Exploring the crossroads of linguistic diversity: Language contact in Southeast Asia

RESEARCH MEETS SOCIETY Exploring the Crossroads of Linguistic Diversity: Language Contact in Southeast Asia Copyright Š 2016 Halina Gottlieb, Astrid Kensinger, Marijke van Kets, Galina Mihaleva, Hedren Sum All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-91-85960-06-4

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Research Meets Society Knowledge Transfer

Halina Gottlieb / Interactive Institute Swedish ICT, Digital Heritage Center Sweden AB Astrid Kensinger / School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Galina Mihaleva / School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Marijke Van Kets / School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Hedren Sum / NTU Libraries, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

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SECTION I: PROJECT OVERVIEW Introduction – Knowledge Transfer The Project Co-authors

SECTION II: THE RESEARCH PROCESS Overview of the Process Gallery of Researchers Key Research Group Students and Visiting Professors Case Studies – Fieldwork Knowledge Exchange Methods and Tools Knowledge Transfer Books Film Documentary Space Exhibition

SECTION III: THE RESEARCHERS

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Acknowledgements Amelia Hong, NTU, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Singapore 6

Elissa Low, NTU, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Singapore Zachary Chan, NTU, School of Art, Design and Media, Singapore Silvia Istudor, Digital Heritage Center Sweden AB, Stockholm, Sweden

Section 1

Project Overview

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INTRODUCTION: KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

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This book represents the voice of an interdisciplinary group of researchers about the process through which they conduct research. The aim of this book is to make research accessible to the general public by presenting methods, results, and researchers themselves in a new light.

Research is exciting and applicable to daily life, and should not be perceived as an overly sophisticated activity performed by stuffy academics using impenetrable jargon. Our intention is to translate

the research process to show that it is understandable and relatable, and to introduce researchers as we know them in real life – passionate, enthusiastic and constantly curious about the world.

This publication is based on a project conducted in Nanyang Technological University, “Exploring the Crossroads of Linguistic Diversity: Language Contact in Southeast Asia”, which focuses on studying and preserving endangered languages in remote Southeast Asian regions. This book acts as a bridge

between the research process and everyday practice for people working in the digital humanities sector, creative industry and beyond, and would be useful for any researcher who uses a multidisciplinary approach in their work.

The ultimate goal of this book is to be a source of inspiration to those who would like to take the next step in their research careers, and those who are simply curious about how society can benefit from research.

Research is exciting and applicable to daily life, and should not be perceived as an overly sophisticated activity performed by stuffy academics using impenetrable jargon.

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Know How Book Series The publication continues the model started within the EPOCH project in 2007 and within the Culture KICK project, 2011-2014. Culture KICK was a university based network involving 8 partners from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland which conducted practice-based and collaborative

research with creative industry partners as well as heritage institutions.

The initial goal of the know-how books was to transfer research findings from academia to society (represented by museums and creative industries). In other words, the books aimed to help

researchers promote themselves and their innovations to museum and creative industry professionals. In return, museum and cultural professionals could find a rich resource of ideas in their process to modernize museums and heritage sites.

Starting with this book, we plan to broaden the purpose of the series

towards transferring research innovations to society in a visually engaging and easy to understand way.

Teams of students and experts in visual communication will work on interpreting the work and the methods of these linguistic researchers, and make them available to the general public.

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Hundreds of languages are spoken across Southeast Asia. The variety of languages is astounding, and speaking multiple languages is the norm for most people in the region.

Unfortunately, a great number of these languages are rapidly becoming endangered because their speakers shift to another language under economic or sociopolitical pressure. There is a pressing need to understand these unique languages and their speakers before they disappear forever.

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The project brought together expert researchers from various disciplines to work with speakers of endangered languages. The linguists’ goal was to document endangered languages and explore situations where the languages

of different communities influence each other because of the close interaction between speakers. The results of the project are presented in publications and conferences, but these are not readily accessible to the general public.

Helping linguists make the leap from the conceptual to the concrete are artists who are able to interpret the linguistic research and create material that communicates the research to the public. They are supported by

teams of students and experts in visual communication and design. Their aim is to bring linguistics and researchers to life, and to transform abstract linguistic research into real societal impact.

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Halina has lived in Sweden almost all her life, but has never lost touch with her cultural and historical Polish roots. She is a mother, a community activist and educator as well as an art historian, digital curator and knowledge transfer facilitator in the cultural heritage field. She has dedicated 15 years to improving communication, experience and understanding of cultural content in museum environments and related public spaces.

HALINA GOTTLIEB

CO-AUTHORS

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CO-AUTHORS

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Astrid is a researcher and practitioner of information visualization and mapping. Her interests range from sacred historic sites to pilgrimages, distance running and organic food. Her work is gallery based, but also focused on knowledge sharing — translating research and text into visuals and graphics. She studied classical and near eastern archaeology at Bryn Mawr College, specializing in neolithic earthenware pottery, while minoring in fine art — sculpture and glazing techniques.

ASTRID KENSINGER

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Galina grew up with a passion for fashion and art. Her work and research deal primarily with the dialogue between body and dress, driven by the idea of having both a physical and a psychological relationship with a garment as a responsive clothing - wearable technology.

Beyond in-depth analysis of cultural values she combines traditional tailoring methods while developing and using new materials and innovative construction processes. Unbounded by the old rules, Galina now offers her work as a testimony to the power of beauty and expression, and to the transcendent human spirit. She regards her works as being timeless.

GALINA MIHALEVA

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CO-AUTHORS

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CO-AUTHORS

Marijke graduated in 1986 from RITS, School of the Arts, in the Image-Sound-Edit department. She was an intern on the film set of A Strange Love Affair (Eric de Kuyper, 1984) with the cinematographer Henri Alekan. This inspired her to choose a career in the camera department, an unusual choice in the male-dominated field of cinematography.

MARIJKE VAN KETS

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Section 2

The Research Process

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GALLERY OF ARTISTS AND RESEARCHERS

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Assoc. Prof Alexander Coupe

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Asst. Prof Astrid Kensinger

Asst. Prof Joan Marie Kelly

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Asst. Prof František Kratochvíl

Assoc. Prof Ng Bee Chin

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Asst. Prof Galina Mihaleva

Dr. Halina Gottlieb

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Asst. Prof Marijke van Kets

Assoc. Prof Francesco Paolo Cavallaro

Benidiktus Delpada

Muhammad Zakaria

Hiram Ring

Choi Yun Jung

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GALLERY OF STUDENTS

Tan Jian Han

Yutaka Tomioka

Elvis Albertus bin Toni

Bruno Olsson

Not pictured: Priyanka Kharbanda Takashi Nakagawa

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

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Peh Yang Yu

Ng Xiao Yan

Rachel Siao Jia Yu

Tan Yen Jun

GALLERY OF STUDENTS

SCHOOL OF ART, DESIGN AND MEDIA

Tang Lixing, Lesley

Zachary Chan

Ong Han Yu

Wong Chun Sing

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Fieldwork was carried out by four primary investigators, along with their teams of students and research fellows. The researchers engaged with local communities across Southeast Asia, interviewing members of the communities to gather language data. The data was transcribed and analysed, then written into grammatical descriptions of the languages and descriptions about the sociolinguistic situation of the area.

