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Miromaa's feature list is quite extensive so please find below some of the main features of Miromaa and some screen shots to help visualise these features.
- Language Storage
- Users and Security
- Language Entry
- Multimedia
- Archiving
- Linguist
- Word Lists
- Learner
- Export to Toolbox/Lexique Pro
- Import from Toolbox/Lexique Pro
Miromaa3 has been developed using a Windows .Net development platform with an Access data file. The program has the ability to work with multiple languages in two ways, they are:
- Many languages or dialects in one data file or
- A data file for each separate language
You can add a new language to the database anytime.
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In the beginning of our consultation period of developing Miromaa it was evident that Miromaa needed to have good user and security management.
You can have as many users as you like, there is a default admin account which is used for setting up other users or controlling security
Miromaa has inbuilt security features which you can either use as they are or adjust to suit your community and needs. You can control who has access to each specific area.
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You can enter language data using two methods, either a simplified language entry screen or a detailed area which also lets you add further information and multimedia for each word entry. For languages which use unique fonts we have added a onscreen keyboard where you can up to 30 special characters which can be entered into any field without having to remember special key combinations.
Aside from the many fields which are present there are also 9 customisable fields, semantic domain selection and even parts of speech.
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Our Aboriginal languages are traditionally an oral language learnt through emersion within our community environment, so from the outset we knew this was not going to be just another text based database, we had to have the ability to upload and access all sorts of multimedia. As such Miromaa provides you with the following multimedia features:
Audio
- Upload a pre-recorded audio files or record your own within Miromaa by using Audacity
- Playback the audio files directly from within Miromaa
Image
- Attach images which helps to make visually learning the language much easier and more fun
Video
- Preserve language by using both visual and audio methods
Miromaa can help prepare your language data, metadata and media to make building talking dictionaries and multimedia learning tools much easier.
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One area which we feel Miromaa is especially strong in is enforcement of good archive practise, once a new word is entered it automatically receives a word id which forever stays with that word, Miromaa asks you the source of where you found that word and you if it was a document you can even upload a copy of that document, pdf or image to Miromaa for storage. The source is then accessible at anytime from within Miromaa.
The image to the right is of the Source Entry screen and as you can see you can enter ample information about each source, the source can be a speaker, a book, a tape, anything you like. Note the blue hyperlink of the source, this means that you have an attachment and this can be opened just by clicking on the link.
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Because certain users have certain needs Miromaa also has a work area for linguists, this area has a few extra fields just for them, you still have
access to audio attachments but no other multimedia, they are all accessible from the language worker screen.
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One of the first things that community ask for from a language preservation program is a word list, so we have ensured that Miromaa has this ability to construct word lists. We have incorporated many filters so that you can construct a word list to suit your needs e.g. you would like a word list of just words that relate to wild life, easy, set your filters appropriately and all done within a moment.
You can now export this to Microsoft Word or maybe even Adobe PDF as well.
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Miromaa has an inbuilt Learners area where only words that you select can be made available for learning, basic information about the word and the multimedia attachments are made available.
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Probably one of the most important areas within Miromaa is this Export area. Around the world many linguists use Shoebox/Toolbox for their linguistic work, it is a great work and the program has many features including the ability to construct dictionaries via the Multi-Dictionary Formatter (MDF) tool. One thing that we see is that the popularity of Shoebox/Toolbox and the text file format which it uses to store the language in can be used by other programs including Lexique Pro (a lexical interactive language learning tool, if I may describe it as that).
So we have ensured that Miromaa can export its data ready for use by these other programs. The image to the right shows the area where you construct your Shoebox/Toolbox file contents before exporting.
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Import from Toolbox/Lexique Pro
A newly added feature, importing from a text file which uses standard format markers is now possible by our extensive Import screen, you have complete control over where you data will be imported into Miromaa, this feature is extremely useful for language programs where a visiting academic or linguist may have done work in Toolbox or Lexique Pro and has now moved onto other projects. These data files which have been left behind can now be transferred into Miromaa and then expanded upon with Miromaa's extra features including Multimedia, Learners screen and user friendly environment to name a few, later they can always be exported back to a Toolbox or Lexique Pro data file.
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