Thread: [Indic-computing-users] Incorporating Indic Computing
Status: Alpha
Brought to you by:
jkoshy
Menu
▾
▴
indic-computing-users
|
From: Venky H. <ve...@vs...> - 2003-01-15 18:13:10
|
Dear Indiccers, We have set off the process of registering Indic Computing as a non-profit organisation and Prakash, Tapan, Vijay, Karunakar, Ashish, Pavanaja and myself have chipped in Rs 2,000 each to jumpstart the organization. We request others on this list to kindly come forward and help us with whatever amount they can spare. The money will be used for incorporating, registering, setting up and staffing Indic Computing. Our goal for 2003 is to make Indic Computing into a powerful force that will being the benefits of digital technology to millions and millions of our fellow Indians. A more formal "Appeal for Funds" is also enclosed and we request you to circulate this widely and persuade your friends and aquaintances to support this effort. We look forward to your continued participation in this revolutionary effort. Venky Indic Computing - Shaping India's Digital Destiny ================================== A mere five-percent of India speaks English. However, almost all software available in India is in the English language. To correct this imbalance and give Indian languages their rightful place in the digital world, a group of around 44 young technologists, linguists and activists came together in Bangalore in September 2002 to participate in the first ever workshop on Indic Computing. This workshop brought together the leading practitioners of Indic Computing - individuals and organizations who are actively involved in bringing the benefits of digital technology to their fellow Indians. The participants of this workshop were united by a shared sense of urgency and a passion for taking the benefits of digital technology to the masses. Many of the practitioners were brought together by the belief that in a world that was rapidly changing and becoming increasingly digital, India was being left behind. Therefore, the creation of an environment that enables Indians to compute with the same freedom and flexibility enjoyed by the western world is a task of paramount national importance. The need for an organization that can champion the cause of Indian language computing was therefore, strongly felt at this workshop. We are therefore incorporating Indic Computing as a non-profit organization. Indic Computing will: -- Offer practitioners a cross-platform and cross-language forum where issues related to Indic Computing can be discussed. -- Offer adequate representation, support, encouragement and guidance to research groups, NGOs, and individual developers working in the area of Indic Computing -- Work on solving common issues and developing a reusable framework for Indian language computing -- Work with linguistic groups to create culturally appropriate translations for common computing terms -- Create a Handbook on Indic Computing that will have tutorial sections on the basics of technologies relevant to Indian-language computing: on character encodings, fonts, programming with locales, and the architecture of the X Window System, in addition to the originally planned linguistic information for developers. We hope this will help our developers produce higher quality, architecturally correct code. -- A Technology Map is being planned to serve as a guide to developers interested in choosing from the large number of open-source Indian language projects We are seeking funds for incorporating, registering, setting up and staffing Indic Computing and request well wishers to help us with financial contributions. Join us in shaping India's Digital Destiny! Send in your donations/requests for information etc to: Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, C/o Prof. Anil K Gupta, Wing - 13, Indian Institute of Management Vastrapur, Ahmedabad - 300015 Ph: 079-6324930. E-mail: vi...@ek... Or Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan, B 203, Eden I, Central Avenue Road, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai, 400076. E-mail: ve...@vs... -0- |
|
From: <a_j...@ya...> - 2003-01-16 10:29:05
|
> We have set off the process of registering Indic
> Computing as a non-profit
> organisation
Lest the quoted email be misconstrued, let me don
my "project manager" hat for Indic-Computing and
state that this mail does not reflect the opinions
of the developers of Indic-Computing on
SourceForge.Net.
I'm not saying that Venky is wrong (or right)
in proposing such a forum; I'm clarifying that the
Indic-Computing project on SourceForge is today,
and intends to be for the near future:
(a) volunteer driven,
(b) open-source,
(c) focussed on indian language technology,
(d) open to anyone in the world to participate,
(e) hosted on SourceForge, and abiding by the
rules laid down by SourceForge.Net for its
projects.
