Determining the Best Tools for a Digital Project

In this section, we will start with digital tools that are useful in the collection, processing, and management of documentary materials

Most projects will benefit from at least some dedicated hardware. Laptops (preferable over desktops because of their portability) are important for the digital 'heavy lifting', but tablets and phones can also be quite useful. When shopping for laptops and phones, look for products that are compatible with your existing infrastructure, and that have a reputation for durability. Some kinds of hardware are explicitly marketed under the 'right to repair' movement, meaning that these devices will be easier for you to repair, expand and upgrade over time. The ability to upgrade hardware, replace batteries in phones, and the like is a key component of durability for these devices.

For hardware like cameras and audio recorders, it used to be the case that pricey digital equipment was worth the investment. Today, for most documentary projects, the cameras and audio recording capacity of tablets and phones is more than sufficient. The most critical component for good audio is a good external microphone. It will be important to communicate with your IT Department when considering new hardware.

If your school has an audio-video production department, or a public relations team, they will have expertise about the best equipment for you in terms of audio and video quality. Look for evidence of durability (again 'right to repair' is a good key term to look for), and ease of storage of audio, video or image files in various formats (.wav is gold standard for audio, but .mp3 is also often needed; .mp4 or .mov for video, and .jpg or .png is standard for images), and image and audio quality specifications.

Most hardware and software 'lives' in one of these three ecosystems. Windows (Microsoft), Apple (Mac), and Linux. While Windows is probably the most familiar, Apple capabilities are similar and used in similar work environments. Apple is often noted as being used more often in art and design. While some software and applications work across these two operating systems, it is important to know which programs may be platform specific. Linux is an open-source operating system modeled on UNIX, but can be used by those working in language documentation, particularly if you are writing code.

For processing materials collected and created in language documentation projects, there are some specs to keep in mind. Processing and managing images and video require hardware with more storage capacity than other formats do, and video editing benefits from the fastest processor speed you can manage.

To use technology with a language whose writing system (orthography) is different from any large-scale 'standard' language like English, Spanish or Chinese, you may need to find or build custom data entry systems ('keyboards') that make it easier to type your language(s).

To work with audio and video, access to external speakers as well as headphones, and large or multiple monitors is very helpful.

In terms of storing and managing the materials created, you will want to make decisions about where materials are stored (in the 'cloud', on a local machine, or both); how you plan to share them (i.e. by an intranet, shared drive, or by exchanging files on external media like thumb drives); and where you intend to organize them (using personal laptop or desktop machines, and/or machines connected to external storage.