CASE STUDIES – FIELDWORK

NG BEE CHIN & FRANCESCO CAVALLARO “We do our research using experiments, surveys and questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and recordings of group interactions. These interviews and recordings are then transcribed and analysed.”

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ALEXANDER COUPE

FRANTISEK KRATOCHVIL

“I make yearly trips to villages in Northeast India where I work with native speakers recording stories, videoing speakers and cultural events, and transcribing and annotating texts, all the while trying to learn how to speak the language by hanging out with native speakers, imitating how they speak and behave, making notes, and testing theories about the structure of sentences.”

“I describe grammars and lexicons of languages that have not previously studied. I study two types of undescribed languages: spoken languages and sign languages. In both cases, the methodology is descriptive. Language is recorded either in writing or in a digital form, to accurately capture what is being communicated. The recording should always be representative of how a language is used naturally in the native community.

Occasionally, I rely on experiments to obtain more detail about infrequent patterns.”

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KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE METHODS AND TOOLS

Knowledge exchange takes place between three groups – academia, creative industries, and the society at large, leading to mutually beneficial collaborations. The processes of this project put great emphasis on building sustainable structures for knowledge exchange and transfer from academic research to society.

The illustration and promotion of the research project is targeted at the general public via different media, resulting in a know-how book, a brochure, a website, a short film, and a mobile exhibition.

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Know How Books The know how book series, started within the EPOCH project (2006-2008), bridge the gap between research findings and the practical aspects of professionals working in the cultural heritage sector. Using illustrations and step-by-step instructions, the books highlight functional information covering the design, development and implementation of ideas and their solutions,

and give thoughtful suggestions for alternative applications within cultural heritage.

There has been valuable feedback from cultural heritage professionals, who have commented on how much this sort of information is needed in the field.

The know-how book series has thus been

continued in 2014 with a new collection focusing on individual knowledge transfer from senior researchers and PhD candidates to cultural and creative professionals: Research Supporting Innovation, by Halina Gottlieb, and Fly High: Collaborate! by Mariana Salgado.

Mariana Salgado

Fly High: Collaborate!

Strategies to Engage the Museum Community

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Halina Gottlieb

Research Supporting Innovation For Museums, Academia and Creative Industries

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The two recent know-how books serve as models for researchers on how to promote themselves and their innovations to museum and creative industry professionals.

A template of the know-how book is available on http://repo.nodem.org for researchers who are looking for an easy way to transfer their research results and solutions to museum professionals.

A new collection of know-how books starts with this book which will facilitate knowledge transfer from Research to Society, from academics and creative professionals to people interested in research and its practical impact on society. This know-how book focuses mainly on how research and researchers create value in society.

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Film Documentary

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The website (http://bit.ly/languagecontactsea) is an online platform where interested audiences may find more detailed information and material about the project, including photos, videos, and digital versions of the know-how book and exhibition. The main feature of the website is a short film which documents the process

of collaboration between local communities, linguists, heritage scientists, knowledge facilitators, designers, artists and their teams of students. The film shines a spotlight on the individuals involved in the knowledge exchange process, making them relatable by adding a face and a voice to their names.

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Space Exhibition

The main aim of the exhibition is to visually communicate information about the project and the process of collaboration. The exhibition provides a tangible way through which members of the public can interact physically with the project and its outcomes. The centrepiece of the exhibition is an installation of interactive textiles. The exhibition also includes physical copies of the know-how book and brochure for members of the public to peruse.

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Section 3

The Researchers

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ALEXANDER COUPE

RESEARCH MEETS SOCIETY LANGUAGE CONTACT IN S.E ASIA KNOW足HOW BOOK VOL. 3

I was born and raised in Sydney, close to if not on the wrong side of the tracks. After finishing school I followed a bizarre career path, working first as a jackaroo (cowboy) on a sheep and cattle station in south-western Queensland, and then on construction sites in Sydney before eventually training as a psychiatric nurse and later as a critical care nurse.

The Researchers

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Inspired by stories of exotic Asian ports related to me by my English sea-faring grandfather, between stints working in intensive care units I began to spend long holidays backpacking in South and Southeast Asia.

This exposure to foreign cultures and tongues inspired in me a latent passion for learning languages, and I picked up some Hindi, Nepali and particularly Thai on my frequent journeys.

I became quite fluent in Thai, and eventually decided it might be fun to study it at the university level, so at the age of 32 I was accepted into Australian National University, and it was there that I first became exposed to linguistics, the scientific study of language.

Around this time I had the good fortune to bump into a woman from north-east India whom I eventually married. This gave me opportunities to explore this little known region and its goldmine of linguistic diversity.

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From here on my career in linguistics flourished, beginning with the first comprehensive grammatical description of a language of Nagaland for my PhD research.

Twenty years later I’m still working on the

languages of north-east India and writing research papers on its extreme linguistic diversity. I am also returning the output of my work to minority communities in the form of writing systems and reading books in the

hope that I can help to keep these languages alive for future generations in an increasingly globalized world.

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How do you do your research?

I make yearly trips to villages in NE India where I work with native speakers recording stories, videoing speakers and cultural events, and transcribing and annotating texts, all the while trying to learn how to speak the language by hanging out with native speakers, imitating how they speak and behave, making notes, and testing theories about the structure of sentences (to see if my constructed sentences are accepted or rejected).

Sometimes when practicing speaking I make mistakes on purpose to see if I’ll be corrected, so I also use negative evidence as part of my analysis. I particularly like recording and working with traditional folktales, because these give me insights in to the speakers’ cultures and values.

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What is the research methodology?

Firstly, to decide on a topic in linguistics or an area in which little is known about the language(s) or phenomenon. I then research the topic by voraciously reading everything that’s ever been written on it, so that I am fully informed by the literature on the topic and previous research; I’ll also consult with other linguists who have worked on the topic or in the region of interest and can help with local connections.

