SLEXIL: User-centred software for community language documentation

Abstract

SLEXIL (Software Linking ELAN XML to Illuminated Language) is a web application designed to allow users to create animated HTML files from time-aligned transcriptions made in ELAN. Unlike earlier projects with similar goals, SLEXIL is a zero-installation web app developed strictly on user-centred principles, designed with the goal of transferring as much of the technical expertise needed for the process away from the user and onto the maintainers and developers of the software. While SLEXIL itself is rather modest and built for a very specific purpose, we feel that its design is proof of concept for the next generation of user-centred software applications developed for linguists, community language activists, teachers, and others involved in Indigenous and Minority Language Sustainability.