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My research on the use of Internet for Hawaiian language revitalization is congruent with these perspectives. When Hawaiian language educators first began thinking about using the Internet, they confronted an unfriendly terrain. There was virtually no information in the Hawaiian language on the Internet, and web sites devoted to Hawaiian culture had mostly been developed by tourist agencies. Few Native Hawaiians had Internet access in the home nor in their schools. The Internet and the computers it was developed on did not readily support the use of Hawaiian language diacritical marks. In response to this situation, the Hawaiian educational community developed their own Bulletin Board System in Hawaiian, they worked to get their schools online, and they developed software solutions to modify computer operating systems to allow full Hawaiian-language operation, including Hawaiian language menus. Most importantly, they designed and implemented educational uses of the Internet which built off of the social and cultural strengths of the Hawaiian community, emphasizing Hawaiian cultural traditions such as 'talking story' and encouraging student development of multimedia online content which critically interpreted the Hawaiian experience. Though they have much more work to do, they have taken important steps towards creating a Hawaiian presence on the Internet which is congruent with their culture and which furthers their aims of language and culture revitalization.

Formosan Language Archive Formosan Corpus Language GIS Bibliography Help Links Home BACKGROUND The Formosan Language Digital Archive is part of the Language Digital Archive developed within the Academia Sinica under the auspices of the National Science Council. The conceptaul design of the Formosan Language Archive has been made under the direction of Elizabeth Zeitoun. The aims of this project are to collect, conserve, edit and disseminate via the world wide web a virtual library of language and linguistic resources permitting access to recorded and transcribed Formosan data collections. The Formosan languages belong to a widespread language family called "Austronesian", which include all the languages spoken throughout the islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean (Madagascar, Indonesian, the Philippines, Taiwan, New Guinea, New Zealand, Hawaii and the islands of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia). A few languages are found in the Malay peninsula and in the Indo-Chinese peninsula (Vietnam and Cambodia). The Formosan languages exhibit very rich linguistic diversity and the variations that oppose different dialects/languages are enormous. These languages are extremely useful in comparative work but though they have been known to be on the verge of extinction for years, Formosan languages, Formosan linguistics as a specific field has bloomed only very recently, with the participation of more scholars adopting different contemporary linguistic approaches to investigate individual languages or establishing cross-linguistic comparisons.  Unlike Chinese, the Formosan languages do not have any writing system and the lack of written records dampen our knowledge of extinct languages. Today, while elders are still able to speak their mother tongues fluently, the young cannot, as a result of migration in the cities and the prevalence of Mandarin Chinese in every day life.

Internet Chat rooms, Forums and Young people The Internet was claimed last week, by one of the worlds leading linguists to be a saviour of the Welsh language. Professor David Crystal of Bangor University said that the Welsh language (along with Breton) is now considered to be 'cool' to use by young people, because of its presence on the internet. Professor Crystal said: « It doesn't matter how much activism you engage in on behalf of a language if you don't attract the teenagers, the parents of the next generation of children. »And what turns teenagers on more than the internet these days? If you can get a language out there, the youngsters are much more likely to think it's cool." Professor Crystal's comments follow in the wake of the Bwrdd Yr Iaith Gymraeg/Welsh Language Board strategy document for IT and the Welsh language. The Strategy aims to provide a framework for Welsh language Information Technology (IT) work in the future and hopes to lead the way in innovative IT development.

BRINGING VOICES TO THE FUTURE . . . Assisting indigenous communities in their struggles for cultural linguistic survival.

Semantic Web to revolutionise internet search The future of the web has arrived. Earlier this month, internet startup Powerset revealed its Semantic Web search service - a way of searching that should provide users with a more satisfying experience. In theory, the Semantic Web allows computers to search all the content on the web through the collaborative use of information. In practice, Powerset is limited to searching Wikipedia. But this first version at least provides a taster of semantic-based searching, showing how users can search via conversational techniques rather than keywords. More importantly, Powerset shows a significant step towards a more intuitive web experience. Such movement should be welcomed, especially as the concept of the Semantic Web has previously been more niche than mainstream.

The Future of Leokï Hale Kuamoÿo staff have ambitious plans for expanding Leokï in several directions. They would like to add additional features to the system, such as audio-visual conferences. They want to provide more regular and systematic teacher training so that educators throughout the immersion program develop both the technical and pedagogical expertise to full use of the system. After most of the immersion schools are brought on to the network this year, they hope to gradually expand the Leokï network into other schools and colleges where Hawaiian language is taught, and eventually into private homes. One important area for expansion would be the native speaking community on the small island of Niÿihau, possibly through creative uses of solar power and satellite telecoommunictions. Eventually, it should be possible to establish more cross-Pacific ties, with Hawaiians communicating in Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages with the Mäori, Tongan, Tahitian, Samoan, and other Pacific peoples. These steps will be taken gradually though, to make sure that Leokï first builds a strong foundation as Hawaiian-medium gathering place for the teachers and students who are striving for native-like fluency in the kula kaiapuni (immersion schools). "I ka �ölelo nö ke ola, i ka �ölelo nö ka make." In the language there is life, and in the language there is death. Hawaiians have a proud history of taking advantage of a wide range of media, from song to dance to print, to preserve and the life of their language and culture. Now they are using the computer to provide one more powerful voice for language use and revitalization, and their example can be of potential benefit to other indigenous communities throughout the world.