In most cases I work on under-documented languages, or sometimes on languages that have never had any work done on them. In this situation I am like an 18th century explorer setting foot in a country for the first time, but instead of finding unusual plants and animals, there is the possibility of stumbling upon all sorts of unusual things in the languages I am describing.

Generally it’s the case that I serendipitously stumble upon something fascinating while just in the course of documenting a language, and I can see that there is a basis for new research that might fill in a crucial gap in our understanding, somewhat like an important piece in a jigsaw puzzle that gives further insights into the big picture. This then gives me the foundation for developing a new research topic.

When starting on a language, first I record a word list of about 800 words of basic vocabulary, and I use this to work out a writing system that I can use to represent the important sounds of the language and how many tones it has. Later I might use a computer to do acoustic analysis on the sounds, and once I’m happy with my analysis I can use my newly invented writing system to start building an electronic corpus of materials. This

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ends up having a number of purposes – I use it for analyzing the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences, and eventually for writing a reference book on the grammar; the data goes into an electronic archive of linguistic materials and serves as a permanent record of the language; other linguists can use it to understand more about the language, or to compare the data to other languages; and the community can keep using the corpus of data to develop more books and other materials in their language.

Most of the languages of NE India have not had this kind of scientific linguistic research done on them, so I choose particular languages that I think will best give me insights into how the languages are related to each other, and also which ones are the most endangered and unlikely to survive without the help of a linguist documenting them. Our current project is also very interested in how languages come to influence each

other in multilingual communities, so the corpus of materials in each language can be compared to work out what words get borrowed across languages. We can also look at what structures get borrowed across languages, because that can help us to understand how all the languages in a particular area can be very similar in structure despite belonging to different language families.

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Where do you work?

I mostly do linguistic research in central and eastern Nagaland, north-east India.

I am a specialist in the languages of NE India and have worked on nine languages of Nagaland over the past two decades.

Mostly I work in Mokokchung District and Tuensang District in Nagaland. Recently I have established a new field site in Haflong, a town in Dima Hasao District of southern Assam, as this is the epicentre of a linguistic hotspot with extreme multilingualism, so it’s a good location for studying language contact.

I have begun working on the Zeme language of the Haflong area because it is in contact with languages currently being investigated by two of my research students, and we plan to compare the data of our respective research languages as part of our investigation of language contact in NE India. In the past I have worked on languages spoken in Thailand, and it is possible that we will open up a new research site in Nan Province of northern Thailand in the near future. If so, I will oversee research there undertaken by a post doctoral fellow in our research team.

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How did you become interested in this world of research?

In my 20’s I began backpacking in Asia for extended periods, and through my travel experiences I discovered a love of Asian cultures and a latent ability to learn new languages. I became quite good at speaking one of them, so I decided to go to university to study this language and

discovered linguistics in the process. I found that I loved learning, and decided that I would embark on an academic career in linguistics if I could.

An opportunity to work on a language of NE India for a graduate degree presented itself, and I seized it with both hands. Looking back, field-

based linguistic research has permitted me to indulge three passions: travel in Asia, Asian languages and culture, and the pursuit of knowledge.

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What is the timeline of your research?

Hmm, a hard one to answer. A famous American linguist by the name of Leonard Bloomfield once said that it’s possible for a linguist to write the grammars of three languages in a lifetime. It took me about 7 years of work before I was ready to publish A Grammar of Mongsen Ao. Mostly it’s a matter of collecting as much data as possible in the (generally) 4 weeks of fieldwork permitted each year,

and then processing it electronically back in Singapore (time aligning sound files to transcriptions, annotating the data in an electronic database), and writing up conference papers based on the data. These are then presented at international conferences, the papers are revised based on colleagues’ feedback, and the papers are submitted to journals for publication.

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What is the history of your field of research?

For NE India, a few missionaries worked on some languages and published basic dictionaries and grammer sketches, but probably the best work was done by the British Raj administrators, who published a number of very useful anthroprological descriptions of their tribes, their languages, and their pre-Christian culture –­ all fascinating stuff.

After that, insurgency pretty much ensured that virtually nothing substantial was done between independence and the 1990s.

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The Researchers

alor abui

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FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

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language learning

FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

I grew up on a farm in the beautiful Czech countryside. In this farmers’ community, doing your schoolwork diligently was frowned upon. Instead, the village curriculum required one to be making slingshots and have them confiscated, to know the exact location of all fruit trees around the village and harvest them without being caught, to handle all types of domestic animals and agricultural machinery by the age of ten, and to

improvise explosives from baking powder and other substances better unmentioned, without getting caught.

Growing up in Czechoslovakia hidden behind the Iron Curtain, I used to hear about beautiful places like Indonesia from my parents’ friends and re-read a travel log about Micronesia many times, wondering whether I would ever visit those far countries.

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I used to hear about beautiful places like Indonesia from my parents’ friends and re-read a travel log about Micronesia many times, wondering whether I would ever visit those far countries.

alor abui

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FRANTIĹ EK KRATOCHVĂ?L

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After high school, I studied Czech and Dutch in Prague, before moving to Holland, where I got interested in Flemish literature, painters, and beer. When making the choice whether to learn Arabic or Indonesian for my minor, I remembered the stories from my childhood fondly and enrolled in the Indonesian course.

In the first class the professor knew how to pronounce my name, and correctly guessed my Czech origin, which was most certainly a sign of fate that this was meant to be. Eventually, I spent almost three years on a small island of eastern Indonesia called Alor and learned several languages there.

I like to live in remote places like Alor, talk to old folks about life and record their stories while learning from kids how to crack betel nuts with a machete and how to make perfect slingshots.

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I love being a linguist because I get to meet people whom I would otherwise never know or be able to communicate with. I like to live in remote places like Alor, talk to old folks about life and record their stories while learning from kids how to crack betel nuts with a machete and how to make perfect slingshots. I

still have a list of languages which I would like to learn.

The circle is slowly closing. I have started transcribing the chronicle of my native village in the Czech Republic to share with my own tribe one day.

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alor abui FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

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language learning

How do you do your research?

I describe grammars and lexicons of languages that have not previously studied. I study two types of undescribed languages: spoken languages and sign languages. In both cases, the methodology is descriptive. First, the language is recorded either in writing or in a digital form, to accurately capture what

is being communicated. The recording should always be representative of how a language is used naturally in the native community. Occasionally, I stage little ‘experiments’ to get similar statements: I show pictures and videos, or have different people explain the same things.

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interview alor FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

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What is the research methodology?

abui

Global databases such as WALS (www.wals.info), Glottolog (http://glottolog.org/), or Ethnologue (www.ethnologue. com) collect information about known languages. The smaller a language, the further from easily accessible, wealthy and industrialized regions of the world, the less information will

usually be available about it. But even in Singapore, quite little information is available about for example Hainanese or Boyanese. Most of the information about the area where I work has been collected only during the last decade.

