Introduction to the inaugural volume of Indiana Working Papers in South Asian Languages and Cultures (IWPSALC)

Abstract

Welcome to the inaugural volume of IWPSALC. In creating this publication—inspired by progress reports like those published from 1965 through 1995 as the Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research—we seek to encouragescholars to publish discrete portions of their research while they work towards full papers. Too often, our work only sees the light of day when we publish in peer-reviewed journals. We set lofty goals for ourselves,which can end up delaying dissemination of our work. This practice is a positive in that it is good for our science.We want to produce the best work that we can. But there arenegative consequences to the practice as well: how much existing work currently sits somewhere in the cloud,on personal computers, and in field notebooks,unknown and inaccessible to other researchers?