Here's an item that slipped by without my noticing it, and apparently without much fanfare: "The 7th International conference for languages and their development," 26-28 Oct. Two news items are appended below (note that the second, from Mathaba.net, mentions ICT).
I think I need to tweak some of my search sources (like Google alert) and also there needs to be better ways to announce and publicize such events beforehand so you don't have to keep searching to find what ought to be news. Don Osborn Bisharat.net UPDATED: 09:51, October 25, 2005 Ethiopia to host 7th int'l conference on language, development http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200510/25/eng20051025_216630.html Ethiopia will host an international conference entitled "Language and Development" later this month, the Ministry of Education announced Monday. The ministry said in a statement that the 7th international conference will be held at the Addis Ababa-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa from Oct. 26-28. The conference is expected to dwell on various studies concerned with language and development conducted by renowned scholars around the world, said the statement. Delegates from more than 60 countries in Africa, Europe, America and Asia are expected to attend the conference, it said. Source: Xinhua ============================== ICT Africa Ethiopia hosts languages conference Posted: 10/27 From: Mathaba Addis Ababa hosts the works of the 7th International conference for languages and their development slated for 26th through 28th October, with the participation of scientists and linguists form more than 60 countries from the African Union states, from Europe, USA, and Asia. The Ethiopian Education Ministry issued a statement Monday saying that the conference will discuss a battery of studies prepared by a host of prominent senior researchers in linguistic fields, and ways to develop languages. A language disappears every two weeks, says African blogger Ndesanjo Macha, comparing this to a whole library burning down. Ndesanjo Macha, 35, a Tanzanian writer and lecturer with a background in law, journalism and socio-informatics, is campaigning in Africa to decolonise cyberspace so that African languages and cultures could flourish in it. In order to achieve his goal, he has become the first African to launch a blog in the African language KiSwahili in June 2004. Though Africa is known to be by far the most linguistically diverse continent - there are around 2,000 African languages, i.e. one third of the worlds linguistic heritage its languages are largely absent from internet content. According to UNESCO, although there are over 6,000 languages in the world, the content on the internet is largely disseminated in 12 languages - dominated by English. The rest are subject languages, like most indigenous African languages; they are talked about but have no content in their own language, Macha says bitterly. Moreover, there are no tools for creating or translating information into these excluded tongues. Huge sections of the worlds population are thus prevented from enjoying the benefits of technological advances and obtaining information essential to their well-being and development. Unchecked, this will contribute to a loss of cultural diversity on information networks and a widening of existing socio-economic inequalities. However, the cc project and blogging, says Macha, are providing opportunities to African artists with no English language skills to introduce their creativity into the mainstream industry. This way, African cultures and languages remain vibrant and alive. /Agencies/Highway Africa News Agency/ http://digitalafrica.blogspot.com/ The short URL for this item is: http://mathaba.net/news/?x=406628 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