=====
Joseph Koshy Tel: (080)-2251554 x1802 [Office (HPISO)]
The FreeBSD Project http://people.freebsd.org/~jkoshy/
Indic Computing http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/
________________________________________________________________________
Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV.
visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com
|
|
From: <al...@ya...> - 2003-01-16 15:50:50
|
Hi list, > and intends to be for the near future: > > (a) volunteer driven, > (b) open-source, > (c) focussed on indian language technology, > (d) open to anyone in the world to participate, > (e) hosted on SourceForge, and abiding by the > rules laid down by SourceForge.Net for its > projects. > Makes sense. Maybe the incorporation thing(apart from the sf.net) should have been discussed on the list a bit more? For example, why staffing? Alok ===== Alok Kumar F1, Wireless Monitoring Station Compound, 9th Main, 47th Cross, Jayanagar V Block Bangalore 560076 India +91-80-653-8200 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-hindi/ Can't see Hindi? http://geocities.com/alkuma/seehindi.html ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com |
|
From: Venky H. <ve...@vs...> - 2003-01-17 20:47:46
|
I would like the inputs of the members of this list on the following thoughts: For a long while, some of us (including myself, of course) have felt the need for an organization that can take the mission of Indian language computing forward. When Prakash Advani and I started IndLinux in 2000, we hoped that a lot of volunteers would step forward and help us localize Linux, but two years later we find that whatever we have done, it is because we have one person (Karunakar) working full-time on localization. I would dearly love to see tons and tons of Indian language software out in the market. I would dearly love to see my fellow Indians compute in Indian languages with the same fleuncy that we, in the English-speaking world do. But, my personal opinion (and correct me if I am wrong) is that this is not going to happen through the volunteer-driven route. Maybe our approach to attracting volunteers has been wrong and it would be good to know how this can be set right. Setting up an organization to take Indian language computing forward is a more expensive route all other options should be explored before we go down this road. Venky > Maybe the incorporation thing(apart from the sf.net) should have been discussed > on the list a bit more? For example, why staffing? > Alok > > ===== > Alok Kumar > F1, Wireless Monitoring Station Compound, > 9th Main, 47th Cross, Jayanagar V Block > Bangalore 560076 India > +91-80-653-8200 > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-hindi/ > Can't see Hindi? http://geocities.com/alkuma/seehindi.html > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. > visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.NET email is sponsored by: Thawte.com > Understand how to protect your customers personal information by implementing > SSL on your Apache Web Server. Click here to get our FREE Thawte Apache > Guide: http://ads.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/redirect.pl?thaw0029en > _______________________________________________ > Indic-computing-users mailing list http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ > Ind...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indic-computing-users > [Other Indic-Computing mailing lists: -devel, -standards, -announce] > |
|
From: Hema A M. <he...@la...> - 2003-01-18 06:16:14
|
Please bear with me, this is a little long. > For a long while, some of us (including myself, of course) have felt the > need for an organization that can take the mission of Indian language > computing forward. When Prakash Advani and I started IndLinux in 2000, we > hoped that a lot of volunteers would step forward and help us localize > Linux, but two years later we find that whatever we have done, it is because > we have one person (Karunakar) working full-time on localization. Just a correction to this (this list is not exhaustive) i) TeNeT Group, IIT Madras: a team of 5 people (ALL OF THEM ARE EMPLOYED ON A PROJECT) where the job is localisation of linux. (www.tenet.res.in) ii) Prof.RKK (SDL, IIT Madras) and his team (please look at the website www.acharya.iitm.ac.in) has quite bit of localisation under linux. iii) AU-KBC has work going on in Tamil Linux iv) IIT Kanpur has a project under TDIL for Linux with Hindi (they also have modified X) (Prof.Rajat Moona) v) NCST, Mumbai has also Indianised X. In my opinion, there is a general DISMISSAL of all this work by the Indic Community - primarily because they are not unicode compliant (RKK's work) or are too general (TeNeT) in that they support any kind of encoding. I for one am not too excited about Unicode - primarily because the population that we are targetting (the rural users) donot really care about the support for ALL languages of the world. I would rather use the entire 16bit (as in RKK's scheme) for a compact representation of C^*V clusters. i) Perhaps our rural users may want support for 3 