Re: [DDN] Digitizing Indian language books
Dear Arun As you speak about African languages: Adama Samassékou is surely a good source, but he is difficult to reach (I don't have his e-mail, but maybe someone in UNECA has). There was also an IFLA-UNECA post-WSIS Workshop on Building of African Capacity to implement the Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society in the sphere of Libraries and Access to Information and Knowledge. This took place in Addis end of March 2006. More info is at http://www.uneca.org/disd/events/2006/wsis-library/main.html and a short report at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s17/pubs/s17-WISIS-Report2006.pdf . But we should not forget the Library of Alexandria, which could become a repository for Arabic books. I don't know if anyone has information on possible plans of the Bibilotheca Alexandrina regarding digitizing Arabic books? Best Charles Geiger Executive Director WSIS -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subbiah Arunachalam Sent: samedi, 12. août 2006 06:58 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Digital Divide Network discussion group; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Jayaweera, Wijayananda; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; M.Anandakrishnan; Anand Parthasarathy; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; sundar sarukkai; pramod mangla; Alexander Macgillivray; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Vijay Baskar; Heather Ford; 'Puvan J Selvanathan'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; J Shankar; Dr. Arun K. Chakraborty; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Helen King; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Shaddy; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; T.V.Gopal; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Prof N. Balakrishnan; Rufina Fernandes (NASSCOM Foundation); [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Kalpana Dasgupta; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Heather Morrison; subir sen; Eskedar Nega Subject: [DDN] Digitizing Indian language books Dear Paola and friends: Thanks very much for your whole-hearted support to the idea of digitising books in different languages. I wrote about it to both Microsoft and Google. Ms Ankhi Das of Microsoft, New Delhi, replied stating that she had forwarded my suggestion to the right person (a Tamil speaker) in their Redmont office. I am yet to hear from Google. I have written to them more than once and I spoke to a senior Google official at the Second iCommons meet at Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago. You say, It would be good to have a parallel developments in character recognition technology, as I am not sure all languages have the equivalent browser compatibe format. The right persons to address these issues are two Indian friends of mine - both amazingly energetic and extraordinarily competent - S Ramani of HP labs in B'lore and Ramki (Ramakrishnan) of CDAC. I am sure they are members of one of these lists and will respond as soon as they see this message. I am also copying this to a professor at IIT Bombay and a professor at IIT Kanpur and officebearers of the Computer Society of India. Surely, corporations such as Google and Microsoft will also have people who can take care of these technical aspects. This morning I met a book publisher (Satya of New Horizon Media Pvrivate limited) over breakfast and he told me that among all Indian languages, Tamil is ahead in blogging and in digitizing books. Many Tamil classics (he cited the example of Silappathikaram) are already available in digital form. They may be in individual websites, and we may have to make them interoperable for universal open access. I read a few weeks ago about a Microsoft plan to digitize Hindi books. We may also persuade people like Mr Brewster Kahle of Internet Archive and Open Content Alliance to take interest in digitizing Indian language books. There are a number of individuals and institutions in Africa who might be keen on placing all books in African languages on open access repositories. I can name Prof. Adama Samosekou as a great champion of language computing. Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 6:37 PM Subject: Re: [participants] [Fwd: [c3net] Digitizing Indian language books] okay Fred good idea - let's start to put the idea onto the wiki and make a list of resources/possibilities and maybe someone (Arun?) would want to develop the idea (I'd love to - but I am also swamped for the mo) as soon as i have a spare yuga pdm On 8/11/06, Frederick FN Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Project Gutenberg could be a good place to pool initiatives. I understand they were interested in working on ancient Indian texts too... given the interest among Indologists worldwide. FN On
RE: [DDN] A digital divide photo
Mark I have another favourite photo, which I also would like to share with the DDN group members. This one is from Thailand: http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2001/stories/20030117001206400.htm Charles Geiger Executive Director WSIS -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Mark Higdon Sent: vendredi, 18. mars 2005 22:05 To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: [DDN] A digital divide photo The April issue of Ode Magazine had a very DDN worthy cover photo which I thought would be good to share. Hope you enjoy, http://www.odemagazine.com/currentIssue.php Mark Higdon Portland State University's Child Welfare Partnership [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: [DDN] phone vs net
