Learning and Reading Assistant (LARA) is an open source platform that
enables conversion of plain texts into an interactive multimedia form
designed to support second- and foreign-language (L2) learners. In this
workshop, we illustrate the open source aspects using collaborative work
carried out during a six-week summer project at the Árni Magnússon Institute
for Icelandic Studies. Three undergraduate level students extended the
platform in different directions in cooperation with other members of the
international LARA team. The three subprojects were respectively concerned
with adding automatically generated flashcards, adding multimedia versions
of poetic texts in the archaic language Old Norse, and extending LARA to
allow the inclusion of sign language content in Icelandic sign language –
Íslenskt TáknMál (ÍTM). All three reached successful conclusions.