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Probably the first thing to do for Africa is to
extend the support of softwares with localized contents that can ALREADY be
performed with existing encoded scripts. But even there, software companies are
not progressing much, even if this causes no technical problems with the
existing Unicode repertoire (for example: Xholof, Yoruba, Kenyarwanda, ... and
even Arabic, or already used Latin-based transliterations of these
languages).
If only such localisation efforts were made, there
would exist business opportunities in Africa to support other native scripts as
well. When you see that even the famous libraries in rich countries can't
support the cost of maintaining their database or conserve so many books and
arts, imagine what African countries can do when there's not even a version of
Windows or Linux supporting these languages for the common user interface needed
by everyone at the first basic stages of litteracy and computer
knowledge.
Thanks, Microsoft has now opened his system to
African languages (it was waited since long). I won't blame the richest man on
earth to give money to support litteracy and development of culture in Africa,
as a fondamental step to the economic development of these areas, but also as a
way to fight against ignorance which has caused so much damages in Africa (in
terms of security with wars, abuses against children, in terms of freedom with
conditions of women, or in terms of health with the tragic pandemies of
A.I.D.S., tuberculose...).
I really think that the conditions for the
developement of Africa will come from education of Africa with tools and methods
made for and by African users. But instead of only selling arms or giving
military assistance, or giving food, we, in rich countries, should be able to
promote donate to support education with the now very cheap technologies, and
donations to cheap cultural programs such as the localization of
softwares.
There's no gain for now trying to sell costly
solutions and overprotecting them for now in Africa (even if this means that we
should tolerate software piracy in Africa, in order to let its population get
their basic rights to knowledge). Whever these countries will choose Windows or
Linux does not matter (I think that even promoting Linux usage in Africa would
expand the market for proprietary softwares like Windows or Unix distributions;
Africa is not Asia, and the conditions for a parallel development are still not
there).
So let's think about really getting out of our rich
country ghettos, and give some efforts to organize technological events and
meeting in places which are less costly for African communities. Some
places are favorable, without major conflicts or security risks, with
reasonnable equipments, and cumfortable accessibility by airlines: Morocco,
Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa), but also in the Middle-East (Arab Emirates,
Oman?); it's probably too difficult to organize something for now in the
currently unsecure Western Africa despite of its cultural interest (however
West-African communities are extremely present in Europe).
But more than temporary events, there's a need for
a more permanent working group in this area. Why not seeking collaboration with
the newcoming AfriNIC with its permanent bureaux in South Africa, Egypt and
Mauricius?
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- IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and Multilingual C... Azzedine Ait Khelifa
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and Multi... Patrick Andries
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and M... John H. Jenkins
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, a... Patrick Andries
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and M... Lisa Moore
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, a... Azzedine Ait Khelifa
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and Multi... Philippe Verdy
- Re: IUC27 Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and M... Donald Z. Osborn
