CLARIN
The National Commitment
Malta, through the University, is committed
to contributing to this large scale European
collaborative effort by providing the
requirements and specifications needed for
the Maltese language context and its
different use in various applications. It is
also committed to bringing such a service to
the attention of members of academia and
other institutions, and provide support in the
usage of such tools and resources. Within
the University, the project is coordinated by
the Department of Artificial Intelligence
with support from the Institute of
Linguistics.
Although CLARIN is a scientific project, it
is primarily aimed at enhancing the quality
and scope of research in the Humanities by
providing a framework within which the full
potential of language resources can be
brought to bear.
This aim can only be achieved through the
active involvement of researchers in the
Humanities, thereby creating a synergy
between Technology and the Arts.
CLARIN is the first FP7 EU Infrastructure
project involving a Maltese partner supported by the Malta Council for Science
and Technology (MCST).
Infrastructure projects provide the environment within which future research is carried out. By recognising the importance of
CLARIN, Malta is committing to a long
term future investment in resource based
linguistic research thus affirming its position in an increasingly knowledge based
economy.
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
CLARIN,
c/o Dept Artificial Intelligence
University of Malta.
Msida MSD2080
Malta
Phone: +356 2340 2507
Fax: +356 2132 0539
E-mail: clarin@um.edu.mt
Project contact persons:
vanessa.camilleri@um.edu.mt or
mike.rosner@um.edu.mt
CLARIN targets the creation of a persistent
and stable research infrastructure offering easy
access to interoperable language resources and
technology for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
The CLARIN infrastructure will help to bridge
the gap between institutions in Europe that
provide written, spoken and multimodal language resources and technology, and those,
especially in the Humanities and Social Sciences, that make use of these resources and
technologies in their research.. For such infrastructure to be successful, correct design is of
crucial importance.
Hence, the preparatory phase of CLARIN,
which lasts for three years, is mainly concerned with the development of specification
according to the needs of its users. More than
130 well-known institutions from 32 countries
have joined the CLARIN initiative as members.
A significant proportion of governments in
participating countries have expressed their
support for this initiative by committing financial resources to national funding bodies.
The 5 CLARIN Dimensions
The 5 CLARIN
dimensions listed
intend to outline the
roadmaps
to
achieve the persistent and stable infrastructure.
University of Malta Role
DELIVERABLES
The University will present the following documentation to CLARIN in view of the Maltese
Language context and usage:

A. Funding and governance dimension
Through an agreement between funding
agencies, taking into account governance,
construction, funding and future operation.
B. Technical dimension
Detailed specifications of the infrastructure; reaching an agreement at the European level upon data and standards for operation.

A report outlining existing Maltese Language resources and their application;

A language resource server populated with
Maltese language reference text and data;

A Basic Language Resource Kit (BLARK)
for the Maltese language for both written
and spoken corpus, including applications
which need such resources.
C. Language dimension
A populated infrastructure with a wide
range of resources which can be made use
of by everyone with an interest in language
tools and applications.
D. User Dimension
An investigation into the needs of target
users, particularly in the Humanities area.
E. Legal Dimension
An investigation into the legal and ethical
aspects of the sharing and use of language
resources and technologies, proposing solutions where barriers, such as IPR, are
found.
A survey detailing user needs and requirements pertaining to various
academic and educational
fields and domains including
but not limited to humanities,
social sciences, medicine and
science;
UoM is also committed to disseminating information to as wide an audience as possible relating how such language resource and tools can be
of service for academic, scientific and every day
applications in a specific field of study.
Requirements
BENEFITS FOR RESEARCH
Access to digital language resources on a
European scale.
Access to tools for managing and exploring
corpora
Assistance in creating a methodologically
sound workflow for innovative approaches to
research and development.
Help with format conversion, and training in
the use of specific tools and methods.
NEED S
The project needs input concerning:
1. Use of Language Resources
 How language resources are used within
specific Humanities field of study;
2. Use of Language Tools;
 Which tools are currently in use to-
gether with a wish list of possible tools
for the future
3. Language data
 Data pertaining to Humanities research
which can be in the form of text/
audio/video in Maltese language.