LINGUIST List 10.427

Mon Mar 22 1999

All: Annual report from LINGUIST

Editor for this issue: Helen Dry <hdryemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. linguist, Annual report from LINGUIST

Dear Linguists,

Spring breezes are stirring our Gratuitious Pig to venture from his
sty and take down the Gratuitous Piggybank from its dusty cupboard
shelf. Thats right--its time for our annual LINGUIST Fund Drive.

But don't think this frivolous opening means that LINGUIST is not in need this
year. As usual, we need funds to support the five student editors and
two programmers who work to deliver the services you've become accustomed
to--and also to develop the new services you suggest.

We like to hear your suggestions. We try valiantly to respond to them.
This past year, for example, LINGUIST began several major initiatives that
originated with you, our subscribers.

One was the archiving on LINGUIST of other linguistics-related
mailing lists. Check out this service via the link at the top of 
our homepage or go to

	http://linguistlist.org/list-archives.html 

So far, 30 linguistics-related mailing lists have accepted our
invitation to archive their postings on our site. These archives are
currently web-readable and searchable on a list-by-list basis. And we
are trying to get a grant to fund development of other services for
the archive: multi-list searching capabilities, an automated
Linglite-like posting for multiple lists, and extraction of all the
URL's published on these lists. The latter function would allow
linguists to use a search engine like Alta Vista to search ONLY
linguistics-related URL's; those of you who know the frustration of
having thousands of irrelevant URLs returned by a web search
will understand why we think this projected service would be
useful. 

If you have other suggestions to improve this archive, please
let us know. (And, of course, if you have a rich uncle who funds
software development, don't hesitate to mention it!)

Last year, in addition to starting the multi-list archive, we greatly
expanded our collection of dissertation abstracts:
	http://www.linguistlist.org/dissnew.html 
our directory of information about linguists: 
	http://www.linguistlist.org/persop.html
and our directory of college linguistics programs: 
	http://www.linguistlist.org/program/ 

These are not just collections of links but rather searchable
compilations of information. And, in response to your suggestions,
we have instituted a password system for these functions so that you
can update your own information.

Last year we also:
 	- expedited automatic reporting of broken links.
	- began a new category--Support--for posting funding opportunites as
	well as announcements of existing and new graduate assistantships.
	- set up a site map.
	- improved the way LINGUIST data categories are organized
	and changed the look of our pages.
	- published book announcements from 23 different publishers.

That means that virtually all new books in the field are announced on
LINGUIST-- and you can search for a list of these using the general
topic you're interested in (e.g. syntax) as a keyword.

If you agree that LINGUIST is as useful to the profession as we like
to think, please respond with a donation. It is only your donations
which allow us to pay our student editors; and the student editors are
what keeps us in operation.

This year we're very pleased to have something, besides our gratitude,
to give to those of you who support us so generously. We have
LINGUIST T-shirts to send to people who donate $60 or more. They were
designed by Elaine Halleck, one of last year's editors, and are (we
think) pretty snazzy: dark blue with the yellow and red LINGUIST logo.
Be the first on your block to own one! (They come in Large and
Extra-large; we'll need to know your size and your address if it's different
from that on the check.)

To donate to LINGUIST, send a check made out to "The Linguist
Editorial Support Fund" to:

	The LINGUIST Editorial Support Fund
	c/o Helen Aristar-Dry
	Dept. of English Language and Linguistics
	Eastern Michigan University
	Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Or donate by credit card at: http://linguistlist.org/donation.html

Before closing we would like to express sincere gratitude to those who
have already sent in a 1999 donation, as well as to the kind and
enterprising people who tried to help us out after the theft of our
laptop: Jim Witte, Lyn Eubank, Kela Ruskennen, Gershom Palma, David
Lewis, and Jim Gohre. As usual when we send out a call for help, we
were impressed and moved by the generosity of the people in our
profession.

Thank you in advance for your 1999 donation.

The LINGUIST Staff:

Helen, Anthony, Andrew - LINGUIST Moderators
Marty, Brett, Scott, Karen, Jody - LINGUIST Editors
Chris, John - LINGUIST programmers