Hi Derek,

We have used tablets for recording, testing, and training certain
orthographies (e.g., Kanji, Mandarin or Geez). Although they are more
expensive, I believe it's worth getting something you can draw on the
screen of rather than an entry level Wacom.

Another thought for research is related to high speed video recording. A
Prof. I worked with at our university invested in a high speed camera to
record lip movements and facial gestures of speakers of a less-commonly
taught language. It was done as a means of reinforcing phonetic research
findings regarding more difficult to parse phenomena in a spectrogram, like
minimal lip-rounding. Something we neglected to do for that project was
budgeting for a high powered light kit. We figured filming in a very bright
room with some additional (minimal) lighting would be sufficient, but once
we shot over 128 frames per second, the light was decreased much more than
expected at it made much of the video data uninterruptible (recording was
done in the very remote field so this was unfortunate).

In case it is of interest (perhaps for students looking for a project),
here is a language attitudes research technique/instrument I've been using
that requires minimal equipment (an audio recorder, small video camera and
some thick card stock) and training: http://depts.washington.edu/qiias/

Best,

-Russ

Russell Hugo
UW Language Learning Center
http://staff.washington.edu/rlhugo/


*From:* Derek Stearns Roff <[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>>
> *Date:* March 10, 2016 at 18:10:10 GMT+2
> *To:* <[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>>
> *Subject:* *Searching suggestions for language research hardware,
> software, tools*
> *Reply-To:* Language Learning and Technology International Information
> Forum <[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>>
>
> Do you have any suggestions on how to spend several thousand dollars for
> research tools?  This would be for multiple items, each of which could be
> used by a variety of people over multiple  years, to do different kinds of
> language research.  Items that could be used by undergrads, grad students,
> and faculty/staff members, so the learning curve should not be too terribly
> steep.  Sign language as well as spoken language.  Camcorders and portable
> audio recorders are obvious, as are hard drives to store data.  What are
> some things that are less obvious?
>
> I would love to hear your experience, your recommendations, and your brain
> storming.  What do you and your students use, that you love?  What do you
> wish you had bought?  What have you seen that is promising?  Don’t forget
> software and accessories.  I would also be interested in research
> techniques that you have come up with, using common items.  Time lapse
> photography for researching communication styles?  Research iPad tricks?
> What else?
>
> Share your ideas, inventions, discoveries, and successes with me, and I
> will summarize for the group.
>
> Thanks,
> Derek
>
> Derek Roff
> [log in to unmask]
>