Module#3 Weblog#4 by Dilip Verma

Archives of ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU

Indigenous Languages and Technology

Web site: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cashcash/ILAT.html

The ILAT site is an open forum Listserv, something that I had read about, but never seen. The site is run by the University of Arizona, and is visually simple with no frills, unlike other webpages. It is similar to the forums we use on Blackboard.

It is a list of messages archived by month on topics related to Indigenous Languages and Technology. It is up to date as there are 23 threads for November 2009 alone. It is a useful site because it allows you to search the archive by keyword. This means you can find out what people in the field have said about any topic. I did a search on the Listserv for the word Wiki and got 27 matches, the most recent being from January 2009. This post took to me to a site (http://drupal.org/project/i18n) where you can download Drupal, a free online program that allows for the creation of an online dictionary that can include audio, and video. The post suggests that the dictionary can be set up in a Wiki style so that users could add words.

I did another search on the word “Zapotec” and found that a researcher brought students down to Oaxaca each year to work on a Zapotec dictionary in a village not far from my house.

A real mine of information