One of the things I'm working on is framing work on African languages in terms of the "long tail" phenomenon. More on this later, but the latter is described in the original 2004 article by Chris Anderson at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html (which has since been turned into a book).
I post on this now to pass on a mention of this subject in an article on African publishing (which otherwise unfortunately does not discuss African languages much): "African Publishing from the outside" Kelvin Smith (2005) http://www.sabdet.com/afrpubwritconf.htm ... Languages used by smaller language groups (in Europe and North America as well as in Africa) are claiming their place in both the digital environment of the Internet and e-publication and in the world of print (often newly revitalised in the forms of short-run and POD publications), so why not African languages. Not only can language markets be opened up both locally and internationally by using appropriate technologies, but with the demise of specialist importers and retailers, ICT provides indispensable tools to reach the many potential market pockets parts of the "Long Tail". ... Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
