Transcript LINGUISTICS.com: Evaluating Language Resources on the Internet

LINGUISTICS.com:
Evaluating Language
Resources on the Internet
Adams Bodomo
Department of Linguistics
The University of Hong Kong
[email protected]
14 December 2001
Introduction

The Internet



A massive surge of the internet and allied Information
and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
a powerful tool for research analysis, dissemination,
and documentation
Aim

To examine how the Internet can be used as a useful
source of information for learning and doing research
about language and linguistics
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Internet
URL
Webpage
BASIC TERMS
Homepage
HTML
Hypertext
HTTP
Website
WWW

Internet



HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Hypertext







‘a worldwide network of interconnected networks, connected
together using recognized standards to enable electronic
communication and the exchange of information’(Cooke 1999:155)
Contains cross-references or links to different parts of the same
page or to different pages
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
WWW: World Wide Web
URL: Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator
Website: a collection of linked HTML
Webpage: an individual HTML page
Homepage: the opening of any site on the WWW
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LANGUAGE
WEBSITES
What is a language website?

A collection of linked html pages available via
the World Wide Web for the purpose of
providing information about some aspects of
language and linguistics
 Authors:


Individuals or groups of linguists or other language
experts and enthusiasts
Example: the Linguist List

http://www.linguistlist.org
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E-journals
E-books
Bibliographies
TYPES OF
LANGUAGE WEBSITES
E-libraries
E-dictionaries
Online Language Courses
Language and Linguistic
Association websites
Linguist List (http://www.linguistlist.org)
 Linguistic Society of Hong Kong

(http://www.hku.hk/linguist/lshk)

Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
(http://www.lsadc.org)

Linguistics Association of the Great Britain (LAGB)
(http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/aboutlag.htm)
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University and Institutional
Departmental websites

HKU Department of Linguistics
(http://www.hku.hk/linguist)

Stanford University Department of Linguistics
(http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu)

NTNU Department of Linguistics
(http://www.ling.hf.ntnu.no/index_en.php )

University of Ghana Department of Linguistics
(http://www.ug.edu.gh/pages/lingdept.htm)
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Theoretical Linguistics websites
LFG (http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/)
 HPSG (http://hpsg.stanford.edu)
 Minimalism

(http://www.minimalism.linguistics.arizona.edu/)

OT-LFG
(http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/ot-lfg/ot-lfg.html)

GB
(http://www.jtauber.com/linguistics/synthinar/)
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Dictionary and Glossary websites (edictionaries and e-glossaries)
SIL Linguistic Glossary
(http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/)
 Oxford English Dictionary (OED Oniline)
(http://www.oed.com)
 Cobuild (http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/)
 Merriam Webster

(http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm)

Web of Online Dictionaries
(http://www.yourdictionary.com)
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Individual or Language Group
(Grammar) websites






Chinese
(http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/China/linguist.html)
Japanese
(http://www.twics.com/~kenbutle/learning_japanese.htm)
French
(http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/ir/info/french.html)
English
(http://www.chompchomp.com/)
Swahili
(http://www.yale.edu/swahili/)
Dagaare
(http://www.hku.hk/linguist/staff/_ab.DagaareProficient.html)
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Online Language and
Linguistic Course websites
WebCT course websites
(http://ecourse.hku.hk:8900)
 Let’s Speak Dagaare

(http://www.hku.hk/linguist/staff/_ab.DagaareProficient.html)

Online phonology course
(http://www.stir.ac.uk/epd/celt/staff/higdox/stephen/phono/phonolg.htm)

Internet Grammar of English (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internetgrammar/home.htm)
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Bibliographical Databases

Bibliography of Dagaare Studies
(http://www.hku.hk/linguist/staff_ab.DagaareBibliog.html)

Lexical-Functional Grammar
(http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/bibliography.html)

Chinese studies

(http://deall.ohio-state.edu/chan.9/g-bib.htm#c-bib)
(others: see Linguist list)
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E-linguistic resource websites:
e-libraries