languages. ii) Further, there is already a lot of content on the web: there is a lot of inertia in the field to shift to something new - an example again: a) B(h)amini is a Tamil font with a typewriter like layout used in our kiosks at Madurai for inputting data in Tamil. Although we have provided a proper typewriter layout with much better fonts, our operators are not willing to shift - alternatively, we just changed the input layout to suit their requirements. b) Somebodyelse in Delhi uses Baraha font and refuses to shift to somethingelse. Comment: If we want all these people to shift we should be able support unicode with ALL the existing fonts and not insist on Opentype. Some of my thoughts: a) I do think that multiple standands will continue to co-exist (this is India with all its DIVERSITY :-)) and all that we CAN do as part of the Indic Community is to understand and accept this. We have to make sure that we have appropriate tools in place to perform conversions across different languages, different fonts and different encoding schemes. These could be filters that a browser could use for: i) searching ii) downloading iii) converting (today for example, we are quite comfortable when the browser supports multiple formats for saving web pages). b) We HAVE to work with TDIL, MIT - irrespective of how bureaucratic this organisation is - I personally do think UNLESS THERE IS A POLITICAL WILL NOTHING ON A MASS SCALE can be achieved. c) The Indic Computing group should also include speech and handwriting interfaces (given the C^*V clusters in Indian languages, these interfaces will be required). d) The Indic Computing group should get itself into a position where it advises the Govt./National Funding agencies about Open Source and its advantages for Indic Computing. This requires that we establish credibility - I feel we should host a COMMON website, where all the software available from the community are categorised and posted. Regards, Hema |
|
From: Tapan S. P. <ta...@ya...> - 2003-01-18 17:14:07
|
Hi Hema, Thanks for your points, they are well-stated. Although I may disagree with you a little on the Standards and Compliance issues your point that we should look at all peoples work and come up with synergistic solutions is definitely right on the mark. > This requires > that we establish credibility - I feel we should host a > COMMON website, where all the software available from the > community are categorised and posted. > In fact, that is one project we would like to work on, and I am the one trying to do this for the Indic site. We are calling this project the Technology Map, which would include info about all relevant software and projects, as well as user reviews and evaluation. It will include a simple form for submitting new projects, making modifications, posting reviews, etc. Im to designing and implementing the DB for this this weekend and starting to lay out the basic forms and page map. Any chance anyone from your group would want to be involved in this project, in design, coding, etc.? -- Tapan |
|
From: <al...@ya...> - 2003-01-19 13:17:07
|
Hi list, > > we have one person (Karunakar) working full-time on localization. > > Just a correction to this (this list is not exhaustive) I think the op was not referring to the indic computing project when he said that there was just one person working on localization - but the project to which he was associated. And this highlights the very important aspect of any kind of volunteer work on indic computing - they are all one man shows. More than a few people have observed that Indians are not good at team work but are good performers as individiuals. I really don't think it would be any different for indic computing - all we can do this is hope that the individual efforts pay off. That said, it is indeed improper to put organisations and people before the technological issues. We ought to be dissecting the technical aspects of any solution and mention their pros and cons regardless of which organisation or which person did it. At the same time we should 1. be appreciative of other peoples' efforts - they are spending their free time on doing something they think is useful to others, otherwise they wouldn't have been doing it in the first place. 2. always be polite and courteous in communicating with each other 3. appreciate the good work somebody has done before we start off to criticise, and if we criticise, stick to technological aspects. > In my opinion, there is a general DISMISSAL of all this work > by the Indic Community - primarily because they are not unicode > compliant (RKK's work) or are too general (TeNeT) in that they Who is the indic community? I think it is everybody who is on this list. If a section of the list feels alienated, it's a shame; and it's because of one of the three reasons mentioned above. At the same time rather than feeling alienated, it would be a good thing to actually publicise your work and tell everybody how it would be useful. Again, when somebody posts a message on what they have done, responses like "$ORGANISATION/ $PERSON always goes for the $APPROACH which is anyway going to lead to $PROBLEM" actually result in this feeling of alienation. > I for one am not too excited about Unicode - primarily because > the population that we are targetting (the rural users) donot > really care about the support for ALL languages of the world. As an example, this statement - is akin to taking tech issues personally(Hema, please forgive me, this was a readymade example - nothing personal against your approach). The population "being targeted" may be not be rural users to someone who's "excited about unicode". And it is best to discuss this on the standards list, and also to add the pros and cons in the handbook. As I understand it, anybody can contribute to the handbook. Correct me if I am wrong, koshy. > a) B(h)amini is a Tamil font with a typewriter > like layout used in our kiosks at Madurai for inputting > data in Tamil. Although we have provided a proper typewriter > layout with much better fonts, our operators are not willing to > shift - alternatively, we just changed the input layout to suit > their requirements. > > b) Somebodyelse in Delhi uses Baraha font and refuses to shift > to somethingelse. > These are very good examples of user behavior, and they should be discussed on the standards list. Again, the technological issues, not political ones. > d) The Indic Computing group should get itself into a position > where it advises the Govt./National Funding agencies about > Open Source and its advantages for Indic Computing. This requires > that we establish credibility - I feel we should host a > COMMON website, where all the software available from the > community are categorised and posted. I couldn't agree with you more. This coupled with a roadmap for new volunteers will be very useful. In brief: If we fight amongst ourselves, it's only going to confuse, discourage and demotivate newcomers who are excited about this emerging field and have not yet decided to really take the plunge. And we do need more volunteers - without the volunteers there's no project here. Let's stick to technology, and to solving people's problems by analysing user needs and behavior, and to keeping it interesting for developers. Regards alok ===== Alok Kumar F1, Wireless Monitoring Station Compound, 9th Main, 47th Cross, Jayanagar V Block Bangalore 560076 India +91-80-653-8200 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-hindi/ Can't see Hindi? http://geocities.com/alkuma/seehindi.html ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com |
|
From: Venky H. <ve...@vs...> - 2003-01-19 19:17:05
|
Dear Alok, I agree that we as a community do not publicise our work. For some, it is the technical issues that are the movtivation for joining a list like this and few techies are good at communicating their ideas to the larger world. I think the list that Hema put out is a useful start to the Technology Map that Tapan is working on. For a start, why don't all those who are working on localization put a brief description of their work. Tapan (and I volunteer to help here) can edit it so that we can start by mapping who is doing what in the Indic Computing area. Fred may have done something on similar lines, in which case this would be a useful update. Finally, it would be great if we can actively provide inputs to the Govt on policy and standards. However, we need more discussion, debate and consensus before this happens. Venky |
|
From: Tapan P. <ta...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 05:14:36
|
Dont start sending paragaraphs now. Im working on Web Entry format which can hopefully be done with Rajkumar et al's sourceforge clone as the backend. Expect some DB Designs and loose specs on the -devel list in a day or two. -- Tapan --- Venky Hariharan <ve...@vs...> wrote: > Dear Alok, > > I agree that we as a community do not publicise our > work. For some, it is > the technical issues that are the movtivation for > joining a list like this > and few techies are good at communicating their > ideas to the larger world. I > think the list that Hema put out is a useful start > to the Technology Map > that Tapan is working on. For a start, why don't all > those who are working > on localization put a brief description of their > work. Tapan (and I > volunteer to help here) can edit it so that we can > start by mapping who is > doing what in the Indic Computing area. Fred may > have done something on > similar lines, in which case this would be a useful > update. > > Finally, it would be great if we can actively > provide inputs to the Govt on > policy and standards. However, we need more > discussion, debate and consensus > before this happens. > > Venky > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.NET email is sponsored by: FREE SSL Guide > from Thawte > are you planning your Web Server Security? Click > here to get a FREE > Thawte SSL guide and find the answers to all your > SSL security issues. > http://ads.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/redirect.pl?thaw0026en > _______________________________________________ > Indic-computing-users mailing list > http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ > Ind...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indic-computing-users > [Other Indic-Computing mailing lists: -devel, > -standards, -announce] __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com |
