Dictionary to go on computer
NZPA-Reuter London The Oxford English dictionary. a unique 16-volume compendium of words loved by scholars and pedants the world over, will be transferred to a computer. The publisher. Oxford University Press, said it had arranged a £7 million ($l5 million) deal to computerise the dictionary with help from the United States computer giant 1.8 .M.. a Canadian university and the British Government.
The task of transcribing 21,000 pages of words and definitions will take 120 people 18 months, but that is light work compared with the 50 years it took to produce the dictionary and
30 years to update it with four supplements. When the job is done the Oxford University Press will produce the first complete new edition of the £ 600 ($1280) work, said a spokesman, Mr Richard Charkin. That would be sold not only in print, but also for use with computers either “on line" from a database or on tape or disc. 1.8. M. wili provide expertise and equipment worth £1 million ($2.1 million}. More expertise will come from Waterloo University, Ontario, and the British Government has given £300.000 ($642,000).
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Press, 19 May 1984, Page 25
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188Dictionary to go on computer Press, 19 May 1984, Page 25
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