Summary
Introduction
Methodology and description
Results
of the observation
Typologies according to the scope of activity
Territorial distribution
Territorial scope
Media
presence
Relations
between organizations
Introduction
Although
the main aim and the bulk of the project was to create an archive and a database, we have
been able to use the information we collated and classified to make a series of
observations about the situation of language associations. These observations are
provisional and approximative, but they provide us with a panoramic view of the situation
of language organizations in the Catalan-speaking territories and with general data
concerning
the
typologies and scope of the organizations activity
their
territorial distribution
their
geographical scope
their
presence in the mass media and the relations that they have established with each other.
Methodology and description
To obtain
the definitive list of
organizations, a series of criteria has been applied to the associations that appear in a
series of lists and directories:
According to
these criteria, the subjects under study are:
independent
civil organizations whose primary aim is to defend or promote the Catalan language
those whose
main activity is as above
organizations
that work for the expansion of language whether in general terms or in a specific area of
society
organizations
from all over the Catalan-speaking territories, whether regional or national, local or
district-wide (comarcal).
The
information obtained from this research was mainly contributed by the organizations
themselves directly by completing a questionnaire that
was sent to the organizations or indirectly by gathering the information from the Websites
of the organizations. The Press Archive of the Sociolinguistics Documentation Centre at
the Directorate General of Language Policy and documents and projects related to
linguistic associations and activism were also consulted.(1)
The result of
this project is centred on two resources for consulting information: an archive with all
of the information obtained on the organizations, and a database to classify this
information. Given the purpose of this project providing access to the maximum
amount of information on language associations as a whole this archive is very
important. It contains all the material related to the associations in hard copy
that was uncovered during the research, classified into alphabetically-ordered
folders. Each folder contains the completed questionnaire, extracts from the Website and
other documents from the organization, publications and material published by the
associations themselves, and press articles on the organization. The database classifies
and structures the information extracted from the archive into 18 fields, and mechanizes the search for information on the
organizations. This database provides information about the formal data and contact
information of the organizations, their nature and activities. It allows us to find
information more quickly and easily and to know what information we possess on each
organization in the archive, which grows accordingly. |