|
From: <a_j...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 05:27:20
|
alkuma> As I understand it, anybody can contribute to alkuma> the handbook. Correct me if I am wrong, koshy. Yes, anyone can contribute to the Handbook. ===== Joseph Koshy Tel: (080)-2251554 x1802 [Office (HPISO)] The FreeBSD Project http://people.freebsd.org/~jkoshy/ Indic Computing http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com |
|
From: Tapan S. P. <ta...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 17:20:29
|
Alok, Great mail, and I agree with you 100%. This is about working together, not apart, towards a goal, not in circles around it. As Koshy says, the Signal-to-Bandwidth ratio should be maintained... ;) -- Tapan On Sun, 19 Jan 2003 13:17:02 +0000 (GMT) à¤_लà¥_à¤_ Alok <al...@ya...> wrote: > Hi list, > > > we have one person (Karunakar) working full-time on localization. > > > > Just a correction to this (this list is not exhaustive) > I think the op was not referring to the indic computing project when > he said that there was just one person working on localization - but > the project to which he was associated. > And this highlights the very important aspect of any kind of volunteer > work on indic computing - they are all one man shows. More than a few > people have observed that Indians are not good at team work but are > good performers as individiuals. I really don't think it would be any > different for indic computing - all we can do this is hope that the > individual efforts pay off. > > That said, it is indeed improper to put organisations and people > before the technological issues. We ought to be dissecting the > technical aspects of any solution and mention their pros and cons > regardless of which organisation or which person did it. > > At the same time we should > 1. be appreciative of other peoples' efforts - they are spending their > free time on doing something they think is useful to others, otherwise > they wouldn't have been doing it in the first place. > 2. always be polite and courteous in communicating with each other > 3. appreciate the good work somebody has done before we start off to > criticise, and if we criticise, stick to technological aspects. > > > In my opinion, there is a general DISMISSAL of all this work > > by the Indic Community - primarily because they are not unicode > > compliant (RKK's work) or are too general (TeNeT) in that they > > Who is the indic community? I think it is everybody who is on this > list. If a section of the list feels alienated, it's a shame; and it's > because of one of the three reasons mentioned above. At the same time > rather than feeling alienated, it would be a good thing to actually > publicise your work and tell everybody how it would be useful. Again, > when somebody posts a message on what they have done, responses like > "$ORGANISATION/ $PERSON always goes for the$APPROACH which is anyway > going to lead to $PROBLEM" actually result in this feeling of > alienation. > > > I for one am not too excited about Unicode - primarily because > > the population that we are targetting (the rural users) donot > > really care about the support for ALL languages of the world. > > As an example, this statement - is akin to taking tech issues > personally(Hema, please forgive me, this was a readymade example - > nothing personal against your approach). The population "being > targeted" may be not be rural users to someone who's "excited about > unicode". And it is best to discuss this on the standards list, and > also to add the pros and cons in the handbook. As I understand it, > anybody can contribute to the handbook. Correct me if I am wrong, > koshy. > > > a) B(h)amini is a Tamil font with a typewriter > > like layout used in our kiosks at Madurai for inputting > > data in Tamil. Although we have provided a proper typewriter > > layout with much better fonts, our operators are not willing to > > shift - alternatively, we just changed the input layout to suit > > their requirements. > > > > b) Somebodyelse in Delhi uses Baraha font and refuses to shift > > to somethingelse. > > > > These are very good examples of user behavior, and they should be > discussed on the standards list. Again, the technological issues, not > political ones. > > > d) The Indic Computing group should get itself into a position > > where it advises the Govt./National Funding agencies about > > Open Source and its advantages for Indic Computing. This requires > > that we establish credibility - I feel we should host a > > COMMON website, where all the software available from the > > community are categorised and posted. > > I couldn't agree with you more. This coupled with a roadmap for new > volunteers will be very useful. > > In brief: If we fight amongst ourselves, it's only going to confuse, > discourage and demotivate newcomers who are excited about this > emerging field and have not yet decided to really take the plunge. And > we do need more volunteers - without the volunteers there's no project > here. > > Let's stick to technology, and to solving people's problems by > analysing user needs and behavior, and to keeping it interesting for > developers. Regards > alok > > ===== > Alok Kumar > F1, Wireless Monitoring Station Compound, > 9th Main, 47th Cross, Jayanagar V Block > Bangalore 560076 India > +91-80-653-8200 > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-hindi/ > Can't see Hindi? http://geocities.com/alkuma/seehindi.html > > _____________________________________________________________________ > ___ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! > TV. > visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.NET email is sponsored by: FREE SSL Guide from Thawte > are you planning your Web Server Security? Click here to get a FREE > Thawte SSL guide and find the answers to all your SSL security > issues. http://ads.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/redirect.pl?thaw0026en > _______________________________________________ > Indic-computing-users mailing list > http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ > Ind...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indic-computing-users > [Other Indic-Computing mailing lists: -devel, -standards, -announce] |
|
From: <a_j...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 10:04:17
|
Dear Hema, I would agree with you that the situation is not as dismal as Venky painted it. Apart from the list that you posted, a number of people have achieved very decent results, even in the open-source field. For example, I've seen screen shots of the TSCII based Tamil-capable free OS distributions. These are quite impressive and they have been around for a while too. I also don't think that Unicode is the solution to all our problems :) so I would like to see RKK's C^*V representation scheme documented in the Handbook. Once this is done, you can then contend with informed resistance as opposed to the current ignorant resistance :). How can you help? ===== Joseph Koshy Tel: (080)-2251554 x1802 [Office (HPISO)] The FreeBSD Project http://people.freebsd.org/~jkoshy/ Indic Computing http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com |
|
From: Keyur S. <key...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 11:53:12
|
--- Joseph Koshy <a_j...@ya...> wrote: > I also don't think that Unicode is the solution > to all our problems :) so I would like to see RKK's > C^*V representation scheme documented in the Handbook. I am keen to know what are the issues that Unicode can not handle and how it is not suitable for a number of problems. Earlier (couple of weeks ago) I visited RKK's site and realized that they have some misunderstanding about Unicode standard. Can we start some debate/discussion on any of indic-computing lists? I know Unicode list is the best place to discuss issues about Unicode, but still we can discuss issues relating Indic scripts in Unicode on this list. Let me make it clear that I am in favour of Unicode/ISCII :-) - Keyur __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com |
|
From: <a_j...@ya...> - 2003-01-21 03:30:19
|
Dear Keyur, > I visited RKK's site and realized that they have > some misunderstanding > about Unicode standard. Can we start some > debate/discussion on any of > indic-computing lists? I think thats an excellent idea. This would be a good fit on <indic-computing-standards>. ===== Joseph Koshy Tel: (080)-2251554 x1802 [Office (HPISO)] The FreeBSD Project http://people.freebsd.org/~jkoshy/ Indic Computing http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com |
|
From: Sayamindu D. <unm...@So...> - 2003-01-21 05:24:30
|
On Mon, 2003-01-20 at 17:23, Keyur Shroff wrote: > > I am keen to know what are the issues that Unicode can not handle and how > it is not suitable for a number of problems. Earlier (couple of weeks ago) > I visited RKK's site and realized that they have some misunderstanding > about Unicode standard. Can we start some debate/discussion on any of > indic-computing lists? I know Unicode list is the best place to discuss > issues about Unicode, but still we can discuss issues relating Indic > scripts in Unicode on this list. Let me make it clear that I am in favour > of Unicode/ISCII :-) > Here is a nice resource - primarily related to Bangla though. http://www.exnet.btinternet.co.uk/ -sdg- -- Sayamindu Dasgupta [ http://www.peacefulaction.org/sayamindu/ ] ========================================= Speak out on social and cultural issues at PeacefulAction.Org http://www.peacefulaction.org ***************************************** I have a dog; I named him Stay. So when I'd go to call him, I'd say, "Here, Stay, here..." but he got wise to that. Now when I call him he ignores me and just keeps on typing. -- Steven Wright |
|
From: Tapan S. P. <ta...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 18:17:19
|
