COMPUTING AND THE HUMANITIES
Innovation Center Forges Links
to Language Learning and Resources
Jeffrey Lane and Vincent Doogan
As a part of its current initiative in humanities computing, the ACF staff has been researching multilingual computing and evaluating various computer-based tools for learning languages. The humanities initiative complements ACF's existing discipline-based support areas, including arts, social science, and scientific computing. (See George Sadowsky's "Welcome Back!" for more details.) The center of these efforts is ACF's faculty Innovation Center (room 201, Warren Weaver Hall), where staff and faculty learn about, explore, and evaluate various language-learning computing resources.
Thus far, our efforts have focused on these areas, discussed more fully in other articles:
- Developing ACF Multilingual Web: This is a collection of resources, information, and links that will be of particular interest to faculty working in languages other than English, or those interested in how computing is conducted in other languages. Links to Web-based language-learning sites are included.
- Acquiring and evaluating language-learning software: Several excellent "off-the-shelf" programs are available, and ACF maintains a collection of them in the Innovation Center for demonstration and faculty evaluation. We will add to this collection based on faculty or department recommendation.
Computing in a language other than English often becomes a complicated issue, with each kind of computing task presenting its own special hurdles. One concept in the field of multilingual computing is "localization." This refers to tailoring a computer system to a native language, including changing commands into that other language, changing conventions of representing currencies and time, and so forth. But it can also mean translating an entire software application into another language. This type of customization can involve adjusting a machine's operating system; the method of making this change is different depending on what platform (operating system) is being used.
For the Macintosh, for example, it is possible to purchase Apple Language Kits that support several languages and that respond to applications that comply with Apple's Worldscript standards. When a kit for a particular language is installed and a compliant program is launched, the computer user is immersed in an application in that language.
There are too many variations and exceptions to these processes to say that using a foreign-language computing enviroment is a straightforward process. Keyboard layouts, screen fonts, printing fonts, etc., all have to be properly configured in order for a system to work. Telecommunication using a foreign language is further complicated by limitations of certain computing protocols. Joseph Hargitai's article, "Unicode: Writing in the Global Village," discusses some of the problems and solutions.
The ACF staff is committed to supporting efforts of faculty who wish to work in this area by providing demonstrations or advice. Departments or faculty members interested in this area may contact ic@nyu.edu for further information, or call 998-3044.
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Jeffrey Lane works at the ACF Innovation Center, focusing on instructional technologies. Vincent Doogan is ACF Associate Director for User Services.
jeffrey.lane@nyu.edu : : vincent.doogan@nyu.edu
Posted 26 September 1996
