XRCOLOMBIA AND NETHERLANDS 2020

1. A visit to SADiLaR
Prof. Menno van Zaanen
menno.vanzaanen@nwu.ac.za
18 November 2020
Funded by:

2. South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
(SADiLaR)
Research Infrastructure
Funded by Department of Science and Innovation
Several nodes: NWU CTexT, ICELDA, UP, UNISA, CSIR
Each node has its own expertise
Programs
SADiLaR runs two programs:
Digitization creation of text, speech, multimodal resources
Digital Humanities build (DH) research capacity

3. Digitization/linguistic resources
Linguistic data collections contain examples of language use
Availability:
English Plenty (but what about SA English?)
Afrikaans Decent amounts
Other 9 official SA languages Very limited
Aims
Collect more data sets
Digitize analog data (e.g., text on paper)
Make data sets easily available

4. Digital Humanities
Humanities research using digital techniques
Aims
Education/training
Development of
Digital archives
New media/novel publication methods
Cultural analytics
Natural Language Processing
. . .

5. Challenges
Linguistic data collection
Digitization of existing language data (e.g., text)
Collection from general public?
Researching (access to) language data
Geographic language distribution?
Sharing existing language collections?
Can we use VR/AR for collection and sharing?

6. Case studies
Relationship Digital Humanities, language data, and XR?
Several project possibilities
Spraakatlas
Glossopticon
Byderhand
. . .

7. Spraakatlas1
Visualization of dialectual differences
Aesop’s fable: The North wind and the Sun
Afrikaans version
Contains all sounds of Afrikaans
Audio collected by speakers in several locations
1
https://viva-afrikaans.org/lees-luister/spraakatlas

11. Glossopticon VR2
Glossopticon VR similar to Spraakatlas, but in VR
Visualizes and sonofies over 1500 languages
Currently for Pacific region
“Fly” through virtual world to identify locations
Access to meta-data
Hear language
2
https://glossopticon.com/

15. Byderhand3
Using QR codes in real environment
Scanning leads to location specific digital literature
Idea
Similar to rock art, graffiti, . . .
Multi-modal: text, audio, visuals, . . .
Can represent language data in a particular context
3
http://www.byderhand.net/

18. Summary
SADiLaR deals with
Digitization
Digital Humanities
Interest in VR and AR for
linguistic data collection
making linguistic data accessible
Combining digitization and Digital Humanities
Open for collaborations on similar projects

19. A visit to SADiLaR
Prof. Menno van Zaanen
menno.vanzaanen@nwu.ac.za
18 November 2020
Funded by: