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An Inside Look at an Earmark

Ohanian Comment: This is one of five university earmarks discussed by The Chronicle. I post it because I was astounded that funds would be pumped into a university that doesn't even offer Arabic.

by Lila Guterman

Institution: Wichita State U., as a subcontractor of Harbinger Technologies, a Virginia-based company that specializes in homeland security

Earmark: $200,000 from the Department of Defense

Sponsors: Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.); Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss., former), John W. Warner (R-Va.), James H. Webb Jr. (D-Va.)

The project: The antiterrorist "Contextual Arabic Blog and Slang Analysis Program" will develop language software to scan and interpret suspect Web sites.

At Wichita State, the project will be run by Rajiv Bagai, chairman of the computer-science department. Mr. Bagai says Harbinger contacted him to do the work.

Harbinger did not respond to requests for comment, and Mr. Bagai was unwilling to discuss the project's details "because of the sensitive nature."

Mr. Bagai has studied computer-translation programs that make words in foreign languages less ambiguous. He does not speak Arabic and was unable to hire an academic linguist. He says he will hire graduate students who know the language and that Harbinger Technologies will take on a large share of the project's language-related aspects.

What others think: Karin Ryding, a professor of Arabic at Georgetown University, finds it odd that the program was taking place at a university that does not even teach Arabic. "Arabic linguistics is a very challenging field," she says. Graduate students who speak the language may not have sufficient training in linguistic analysis.

But Elizabeth M. Bergman, executive director of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic, adds that "at least in the planning stages, the computer-programming work does not in fact require Arabic."

Results: The project has not yet begun.

— Lila Guterman
Chronicle of Higher Education
2008-03-28
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i29/29a01101.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

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