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interview

FRANTIĹ EK KRATOCHVĂ?L

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Where do you work?

I study languages of Indonesia, China and Singapore.

In this project, I studied the languages of the Alor archipelago, which lies in the Timor region of Eastern Indonesia.

alor abui

How did you get into the world of research?

I was introduced to one of these languages, known as Uab Metoq or Dawan, during my graduate study in Holland, where I took a Field Methods course – that’s a type of bootcamp course for linguists who want to go out and describe unknown languages. We worked with a native speaker of Uab Metoq. I found this to be one

81 of the most challenging things I had done up to that day and I really enjoyed it. Subsequently, I applied to a PhD program in Leiden, the Netherlands, to study another language in the Timor area, Idate.

Eventually I ended up working on Abui, a language of Alor. Later I worked on Sawila and Subo, both spoken in Alor as well.

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I get to meet people whom I would otherwise never know or be able to communicate with.

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FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

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FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL

What is the process and timeline of your research?

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The timeline is in principle a cycle.

01 In the beginning a simple recording is made. This can be done in five minutes.

02 Through annotation certain words and their meaning are explained, but others remain mysterious and puzzling.

How long this phase lasts depends also on whether or not we are familiar with related languages.

03 New data is collected to test the explanations proposed for the first dataset, for as long as funding lasts. I have been working on Abui for the past 12 years, and there are still many issues that I don’t understand.

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alor abui

04 Some explanations are modified to explain the new data, after which new data is collected, depending on the difficulty of the problem.

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The data is disseminated through articles, books, databases, and archived. For well-studied languages such as English, Latin, or Chinese, this cycle has existed for many centuries or millennia, and it is a multigenerational effort of many linguists. No linguist would believe that the final word about English or Chinese grammar has been said yet, or ever will be.

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FRANTIĹ EK KRATOCHVĂ?L

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What is the history of your field of research?

The languages of Eastern Indonesia that I study within this project are classified as Papuan. This means that they are unrelated to Austronesian (the family to which Malay, Indonesian, Balinese, Javanese, and Tagalog belong). These languages have been studied for about 150 years. In my case, the first documents come from an American anthropologist, Cora Du Bois, who lived with the Abui people in 1930s. Other languages on the island have first had wordlists collected in the same period, but for several of them, those wordlists remain the only information available.

Compared to the study of Austronesian which goes back to at least the16th century, the study of Papuan languages is less advanced. There are about 800 languages which are referred to as Papuan, but their relationships are unclear, and there are still many for which we have no information, or only a short wordlist. Abui, Sawila and Subo, which are studied in this project, belong to the

same family, known as Timor-Alor-Pantar. The family is several thousand years old and no relatives outside the Timor area have been identified. Earlier classifications based on more limited datasets have linked these languages with a large language family spoken in New Guinea known as Trans-New Guinea.

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In some areas, we work alongside colleagues from other disciplines and we usually try to collaborate, or at least help each other with practicalities.

Different groups approach the same people with different sets of questions, and we do talk to each other. I have got non-linguist colleagues working in Alor on the local oral tradition, anthropology (witchcraft), there are also climate scientists (doing coral reef cores sampling), medical

specialists (studying malaria and filaria). We work quite closely with the malaria team, helping them to conduct interviews within the Abui community and translate and interpret the interview scripts for them to help them decipher the local understanding of language. There are also archaeologists and an upcoming ethnobotanical project (studying the usage of plants). There are also aid workers and missionaries, who are

working in healthcare and education, and I usually interact with them as well. They have often lived in the area for many years and are very knowledgeable. They are also often very nice people who are happy to help in many ways and open their large contact networks for me. So the point is, we are not alone in the field, there are many other outsiders there with interest in the place and people.

Some of the most amazing colleagues passed away before I started working with the Abui.

The first one is Cora Du Bois, an American anthropologist who worked in the area before WWII. I have her fieldnotes, Abui dictionary, and some of her letters from the field. It feels like we would have so much to talk about if we met. The other is Martha Magaretha Nicolspeyer, a Dutch sociologist. She came together with Du Bois, and they worked in the same Abui community. I have her dissertation.

She collected beautiful Abui stories. Her children contacted me in the past and shared her letters with me. They also have some old pictures from the field. It feels like the knowledge that they have gathered wants to be discovered by someone. I also kept a diary in the beginning, when I just arrived in the area. It’s a raw document, giving you a good idea of the initial alienation and confusion, before you settle in, find friends, find yourself and establish routines.

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FRANTIŠEK KRATOCHVÍL alor abui

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Where do the languages originate from?

The question of where the language originates from is unclear, and we are doing the diachronic toponymy project precisely to address this question. Elsewhere in the world, the systematic study of landscape and place names has yielded evidence about past settlements, even in places where no other historical information is available (no archeological or historical written record). Yet another source of information is oral tradition, but this research in Alor has not been published yet, although it is ongoing. Similarly, archaeological research has been conducted but nothing has been published yet.

There are other clues about the past in the ‘socio-cultural reality’. These are music, cultural habits such as dance, law, religion, and there are also artefacts, many related to trade.

In Alor these are bronze and metal drums and fabrics. Finally, there is the human DNA. The main point is that each of these tells its own story, but where you would expect a polyphonic performance pointing in one direction, often the story is cacophonic and the different voices disagree with each other.

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FRANCESCO CAVALLARO

I was born in the heart of Sicily, on the slopes of Mount Etna. I grew up wandering around vineyards and foraging for porcini, running in chestnut forests and hanging precariously off cherry trees with four other siblings. House bound in winter, I escaped into books where I met orang utans in Malayan forests and fought pirates in distant seas, sparking my interest in new cultures and languages. At 11, my family migrated to Melbourne marking a break from my Elysian childhood. My teenage years were spent grappling with a new land, culture and language. I grew to call

this new place home and the enormity of reconciling this beautiful and expansive country with the struggle of being ‘different’ further pushed me to explore the issue of identity and social belonging. This later has shaped much of my intellectual pursuit in linguistics as I try to understand the role of language in creating social categories.

I am concerned about how linguistic marginalization contributes to language endangerment and language shift and my research aims at understanding when this happens, how it happens and what can be done to prevent it from happening.

While I have yet to meet my orang utan in the wild, I did meet my partner in Melbourne. Together, we share the same passion for the wonders of cultural and linguistic diversity. I feel lucky to have a job where I can share this enthusiasm with my students. I am also very grateful to the many students I have taught who in actual

fact are my real teachers as through them, I have learned many valuable lessons in life. My best friend is my son. We are united in their love of reading and of soccer and we share the enthusiasm for the same teams (Juventus, Chelsea). To the horror of the only sane member in the family (my partner) we also share a liking for any movie with aliens and zombies.