The World-Wide Web Virtual Library:
Linguistics
(http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/www-vl.html)

Linguistics bookshelf
(http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/Linguist.html)

Lancaster University Library
(http://libweb.lancs.ac.uk/g47.htm)

UCLA Library Collections and Internet
Resources in General Linguistics
(http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/url/colls/ling)
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E-linguistic resource websites:
e-books / e-encyclopedia
 MSN
Encarta
(http://encarta.msn.com/)
 Encyclopedia.com
(http://www.encyclopedia.com)
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E-linguistic resource websites:
e-journals

Language and linguistic science Electronic
Journals
(http://www.york.ac.uk/services/library/ejournal/linguist.htm)

Penn Library: Electronic Journals
(http://www.library.upenn.edu/webbin5/resources/ejspublic5.cgi?home
page=http://www.library.upenn.edu/&community=Linguistics)
UM Library: Electronic Journals & Newspapers
(http://www.lib.umich.edu/ejournals/lists/lingui.html)
 UCL Library: Linguistics Internet resources

(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Resources/Arts/phonling.htm)

Journal of Dagaare Studies
(http://www.hku.hk/linguist/staff_ab.DagaareJournal.html)
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DESIGNING
LANGUAGE WEBSITES
Designing a language website
 Design
of website:
 The
creation of a website and the
subsequent arrangement and
rearrangement of its contents
 A good
design of a language website
depends on how adept we are at
manipulating the technology involved
and how artistically sophisticated we are
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Tools for creating language
websites
 Hypertext
 HTML editors
 WYSIWYG-editors
 Netscape
Communicator
 Dreamweaver
 Microsoft Frontpage
 WebCT
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Creating a webpage by using
Microsoft Frontpage editor
 What
do you need?
 The
editor: Microsoft Frontpage
 The software for uploading your pages (e.g.
CuteFTP, WsFTP)
 A server for storing your pages (e.g.
YahooGeocities)
 Pedagogical tools

Web-based course tool e.g. WebCT
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HOW TO EVALUATE A
WEBSITE
Searching for websites

Evaluating a website begins with locating it
on the internet
 Search engines





Excite (http://www.excite.com)
Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com)
Google (meta-search engine)
(http://www.google.com)
WebCrawler (meta-search engine)
(http://www.webcrawler.com)
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Criteria for Evaluating a
Language Website (Cooke 1999, Alexander and Tate 1999)
 Authority
 Accuracy
 Objectivity
 Currency
 Coverage
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CURRENCY
AUTHORITY
•Are there dates on the page to indicate
•Is it clear who is responsible for the contents
•When the page was written?
of the page?
•When the page was first placed on the Web?
•Is ACCURACY
there a link to a page describing the
•When
the pageforwas
revised?
•Are
the sources
anylast
factual
information
purpose
of the sponsoring
organization?
•Are
there
any
other
indications
that the
clearly
listed?
•IsCOVERAGE
there
a
way
of
verifying
the
legitimacy
of
(and
INTENDED AUDIENCE)
OBJECTIVITY
material
is
kept
current?
•Isthere
thepage's
information
free
from
grammatical,
the
sponsor?
That
is,
is there
abeen
phone
•Is
an
indication
that
the
page
has
•If
material
is
presented
in
graphs
and/or
•Is
the
information
provided
as
a
public
spelling,
other
errors?
numberand
or postal
address
to contact
for more
completed,
and
is nottypographical
still under
construction?
charts,
is
it
clearly
stated
when
the
data
was
service?
(These
kinds
of
errors
not
only
indicate
a
lack
information?
(Simply
an
email
address
is
•If the
page is still under construction, is the not
gathered?
of enough).
quality
control,
but can
actually
produce
•Is
the
information
free
of
advertising?
expected
date
of completion
indicated?
•If
the
information
is
published
in
different
inaccuracies
in
information).
•Is
it
clear
who
wrote
the
material
andpage,
are the
there
any
advertising
onWeb
the
page,
•If•Ifthere
is aisis
print
equivalent
to the
is
editions,
it
clearly
labeled
what
edition
the
itclearly
who
has theofultimate
responsibility
qualifications
for
writing
on
this topic
there
aclear
clear
indication
whether
the
entire
is•Isauthor's
itpage
differentiated
from
the
is
from?
forclearly
the
accuracy
of the
the Web
content
of theparts
material?
stated?on
work
is
available
or
only
of it?
•If
the
material
is
from
a
work
which
is
out
of
informational
content?
•If
there
are
charts
and/or
graphs
containing
•If
the
material
is
protected
by
copyright,
is
the
•Is the
intended
audience
forcase
the material
clear?
copyright
(as
is
often
the
with
a
statistical
are the charts
name ofdata,
the copyright
holderand/or
given?graphs
dictionary
or
thesaurus)
has
there
clearly labeled and easy to read? been an
effort
to update the material to make it more24
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Further Criteria (Bodomo 2001)

