Publish Primary Data?
Thanks to Eric for setting up this blog.
I went to a talk at the Manchester Phonology Conference, and the speaker handed out a CD with all the data he’d elicited that related to the talk. I thought it was a great idea. Of course, putting it on the web would be even better. So:
Should it be standard practice to make the primary data that we refer to in publications publicly available?
I can see some issues following from this:
1. Where should all the data go? Ideally, there’d be one central phonology database where people could post their data, but it would have to have a lot of storage space.
2. How would people cite the data collected if they used it in their own work?
In any case, I’m planning to write a Maori phonology soon, and I’m going to try to put all my data on the web, plus spectrograms, pitch tracks, etc. If there’s too much stuff, I’ll make DVDs available for a nominal fee.
Thoughts?
-Paul de Lacy
Rutgers University (as soon as my visa arrives!)
