Hi Paul, and thank you for the feedback. It sounds like we are talking about two separate, but related, issues here. Web content - in this case on Wikipedia, which is unusual in that it lets anyone edit it online - and software for composing and editing documents.
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia on the web, with versions in many languages. Anyone with access to a computer and the internet can read and edit it online without special software - just a browser (MS Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, with commands in English, Luganda, Swahili, etc. - these language versions exist but of course do not change how you see the webpages). Wikipedia is accessible via http://www.wikipedia.org/ and has versions in many languages, though some are a lot more developed than others. In languages of Uganda there is currently one begun in Luganda at http://lg.wikipedia.org/ , for instance. It is possible to create new Wikipedias. The matter of software either with commands translated into African languages ("localized software") or spellcheckers for African languages or both, is another issue. Such software exists for Swahili for example. It is also possible to have a language setting for spellchecking etc. in various languages without the whole software being localized. But in either case this points to the need for digitized dictionaries/word lists - necessary for spellcheckers of course. (Where languages use special characters or diacritics, software localization also concerns the issue of keyboard layouts to make it easy to use the full alphabet for composing and editing documents.) This software "localization" process is underway locally in many countries for "free and open source software" (FOSS) and for some major languages by Microsoft. I believe that Lunghabo James Wire and ICT Translations Uganda - the same people who released the Mozilla Web browser in Luganda, called "Kayungirizi" two years ago - are planning more localizations. I'll have an announcement soon about a new list for discussing localization (with focus on software / interfaces). In the meantime, it is possible to contribute to African language editions of Wikipedia without special software. Thanks for your question and greetings to folks over there. Don Osborn Bisharat.net PanAfrican Localisation project ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Ssesanga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 7:41 AM Subject: Re: [DDN] "AfrophoneWikis" - developing African language Wikipedias Hello Don, First of all I want to thank u for the issue at stake.The question therefore arises,Will people be able to get these language editors from the internet Or The manufacturers of software programs especially word processors should be able to get and intergrate them in there programs so that Spell Checkers can also be updated with these local languages. Thanks Paul Ssesnaga C/o MENGO SENIOR SCHOOL DEPARTEMENT OF COMPUTER STUDIES P.O.BOX 1901 KAMPALA UGANDA Don Osborn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Apologies for crosspostings] One outcome of the just concluded "Wikimania" conference in Cambridge, Mass. (US) http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/ was discussion among several people (there and online) about how to facilitate development of Wikipedias in African languages. This discussion resulted in the creation of a new list for discussion and coordination among all interested in whatever indigenous language(s) of the continent, and in making Wikipedia (and educational applications of ICT generally) more relevant and useful to Africa and all Africans. Dubbed "AfrophoneWikis" the list has its homepage at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afrophonewikis/ . There are several links to relevant Wikimania and Wikipedia pages on the site. Don Osborn Bisharat.net PanAfrican Localisation (PAL) project _______________________________________________ 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. --------------------------------- Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1ยข/min. _______________________________________________ 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.
