As most of you know, I’ve been a language fanatic for ages. All my studies and travels have now led me to learning about language documentation and revitalization which involves recording undocumented languages and as well finding ways to save dying languages. You can read a little more about that on my Dave Prine blog post.
Anyway, this is an area I’m excited about, and I’m working on becoming more active in the whole field of study.
I came across a website of a documentary in the making called “Lost Words” about the imminent extinction of several Native American languages and the efforts to bring them back. While I don’t personally know any of the people involved very well (I’ve communicated with the producer/director a few times), I’m excited about this project and I’d really like to support this. Apparently, they’re looking for donations on their IndieGoGo fundraising page.
As of today they’re only up to $1192. I’ve already donated $1 just to get my name up there so people can see that I actually did contribute and how easy it is to donate a small amount, but I plan to donate more as the deadline gets closer. They have several “perk” levels –the more you donate, the more “perks” you get. I’m planning to donate at least $50 more to get the DVD with my name in the credits, but I’ll shoot for whatever I can afford.
Anyway, I’m asking all of you to donate to this project for several reasons
- It’s easy
- It’s for (what I feel is) a good cause
- You can donate as little as $1 (but don’t let me stop you from donating more, of course)
- This will help get my name out there as a language revitalization activist as well as help me with a future project, provided you leave an appropriate comment (see Easy Step #3)
- You can get some cool stuff (if you’re into the sorts of things they’re offering as perks)
OK, so here are the EASY STEPS to helping a good cause:
1. Go to http://www.indiegogo.com/Lost-Words
2. Select a perk amount. (If you click “Contribute Now” instead, it defaults to the $100 payment, but you can still change that before completing the transaction.)
3. OPTIONAL-Enter something in the comments that includes my name, such as “Dave Prine told me about this,” “Thanks to Dave Prine for passing this my way,” etc. (Please keep it clean since the comments will get posted to the public profile and other sites.) Not only will this help get my name out there, but it will also let me see how many people who donated found out about this through me. If you want to leave a comment but you don’t want to include my name, that’s fine as well, especially if it’s a comment about how you support this cause.
4. Provide all the other info, verify the amount, and complete the transaction.
5. Feel good about yourself for helping a cause I believe in (and hopefully you do too).
If all my friends contribute $1 to this cause, then we can raise a whopping $6!
But seriously…
You’ll also see me post this on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else I can. I’ll try to keep updates going.
If you don’t feel comfortable paying money online, you’re free to send the money to me and I’ll include it with my next donation on March 1st.
If you think this might be some spammer posing as me, feel free to call, email, or Facebook me (or leave a comment below) and let me know. I’ll tell you about that thing you did when you were five that only you and I know about. Then you’ll know it’s really me.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, and please let me know if you need any additional information.
Please pass this on to as many people as you can. I’m hoping for quantity on this one.
Thanks for reading this!
~dave prineLanguage Enthusiast
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