A brief history

• started with an interest in multilingual resources for children

• subsequently funded by the EC Joint Call for Educational Multimedia– partners in at least three countries– involvement of a commercial organisation.

• change of focus from commercial use to use with teachers and children

• change of partners: Spanish were too expensive!

• change of partner: need for commercial focus

• new partner required to make up numbers.

Need for flexibility

Final line-up

• Errobi Ikastola: Euskara

• Universitat Pompeu Fabra: Catalunya

• GCO: Fryslân

• Canolfan Gymraeg San Helen: Cymru

• DTP Workshop, ITE: Eire

• Universities of Reading and Brighton, UK

Redefining the goals

• easy-to-use tool

• principles of best practice for screen based learning materials

• designed specifically to meet the needs of bilingual children and teachers.

Advantages

• the opportunity for networking and the exchange of ideas

• a management structure which, while cumbersome, gets the job done

• a source of funding for issues which are often sadly neglected.

Disadvantages

• extremely bureaucratic

• tardy payment

• Henry Kissinger syndrome

Delivering the deliverables

• An rí santach, the Irish book – five other language versions

• A story for Europe: the CD-ROM– program in nine languages– manuals– example stories

• also downloadable from the Internet.

Current challenges

• technical– improving functionality of the software– extending the range of languages

• creating a community of users– training ‘consultants’– maintaining the website– creating an incentive for using the program

Future funding

• Culture 2000: Fabula Virtual Library

• DG XX11: safeguarding of European Regional and Minority languages: Action Fabula

• practical support for applications from European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages.

Virtual reality or reality?

• localisation of ideas and not just software

• ensuring that proper structures are in place

• making links with other initiatives and groups with overlapping interests.

Dream teams

• public or private sector?

• experienced or inexperienced?

• The role of the co-ordinator.

Friends of Fabula

www.fabula-eu.org