| Information Resources Center |
1. The Aim
The Information Resources Center ( irc-TUFS )of the Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies has been set up in 1997 for a period of 10 years.
Its aim is to process information resources of languages and cultures of Asia and Africa ( storage, compilation and making them available to public ) and by using them to develop the inter-university research methods and to promote international academic exchange.
2. ILCAA and Information Resources Center
ILCAA has been enriching multipurpose databases of historical, ethnological, and social studies, while computerizing the data of Asian and African languages and analyzing each language phonologically, syntactically and lexicologically.
This database provides basic information on editing dictionaries and grammars of Asian and African languages, which is one of the most important activities of the Institute. It is accesible to the scholars throughout Japan. Computerized language data have been collected for Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Fulani, Hausa, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, Manchu, Persian, Swahili, Thai, Tibetan, Yoruba. Meanwhile we have developed fonts for Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Devanagari, Khmer, Korean, Mongolian, Tangut, Thai, Tibetan, and so on.
3. Planning for 10 years
With the above mentioned activities as the basis, the Center is planning to organize and refine the theoretical and applied aspects of the following:
(a) Besides the language data mentioned above, the Institute has a large number of brochures, posters, photographs, 8-mm films, video tapes etc.,
containing linguistic, cultural and historical data. Accessing this data is cumbersome from within or from outside the Institute. Hence there is an urgent requirement to organize the data with a view to make it accessible to the public.
(b) For encouraging international inter-university studies, we are planning to have the databases internationally open and shared, as well as to set up an environment for research support based on the database.
(c) As a preparation for the basic organization of the contents and exchange, it is an urgent task to formalize the fields which have hardly had a theoretical preparation yet, such as coded-character sets, evaluation regarding the theory of diachronic texts, multiple-language processing, collation in multiple-script environment, fundamentals of type-setting and page-description, and so on. Furthermore, it is planned to refine the methods of multiple script data-input, exchange protocols of type-setting etc.; and to actively intend to take part in input methods and interface on the multimedia system such as search and access of images, animation, and phonetic abstracts.
4. Digital Museum of Languages and Cultures
To be meaningful, the achievement of the Center should be open to the world. Thus the Center is planning to have a "Digital Museum of Languages and Cultures". This can be accessed through internet "www(HTTP)".
This Digital Museum of Languages and Cultures not only presents a digital library of linguistic, cultural and historical data but also makes available the theoretical and technical aspects of building such libraries which could be utilized by others in building similar libraries.
5. Mutual development of techniques and studies
The Center is supposed to build up the required method of potential techniques, and not to develop the techniques themselves. The potential technique is the one that causes the technical demand itself by showing a new technique; and which brings in a new study method and provides a chance to enhance studies. Namely it is a technique which clarifies what is now not recognized as a field of study so far undeveloped because of technical reasons.
The specification of potential techniques can only be made by a specialized institution like ours which conducts the studies with the mutual stimulation of technique and study embracing the specialists with independent ideas in linguistics, history, ethnology, and information processing.
web_adm@aa.tufs.ac.jp