2.1 Planning the Creation of a Regional or Community Repository

Contributed by Merrion Dale, Shobhana Chelliah, Mary Burke

After you've collected a number of items--these could be audio recordings, video recordings, photographs, or scans of written materials--you will want to consider:

  • How you will organize and keep track of this information (project data management)
  • How you will keep this material safe (backing up)
  • How you will preserve and provide access to these materials (archiving)
  • How you will disseminate the materials (websites, publications, workshops)

Objectives

After successful completion of this module, you will learn about: 

  1. Data management for a language documentation project
  2. Selecting an archive for your language project
  3. Legal and ethical considerations related to providing access and use of language data
  4. Language websites vs. language archives

By the end of this module, you will have:

  1. Reviewed archives for your language project
  2. Considered which legal and ethical considerations apply to your project

Readings

20 Years after Himmelmann 1998. Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication, 15, (pp.248-255). Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai‘i Press. Available from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/24800 

Good, J. (2018).  Ethics in Language Documentation and Revitalization. In  K. L. Rehg and L. Campbell (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190610029.013.21 Available from https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190610029.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190610029-e-21

Berson, J. and Dobrin, L. (2011).Speakers and Language Documentation. In P. K. Austin and J. Sallabank (Eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. New York, United States: Cambridge University Press.

Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage Project. (2015). Think Before You Appropriate: Things to Know and Questions to Ask in Order to Avoid Misappropriating Indigenous Cultural Heritage. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Simon Fraser University. Available from https://www.sfu.ca/ipinch/resources/teaching-resources/think-before-you-appropriate