Linas Didvalis
Centre of Asian Studies, Vytautas Magnus University. Chief coordinator and Lecturer
Digitalization of learning resources at the Center of Asian Studies, Vytautas Magnus University
East Asian studies and interest in East Asian region have been gradually growing in Lithuania as well as the necessity of the resources for this topic in Lithuanian language. What is more, with the growing spread and usage of the Internet more and more resources can be found online. Therefore, in order to increase the accessibility of resources for learning about the East Asian region it is important to pursue their digitalization. Moreover, as the number of research in different fields of Asian studies in Lithuania has been growing, there is a need for a database which would include all the information about the publications and research related to Asian studies.
For the aforementioned reason, the Centre of Asian Studies (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania) has created several online resources to meet this demand during the past seven year. The resources can be divided into two groups: 1) databases for East Asian studies; and 2) resources for the learning of Japanese Language. The aim of this presentation is to present the stories and experiences that were gained during the digitalization of the following four resources: East Asia Glossary (azijoszinynas.vdu.lt), Asian Studies in Lithuania (asianstudies.lt), Japanese language lessons for self-learning (japonukalba.vdu.lt) and Japanese-Lithuanian dictionary (nihongo.vdu.lt) The presentation seeks to critically assess the process of digitalization and present both advantages and disadvantages that may be of value for other institutions that may consider similar projects.