Bytes for All

URDU SOLUTIONS

Sarai.net in Delhi wants to work on it. There are others, across the border, naturally interested in Urdu language computing solutions. Some pointers have come in from faraway Iran. Arash Zeini <a.zeini@farsikde.org> from Iran writes in to say that Katoob is a "multilingual, BIDI-aware text editor based on the Gtk+ 2". Says he: "I can imagine that it is of interest to Urdu speakers as well." It supports opening and saving files in multiple encodings. The main support was for Arabic language but more languages are currently supported. Check out www.arabeyes.org/project.php?proj=
Katoob (Zeini’s from the FarsiKDE Project, www.farsikde.org )

AbiWord (www.abisource.com) is a free software BIDI word processor for Windows and GNU/Linux, etc, which works well with Urdu (in Windows 2000: control panel —> regional options; select Urdu).

Free Unicode fonts that include Urdu are at Nafees Naskh (www.crulp.org/nafeesNaskh.html);
Titus Cyberbit (titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/unicode/tituut.asp); Urdu Nastaliq Unicode (www.arbornet.org/~tabish/
u-font/); Tehreer/paktype (zaban.net/paktype/).

Other solutions are SC UniPad (www.unipad.org/main/) (free version has a limit of 1,000 words), which implements a Unicode solution in a neat, integrated program; and, Openoffice.org

Thanks to Irfan Khan of the s-asia-it@apnic.net mailing list, for much of the information included here.

KONKANI TOO

We got talking about a small language like Konkani (between 2-5 million speakers, and written in at least five scripts). G Karunakar <karunakar@freedomink.org>, that amazing resource for Indic solutions, says the starting point for any translation is the Gnome glossary. It’s a collection of the most commonly occurring tech terms, which are used a lot in translations. Says he: "Work becomes easy if you have this done first. Then the .po files can be taken up."

Pick up glossary files at www.indlinux.org/downloads/gnomegloss/. Also, it’s recommended you announce on the Gnome-i18n list (see developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp). There’s a rough how-to on doing translations at www.indlinux.org/hindi/gnome/h

The Indian Linux project, aimed at translating as many local languages as possible for the computer, is at www.indlinux.org

BANGLA TRANSLATION

Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay <essemm@softhome.net> informs of an attempt to garner volunteers for the Bangla Localisation Project (Ankur).

The Ankur Bangla Translation Project is a voluntary community-based localisation project aimed at facilitating the Bangla/Bengali version of the Gnome Project (of the Free Software Foundation). Under the aegis of this effort, around 12,000 lines (in over 42 files) will be translated.

As of mid-June 2003, more than 50 percent of the Gnome-Core and library files have been translated. The locale settings have been satisfactorily tested and the screenshots are available on the website of the project at www.bengalinux.org

It is seeking volunteers capable of identifying the ‘proper’ vernacular equivalents of technical terms, and those possessing conceptual clarity about ‘human-computer interaction’ as well as linguistic nuances. Ease of use with GNU/Linux distributions will be an advantage.

PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS

Oxford University Press has set up a programme wherein scholars from developing nations are eligible for free or greatly discounted electronic access to a large number of professional journals. Complete information is available at www3.oup.co.uk/jnls/devel/

"Please pass the word on to anyone who can benefit from this opportunity," says OUP. India does not qualify for the free access, but established not-for-profit Indian educational institutes can apply for the ‘greatly reduced’ subscription rates.

JOURNAL ON ICT4D

Ravi Gupta <Ravi.Gupta@-i4donline.net> has launched a bi-monthly magazine, exclusively focused on Information and Communication Technologies for development of underserved communities.

Says Gupta: "There is much work to be done; in the words of Professor Kenneth Keniston, there is so little contact between excellent projects, that new work so often begins from scratch, that there is so little sharing of knowledge and experience, that there is no network of communication, to say nothing of coordination. Each project begins, as it were, anew, when often within a hundred kilometres there exists another project from which it might learn and borrow, and whose success it
might imitate."

In its first issue, it is argued that India does—or could—lead the world in creating both the technologies for reaching ordinary people and the grassroots social experiments that could teach both India and other nations how to use those technologies for the common good. Check out i4donline.net.

APPLIED INTELLIGENCE

Dr Rajendra Akerkar of the Technomathematics Research Foundation in Kolhapur has announced the 2nd International Conference on Applied Artificial Intelligence (ICAAI 2003) to be held from December 15-17 2003 at Fort Panhala.

Say the organisers: "This international conference will bring together international Artificial Intelligence researchers, developers, practitioners and users. The aim of ICAAI 2003 is to serve as a forum to present current and future work as well as to exchange research ideas in this field." Details are available at pune.sancharnet.in/kpr_tmrf/conf.htm

PLANTING IDEAS

The bytesforall_agri mailing list has been merged with the isap-ict-agri mailing list.

To join this growing network, send a blank e-mail to isap-ict-agri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

This merger was undertaken so as to combine resources of two lists focused around similar concerns. The list aims at looking at how ICT can, and is, being used in agriculture. General agriculture-related posts could be directed to the list, which has a much wider readership.

BytesForAll is a volunteer-driven initiative to focus on how ICT is being used for development across South Asia. To join an informative list that discusses this issue, send a blank e-mail to bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com