Digging into signs: Developing standard annotation practices for cross-linguistic, quantitative analysis of sign language data. Final Report.

For sign languages used by deaf communities, linguistic corpora have until recently been unavailable, due to the lack of a writing system and a written culture in these communities, and the very recent advent of digital video. Recent improvements in video and computer technology have now made larger sign language datasets possible; however, large sign language datasets that are fully machine-readable are still elusive. This is due to two challenges. 1. Inconsistencies that arise when signs are annotated by means of spoken/written language. 2. The fact that many parts of signed interaction are not necessarily fully composed of lexical signs (equivalent of words), instead consisting of constructions that are less conventionalised. As sign language corpus building progresses, the potential for some standards in annotation is beginning to emerge. But before this project, there were no attempts to standardise these practices across corpora, which is required to be able to compare data crosslinguistically. This project thus had the following aims: 1. To develop annotation standards for glosses (lexical/word level) 2. To test their reliability and validity 3. To improve current software tools that facilitate a reliable workflow Overall the project aimed not only to set a standard for the whole field of sign language studies throughout the world but also to make significant advances toward two of the world’s largest machine-readable datasets for sign languages – specifically the BSL Corpus (British Sign Language, http://bslcorpusproject.org) and the Corpus NGT (Sign Language of the Netherlands, http://www.ru.nl/corpusngt).

The Kaipara story: a closer look at the benefits of working together, the evolution of a federation of aquaculture self-help groups and a one-stop aqua shop in rural West Bengal

What is special about Kaipara is that most recently, they have founded a federation of Self-Help Groups that work together to develop their own support network and to draw in the support of others. This is a sophisticated ‘home-grown’ support infrastructure that is the subject of this story. (Pdf contains 8 pages).

Networking for Rural Development: a closer look at the evolution of communications in the STREAM Initiative

What began as a general desire to share messages about processes, technologies, lives and opportunities – among farming and fishing communities and those who work with them – has evolved into a network that shares meanings and lessons learnt. Now instead of relying on core funding or catalytic support, the STREAM Initiative is self-funded through the services its network provides to academic, development and other organizations. (Pdf contains 8 pages).

Nueva documentación sobre el primer nacionalismo vasco: correspondencia inédita de Sabino Arana con Luis de Eleizalde (1900-1902)

[ES] En el Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra, dentro del Fondo Luis de Eleizalde, se conservan un telegrama y ocho cartas de Sabino Arana Goiri al propio Eleizalde, fechadas entre el 3 de diciembre de 1900 y el 21 de agosto de 1902. Se trata de una documentación inédita, de gran interés para conocer diversos aspectos de la ideología y la acción política y cultural del fundador del nacionalismo vasco en los últimos años de su vida. Las cartas aportan nuevos datos sobre las difíciles relaciones de Arana con los fueristas del semanario Euskalduna, su participación en el Congreso de Hendaya para la unificación ortográfica del euskera, las publicaciones periódicas creadas por él (en especial la revista cultural Euzkadi), su controvertida evolución españolista de 1902, etc.

The evolution of FELTAG

A glimpse at effective practice in UK further education and skills