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NG BEE CHIN

I was made in Singapore. I grew up as a ‘heartlander’ and did the things that I was told not to do. I took forbidden shortcuts through swampy jungles to get to school, fished for eels in the local creek and stole my way into cinemas to watch wuxia movies. As far back as I can remember, I never hesitated to let my teachers know when they were overbearing and unfair.

This foolish streak has seen me caught up in many scrapes. While I generally found

school unexciting, I turned to the mobile libraries in the 70s for sustenance. My strict mother could not stop me reading and more than one mattress met its end because of a spilled candle under the blanket. Raised multilingually, it never occurred to me that you could live life with only one language. My readings were mainly set in worlds totally different from my own. As a child and young adult, I never knew what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to travel and to see the places I read about.

This took me to Australia for my university studies. There I stayed for 22 years and discovered espresso, pho, chicken fesenjan and ricotta cheese, among other things. Most importantly, I discovered an intellectual approach to the study of the multi-faceted world of cultural diversity through linguistics. Being a minority in Australia helped define my interest in my own background and returning to Singapore has allowed me to rediscover and appreciate the diversity, potentials and challenges in this region.

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interview

BEE & FRANCESCO

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How do you do your research?

Experiments – behavioral studies Surveys, using questionnaires that are administered Interviews - face to face interviews that are recorded Recordings of group interactions Interviews and recordings are transcribed and analysed

What is the research methodology?

We read intensively on the topic and identify a research gap. We then design a study which can address this research gap using one or more of the methods above, and identify the sample we want to work with.

Sometimes, there will be a lengthy period where the stimuli used in the study has to be developed and tested. We then implement the study with the help of research assistants or students. This can involve anything between 12 to 250 participants which usually have to be carefully selected according to the requirements of each study.

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(3 months)

(1 month)

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What is the process of your research?

1) We read intensively on the topic. (this is usually based on our expertise) 2.) We identify a research gap.

3) We design a study which can address this research gap using one or more of the methods above.

4) We identify the sample we want to work with.

5) Sometimes, there will be a lengthy period where the stimuli used in the study has to be developed and tested.

(18 months - 4 years)

(3 months)

(3-6 months)

(3 months)

(3-6 months)

103 6) We implement the study with the help of research assistants or students. This can involve anything between 12 to 250 participants who usually have to be carefully selected.

7) The data collection is usually recorded.

8) The data is processed and transcribed.

9) All data including those based on experiments or surveys will be coded and entered into a statistical analysis programme - usually SPSSX and analysed.

10) The results are extracted and described.

11) The entire project is written up and sent for publication. The entire process takes anything between 18 months to 4 years.

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What is the history of your field of research?

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Sociolinguistics as a discipline only developed in the early 60s. The starting point can be traced to the Linguistic Institute in Bloomington held in the summer of 1964 attended by a number of the ‘founding fathers’ of Sociolinguistics. The scholars most attributed with the founding of the discipline are: Einar Haugen, whose book on the Norwegian language in America established him as the leading authority on bilingualism and language shift; Uriel Weinreich, whose seminal work is still regularly cited as the basis

for understanding language contact; William Labov, who pioneered a school devoted to showing the relevance of social determinants of variation for linguistic theory; Dell Hymes, whose adaptation of Roman Jakobson’s theory of communication shaped the ethnography of communication and was editor of the flagship journal Language in Society for 22 years; John Gumperz, founder of interactional sociolinguistics; Charles Ferguson, is widely noted for his seminal article on diglossia, published in 1959 and reprinted many times

since then in other publication. Joshua Fishman, whose first major book was to set the path for the host of studies of minority language maintenance and shift that now dominate the sociolinguistic research field; Basil Bernstein, the British sociologist whose work on class-related ‘codes’ inspired many sociolinguists; Heinz Kloss, who was one the earliest scholars to study linguistic minorities and coined the terms “ausbausprache” and “abstandsprache” to try to describe the differences in between what is commonly

called a language and what is commonly called a dialect.

The study of language shift has developed greatly over the last decades. UNESCO declared language as the ‘vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage’ and, therefore, worth preserving alongside all other forms of cultural heritage. With the quickening rate of language endangerment in recent years, scholars have been focusing more and more developing tools for categorizing the level of endangerment.

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HALINA GOTTLIEB

I have lived in Sweden for most of my adult life but have never lost touch with my Polish roots. In the past twenty years of my professional career I have been dedicated to the exploration and improvement of communication, experience and understanding of cultural content in museum environments and related public spaces. In my spare time I enjoy long walks, movies, and above all, spending time with my family.

I worked as a studio director at research lab Vision for Museums at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm (1999– 2010). I am currently director of the Digital Heritage Center in Sweden and a visiting scholar at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. I have earned a PhD in the field of digital heritage where I studied how to design and evaluate digital installations and interfaces and how they relate to visitor engagement.

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Throughout my professional career, I have striven to connect professionals in interdisciplinary collaborations that encourage knowledge exchange and innovation in the cultural heritage field. I have founded the annual international NODEM conference series, coordinated research networks such

as the Nordic Knowledge Triangle programme and initiated publications that aim to transfer know-how from research to practice (KnowHow Book Series). Currently, I am working with the Digital Intangible Heritage in Asia (DIHA) research cluster in Singapore.

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I use an exploratory and interdisciplinary approach to my research applying concepts from the fields of museum studies, digital heritage and participatory design.

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HALINA GOTTLIEB

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I work at the Digital Heritage Center in Stockholm, Sweden and work together with research labs, museums and universities in Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region.

Briefly describe the steps in your work flow.

1. Design of experimental prototype with an interdisciplinary and intersectorial group of professionals.

2. Involve the target group in the design process (participatory design)

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3. Implement the prototype in the exhibition space.

4. Evaluate the prototype together with target group using focus groups, questionnaires and digital tracking.

5. Re-design and final form of prototype.

6. Knowledge transfer, transformative research

Design-oriented research for new applications in Art & Culture

augmentation of visitor engagement in art & culture

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What is the history of your field of research?

In Scandinavia, digital heritage emerged in the 1990s as an interdisciplinary field of research involving museum studies, heritage science, participatory design and information and communications technology.

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What is the purpose of your work?

