Te Taka Adrian Gregory Keegan

Digital libraries and minority languages

Digital libraries have a pivotal role to play in the preservation and maintenance of international cultures in general and minority languages in particular. This paper outlines a software tool for building digital libraries that is well adapted for creating and distributing local information collections in minority languages, and describes some contexts in which it is used. The system can make multilingual documents available in structured collections and allows them to be accessed via multilingual interfaces. It is issued under a free open-source licence, which encourages participatory design of the software, and an end-user interface allows community-based localization of the various language interfaces—of which there are many.

Language preference in a bi-language digital library

This paper examines user choice of interface language in a bi-language digital library (English and Maori, the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand). The majority of collection documents are in Maori, and the interface is available in both Maori and English. Log analysis shows three categories of preference for interface language: primarily English, primarily Maori, and bilingual (switching back and forth between the two)

Using Twitter in an Indigenous language: An analysis of te reo Māori tweets

Language revitalization theory suggests that one way to improve the health of a language is to increase the number of domains where the language is used. Social network platforms provide a variety of domains where indigenous-language communities are able to communicate in their own languages. Although the capability exists, is social networking being used by indigenous-language communities? This paper reports on one particular social networking platform, Twitter, by using two separate methodologies. First, Twitter statistics collated from the Indigenous Tweets website are analysed. The data show that languages such as Basque, Haitian Creole, Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Frisian and Kapampangan do have a presence in the “Twittersphere”. Further analysis for te reo Māori (the Māori language) shows that tweets in te reo Māori are rising and peak when certain events occur. The second methodology involved gathering empirical data by tweeting in te reo Māori. This served two purposes: it allowed an ancillary check on the validity of the Indigenous Tweets data and it allowed the opportunity to determine if the number of indigenous-language tweets could be influenced by the actions of one tweeter.

NIUPEPA: a historical newspaper collection

Niupepa is a collection of forty-two newspaper titles published in New Zealand during the period 1842 to 1933, comprising a total of 21,000 pages in 1750 issues. These form a unique historical record of the language of the indigenous Maori people, the evolution of the written form of this language, and of events and developments during the formative colonial history of our country. Using the Greenstone software from the New Zealand Digital Library, this collection is being made publicly available with full-text search capability.

He Matapihi Mā Mua, Mō Muri: The Ethics, Processes, and Procedures Associated with the Digitization of Indigenous Knowledge—The Pei Jones Collection

The digital era has transformed how people live their lives and interact with the world and knowledge systems around them. In Aotearoa/New Zealand a range of initiatives incorporating Indigenous knowledge have been implemented to collect, catalog, maintain, and organize digital objects. In this article, we report on the ethics, processes, and procedures associated with the digitization of the manuscripts, works, and collected taonga (treasures) of the late Dr. Pei Te Hurinui Jones—and describe how it was transformed into a digital library. It discusses the decision-making processes and the various roles and responsibilities of the researchers, family members, and institute in this process.

Nudge! Normalizing the use of minority language ICT interfaces

This paper examines the take up and use of interfaces of computer applications in minority languages. Its main thesis is that according to much anecdotal and a small amount of quantative data, take up of these interfaces could be a lot higher. It analyses the reasons for non-take up of such interfaces and the possible reason for “L” (lower diglossic status) language speakers not wanting to avail themselves of opportunities to use technology in minority languages, placing this in the diglossic paradigm created by a homogenizing, monolithic nation state. The paper then proceeds to examine behavioural economic theory which may “nudge” people to avail themselves of the opportunities available, and subsequently that this “nudge concept” be re-applied to encourage the take up and use of “L” languages in ICT interfaces. While the context will be relevant to many diglossic situations, most of the examples are drawn from Welsh and Māori cases, which provide a good illustration of the issues and reflect the authors’ backgrounds and research.

What a Difference a Default Setting Makes

This paper examines the effect of the default interface language on the usage of a bilingual digital library. In 2005 the default interface language of a bilingual digital library was alternated on a monthly basis between Mi¾?ori and English. A comprehensive transaction log analysis over this period reveals that not only did usage in a particular language increase when the default interface language was set to that language but that the way the interface was used, in both languages, was quite different depending on the default language.