Van Huyssteen, Gerhard B., Melodi Botha, and Alex Antonites. 2016. “Die Virtuele Instituut vir Afrikaans (VivA) en markbehoeftes in die Afrikaanse gemeenskap [The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA) and market needs of the Afrikaans community].” Tydskrif Vir Geesteswetenskappe 56 (2-1):410-437. doi: http://doi.org/doi.10.17159/2224-7912/2016/v56n2-1a8.
Van Huyssteen, Botha & Antonites 2016
Abstract
The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA) is a research institute and service provider for Afrikaans in digital contexts. It is a registered non-profit company; with the Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV); North-West University (NWU); Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK); and Trust vir Afrikaanse Onderwys (TAO) as its founding members. In order to make informed choices regarding VivA’s product and service offering; mixed method research was conducted to determine shortcomings in the Afrikaans offering of digital language products. For purposes of the quantitative research; an online questionnaire was completed by 319 respondents (demographic representation of mostly white; mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans between the ages of 30 and 65); while a focus group with ten respondents (mostly white; mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans between 15 and 62) was used to gather qualitative information. The focus group session was recorded; transcribed; coded and then analysed to derive seven key themes that are associated with VivA. One of the key findings is that a large part of the Afrikaans users in this sample did not know of the existence of the Afrikaans Wiktionary and Wikipedia. This finding directed VivA’s priorities in other directions; although it will keep on exploring ideas and methods to change this perception. It was also clear that Afrikaans users have a need for four specific Afrikaans electronic aids; namely an online/mobile version of the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (Afrikaans Word-list and Spelling Rules); an Afrikaans grammar checker; a terminology bank; and automatic translation tools. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents had a fairly negative experience with regard to automatic translation assistance; it was found that a significant number of respondents are still positive about it; and have a strong need for such a high-quality product. On the basis of this research; the needs of the Afrikaans community related to language products and services were determined; and various products and services were introduced in order to meet these identified needs. Hence; VivA’s initial products and services offering includes: a dictionary portal (where users can access various free and commercial dictionaries online; as well as via an online and offline Android and iOS app); grammar portal (where users; especially international researchers; can access extensive information about the phonology; morphology and syntax of Afrikaans; presented comparatively with Dutch and Frisian as part of the international Taalportaal project); language advice portal (where users can get telephonic and online answers to language-related questions from a professional language advisor); corpus portal (where users can do online corpus queries in a large and growing collection of written and transcribed spoken Afrikaans corpora); and information portal (with access to a blog; competitions; etcetera). The article concludes with an overview of potential future research and development topics; including a motivation for the need for regular technology audits.
Written in:
Afrikaans
Dealing with:
Afrikaans
Keywords
Afrikaans, market research, market needs, technology, human language technology, mobile application, dictionary, language advice service, terminology, grammar, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Virtuele Instituut vir Afrikaans (VivA), Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV), Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK), North-West University (NWU), Dagbreek Trust, Taalportaal
Afrikaans keywords
Afrikaans, marknavorsing, markbehoefte, tegnologie, mensetaaltegnologie, mobiele toepassing, woordeboek, taaladviesdiens, terminologie, grammatika, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Virtuele Instituut vir Afrikaans (VivA), Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV), Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK), Noordwes- Universiteit (NWU), Dagbreek Trust, Taalportaal