My ultimate goal is to facilitate innovation and knowledge exchange at museums and related public spaces by:

applying digital technology in new and

meaningful ways appropriate to the context

enabling knowledge exchange between stakeholders in cultural heritage, academia, IT and creative industries

developing new curricula in higher education that foster creative thinking, innovation and “hands-on�

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GALINA MIHALEVA

I grew up with a passion for fashion and art. My work and research deal primarily with the dialogue between body and dress, driven by the idea of having both a physical and a psychological relationship with a garment as a responsive clothing – wearable technology.

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In 1993, I left Bulgaria and moved to America to study costume design at Arizona State University. Prior to joining NTU, I taught at Arizona State Univeristy for more than 15 years. My art and design work has been shown in festivals, galleries and museums across the United States,

Central and South America, and Europe.

In 2007 I was nominated for the best design award at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. I am the founder of Galina Couture in Scottsdale, Arizona, where my team develops exclusive collections of oneof-a-kind designs.

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My interest in fashion lies in exploring the extent to which we experience fashion (emotional, intellectual and sensual aspects) and how we might be able to accomplish a higher state of connectivity between the body and our clothing.

Beyond in-depth analysis of cultural values, I combine traditional tailoring methods while developing and using new materials and innovative construction processes.

Unbounded by the old rules, I now

offer my work as a testimony to the power of beauty and expression, and to the transcendent human spirit. I regard my work as being timeless.

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interview

GALINA MIHALEVA

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How do you do your research?

Very often my research is practiceled or practice-based, involving the researcher as participant/observer (‘reflective practitioner’).

The research is collaborative, relying to some extent on the participation and feedback of scientists, engineers, programmers; designing/prototyping; testing/ analysing; evaluating/exhibiting.

How did you become interested in this world of research?

I studied art in Academy of Art in Bulgaria, where I was introduced to traditional weaving techniques during my graduate study. One of the most time consuming

techniques is ikat. In the summer of 2014 I was approached by Halina Gottlieb to be part of this linguistic research trip to Alor. This was

a great opportunity for me to learn more about ikat and to give answers to some of my questions:

Where did it come from?

How it will work with other materials?

What am I going to do with it?

Are there any alternatives for it?

Will it ensure the properties and performance I need?

Where will it end up?

Can it be recycled?

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What is the research methodology?

1. Contextual review including published literature and ‘live’ contextual information and visual exemplars;

2. Investigating on current innovations and identifying what is missing in the field;

The term ‘case study’ in this context refers to the in-depth, context-specific description, analysis and documentation of the process of developing new applications, testing and prototyping including the input of the collaborating professionals.

3. Formulate plan for new ‘case studies' based on the implementation of traditional textile techniques;

4. Proof of concept: building extensively illustrated documentation from design concepts to prototypes;

5. Designing and making: verifying, analysing and making final conclusions; performing evaluative interviews with key participants in the process;

6. Collecting and processing the data; documenting and evaluating the process and outcomes.

7. Exhibiting and showcasing

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What is the purpose of your work?

There are at least two main purposes – serving the academic interest and the interests of the community. I am currently looking into new applications in the area of

wearable technology. Examples include health monitoring, performance monitoring in sports, everyday fashion and stage wear.

I would like to search for new and creative ways to integrate traditional crafts in Southeast Asia with wearable technologies.

As a result I hope to find ways to preserve such traditions and heritage, by allowing them to co-exist in today’s fashion and wearable products.

This requires research in new materials, techniques, technologies and background studies in different cultures and Southeast Asian countries. In the process, I would like to explore different textile techniques, smart textiles, wearable forms, and wearable sensors in

multidisciplinary approach with other fields in engineering, science, art, design and media.

In the long term, I would like to build and document different textiles and crafts in a digital collection to encourage future applications and research in this area.

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ASTRID KENSINGER

I have spent almost half of my life in Asia. I am a researcher and practitioner of information visualization and mapping. My interests range from sacred historic sites to pilgrimages, distance running and organic food. My work is gallery based, but also focused on knowledge

sharing — translating research and text into visuals and graphics. I studied classical and near eastern archaeology at Bryn Mawr College, specializing in neolithic earthenware pottery, while minoring in fine art — sculpture and glazing techniques.

I evolved after nearly a decade in Tokyo into an art director and design manager, designing books and events and teaching typography.

It was towards the end of this phase that I decided to go back to school and received an MFA in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

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A graphic designer is a conduit of information.We take content and translate, re-present, visualize and package it to a specific and identified audience.

Design is a practice-based research process.

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I focused there on the archaeology of festivity, of the history of performance through the lens of a graphic designer, and dabbled in textile art as well. After graduation I lived in London and San Francisco teaching and freelancing before coming to Singapore.

Since coming to Singapore

my works have included site specific performances, mapping location and history with personal narrative. My works have been shown in Asia, Europe and the States.

I feel that this project brings all of my major interests together: visualization, design, communication, the

site specfic, archaeology, performance, textiles, and even exercise — all through the lens of linguistic archaeology — by the mapping of location, site specific narrative walks, and visualizing the meta of the whole project.

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ASTRID KENSINGER

How did you become interested in this world of research?

Degree Classical & Near Eastern Archaelogy

Tokyo

Graphic Design

MFA Archaelogy of Festivity

London

Performance / Live Art

Singapore

Site-specific Mapping based works Information Visualization

My undergraduate degree was in classical and near eastern archaeology. Over the years I became a designer and after years of working in Tokyo, went to graduate school at RISD to do an MFA in what I called the archaeology of festivity. At that time I was primarily interested in how people came together

to celebrate or mark time. I looked at festivals from around the world, and de-constructed these to understand how I could build my own events or experiences. Much of the work that I did at that time involved mapping motion. After graduation I moved to London where I taught and continued

my practice of creating live art moments. When I came to Singapore to NTU, the work I did became far more site specific. The events I stage have been connected to historical sites, to pilgrimages, to archaeological locations and mythological sites. Mapping has been the common thread

throughout this work. From mapping I became interested in visualizing information.

Over the last few years I've been teaching information visualization and for this work with the linguists I map process, history, location and our overall project.

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What is the history of your field of research?

Visualizing information is ancient.

We have attemped to make sense of our place in the universe through visualizing time, location, nature, the stars, our past, our possible future. More recently artists have played with mapping

and data in more conceptual and playful ways. I personally had the honor of studying under Krzysztof Lenk and Doug Scott while in graduate school, who both helped shape my interest in this field.

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I like being with people more than being behind a computer.

What is the purpose of your work?

I enjoy interacting with my subject matter as well as my audience. This has evolved from my experience in design research. I like being with people more than being behind a computer. I like to communicate. I feel my purpose in this work is to act as a conduit of information. I listen to my subjects and translate their spoken and written words into visuals, then get confirmation that the

visualizations are accurate and share these visualizations with a new audience. The research component comes with the reflections post-production. Has the content been clearly communicated? Have the strategies for visualizing worked for the new audiences? And if not, what can be improved? My purpose is to make dense content visually accessible to multiple audiences.

