Starting point of the workshop was the definition of academic lexicography as evidence-based lexicography. Academic lexicographic institutes have a long tradition of analysing large amounts of language data in a scientific way, in order to compile concise, yet high-quality knowledge about words, and this for the benefit of the entire language community.
However, lexicography faces challenges with respect to
(a) its role in society, science and the knowledge economy;
(b) the scalability of both the analysis and production process; and
(c) the ability to customise and make the content accessible for a diverse audience, including as a resource for information technology developers.
The workshop explored how each of these challenges can be fruitfully addressed through interdisciplinary research and development in collaboration with neighbouring disciplines like computational linguistics, data analytics, artificial intelligence, citizen science, human-computer interaction, cognitive science and sociology.
The workshop aimed to devise strategies to strengthen the position of academic lexicography as a locus for multidisciplinary scientific research with a direct relevance for, and impact on, society. These strategies are summarised in this White Paper which aims to serve as an inspiration and guiding document for setting up new collaborative research platforms and projects in the longer term.