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Lab 1 – ELDERS Product Description ELDERS - 1

ELDERS Product Description

ELDERS – Purple Team

Old Dominion University

CS 411 - Brunelle

Author: Terry Stilwell

Last Modified: March 18, 2013

Version: 2

Contents


1 Introduction

2 ELDERS Product Description

2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities

2.2 Major Components (Hardware/Software)

3 Identification of Case Study

4 Product Prototype Description 0

4.1 Product Architecture (Hardware/Software) 0

4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities

4.3 Prototype Development Challenges

Glossary 4

References 5

Figures and Tables

1 Figure 1 6

2 Table 1 10


3 Figure 2…….…………………………………………………...……………………......11

1 Introduction

Language is an important tool that people use in their everyday lives. According to the

Merriam-Webster dictionary, language is defined by words and their pronunciations, as well as

the methods of combining them used and understood by a community (Merriam-Webster).

Worldwide, there are currently 7,000 languages in existence (Staff). This number means that

billions of people are communicating in a number of unique ways. It also reflects the

establishment of various cultures associated with those languages. However, by the next century,

half of them will be extinct (Staff). For many others, they will become endangered. This is the

case for the Nottoway language, which is the focus area for the project.

The Nottoway language, although no longer spoken, is still part of the culture of the

Nottoway tribe. Documentation shows that these people have been living in the Tidewater

region as early as the 1650’s (Elliott). During this time, only about 500 members spoke the

language. Over time, due to the aggression of other tribes and social suppression in the 1800’s,

the Nottoway started to dissimilate. Currently, there are about 200 Nottoway people residing at

Surry County who are experiencing several issues with the language (Morris).

One of the major problems they face is that support for the language is scarce. This applies

for documentation and also professional assistance. Several documents, ordered by Thomas

Jefferson, were recorded that list pronunciations of about 250 Nottoway words (Elliott). This


makes communicating difficult sometimes due to their ambiguity. Besides a few additions in the

1830’s, there exist no other written resources for the language (Morris). To complicate things

even more, there is not an alphabet included with this documentation. There is not a written

language but only a verbal one. Communication therefore is difficult. Furthermore, there have

been multiple attempts of requesting linguistic and financial aid from organizations but each one

has been denied.

In order to mitigate these issues, several solution characteristics can be evaluated. Firstly,

there should a free system in place to give the Nottoway tribe assistance. This should come in

the form of an educational, easily accessible program that is well documented. Also, communal

involvement from the Nottoway members will be essential. With these factors in mind, a

product called ELDERS has been proposed.

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2 ELDERS Product Description

ELDERS stands for Endangered Languages Documentation Extension and Revival System.

It is the system responsible for aiding in the reconstruction of languages. It will focus on storing

the original language derived from the documentation that is present, expanding the language by

creating an alphabet and new words, and providing the tools necessary for teaching the language

to others. This will be accomplished by storing the information on an online database accessible

through a GUI frontend and will stress the involvement from the Nottoway community.

2 Key Product Features and Capabilities

The database will be the primary backbone for ELDERS. It will contain at least two tables.

One of those will store what is currently documented in the Nottoway language. This will be

known as the Classical Dictionary. After it has been populated, it will not be touched. The tribal

leaders made it very clear that they want to preserve the classical aspects of the language. Then, a

second table will be created called the Expanded Dictionary. This is where the changes to the

language will be stored. Any additions, modifications, or removal of words will take place in

this table.

Education is a major component of this project. Digitally documenting the language is

beneficial but it would be ideal for people to be able to learn from it as well. Language lessons

will be offered in the forms of video lectures and interactive modules. Since the Nottoway

culture is related to the culture too, it is essential to have some historical information on the tribe.

Effective communication is the key for documenting an endangered language. The same goes


for attempting to learn one. The Nottoway people still wanted to feel as if the language was their

own (Morris). One way to accomplish this is to get them involved with the restoration process.

This could be done through a message board, forum, or chat.

2 Major Components (Hardware/Software)

The ELDERS project utilizes several open source, commercial out-of-the-box software

components collectively known as a LAMP stack. Specifically in the project’s domain, this

stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Linux refers to the kernel for the ELDERS server.

The Ubuntu 12.04 distribution will be used since it is the latest LTS release, also known as Long

Term Support. This will be crucial since maintenance will be ensured for at least five years.

Additionally, Apache will be used as the web server, MySQL as the relational database

management system (RDBMS), and PHP as the scripting language responsible for dynamic web

pages. Fortunately for the administrators, each of these is provided as up-to-date packages in

Ubuntu and offer user-friendly interfaces for configuration, such as phpMyAdmin for example.

1 Figure 1


ELDERS is made up of two major functional hardware components. Simply put, our project will

make use of a client and a server. For the product, the server will be hosted through a third party

company. Recommended specifications for the server are about two to four GB of RAM and at

least 30 GB of hard drive space. As for the client, the hardware includes but is not limited to

desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. For the mobile devices, an application will

be developed. However, as long as a device has a web browser, then the content will still be

accessible.

Since an overview of the backend hardware and software has been established, it is important

to identify the components interfacing between them and the users. For the database, as

previously stated, there will be two separate tables created. There will be a tool on the website

which will allow for the users to view the Classical and Expanded Dictionaries. The database

will also store the alphabet.

Access control is essential for a number of reasons. For example, the Nottoway people do

not want ELDERS open to the public. Therefore, authentication must be used in order to give

registered users access to the information. LDAP is one implementation of this strategy. Not only

is this used for authentication, but it can also be setup for authorization and user provisioning.

For example, users can be split up into different groups, such as Administrators, Tribal Members,

and Council Members.

There are several parts of the website that compose other major aspects of the project too.