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MARIJKE VAN KETS

I grew up in a large family with four brothers and two sisters in a village in Belgium, next to the church bell tower loudly reminding me of time flying by every fifteen minutes.

At age twelve I was allowed to use my father’s camera to take my first pictures and was instantly fascinated by the medium.

When I got the chance to join the photo hobby club at school, I found where my true passion lay – observing the world around me

and composing stories through pictures.

My parents supported this interest as my father was an amateur filmmaker himself.

I was captivated when I experienced the wonders of the darkroom where pictures appeared on the paper in a shallow tray of

liquid under the glow of red light. I am an active person and love the outdoors, so a combination of travels and photography seemed unavoidable.

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When I applied to film school in Brussels I had the intention of becoming a documentary filmmaker. To my surprise, I was the only girl in a class of more than 35 aspiring cameramen and I discovered that I had entered male-dominated territory, which remains so today, 35 years later. At the end of my studies I was an

intern at a fiction film in the Netherlands during the school holidays when another student asked me to help out. This would radically change my path. From an aspiring documentary maker I now wanted to become a cinematographer, creating images for movies. I had to start from the bottom of the ladder with the dirty jobs

first. I soon became known in the local film scene as the little girl carrying the big lights around.

Fast forward twenty years and lots of film-shoots later, I became a Director of Photography on my first movie.

In the meantime I found my life partner on a film set, sitting across from him, both loading film mags.

Together we decided to explore other professional avenues and set up a film production company in Singapore in 1995. In 1999 the film “eating air� directed by

Jasmine Ng Kin Kia and Kelvin Tong was lensed by us and marked the beginning of Singapore-grown independent films. After all those travels, film shoots, day and night on the road in strange places all over the world, I recently settled down for a new adventure as a teacher at the film department at ADM to pass on the art, experience and knowledge I gathered along the way.

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MARIJKE VAN KETS

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How do you do your research?

My research is in film practice. As a cinematographer I will be contacted by a film producer wants to work with me for a movie. I work in different fields from TV commercials, music video clips, puppet animation films and long feature movies. The

production size and time vary but I am always responsible for the creation of storytelling images. The most important aspect of that is the light and the camera.

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What is the research methodology?

The pre-production stage is the most important one, as we will design each shot and translate the script into shots for the film.

1. Pre-production a. Reading script i. Interpretation ii. discussion with key crew members b. Visualisation i. mood-boards ii. shooting scripts, breakdown into shots. c. Collaboration i. Storyboards ii. Tests iii. Equipment lists and budget concerns

2. Production (shoot) a. Crew i. Departments ii. Camera crew b. Shoot i. Light the set, create the shots ii. Continuity of the footage

3. Post production a. Color grading

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What is the history of research in your field?

This falls together with the start of production of fiction films for mass audiences. From the very beginnings of film production, the art of motion pictures grew into full maturity in the “silent era” (1894–1929) before silent films were replaced by “talking pictures” in the late

1920s. Many film scholars and buffs argue that the aesthetic quality of cinema decreased for several years until directors, actors, and production staff adapted to the new “talkies”.

Since the start of cinema scholars have wondered how pictures “talk”.

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GÉRARD FELIX DIFFLOTH

I was born in Châteauroux, France. In those days, babies were still nourished with good quality food, pre-World War II. After graduating in Mathematics, and then Journalism, I moved to the US to study linguistics at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

For my PhD, I spent a year doing fieldwork in the mountains of South India.

At that time in 1965, I also met some speakers of Khasi in Vellur Hospital in Tamil Nadu who had come from

Meghalaya, north-east India, and started studying their Austroasiatic language with them. This was to become a lifelong project.

the shadows of the ancient temples of Angkor.

Why all this? Maybe childhood memories about my great-grand-uncle who On the way back to UCLA, I had directed the excavations also went to Cambodia, still of Delos and Delphi, the at peace in those days, and religious centres of Ancient started studying Khmer, the Greece; but more probably national language. Later on, for the magical spell of the over three years in Peninsular ancient world, the liberating Malaysia, I learned to speak feeling that other ways of Semai, one of the Orang Asli life are not only possible, but languages, distant relatives actually did really exist, and of Khmer and the rest of have left traces everywhere Austroasiatic. I have now retired around us, material as well as in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in mental.

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JOAN MARIE KELLY

I investigate the ecosystem of the city, initiating connections with marginalized communities by employing artistic and creative strategies during on-site workshops.

The aim is to empower the community through the experience of creation. The resultant artwork is a platform for the focus community to share their voice, experiences and ideas. I reinvigorate

concepts of art-making though collaborations with ethnographic methodologies, initiating social art events with the minority communities whose silent narratives speak to the global condition.

My social art events consist of socio-cultural engagement, with the aim to transform perceptions. The inspiration that comes from time spent

with the communities is the reference material for my artwork made in the studio. Most recently my work threads together two representatives in Indian society whose transformations speak to the realities of globalization, the historical archetype of femininity, the culture of the Kotha (the courtesan) with the historical archetype of

Masculinity, the Pahalwan (the wrestler), the culture of the Akhara. Both historically exploit the human body creating meaning through mastery of arts and formalities of discipline.

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Coming out of this context, my second pursuit is sustaining endangered languages through the creation of the first illustrated children’s book in what has been an oral only language. I work with linguists who specialize in writing the

text of oral languages in Asia.

My contribution is twofold. I conduct workshops in the focus areas with local speakers to extract iconography for the illustration of the children’s books, as well as mentor students from Nanyang

Technological University, School of Art Design and Media who illustrate the folktales.

I am represented by The Blue Mountain Gallery in Chelsea, New York. I have participated in six International Biennale

exhibitions and had solo exhibitions in USA and India.

My artwork is collected by the Ahuja Museum (India), Hua Xia Baosheng Art Museum (Changzhou, China), and the Thai Royal Family Mae Fah Luang. I have lectured

at several institutions including Princeton University, Oberlin College, Maryland Institute College of Art, New Hampshire University, Smith College and the 2nd Izmir International Art Biennale, University of Massachusetts.

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interview

JOAN MARIE KELLY

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How do you do your research?

