Chapter 15
Thick interfaces:
Mobilizing language documentation with multimedia
David Nathan
Introduction
This chapter assumes that you hope that some of your fieldwork results will
one day be applied to the maintenance, strengthening, or revitalization of the
visited community’s language. The documentation approach (Himmelmann
1998; Woodbury 2003) outlines fieldwork methodologies that increase the
possibility that results can be used for these purposes. In addition, funding
agencies such as HRELP insist that project results are “accessible to and
usable by members of the language community as well as the wider linguis-
tic community” (HRELP 2005).
It is also wise to plan what kind of language support might be possible
and to have an idea in advance of what works best. There are many ways
that fieldwork results can be applied to improving local language situations
– for example, by providing teaching notes, grammatical explanations, and
dictionaries, and running workshops (cf. von Gleich 2005; and Chapter 3) –
but this chapter focuses on creating multimedia products, because
– they allow sound/video
1
to be presented and controlled;
– they integrate sound with other information;
– in many cases, they can be directly derived from rich fieldwork datasets;
– language teachers typically need accessible, interesting, and flexible
language resources rather than analytical or even pedagogical resources,
because teaching and learning situations vary.
Further reasons why multimedia is particularly effective in endangered
languages situations will be mentioned below.
364
David Nathan
1.
Mobilization
To introduce the potential uses of multimedia, this chapter discusses the mo-
bilization of language documentation. Mobilization means taking linguistic
documentation and working with speaker communities and other specialists
to deliver products that can be used to counter language endangerment.
1.1. Purpose and scope
The term mobilization was recently introduced to point out that standardi-
zation of data and metadata formats should not exhaust the contribution that
information technology can make to endangered languages data (Nathan
2003).
2
IT’s use in documentation is normally constrained to entering, man-
aging and browsing data, building catalogues, and digital archiving. These
functions are important for working with data, and preserving and providing
access to it, but they offer limited benefit for many audiences, in particular,
for language communities. Recording and computer technologies allow us
to create high-quality “born digital” documentation materials; but without
suitable methods to effectively deliver these materials, they are also born
archival, leaping directly from the last speakers to the preservation vault.
This chapter presents mobilization in terms of two complementary types
of interfaces – the channels of communication and interaction between re-
searchers and community, and the computer screen displays through which
people interact with language resources.
A key aspect of mobilization is that it is best done, like fieldwork, in full
collaboration with language communities. This is because to deliver re-
sources that support speakers and learners, you need to know about their
aims, priorities, resources, and local technological infrastructure. In addi-
tion, many of the ingredients of multimedia, such as art and design, will pro-
vide the cultural flavor of the product, and therefore should also be created
or selected in collaboration and consultation with community members.
Mobilization is part of a framework for “fieldwork delivered to a lan-
guage community,” one of a set of fieldwork frameworks that resulted from
successive changes in political and ethical outlook over the 20th century:
– fieldwork on a language;
– fieldwork for the language community;
– fieldwork with /by speakers of the language community;
– fieldwork delivered to a language community.