Last week, there was another workshop on technology for language preservation, this time in the Linguistics Department at the University of PNG in Port Moresby.  20 participants came for the three days, representing many mainland and island provinces.  Apart from UPNG staff and students, a third of the participants were from two government agencies, namely the Institute for Papua New Guinea Studies, and the National Cultural Commission.  Both agencies are already active in preserving cultural heritage.

Dr Sakarape Kamene, head of the Department of Linguistics, said: "We are very excited about these new methods for preserving oral literature.  The technology and the methods for record keeping are simple but highly effective.  We will teach students how to use the recorders in our field methods classes, and they will be able to do the collection work when they go back to their villages."

In the closing session on Thursday, participants were given the challenge to apply the complete BOLD protocol to at least one narrative and one dialogue over the coming year, so that we can publish a book and a CD with material from each of 100 PNG languages.  At the end of the workshop, the recorders were formally received by Dr Matthew Leavesley, Assistant Dean of Humanities on behalf of the university (see photos).  Dr Jim Robins from the National Research Institute, who had helped process the voice recorders through PNG customs, attended the session and congratulated the group on their work on language preservation.

The 12 month period of audio capture, oral annotation, and transcription officially begins today, International Mother Language Day 2010.

Update: [2010-03-02] A story in the Post Courier, 22 Feb, can be seen here.