I research the conditions in which minority communities live, understand their priorities, and concerns. When I am collaborating with the linguists I focus on understanding the cultural

context of the speakers while trying to extract information about the characters, context and emotional temperature of the story to support the illustrations. This is done through:

1. Experiments – art making workshops - Spending time with the subjects in their spaces making art: Painting and drawing of subjects face to face - I make paintings and drawings as research notes, made of the context (location) of the subject

2. Interviews - face-to-face interviews that are recorded through video or audio only.

- Video and audio recordings of group interactions - Interviews and recordings are transcribed and analyzed and made into documentaries.

- Telephone conversations once a month between the brothels in Kolkata India and weekly text messages to and from the Akhara in Varanasi India.

3. Paintings and drawings are made from the material references of the fieldwork.

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What is the research methodology?

1. Observation of society 2. Recognition of community that is rendered invisible due to various circumstances such as: globalization, ethnicity, or gender

3. Design an art making workshop that can engage this community and enabling me to spend time with the community.

This can possibly take place over many years.

4. Observe, take note and understand histories and concerns of the community during workshops. The community takes part in the art making, interviews, photographic and time based material used. The subjects are making art as well as the artist.

5. The data is processed. There will be a lengthy period where the material from the fieldwork (art events) is translated into paintings, audio documentaries and video documentaries.

6. Resultant artwork, and journal papers are extracted and described possibly in written proposals for exhibition and journal publications.

7. The journal papers are sent for publication. The resultant artwork may be curated in different contexts for the discussion of different aspects of the research.

8. The entire process is ongoing. I have been conducting art events in the brothels in Kolkata since 2009.

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Where and with whom do you do your research?

Sex workers in Kolkata, India Kusti wrestlers in the Akhara in Varanasi, India Pilgrims in Puri, India Ao speakers in Nagaland, India Kagate and Yolmo speakers in Kathmandu, Nepal Mutilated factory workers with missing fingers and hands in Shenzhen, China Bangladeshi foreign workers, transvestite Muslim sex workers, Singaporean sex workers and foreign sex workers in Singapore

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What is the process and timeline of your research?

All of this work is an experiment.

1) Linguists translate the folktales recorded in their focus area. I work with three linguists, Alexander Coupe in Nagaland, northeast India, FrantiĹĄek KratochvĂ­l with the Abui people on the island of Alor, and Lauren Gawne with the Yolmo people in Nepal.

2) I match stories with student illustrators that are interested in illustrating a particular story.

3) We discuss the narratives for aspects that need specific cultural attributes such as traditional objects, natural landscapes, traditional homes and spaces, specific types of animals and facial features of people.

4) The students find photographs particular to their story’s needs from references the linguists provide. We discuss this and consult with the linguists.

5) The students do the first mock-up of storyboards for the illustrations and placement of text.

6) We have further discussions on the composition and design of the specific pages in relation to each other and further consultations with the linguists. The linguists bring in a local speaker for consultation.

173 7) During this process, when we can get together to travel, I join one of the linguists in fieldwork in the focus area. This is when I conduct drawing workshops to extract visual iconography from the local people for the illustration of the stories. Through discussions I try to get data on the emotional context of the characters and the stories.

8) The data is processed. Resulting artwork from the focus area is analyzed by me, the illustrators and the linguists, and local speakers.

9) Illustrators complete the first preliminary illustrated book using all references and resources.

10) I review the first draft with the linguists and local speakers.

11) The illustrator makes changes. We discuss the book with the linguists and local speakers and continually review and make changes to it.

12) The first trial printing is made of three to five books, which are reviewed again.

13) The entire project is written up and sent for publication. The entire process takes about a year.

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What do think the purpose of your work is?

1) The purpose is to create primary reading material in oral languages as a way to preserve them.

2) To give young people the opportunity to use text in their traditional languages, especially in the age of text messaging.

3) My particular work is to extract iconography from the speakers for the visual material of the characters in the stories and the emotional temperature of the narrative.

4) To mentor and guide the students who are illustrators for the books.

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HEDREN SUM

I was born, raised and studied here in Singapore. My passion in library science and web design started developing while studying Diploma in Information Studies at Temasek Polytechnic between 2001 and 2004. My focus shifted to web development and content management during my education at the Singapore Management University (SMU) and NTU. I was a co-founder of a design studio between 2004 and 2011 that delivered innovative print and web solutions for corporate companies and government agencies.

Design, new media, and information: these phrases represent my role as a librarian at NTU Libraries. As an art librarian for design, my fundamental roles generally deal with facilitating access to information and delivering information services in art, design and media. My other role as a new media librarian extends my librarian work further into the digital space and to a greater community.

More recently, I have been attracted to the concepts of openness and digital collections. Working closely with faculty, I explore new ways of using

blogs, digital tools, and social media to showcase research outputs through digital collection, information visualization, digital curation and documentation projects.

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HEDREN SUM

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How do you do your research?

When working on digital collection or archive projects, I typically take a structured but iterative approach: defining the project, understanding the context, information gathering, designing, and evaluating. In each phase, I will tap on different types of

information sources to conduct my research, ranging from books to journal papers, websites, visual resources and subject expertise from faculty.

What is the methodology?

Define the project – The first and most important task for each digital collection project is to determine what needs to be achieved. I usually start with a one-toone consultation with the faculty (the project owner) to gather the requirements, objectives and subject matter of the project. I will synthesize the details and decide the project focus that demarcates the key intentions of the project.

Understand the Context – I will then proceed to understand the context of the project, which includes understanding the intended audience and subject matter of the project. This is the phase where I often acquire new knowledge and inspiration for my design.

I will consult the project owner, other faculty or people in the field and existing literature.

Gather information, design and develop – The required content or information for the project is gathered at this phase. I will also create the structure of the project, experiment with different ways to present the content, design the required graphical elements and oversee the development of programmable modules of the digital collection. Mock-ups or wireframes are also developed to facilitate discussions.

Reflect and evaluate – Upon completion of the digital collection, the project focus will be revisited to recommend improvements. Depending on the project schedule, the digital collection will be launched on beta to gather feedback and reflections.

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How did you become interested in this field?

Although my passion in designing for the web started when I was in my teens, my interest in designing digital collections only developed while researching for my master’s dissertation. I conducted content analysis on the world’s top 100 art museums to determine how digital visual assets are organized and presented for

access. I studied different topics, such as copyright, visualization, and openness as part of my dissertation. Since then, I have continued developing my expertise in this area by exploring different ways to visualize and facilitate the access of information using digital tools.

What is the purpose of your work?

The purpose of my work is primarily to aid researchers to facilitate research, communicate their research output and promote scholarship in the digital space to meet their academic needs.

I am currently exploring concepts that offer alternative ways of looking, browsing and searching for digital content, and the roles of digital collection and documentation in the area of digital humanities.

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ISBN: 978-91-85960-06-4