Global Linguistic Diversity and the Endangered Languages Project

Networking 6:30-7:00 PM, and after the talk as time allows.
IMUG maps and directions: http://www.imug.org/google/
No webcast. If recorded and released, we will post links in the comments below and in the imug.org archives (http://imug.org/events/imug-2014-events.htm).

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The Endangered Languages Project: an online collaborative effort to protect global linguistic diversity

Humanity is facing a massive extinction: languages are disappearing at an unprecedented pace. With every language that dies we lose an enormous cultural heritage, the testimony of centuries of life.

The Endangered Languages Project (http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/) is a collaborative initiative designed to facilitate the documentation and revitalization of at-risk languages around the world. The project was born out of the recognition that a platform was needed for language speakers, learners and advocates to share and access relevant information and resources.

The result is a groundbreaking initiative that brings together a variety of diverse interests to promote this important work. Language communities and speakers can play an active role in putting their languages online by submitting information or samples in the form of text, audio, links or video files.

Originally launched and developed with support from Google, the project is led by true experts in the field of language preservation, and is now overseen by the First Peoples' Cultural Council (http://www.fpcc.ca/) of Canada, Eastern Michigan University (http://www.emich.edu/univcomm/releases/release.php?id=1340288740), and a governance council of language experts from around the globe.

This talk will discuss language loss and efforts to preserve and revitalize languages, and the role of EndangeredLanguages.com. We also discuss issues in supporting languages in online products.

About the Speakers:

Craig Cornelius is a member of the International Engineering group at Google, Inc., working with the Google Search, Gmail, Google Translate, and other projects. He continues his work with the Cherokee Nation, and has recently joined the Advisory Board of the Australian Research Council's Center of Excellence on the Dynamics of Language (http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/). He has held academic and industry positions over many years, but his Ph.D. in Chemistry has almost nothing to do with i18n.

Shay Boechler manages outreach efforts for the Endangered Languages Project on behalf of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (http://www.fpcc.ca/), where she previously served as FirstVoices Coordinator, conducting on-site training workshops on language archiving, and mentoring numerous community-based FirstVoices language administrators throughout Canada and more recently in Australia. Shay holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Victoria.

Scott Coleman leads the partnership development team for Google's Technology for Social Impact group, with responsibility for Civic Innovation, Giving, and Google Ideas. Products include Google Elections, Google Crisis Response, Google for Nonprofits, and Google Ideas products. He holds an MBA from Wharton, and a BA in Spanish, Portuguese, and Political Economy from UC Berkeley.

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Many thanks to Zoli Stekkelpak (https://plus.google.com/102497722463404815827/) and Google Inernationalization Engineering for hosting IMUG events at Google! For directions see http://www.imug.org/google/

The hashtag for IMUG events is #IMUG408 in honor of Silicon Valley's main area code. Yes, we'll be in 650 this month, which used to be 415, at the Googleplex, which used to be SGI. It's still 408! :-) Follow @i18n_mug: http://twitter.com/i18n_mug

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