Identifying challenges for information organization in language archives: Preliminary findings

Abstract

Language archives are repositories of linguistic data about a selected set of languages, typically including recordings, transcripts, translations, and linguistic annotations. Digital accessibility of primary language data, particularly that of endangered languages, has long been recognized as necessary for research reproducibility, production of pedagogical materials, and typological discovery, though their potential currently lies dormant because these resources are rarely accessed by linguists or language communities. Reasons for the under-utilization of language archives include the lack of data standardization and decreased focus on metadata quality. The present work seeks to elucidate the issues facing language archive managers and users through two steps: content analysis of information organization in language archives, and semi-structured interviews with language archive managers and users. Primary challenges identified include lacking institutional support and a range of factors which impact authority control in language archives.