Grunneger Toalroutes meander through the landscape. There are three. A fourth is in the pen, in Baflo, co-developed by AI. ,,By a computer that learns Grunnegers. As a beginner, but still”, says co-initiator Richard Zwarts.
Toal routes have been set out for walking, enjoying the scenery and also learning something. As you walk, you get to know the people of Groningen and the landscape that has shaped them.
You can read something along the way or listen to stories and poems on your smartphone. A special way to get to know Groningen poets and writers and to experience the landscape.
Baflo, where they are considering a fourth toal route, was the first to have one: the Ommetje Grunneger Toalroute, which meanders through the ancient wierden landscape. The second runs in Toornwerd. This month, number three was taken into use in Wildervanksterdallen.
Artificial intelligence
In Baflo and the surrounding area, they are considering a fourth route. One that is co-developed with AI, artificial intelligence.
Alie Dijk, secretary of the Association of Village Interests Baflo & Rasquert, likes it. “We were still talking about it last Friday in Agricola village hall. How shall we handle it? What stories do we want to tell and how do we do that?”
There is enough material available.
In the corona period, 25 Bavvelders interviewed. People who were born and raised in Baflo or who have lived there for at least 30 years, says Richard Zwarts. He is from communications and marketing agency DBZ in Drachtstercompagnie, which conducted the interviews.
The company was commissioned by Biblionet, the umbrella organization of libraries in the province of Groningen, to develop a special project: Tell!. The assignment: collect stories from ordinary people who have something to say, preferably in Groningen. “A new collection of spoken stories. A sum of individual stories,” says Zwarts. At least 25 hours of audio material has been collected. A number of stories from Baflo can already be read at biblionetgroningen.nl/vertel.
And it is precisely from that source that village interests want to draw. Dijk: ,,It would be nice if we could use fragments for a new toal route. But what do you say and where?” The computer can help with that. Zwarts: ,,Groningen spoken word is converted into text and made searchable with artificial intelligence. We were very curious whether the computer could independently make links between people, places and events.”
We succeeded. With AI, the computer learns Groningen. ,,Still as a beginner, but still”, says Zwarts. “With this prototype, we can, in principle, get started throughout Groningen, provided we find funds.”
Dijk: ,,It is still very early and it is still in its infancy. But I would love it. Maybe we can do something with QR codes. That you scan it and then hear and see something that is tailored to the individual walker.”
Tribute to Jan J. Boer
It’s not that far yet in Wildervanksterdallen, Dale the Gronings way. The third and youngest toal route was taken into use there this month. And unlike what they plan to do in Baflo, it revolves around just one person.
The twice one and a half kilometer walk (there and back) along endless potato and beet fields and over seven small swing bridges is a tribute to Jan J. Boer, peat colonial in heart and soul. The doctor – and writer and poet in Groningen – who was born in Dale in 1927. Ten plates and two panels along the Zevenbruggetjespad contain poems, songs and stories. They can be listened to via a QR code. The songs are sung by Lianne Abeln and Jeanine Collet. The poems and stories have been recorded by Henk Scholte, Janet Hoekzema and Jan J. Boer himself.
Jaap Boer (son of) belongs to the foundation dr. Jan J. Boer, who came up with the idea for the walking path. “The peat colonial landscape and his poems belong together. In his work you can read his great connection with the country and the people.”
Jan Groenbroek of the Grunneger Toal foundation in Scheemda agrees. ,, Both the Zeuvenbrogjespad and the poems and stories of Jan. J. Boer heuren tou t cultural earth gold of the region ”, says Groenbroek. He has been editor-in-chief of Toal and Taiken for 49 years; transcript for Grunneger culture.
He became that thanks to Boer. “We had a great time together. As chairman of the Grunneger Genootschap he traveled everywhere. I went regularly. On the way in the car, the formula was devised for Toal and Taiken. He looked at me, and I can still hear him say: ‘I’m looking for a young, energetic editor-in-chief.’ How could I say no? He was my great inspiration.”
Two sides
The walk can be walked from Stadskanaal (Unikenstraat) and from Wildervanksterdallen. That is doable. Even when the land shimmers under the sun.
Since Jan J. Boer (1927-2011) wandered around there, little and yet a lot has changed. For example, the walking path passes a large manure basin and the high and controversial windmills are always in sight on the horizon. But whoever ignores that, experiences the country as the Groningen writer must have experienced it. With potato fields as far as the eye can see, and with paths and avenues that seem to disappear into thin air.
The Loans
How I run from the long farmer’s loans,
dei along the wings liekuut ‘t laand ingoan,
in the middle grass, two small green beans
and the daispswaale, where the flowers stood.
My wishes turn into dreams here
Dei in the zummertied so slightly perished.
Seeing life with joy and seeing sorrows
But it doesn’t come easy to understand these things.
Bedoard to walk along the true corn,
that yellow and heavy awaits,
was born to me in strength vanneis and staark
be, honestly, figured out, braid.
The Loane mit dei lieke karresporaren
the van mien life ‘t maiste wait.
Doctor and writer
Jan J. Boer was a versatile man. He was a general practitioner in Onstwedde for at least 15 years and then medical director at the Refaja Hospital Stadskanaal and the Open Haven nursing home in Veendam. Only at a later age did he start writing poems and stories in Groningen. In 1994 he received the K. ter Laan Prize, the Groningen cultural prize from the ‘t Grunneger Bouk Foundation. “Because of his contribution as a writer and administrator to the revival of interest in the Groningen language.”
Boer was chairman of the Grunneger Bouk and the Grunneger Genootschap for many years and wrote four hundred stories for the Veendammer door-to-door newspaper The Courier. Groenbroek and the foundation are working on a website where all stories can be read. Groenbroek regularly publishes one. He has a deadline: the last, four hundredth, story will be on the website on October 9, 2027. ,,The day that Jan J. Boer would have turned 100 years old.”
And for those who can no longer walk the toal route themselves, there will be a program with film and stories: Woman on Dale. This can be played in care centers and libraries. Jaap Boer: ,,It is being developed together with Biblionet, especially for the elderly.”