aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] Ukrainian Folklore Audio Files

[nataliek@ualberta.ca]

Dear Fellow list members,

I don't remember whether I told the group that I was applying for a  
digital humanities grant.  Well, I got it.  The grant is called  
Reciprocal Analysis: Group-sourcing Ukrainian Folklore Audio and its  
purpose is involving the community in work with the materials I have  
at http://projects.tapor.ualberta.ca/UkraineAudio/.  The existing  
website is huge and contains all sorts of material.  It exists as  
sound only.  It is indexed, but none of the materials are transcribed  
or translated.  The grant is to get the community involved in the work  
of transcription and translation.

What we plan to do is "pull" segments out of the mass of 200 hours of  
sound.  Those segments will "sit" on a special, password protected  
website.  People will "check out" segments and work on them.  They can  
do either transcription or translation or both.  This means that, if  
you can't write out what is being said or sung in Ukrainian, you can  
still write the English translation of the text, if you can contribute  
that.  While checked out, the segment is visible to the person working  
on it only.  Then the segment comes back to me.  I check it for  
accuracy, correct if necessary, and post for public access.  All  
people who contribute will be credited for their work.  So this is a  
way to make a contribution without a big time commitment.

I'm sure that you can all understand why it is desirable to have  
material written out as well as spoken or sung.  In fact, people have  
asked me for the written versions of some of the texts that I have  
because they are so interesting.  I've been told a number of times  
that some of the songs are truly unique and not available in any  
printed source.  Adding translation makes the material available to  
those who don't know Ukrainian or have limited knowledge.

The question to you is: where do we start?  Shall we (meaning me and a  
graduate student whom I will hire with grant money) pull out all the  
songs and have these available for people to work on?  The down side  
to songs is that it is harder to make out sung words than spoken ones.  
  Shall we pull out all the stories?  My own choice would probably be  
to go with stories of the supernatural.

But this is a reciprocal site.  Which means that the intent of all of  
this work is not only to have the community contribute their efforts,  
but also to guide what we do.  So – what do you want done first?   
Songs and stories are only a part of what is on the website.  There  
are descriptions of weddings and funerals and baptisms.  There are  
personal narratives.  There is some material on holidays.  In short,  
there is lots of great stuff and we would like you to guide us in our  
choice.  Have a look at the site and see what appeals to you and what  
you consider important.

I should add that the site where segments will be available to check  
out does not exist yet.  It is being built by a programmer also hired  
off the grant.  But I want to start on community input now, even as we  
wait for the site.


Natalie Kononenko
Kule Chair of Ukrainian Ethnography
Editor, Folklorica
University of Alberta
Modern Languages and Cultural Studies
200 Arts Building
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E6
Phone: 780-492-6810
Web: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/uvp/