Filming update

2009 has been a busy year for both filming and editing. There’s still plenty more to do – especially editing – but the rough shape of the eventual resource bank (due at the end of 2010) is now coming into focus. Under the broad environmental theme the three subcategories look like being the following:

1. Generations

2. Outdoors

3. Enterprise and Innovation

The Generations work is largely filmed, and will include coverage of the Children’s Parliament in Barra and Benbecula, crofting and boatbuilding skills development for teenagers on Uist, lifelong learning at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Skye, and a family day out at the Grimsay Boat Day.

Under the Outdoors category will come a range of traditional sustainable and crofting practices (such as how to make lazy beds or catch razor fish) as well as leisure activities that are more recent additions to island life, such as surfing or windsurfing.

Finally, in the Enterprise and Innovation section there will be a focus on community, social, and private enterprises that develop or exploit the natural or cultural heritage. Some filming has already been done, for example with Seatrek in Uig and St Kilda, and Tobar an Dualchais in Lochboisdale, and plans laid for including Am Pàipear in Balivanich, and Seallam in Northton. This is the section in which most work remains to be done, and the door is still open for other suggestions to be made. Just add a comment below…

Welcome Point

Cothrom held a “Welcome Point” event in the Sgoil Lìonacleit library in Benbecula on Tuesday 3rd November for anyone interested in English for Speakers of Other Languages. Tea, coffee, and snacks were available for an encouraging flow of enquirers about learning and teaching, alongside advice and information about classes that could be set up to meet individual or group needs. Visitors registered their interest and went home with a number to call – and a copy of the Island Voices DVD to whet their appetite for more learning! Many thanks to Felicity Bramwell in the library for hosting the event, and pointing out the free Internet access and other resources available there.

Am Pàipear

Welcome to any visitors to this blog coming from Am Pàipear, where there is good coverage of the project this month.Take a look back through previous posts and archives to get an idea of progress and previous suggestions. If you have ideas or comments please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Brussels Workshop – POOLS-T project link

Island Voices project co-ordinator Gordon Wells is attending a transnational meeting September 29th-30th to discuss progress with the POOLS-T project. This project aims to develop learner-friendly access to online dictionaries across a range of different languages. Sample extension materials based on Island Voices videos are already available here. These use an early version of the Web Page Text Blender, developed by Kent Andersen in Denmark. There has since been further development of this program, as well as the online “Wordlink” program, developed by Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, which can now link over 50 different languages.

Island Voices on St Kilda

Following the Lewis-based Seatrek environmental tourism company about its business took the Island Voices project to St Kilda last week. With such a visually stunning backdrop this should prove an interesting addition to the Enterprise section of the collection. Watch this space…

Workshop re-arranged

The final workshop for tutors, originally planned for 24th August, has been re-arranged. It will now take place on Tuesday 15th September. Times and venue as previously posted.

North Uist Workshop

The date and venue for the tutors’ workshop in North Uist on developing video content are now settled:

Date and time: Monday, 24th August, 1000-1600
Place: Claddach Kirkibost Centre (Ùrachadh Uibhist)

The programme will be as posted previously here. Enquiries welcome.

Welcome back, Am Baile

After an absence for technical reasons the first series of videos is now back on Highland Council’s Am Baile site. The clips have been compressed to facilitate fast online access, which results in loss of video and audio quality, but it does mean they’re available at just one click (if you have broadband…).

The English link is here, and the Gaelic one here.

DVDs at Ceòlas and Gaisgeach an t-Sluaigh

The pilot series of Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices films was released as a DVD/CD-Rom package, and is proving its worth as a promotional tool to help explain what the expanded project is about, as well as in its own right as community-based language learning material. This week and next the package is available at Ceòlas and Gaisgeach an t-Sluaigh in South Uist and Eriskay, two major events where residents and visitors meet and mix.

It is also available online from the Gaelic Books Council.

Workshop programme

Further to yesterday’s post here’s the Workshop programme.