Evidence of Patronage


Evidence of Collaboration / Corroboration


How many ‘customers’ patronise a website
Whether the author(s) collaborate with other
linguists and language experts in that area of
language and linguistics
Multilingual Retrievability

Related to online dictionaries/glossaries
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An Optimal Model for Language Website Evaluation
- e.g. Online English language learning
Criterion ACC ATH OBJ CUR
COV
PAT COL MR Ranked
Output
Candidate website
Internet Grammar of English    
 
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internetgrammar/
English4us
    

http://www.english4us.com/
English for Internet
 
http://www.study.com/
BBC English
   
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservic
e/learningenglish/
Key to abbreviations:
COV: Coverage
ACC: Accuracy
PAT: Evidence of Patronage
ATH: Authority
COL: Evidence of Collaboration
OBJ: Objectivity
MR: Multilingual Retrievability
CUR: Currency
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
1
4
3
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Summary and Conclusion
The web is an important source of data
 But the web can also contain a lot of
inaccuracies and unethical material
 Hence the need for quality control and
consequently evaluation
 In this paper we have provided information
about language webpage creation before
discussing criteria for Language webpage
evaluation, ending up with proposals
towards a model of language website
evaluation.

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References









Alexander, Jan. E. and Marsha Ann Tate. 1996. Checklist for an Informational
Web Page. USA: Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University. URL:
http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/inform.htm
Alexander, Jan. E. and Marsha Ann Tate. 1999. Web Wisdom: How to
Evaluate and Create Information Quality on the Web. New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers.
Bodomo, A. B. 2001. How to design and evaluation quality language
websites. Ms, University of Hong Kong.
Cooke, Alison. 1999. Authoritative Guide to Evaluating Information on the
Internet. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Grassian, Esther. 1997. Thinking Critically about Discipline-based World Wide
Web Resources. USA: UCLA College Library. Available URL:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/discipline.htm
Kapoun, Jim. 1998. Teaching Undergrads Web Evluation: A Guide for Library
Instruction. URL: http://www.ala.org/acrl/undwebev.html
Landsberger, Joe. 2000 Evaluating Website Content. URL:
http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/webtruth/evaluate.htm
Skillman & Kirby Libraries. 2000. Evaluating Websites for Academic Use.
URL: http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~library/guides/evaluating.html
Wolinsky, Art. 1999. Locating and Evaluating Information on the Internet. USA:
Enslow Publishers, Inc. URL: http://www.enslow.com/InternetLib.htm
Referencing Internet Resources



Many different accepted formats
Information to be included for citing web resources
 Name(s) of author(s)
 Date/year of publication
 Title of the website/webpage
 Date of retrieval/access
 URL i.e. the address of the document
Useful resources:
 Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American
Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html)
 MLA Style: How do I document sources from the World Wide Web
in my works-cited list?
(http://www.mla.org/www_mla_org/style/style_main.asp?level=2&mode=page&pa
ge=1&link=sty72800121438&section=sty51800124510 )
 Evaluating and Citing Web Resources for Research (HKUST)
(http://library.ust.hk/serv/lin/evaluate-cite.html)
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