Breaking the browsing barrier for historic search of newspaper texts

Traditionally, to find information in a newspaper collection it has been necessary to painstakingly browse through the individual issues hoping that relevant words will catch your eye. Researchers of New Zealand’s encounter history received a boost when, in 1996, the Alexander Turnbull Library produced a collection on microfiche totaling almost 18,000 pages and covering a printing period from 1842 to 1933. While having all the newspapers in a single collection was a large step forward, browsing or searching for information in this microfiche collection was still time consuming. By incorporating the collection into a digital library with an Internet interface, and by enabling full-text search, we have broken this browsing barrier. Making the information available this way is even more significant as the majority of the collection is written in the Māori language; we have created a Māori language resource that is sorely needed by education and research institutes, and one that provides quick and accurate access to the previously obscure source. The process involved in developing this unique digital library collection, the advantages of traditional newspaper stored in this medium, and the possibilities that we intend to investigate in the future, will be discussed in this paper

Indigenous languages shaping multi-lingual interfaces

This paper reports on an investigation into the indigenous language usage of two bilingual/multilingual digital libraries. Results show that the indigenous language was significantly used by clients and indicate why clients chose to use the indigenous language. Feedback from clients has suggested how the interface should be improved to assist both indigenous and non-indigenous language usage. These results serve as an example of how indigenous languages are shaping multilingual interfaces

Māori language interfaces

This paper considers the usability of the interface and the ramifications for te reo Māori if the interface language, the messages displayed in those text boxes, is written in te reo Māori

Indigenous Language Usage in a Digital Library: He Hautoa Kia Ora Tonu Ai.

The research described in this thesis examines indigenous language usage in a digital library environment that has been accessed via the Internet. By examining discretionary use of the Māori Niupepa and Hawaiian Nūpepa digital libraries this research investigates how indigenous languages were used in these electronic environments in 2005. The results provide encouragement and optimism to people who are striving to retain, revitalise and develop the use of indigenous languages in information technologies. The Transaction Log Analysis (TLA) methods used in this research serve as an example of how web logs can be used to provide significant information about language usage in a bilingual online information system. Combining the TLA with user feedback has provided insights into how and why clients use indigenous languages in their information retrieval activities. These insights in turn, show good practice that is relevant not only to those working with indigenous languages, indigenous peoples or multilingual environments, but to all information technology designers who strive for universal usability. This thesis begins by describing the importance of using indigenous languages in electronic environments and suggests that digital libraries can provide an environment to support and encourage the use of such languages. TLA is explained in the context of this study and is then used to analyse aspects of te reo Māori usage in the Niupepa digital library environment in 2005. TLA also indicates that te reo Māori was used by international clients and this usage differed to te reo Māori usage by national (Aotearoa) clients. Findings further reveal that the default language setting of the Niupepa digital library had a considerable impact on te reo Māori usage. When the default language was set to te reo Māori not only were there more requests in te reo Māori but there was also a higher usage of te reo Māori in the information retrieval activities. TLA of the Hawaiian Nūpepa digital library indicated that the Hawaiian language was also used in a digital library. These results confirm that indigenous languages were used in digital library environments. Feedback from clients suggests reasons why indigenous languages were used in this environment. These reasons include the indigenous language content of the digital library, the indigenous language default language setting of the digital library and a stated desire by the clients to use the indigenous language. The key findings raise some interface design issues and support the claim that digital libraries can provide an environment to support the use of indigenous languages

Language Preference in a Bi-language Digital Library

This paper examines user choice of interface language in a bi-language digital library(English and Maori, the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand)/ the majority of collection documents are in Maori, and the interface is available in both Maori and English. Log analysis shows three categories of preference for interface language: primarily English, primarily Maori and bilingual(switching back and forth between the two)

Machine translation for te reo Māori

What is Machine Translation? Machine Translation (MT) is a process where computer software is used to translate texts from one natural (or spoken) language to another. Early research centred on two distinct approaches: Rules Based Machine Translation (RBMT) and Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). In simple terms RBMT makes use of large sets of linguistic rules that define languages whereas SMT uses statistical techniques to build language models from large language corpora. Increases in computing power and the amount of language corpora available has meant that SMT had become the preferred option with recent advances in neural networks also being applied to improve the accuracy of SMT. For commercial reasons, this is an area of research that has generated a lot of interest and funding support from some major international computer companies, including Google¹,Microsoft² and Facebook³. Why is Machine Translation important for te reo Māori? A te reo Māori purist may argue that it is not important to focus activities on having a machine undertake translations for te reo Māori; if people want to understand te reo Māori then they should put in the effort to learn the language. This line of reasoning is difficult to argue with. But, from a Māori language activist perspective the value of MT is not so much in the translation of te reo Māori to (say) English, but rather the translation of English to te reo Māori. If this translation can be done efficiently, with low costs, it will assist in the proliferation of te reo Māori into new contexts, new environments and will assist its normalisation in New Zealand's society. At this time, two of the major international companies, Google and Microsoft, have invested significantly in MT for te reo Māori. This paper summarises their endeavours and reports on the quality of translations they have been able to generate

Is the web being used to speak our language?

This paper presents results from extensive surveys of the usage of Maori language on the World Wide Web(www, Web) conducted in 1998 and 2002. Issues both supportive and detrimental relating to the use and publication of indigenous languages in the WWW will be highlighted. Specifically: how is the WWW being used to articulate the Maori language

It's harder in my language, but I still choose it

In New Zealand, the language that dominates most technologies is English. For a variety of reasons, interfaces have been made available in the Maori language for a range of modem technological tools. We have conducted usability studies on many of these products and fluent Maori users have almost unanimously stated that the products are more difficult and time consuming to use in the indigenous (Maori) language. They allude to unfamiliar instances and uses of Maori words, and to an ingrained familiarity with the English-language versions of these technologies, saying they would revert to the English-language interfaces if time is a factor. However, they also express a sense of pride at being able to see and use the Maori language in these various forms of media and state that although they experience some difficulty, the Maori-language versions would still be their first preference

Language switching in a digital library; does it make a difference if the default language is set to Maori?

In this paper we investigate the effect of default interface language on usage patterns of the Niupepa digital library (a collection of historic Māori language newspapers), by switching the default interface language between Māori and English in alternate weeks. Transaction analysis of the Niupepa collection logs indicates that changing default language affects the length of user sessions and the number of actions within sessions, and that the English language interface was used most frequently

Young people, technology and the future of te Reo Māori

After decades of neglect and, in some instances, suppression, te reo Māori has achieved a degree of recognition and support from the Government and people. Language strategies have been written, schooling is available in both languages, and since 1987 the language has had official status. However, despite demonstrable progress in some areas, it remains a small-minority language. Within New Zealand there are 157,000 speakers of te reo Māori, about 4.1 percent of the population (Statistics New Zealand: Te Tari Tatau, 2007), and the language is classified as 'vulnerable' by UNESCO (Mosley, 2010). The language continues to face considerable pressure from English, not just because English is a majority national language but because it is an increasingly global language, with a significant presence in culture, science, media and technology. This chapter considers the relationships between young people, technology and te reo Māori. It argues that technology is an important domain of use for te reo Māori, particularly the continued use of the language by young people