentation can be done to create engaging experiences for students. Another benefit is the ability to reuse the content for more than one app, and the ability to reuse the apps for more than one language. The software is made from open source and uses standards like JSON and HTTP, so that many third-party developers could participate including as hobbyists.

This project is not intended for detailed linguistic documentation, though both types of systems could work hand-in-hand together.

More information about the project, software download, and installation instructions can be found at: http://www.bookletbuilder.com.


Biagio Arobba
Senior Engineer
Wave Interactive
(402) 697-8010 work
(605) 209-4300 mobile
biagio.arobba at waveinteractive.com<mailto:biagio.arobba at waveinteractive.com>
www.waveinteractive.com<http://www.waveinteractive.com>
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