Language and Culture Documentation

Language and Culture Documentation specialists preserve language and culture data in support of linguistic vitality, cultural identity, and stewardship of heritage resources.

Language and Culture Documentation Technician

Language and Culture Documentation Technicians collect audio and video recordings of speech acts of various genres, including wordlists spontaneous speech, and planned speech events (e.g. storytelling genres, poetry, speeches, songs, proverbs, etc.), with appropriate metadata. They also collect video recordings and still photos of cultural practices (e.g. dance, art, crafts, etc.). They archive materials, with thorough metadata, in appropriate digital formats in secure, accessible archives. Language and Culture Documentation Technicians work under the supervision of more experienced language development program staff.

Language and Culture Documentation Technicians should be able to

plan a language documentation project.
obtain appropriate consent agreements for recording, archiving and sharing data
use appropriate software to process recorded data
make good-quality recordings, video recordings, and still photographs
record appropriate metadata.
manage a large number of data files
organize the collected and processed materials for publication and archiving

Language and Culture Documentation Technicians should have at least some post-secondary studies. No previous field experience is required.

They should have satisfactorily completed courses substantially similar to the following SIL courses:

Language and Society
Phonetics
Language and Culture Acquisition
Basic Oral Language Documentation (BOLD) and/or Audio and video techniques for fieldworkers