API-Powered Dictionary Websites

By November 23, 2016,
Page 232-236
Author Sandro Cirulli
Title API-Powered Dictionary Websites
Abstract Oxford University Press (OUP) recently started the Oxford Global Languages (OGL) initiative whose focus is to provide language resources for digitally under-represented languages. In August 2015 OUP launched language websites for isiZulu and Northern Sotho and in March 2016 added websites for Malay and Urdu. The backend of these websites is based on an API retrieving data originally modelled in RDF and delivering data to the frontend in JSON. The software presentation focuses on the API (Application Programming Interface) developed to power these websites. We show API calls to search dictionary entries, add new content on the website in real-time and delete it if need be. We discuss the advantages of API-powered websites, how the API allowed OUP to crowdsource linguistic data from online communities, and how APIs facilitate the integration of data with external systems and developers. Finally, we outline future work for the next phase of development of the API and OGL websites.
Session Lexicography and Language Technologies
Keywords API; dictionary; isiZulu; Northern Sotho; Malay; Urdu
BibTex 
@InProceedings{ELX2016-021,
author={Sandro Cirulli},
title={API-Powered Dictionary Websites},
pages={232-236},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th EURALEX International Congress},
year={2016},
month={sep},
date={6-10},
address={Tbilisi, Georgia},
editor={Tinatin Margalitadze, George Meladze},
publisher={Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi University Press},
isbn={978-9941-13-542-2},
}
Download