Some have already been mentioned, such as the education, history, and communication parts.

The first is a page that allows registered users to view the alphabet and the dictionary. Also, there

will be the ability to propose new words for the language. This will be done through an interface

which will lead to a Council vote. Afterward, members of the Council will have access to


managing the dictionary. If a change occurs, registered users will be notified.


3 Identification of Case Study

To reiterate, the ELDERS product is aimed at language revival and focuses on the Nottoway


Indian Tribe of Virginia for this case study. The group has worked with the mentor, Professor

Morris, by communicating with the tribe. Due to his Native American heritage and Cherokee

background, Professor Morris was able to relate to the Nottoway in many ways. He could

understand their struggle to survive in a society different than their own and sympathized with

their cultural situation. After a few years of interaction, he managed to earn their trust and

offered to help with their language. This led him to creating the idea of ELDERS.

Again, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia is located in Surry County. For many years,

they had to assimilate into society and keep their history and culture a secret to avoid social

injustices. There are currently about 275 words in the language and roughly 200 members in the

tribe (Elliott).


4 Product Prototype Description

The main goal for the prototype is to create a digital source of documentation for the

Nottoway language. This documentation must be detailed and comes in the forms of the

alphabet, dictionaries, and history. It is important to note that there will be an initial archival


process for the language as it currently exists. Also, with all that information, the culture will be

preserved and hopefully the community will openly participate in these processes.

The tribe does not want their information to be publicly available. Therefore, user restrictions

will be in place to make sure that only the members of the Nottoway Tribe and those they grant

access to may view the language. The same reason applies to modifying the language.

4 Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software)

The components for the prototype and product will overlap in many ways but there are some

differences.

Prototype Product

Virtual Machine X

Video Lectures X

Mobile Application X

LAMP Stack X X

Voting and Searching

Algorithms

X X

2 Table 1

For the hardware, the prototype’s server will not be a physical machine. It will still be hosted on

a departmental computer but the actual server will be a virtual machine. Therefore, the hardware


specifications recommended before will be adjustable to whatever is given to the group for the

implementation of the project. Also, for the educational aspects, video lectures will be absent

from the prototype. The main goal is to make sure that the database is created and populated so

that digital documentation exists for the Nottoway language. That said, unfortunately due to time

constraints, viewing that information from a mobile application will not be possible since its

development is out of the project’s current scope of work.

3 Figure 2

Most of the software components will remain the same. The LAMP stack will still be required

as well as all of the parts of the website and database previously described. There will also be

two algorithms in place. The first deals with voting for a new word. The database is searched to

see if a word in the language exists. If it does not, then voting options are opened. The Council

can then vote for a similar word from a different language, vote for a suggested word, suggest

their own word, or do nothing. If a word is suggested, then it is added to the suggested word list.


The next process involves the list and having to approve the words. If a word hits a certain

number of votes, the Council gets to decide if the word is acceptable. If it is, then the word is

added to the Expanded dictionary. If it is not accepted, then it gets removed from the voting pool.

4 Prototype Features and Capabilities

The first feature discussed will be the tools on the website. Registration must be an option due

to access control being in place. This will be very similar to other registrations, prompting the

user for a login name, password, and email. There will also be a link on the site that will display

the history of the Nottoway tribe. In addition, there will be a very simple game to play that gets

the user comfortable with the words. One example of this would be hangman. Besides this, there

will also be an option for users to search the dictionaries to see if a word already exists in either

one. This implies that the Classical and Expanded dictionaries will be present in the prototype as

well. Also, there will be a forum provided for the community.

Language expansion into the Expanded dictionary is a crucial part of the language

reconstruction. It will provide users a tool to suggest words to be added if it does not already

exists in either dictionary. The voting process that was mentioned earlier will apply for the

prototype too. This will be followed by a Council word approval process.

4 Prototype Development Challenges

There are a number of challenges that the group will have to overcome. The first and most

obvious one is the responsibility of the system administration. Once the group has finished with

the prototype, there will still be upkeep and potential upgrades for it. This will have to be passed

on to someone who is familiar with the system or someone will have to be trained. Another

challenge is testing ELDERS to make sure it does what the Nottoway want. An easy way to


resolve this is to start early and communicate often with Professor Morris and the tribe. The

same mitigation applies to the customer feedback challenge. The final challenge deals with word

association and grammar. This is the most difficult to manage, especially since there is not a

linguist working with the group at the moment. However, Professor Morris does have a program

that creates conjugations when given a base word. With this program and the knowledge and

documentation on the language, word association and grammar problems will be resolved.

Glossary

ELDERS: Endangered Languages Documentation Extension and Revival System

LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP


Graphical User Interface (GUI): How the end user will interact with the application.

Linux: A free, widely-available open-source operating system.

MySQL: the worlds most used RDBMS.

Structured Query Language (SQL): Language used to make queries to a database server.

Tables: Logical collections of data stored on a database server.

RDBMS: Relational Database Management System.

Historic Dictionary: The table responsible for storing information that currently exists in the

Nottoway language.

Expanded Dictionary: The table responsible for storing any word changes, modifications, or

removals in the Nottoway language.

Council: This group consists on the tribal members responsible for voting and managing word

changes or additions.

References

Brophy, Natalia. "Why Is Language Important to Culture?" Bright Hub Education. N.p., 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://www.brighthubeducation.com/language-learning-tips/99894-why-language-is-important-to-culture/>.


Elliott, Archie. "Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia." Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nottowayindians.org/aboutus/history.html>.

Staff, The Week. "Save Dying Languages." The Week. N.p., 22 June 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://theweek.com/article/index/229695/googles-next-mission-save-dying-languages>.

"LanguageAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/language>.

J.D. Morris

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