I would like to confirm the information of Amy Mahan in the last para below. The information in the Economist was wrong: The voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund (voluntary DSF) is not a UN Fund. The Fund has been launched by a number of African Governments (Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria) together with some cities and regional authorities (cities of Geneva, Torino, Lyons, Paris, the Basque Region etc.) and has the support of France and the Francophonie. Legally, the fund is a foundation of Swiss private law, and its headquarters are in Geneva. A launching ceremony took place last Monday 14.3. here in Geneva. More info on the new fund is available at http://www.dsf-fsn.org/ . The fund is not operational yet, and only the future will tell if the fund will be really able to contribute to bridging the digital divide (once operational,the fund will concentrate, if my understanding is correct, on telecentres and community access). At PrepCom-2 of WSIS, which took place from 17-25 February 2005 in Geneva, Governments welcomed the creation of the voluntary DSF. This does not mean that by welcoming a Fund, that the Fund becomes a UN Fund. I do not want to comment on the idea that phones outrank the computer for economic development (I think both the telephone, the computer, but also radio and TV have their specific role in development and I may, at a later stage, come back to the question of using ICTs for empowerment, opportunities and security of poor people). But saying that 77% of the World's population already live within the range of a mobile network, and taking this as proof that the digital divide is narrowing, is like saying that because there are airplanes flying over your village you are connected to the world (courtesy Tim Kelly for this nice metaphor). Charles Geiger www.itu.int/wsis -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of A. K. Mahan Sent: mercredi, 16. mars 2005 14:53 To: Tom Abeles; The Digital Divide Network discussiongroup Subject: Re: [DDN] phone vs net As many know, the Economist printed a nice summary on the idea that the phone out ranks the computer for economiic development. Rather than nice this was a horribly reductive, anecdotal summary of ICTs and economic development - and indeed, yet another Economist call for privatisation and market based approaches when these have been shown to not always work. Even the World Bank acknowledges that regulation is necessary to address market failure. Mobile service providers are not particularly interested in providing expensive coverage to poor, rural regions. Sure, mobile phones are great - as the article and others have documented. But more robust infrastructure is necessary for future development of the network. Why should the possibility of participation in the information society be precluded unnecessarily? There are many other new and emerging technologies which can be used - and many of these provide access to a more rich range of services (including telephony). The article doesn't consider these. The article did mention the effectiveness of mixing old and new technologies (eg ICTs and radio) and this is more to the point given scarce resources and limited human capital development. The author notes that the digital divide is a symptom of other more deeper divides. Yes, and this is why it is so important to consider development strategies across the broadest contexts possible - rather than focus on one particular technology for all. Also, the article's reference to the United Nations support for the Digital Solidarity Fund is incorrect. The DSF is not formally supported by the UN - but was welcomed by the participating governments at WSIS. The fund is fully voluntary - and mechanisms for running it have yet to be determined. We shall see. End of rant. -- Amy Mahan www.lirne.net www.regulateonline.org ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: [DDN] Podcast and Photos from M. S. Swaminathan's Speech at the Baramati Conference
Andy and all For those interested in ICT4Poverty Reduction and Empowerment, there is more from Prof. Swaminathan at http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2119/fl211900.htm , see the articles under Mission 2007, including an interesting interview with Prof. Swaminathan. These articles appeared in Frontline, the Indian bi-weekly magazine. Best Charles Geiger Executive Director WSIS -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Andy Carvin Sent: mercredi, 9. mars 2005 21:10 To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] Podcast and Photos from M. S. Swaminathan's Speech at the Baramati Conference Hi everyone, I've just posted a podcast of Professor M. S. Swaminathan's speech this past weekend at the Baramati conference in India: http://www.andycarvin.com/podcasts/swaminathan.wav Prof. Swaminathan is one of the world's leading thinkers on the role of ICTs in global development, particularly in terms of poverty alleviation in rural, agricultural communities. The speech he gave this weekend is one of the best arguments I've heard to date on the importance of bridging the digital divide in the developing world. The file is rather large, just over 60 megs in size. I still hope to transcribe the speech, but I am not sure when I will have an opportunity to do this, so if anyone would like to volunteer, please email me. I would then post the transcript on the Digital Divide Network website. Meanwhile, I've also posted some pictures from the presentation on my blog. http://www.andycarvin.com permalink: http://www.andycarvin.com/archives/2005/03/podcast_m_s_swa.html thanks, andy -- --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
RE: [DDN] ICT intiatives in Education
Dear Geeta Have a look at our WSIS website, basic information, background material, documents by theme and thematic links, under education and literacy. The link is http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/background.asp?lang=entheme=ed We have listed a number of websites and links in this field, which may help you. Especially the one before last link to the UNESCO Bangkok website may be helpful. Please keep in mind that all documents and links in our background pages are for information purposes only and do not mean that the WSIS or UN/ITU/WSIS Executive Secretariat endorses or approves a document or an information contained in the background pages. Best wishes for 2005 and hope to see you in Tunis in November! Charles Geiger Executive Director WSIS -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of geeta pious Sent: mercredi, 5. janvier 2005 07:37 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] ICT intiatives in Education HI, As part of making policy paper on ICT in Education, I am looking for the details unique initiatives in in education/e-learning. Can anybody help me to find the resources. Thanking you in advance Geeta Pious Mission Coodrinator Kerala State IT Mission India __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
