The Current State of Linguistic Cyberinfrastructure

Authors : Helen Aristar-Dry, Jeff Good

Title : The Current State of Linguistic Cyberinfrastructure

The 1990's and early 2000's saw the discipline of linguistics begin to shift to a digital research paradigm. In 1992, the Linguistic Data Consortium was founded, pointing the way to models of data sharing that are considered commonplace today; 1998 saw the first International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), which has become a crucial forum for fostering cooperation in work on creating and maintaining language resources; the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) was launched in 2000; and around the same time, the Dokumentation Bedrohter Sprachen project (DoBeS) and the Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages initiative (E-MELD) began serious discussions of the application of digital technologies to work on endangered languages.

Efforts along these lines have recently come under the umbrella term of cyberlinguistics, in the context of more general work on cyberinfrastructure for research, as promoted by major funding bodies such as the U.S. National Science Foundation and the European Science Foundation.  Promotion of cyberinfrastructure derives from recognition of the need to develop domain-specific tools and resources within the context of a general digital research architecture, rather than creating disciplinary "siloes" with customized tools and resources whose usefulness is limited.  The current focus on digital architecture, in the wake of almost two decades of tool and resource development, makes this an auspicious time to examine the state of linguistic cyberinfrastructure from an international perspective.

The proposed workshop will address this topic in the context of the 19th International Congress of Linguists; it will consider three main subtopics: (i) what are the major technical issues at present in creating a robust cyberlinguistic infrastructure, (ii) what are the major social barriers preventing scholars from making their data available electronically, and (iii) what lessons have we learned from the last two decades of work and how can we use those to devise a
coherent plan of action in the coming decades.

Each of these topics will be the focus of a dedicated session, which will consist of a mix of talks and open discussion.  At the end of the workshop, the organizers will produce a report outlining possible future directions for the field as it continues to enhance its cyberinfrastructure.

Instructions for abstract submission

To submit an abstract, please submit the following information to:  ling.cyberinfrastructure(at)gmail(dot)com: name, institution, title of abstract, abstract (maximum of 500 words not including title and references), references, before 15 July 2012.

The selection of participants will be determined by the organizers with the assistance of a core organizing committee consisting of:

Timothy Baldwin (Melbourne University, Australia)

Emily M. Bender (University of Washington, USA)

Steven Bird (Melbourne University, Australia)

Damir Cavar (Eastern Michigan University, USA)

Terry Langendoen (University of Arizona, USA)

Lori Levin (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)

Peter Wittenburg (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, The Netherlands)

The workshop is jointly sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America and The LINGUIST List.  External funding will be sought to allow us to provide travel support to participants.