Mark Davies created
these corpora at Brigham Young University
(BYU), beginning in 2004. The corpora
were available online at corpus.byu.edu, and they were known as the "BYU
Corpora". During this time, people from outside of BYU
used the corpora more than any other resource at BYU,
and the corpora were
cited more in academic publications than any other resource created at BYU.
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From 2015-2019,
however, administrators at BYU (
1
2
3
4
5
) carried out actions that seriously threatened the corpora. In order to protect the corpora, Mark
Davies moved them off-campus to English-Corpora.org in 2019, and then Mark left BYU in
2020. (More)
These actions by administrators at BYU may be due to the fact that the
primary
mission of BYU is
religious in nature (rather than academic), and therefore some
administrators
treat it
more like a
religious
seminary than
an
actual
university
( video). So in fairness to
them, these people were probably
unable to understand how their
actions would impact professors
and students at other universities
throughout the world, where academic research and
teaching are the primary goals. (And please understand that the preceding
refers only to the administrators -- not the BYU students and faculty. Many of
these people are outstanding, in spite of -- and definitely not
because of -- the administration at BYU.)
The end result of these changes is that there is no longer any connection
between the corpora and BYU. As mentioned, this will help to protect the corpora, and ensure their long-term availability for
researchers, teachers, and students.
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And finally, we would kindly request that you no longer refer to the
corpora from English-Corpora.org as the "BYU Corpora" in your publications,
presentations, and teaching. Thank you.
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