Spreading the Word(s): Engaging with eDIL

Words tell stories and capture histories. The revised electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL www.dil.ie) underlying this proposed project encompasses 1,000 years of such words and their meanings, from 600 to 1600 AD and its geographical range covers Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It provides a unique insight into aspects of life in an extended historical era, since its account of how words were adopted, used and changed (in about 40,000 entries) reveals how people lived and described their life experience in words. Analysis of texts written in this period by researchers on a five-year AHRC-funded project, 'Text and Meaning', brought a range of new words to light, as well as new meanings for existing Dictionary entries. Early attestations of words were uncovered and figurative usage; incorrect meanings were identified and deleted, as were some ghost-words. All in all more than 5,000 changes were made to the Dictionary and a major new online revised and augmented version was published at the end of the project. Academic and widespread general interest in the work is indicated by the significant publicity its appearance received.
Much of the general interest was engendered through impact and public engagement activities undertaken as part of the primary project, including ten public lectures and interactive presentations, and a very active social media presence. In the case of the latter, a Word of the Week feature on the Dictionary's website regularly supplied members of the public (including 3811 followers of the project's Twitter account, @eDIL_Dictionary) with interesting information pertaining to a wide variety of words. A cultural history of Ireland drawing on 100 words by three team members, A History of 100 Words, caught the imagination of a general public and sold out within days of its launch; it was shortlisted for Best Irish-Published Book of the Year 2019.
We wish to address this evident broader interest in the cultural and linguistic aspects of our research and avail of new opportunities that have presented themselves, as a result of impact and public engagement activities already delivered. A second strand of our proposed work responds to recent significant changes in the educational landscape of Ireland and the United Kingdom, in relation to specific curricula, as well as the emphasis placed on independent and classroom-based projects. Our two-pronged approach will ensure that eDIL becomes embedded in the cultural heritage agenda of Ireland in particular and will have a lasting impact on educational resources pertaining to subjects such as History, Irish (Gaelic) and Religious Studies in Ireland and Britain.
Collaborating with two main sectors, education and cultural heritage, our principal objectives are the following:
1. To work with school teachers in developing educational resources for pupils.
2. To assist public libraries, museums and other bodies to highlight the importance of words in promoting and understanding cultural and linguistic heritage.
This project will produce three main outcomes, each with the potential for significant impact:
1. Freely available, age-appropriate, digital educational resources will shape how pupils engage with the medieval past and by developing their historical consciousness will increase their awareness of history's continuing effects.
2. Workshops, exhibitions and other events hosted in museums, libraries and other venues will help audiences to appreciate the importance of words as a window on the past, deepening their understanding of aspects of medieval life and literature and showcasing the enduring relevance and universality of many historical themes.
3. Recording and podcasting some of these events and an online exhibition will provide the project with a digital afterlife.
Overall, the impact of the work will be to facilitate a better general appreciation of the complexities of the past and how it shaped and continues to inform the present.

The proposed project will have significant impact on two main sectors with which we will collaborate, (1) Education and (2) Cultural Heritage. In addition, its influence will benefit the general public more broadly.

Recent developments in the educational landscape of Ireland and the United Kingdom include an increased importance on classroom-based projects and student-led research. In addition, study of medieval history is increasingly undertaken as part of explaining the modern world, with a concomitant emphasis on historical consciousness. These and other changes in Religious Studies and Irish courses provide an unparalleled opportunity for
eDIL research, with its focus on understanding the past through words, to inform aspects of second-level education and to work productively with those delivering these changing courses, for which engaging informative resources will be required. The benefits from this collaboration will be threefold:
1. Teachers' involvement in a productive co-operation with academic researchers will contribute to their professional development, as well as informing their their own view of the past.
2. Age-appropriate, stimulating resources designed as a result of the collaboration will be made available to teachers and pupils; shaping how pupils engage with the medieval past and developing their historical consciousness will increase their awareness of history's continuing effects. With reference to curricula in subjects such as History, Irish and Religious Studies, as taught in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, the project has the potential to influence teaching and learning in core humanities subjects, as well as provide stimulating material for use in independent project research.
3. Translation of the resources into Irish (Gaelic) will be of particular benefit to Irish-language medium schools, since engaging material in Irish is often lacking.
Among the general public more broadly, we wish to harness the widely-held interest in words and the past which manifested itself through the very positive reaction to public engagement activities already undertaken, and especially through the enthusiastic response to the publication of A History of 100 Words (by Arbuthnot, Ni Mhaonaigh and Toner). One reviewer of the volume specifically noted the lack of exhibitions devoted to the themes and early literature within the book. Our aim is to collaborate with museums and libraries to redress this lack and in this way situate our research within the cultural heritage sector more generally, by means of a series of events, some of which will also be captured in digital and audio form. The benefits of this are threefold:
1. Events hosted in various venues will help audiences to appreciate the importance of words as a window on the past, deepening their understanding of aspects of medieval life and literature and showcasing the enduring relevance and universality of many historical themes.
2. The digital afterlife of some of these events, through recording of workshops, podcasting of talks and the creation of an online exhibition will create an online resource which will have a more lasting impact, encouraging continued engagement with aspects of the past.
3. Collaboration with museums, libraries and public bodies such as Culture Ireland, will provide a working model for future accessible, engaging presentations of academic research. Working with the Royal Irish Academy and the newly-opened Museum of Literature Ireland will foster a creative, multi-media approach which should be of enduring value.

In order to monitor and evaluate the impact of our work, we will gather feedback from the various constituencies, teachers, pupils and the general public in a variety of ways: paper forms; electronic surveys; testimonials. In addition, we will encourage members of the general public to take away and adopt some of our words and solicit responses and engagement in this way also.