The Buddhist Translators Workbench (BTW), a project of Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages

FAIN: HD-51772-13

Mangalam Centers (Berkeley, CA 94704-1418)
Luis Gomez (Project Director: October 2012 to May 2016)

The continued development of a prototype of the Buddhist Translators Workbench, a platform for scholars and translators of classical Buddhist texts, as well as the preparation of supplementary user tutorials.

The Buddhist Translators Workbench (BTW) offers an interactive digital environment for scholars and translators of classical Buddhist texts. Focused on lexicographic research, it gives ready access to the resources needed to research key terms in context and suggests new lines of inquiry. Scholars can record their findings for broad dissemination, and the ability to log user threads and dialogs will support collaboration and encourage user contributions. Extensive interactive annotations of key terms will preserve the work of earlier generations and create new possibilities for interdisciplinary work. By establishing a shared body of knowledge easily accessible across specialized disciplines, BTW will serve as a model for other scholars working in clearly delimited fields. Level I focused on planning, developing alpha-level prototypes for inputting data, and choosing sample terms and texts. Level II will initiate work on a proof-of-concept database to go online in May 2014.