Enhanced Publications



In 2011, NIAS was one of the six organizations awarded a SURFfoundation grant to produce a so-called ‘Enhanced Publication’ in collaboration with DANS. The grant was used to support Harry Stroomer, NIAS Fellow 2010-11 and Professor of Afro-Asiatic Languages at Leiden University, in creating an ‘enhanced’ publication complied out of selected items taken from his Berber-French dictionary. Professor Stroomer’ s dictionary is the first of its kind and is a valuable source of knowledge for members of the Berber community in the Netherlands and Morocco. The ‘enhanced’ version will augment his traditional dictionary with an invaluable online source of information.
Five significant items were selected from the dictionary to undergo ‘enhancement’:

  • Agadir (city and fortified granary)
  • Argan (tree)
  • Atay (tea)
  • Rays (music)
  • Anẓar (rain ritual)

Relevant data that was considered to add a new dimension to the selected items was prepared by Professor Stroomer and two student assistants. Paula Witkamp, project manager from DANS ensured that links to this data would remain accessible by storing and endowing the data with a so-called Persistent Identifier. John Doove from SURF introduced all those involved to the various tools that could be implemented to prepare an enhanced publication and Leen Breure built the Xpos’re tool which proved to be most suitable. This tool is being further developed.
On the 14th June 2011, a draft version of the ‘enhanced’ dictionary items was presented to members from the other five projects that also received grants.
NIAS is now able to present the final version of the ‘enhanced’ version of selected items from The Tashelhiyt Berber Dictionary. The Tashelhiyt Berber dictionary project fits in with NIAS’s mission to provide its researchers with an inspiring creative environment and the appropriate facilities to produce quality innovative research outcomes.

Below you will find links to the enhanced publication as well as visual material related to the work carried out at NIAS.

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Enhanced publication: The Tashelhiyt Berber Dictionary

Video Harry Stroomer: http://vimeo.com/28804162 To view this clip, please contact D. van Maanen.

Leen Breure’s Xpos’re tool: http://www.cs.uu.nl/research/projects/i-cult/xposre/

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People involved in the project:

Aafke Hulk: Rector NIAS
Gera Pronk: Project manager NIAS
Dindy van Maanen: Project managers assistant NIAS
Harry Stroomer: Author The Tashelhiyt Berber Dictionary
Marijn van Putten & Jenia Gutova: Research assistants linguistics, Leiden University
Paula Witkamp: Project manager, DANS
John Doove: Project coordinator, SURFfoundation
Leen Breure: Built the Xpos’re tool

Last Modified: 10-01-2012