Access
- Access & Compatibility
- Cost
- Internet
- Skills Required
Flexibility
- Script Support
- Language Support
- Customizability
- Multi-User Support
Data & Compatibility
- Software Compatibility
- Import
- Export
Access
1. Access & Compatibility
Living Dictionaries is a web-based tool, accessible on any browser-based system (e.g. Safari or Chrome), and compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. It can also be accessed, created, managed, and edited from a mobile device or tablet.
This beginner-friendly tool supports collaborative, multi-user contribution by community members and linguists to build multimodal dictionaries, which can be made public or kept private.
2. Cost
Living Dictionaries is a free resource, although the developers encourage donations. Directions for how to donate are available on the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages Living Dictionaries donation page.
3. Internet
In order to create an account and begin a dictionary project, internet access is required. Users can edit their dictionary and add entries while offline if they pre-load the dictionary, and the data will be automatically uploaded the next time they have access to the internet. However, not all functions are accessible offline.
The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages is actively working to improve the offline functionality for users creating dictionaries.
Viewing a published dictionary requires internet access. The ability to see text entries while offline is currently under development at the Living Tongues Institute according to the Living Dictionaries FAQ document on page 12.
4. Skills Required
Living Dictionaries is designed for beginners and endangered language communities to use confidently on their own. Working with this resource requires neither extensive computer skills nor specific training.
Flexibility
5. Script Support
Living Dictionaries is compatible with Unicode. It also has an IPA keyboard which can appear onscreen to enter text.
6. Language Support
This software allows up to five orthographies, dialects, and languages to appear in one dictionary. All languages in the dictionary are searchable.
Living Dictionaries also allows users to include up to five glossing languages.
7. Customizability
Users can add images, videos, semantic domains, entry tags, multiple languages/dialects, and up to five orthographies in one dictionary. There are also options to gloss entries and to add an onscreen IPA keyboard. Users can also include multiple definitions for the entries in their dictionaries.
The customizability options are simple, but contacting Living Tongues team members using the contact form to request further customizations, such as adding example sentences, is possible.
The contact form is accessible through the Living Dictionaries website by selecting the Contact Us tab in the top right menu bar.
Living Dictionaries also offers the option to make the dictionary public or private when publishing online.
8. Multi-User Support
Living Dictionaries is designed with a focus on collaboration and multi-user support. There is no limit to the number of collaborators in a Living Dictionary, and collaborators can be given different levels of access to editing features of the dictionary.
The Living Dictionaries platform is designed to have multiple collaborators logged into the web-based system to edit a dictionary project in real-time. Users can see changes made by other collaborators in real-time without refreshing their browsers.
Data & Compatibility
9. Software Compatibility
10. Import
Entry words are added individually to Living Dictionaries. Video, audio and image can be uploaded from a computer, YouTube, or Vimeo or recorded on Living Dictionaries and added directly to a dictionary.
Data can be batch-imported from other software such as FLEx, Lexique Pro, Toolbox, and TLex, as well as existing spreadsheets, Word documents, or other file formats, such as CSV or JSON files.
A batch-import request questionnaire must first be filled out with Living Dictionaries, so the support team can help users correctly format the data for import in a customized template.
While Living Dictionaries does not support the large number of data fields that software such as FLEx would allow, the support team is responsive and helpful to users looking to import existing data into Living Dictionaries.
Videos, audio, and images must be added to each entry afterwards and cannot be batch imported.
More information on batch-import requests can be found in Living Dictionaries’ FAQ on page 10.
11. Export
The main output from Living Dictionaries is a webpage, which is published through the software.
Users can choose to export dictionary content as a CSV or PDF, along with any images and audio files using the Export function. The content is then downloaded into a ZIP folder.
Developers are working to provide more export options, as detailed on the FAQ document on page 8.