After digitizing libraries, translating knowledge?

Nine years ago I asked the question "Can we localize entire libraries?" In the wake of the National Library of Norway's (Nasjonalbiblioteket) digitization of its holdings and collaboration with Nigeria on materials in the latter's languages, it seems like time to review what mass digitization could mean for translation of knowledge into diverse languages. My …

Mass digitization and oral traditions

In the previous post, I looked at a possible ramification of "mass digitization" of text. But what about the spoken word? And more precisely verbal presentations, performance, and broadcast in languages often described as having "oral traditions" (and generally less material in writing)? Can we do something significant to capture significant amounts of speech in …

Can we localize entire libraries?

How close are we to being able to localize entire libraries? The question is not as crazy as it might seem. Projects for "mass digitization of books" have been using technology like robots for some years already with the idea of literally digitizing all books and entire libraries. This goes way beyond the concept of …