[Summary]
Tyler Chambers first created the Human-Languages Page (H-LP) in
May 1994 as an index of language-related internet resources in a
number of languages. In 1995, Tyler launched a second project, the
Internet Dictionary Project (IDP), as a collaborative project to
create free online dictionaries from English to other languages
(French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish). As
explained in 1998 on the project's website: "The Internet
Dictionary Project's goal is to create royalty-free translating
dictionaries through the help of the internet's citizens. This
site allows individuals from all over the world to visit and
assist in the translation of English words into other languages.
The resulting lists of English words and their translated
counterparts are then made available through this site to anyone,
with no restrictions on their use."
***
In 1995, Tyler Chambers launched the Internet Dictionary Project
(IDP) as a collaborative project to create free online
dictionaries from English to other languages (French, German,
Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish).
Before launching the Internet Dictionary Project, Tyler created
the Human-Languages Page (H-LP) in May 1994 as an index of
linguistic internet resources. In 1998, there were 1,800 language-
related resources in 100 languages, with six subject listings
(languages and literature, schools and institutions, linguistics
resources, products and services, organizations, jobs and
internships) and two category listings (dictionaries, language
lessons).
What exactly was the Internet Dictionary Project? As explained in
1998 on the project's website: "The Internet Dictionary Project's
goal is to create royalty-free translating dictionaries through
the help of the internet's citizens. This site allows individuals
from all over the world to visit and assist in the translation of
English words into other languages. The resulting lists of English
words and their translated counterparts are then made available
through this site to anyone, with no restrictions on their use.
(...)
The Internet Dictionary Project began in 1995 in an effort to
provide a noticeably lacking resource to the internet community
and to computing in general -- free translating dictionaries. Not
only is it helpful to the online community to have access to
dictionary searches at their fingertips via the World Wide Web, it
also sponsors the growth of computer software which can benefit
from such dictionaries -- from translating programs to spelling-
checkers to language-education guides and more. By facilitating
the creation of these dictionaries online by thousands of
anonymous volunteers all over the internet, and by providing the
results free-of-charge to anyone, the Internet Dictionary Project
hopes to leave its mark on the internet and to inspire others to
create projects which will benefit more than a corporation's gross
income."
Tyler wrote in September 1998 in an email interview:
"Multilingualism on the web was inevitable even before the medium
'took off', so to speak. 1994 was the year I was really introduced
to the web, which was a little while after its christening but
long before it was mainstream. That was also the year I began my
first multilingual web project, and there was already a
significant number of language-related resources online. This was
back before Netscape even existed -- Mosaic was almost the only
web browser, and webpages were little more than hyperlinked text
documents. As browsers and users mature, I don't think there will
be any currently spoken language that won't have a niche on the
web, from Native American languages to Middle Eastern dialects, as
well as a plethora of 'dead' languages that will have a chance to
find a new audience with scholars and others alike online. (...)
While I'm not multilingual, nor even bilingual, myself, I see an
importance to language and multilingualism that I see in very few
other areas. (…) Overall, I think that the web has been great for
language awareness and cultural issues -- where else can you
randomly browse for 20 minutes and run across three or more
different languages with information you might potentially want to
know? (…)
To say that the internet is spurring multilingualism is a bit of a
misconception, in my opinion -- it is communication that is
spurring multilingualism and cross-cultural exchange, the internet
is only the latest mode of communication which has made its way
down to the (more-or-less) common person. (…) Language will become
even more important than it already is when the entire planet can
communicate with everyone else (via the web, chat, games, email,
and whatever future applications haven't even been invented yet)."
In spring 2001, the Human-Languages Page merged with the Languages
Catalog, a section of the WWW Virtual Library, to become
iLoveLanguages, In September 2003, iLoveLanguages provided an
index of 2,000 linguistic resources in 100 languages. As for the
Internet Dictionary Project, Tyler ran out of time to maintain it
and removed the ability to update the dictionaries in January 2007.
People can still search the available dictionaries or download the
archived files.