This is totally awesome. Major props to its creation! I will use it alot I am sure
However! I have serious doubts on its use for a 'serious' researcher. I have serious doubts on its, what's the word I am looking for...
"accuracy"?
Here are some snippets from the article:
McCormack, a UAT web developer by trade, worked more than 1,000 hours on researching the cuneiform and hieroglyphic and building the
tool and its accompanying website.
He had no prior (or at least officially) knowledge pertinent to these early forms of writting.
He holds no degrees related to this work.
1000 hours actually seems a little low if I am to believe an adequate amount of knowledge was aquired from the research, and subsequently, an accurate
enough translator was made.
The translator works by converting cuneiform and hieroglyphs, both used in the earliest forms of writing, into English words. For example,
typing "I am a father" into the Ancient Egyptian translator yields hieroglyphs that
roughly translate to "I am" and "father."
'Roughly' being key. For the serious researcher, this is a really neat tool but by no means an absolute source... probably not even close to one.
with the language database occupying two hundred hours to line up cuneiforms and hieroglyphics with text descriptors and make a hierarchy to
prioritize the information.
I am not entirely sure what that entails
, but I think I can apply my earlier statement to this as well.
Here is a snippet describing the school:
With three centers of research and a suite of technology-centered undergraduate and graduate degrees, the University is a recognized leader in
technology education.
Notice the University's focus is in technology not in early forms of writting.
I am excited to use it though. I'll be updating my Myspace page to Egyptian soon enough!
[edit on 30-8-2007 by Cloak and Dagger]