I have been following the discussion about "incorporating" Indic-Computing. I put it in quotes because first of all that is the wrong word in my mind. What we want to do is organise and institutionalise the kinds of work we want to do through Indic. Incorporate has certain self-serving connotations which I dont think are right. But maybe that is only a semantic distinction. The main point I want to make is this: I feel this organisation is required. Formal / informal, Corporation / Society - that is a seconday point. But as Mr Jitendra said - we need somewhere we can all congregate and work together and document as one all the different kinds of work we are doing. And people like Venky are right - sometimes that will require money. If people are willing to contribute to help us, they should have somewhere to do so and know that it will best used for the furtherance of the goal, and not for vested interest. But looking for fund first and then trying to figure out what you are going to do with it is the completely wrong approach. Venky (and I) should have plenty of experience with that approach. So first let us get our own ship in order - let us all, on the list, discuss seriously how, when and if we want to formally organise Indic-Computing as a formal body. Here are some questions that need to be answered. I am just putting my answers. If anyone disagrees (or agrees) with me, please post that to the list also - Company, Non-Profit Company or Society - I vote for Society - How will it initially be managed and operated - I vote for an elected body of 5 directors. We would assign voting rights by some criterion - maybe those who have posted >5 times to any Indic list. - What is our charter? - Vijay and Venky had a good start to this. Basically, cutting to the chase - our basic goal is to provide an objective, unbiased central forum and information source for the Indic-Developer and User Community. To support projects and initiatives that we feel are for the common good of good Indic Language Software. Maybe Venky or Vijay would care to re-post the full charter they had drawn up - What kinds of projects will we take up? First and foremost - projects to support the development and maintenance of Indic Website and documentation efforts. Those are our most important efforts thus far. Also workshops for the general good fo the community. Maybe then later we can think of expanding into actually developing resources and tools, if they REALLy, REALLY couldnt and wont be done by someone else. - How will we raise money just to incorporate ourselves - Good question... ;) Let me make one thing that is clear in my mind. Indic's role is NOT to generate money, or resources, or anything like that. It is a civil organisation who's main and primary goal is to work for the Indic Developer Community. That should never be forgotten. So I hope we can take this discussion forward in a rational, forward, goal-oriented way. Who else can contribute? -- Tapan |
|
From: Tapan S. P. <ta...@ya...> - 2003-01-20 18:38:38
|
Oops, maybe jumped the gun a little on the questions below. I think the first discussion should be whether or not we formally organise in the first place. I think we should, and my reason is simple. There are people who want to support the kind of work we do, and they should have an outlet for that. I think if we put proper operational and management processes in place, we would be good candidates to put those resources to the best possible use of the indic-developer community. I really think we would do a good job with that if we put our mind to it. That is why I think a formal organisation would be helpful to our stated goals. Just what I think... Anyone have any counter-points, or support? -- Tapan On Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:16:43 -0800 "Tapan S. Parikh" <ta...@ya...> wrote: > > > I have been following the discussion about "incorporating" > Indic-Computing. I put it in quotes because first of all that is the > wrong word in my mind. What we want to do is organise and > institutionalise the kinds of work we want to do through Indic. > Incorporate has certain self-serving connotations which I dont think > are right. But maybe that is only a semantic distinction. > > The main point I want to make is this: I feel this organisation is > required. Formal / informal, Corporation / Society - that is a > seconday point. But as Mr Jitendra said - we need somewhere we can > all congregate and work together and document as one all the different > kinds of work we are doing. And people like Venky are right - > sometimes that will require money. If people are willing to > contribute to help us, they should have somewhere to do so and know > that it will best used for the furtherance of the goal, and not for > vested interest. > > But looking for fund first and then trying to figure out what you are > going to do with it is the completely wrong approach. Venky (and I) > should have plenty of experience with that approach. So first let us > get our own ship in order - let us all, on the list, discuss seriously > how, when and if we want to formally organise Indic-Computing as a > formal body. > > Here are some questions that need to be answered. I am just putting > my answers. If anyone disagrees (or agrees) with me, please post that > to the list also > > - Company, Non-Profit Company or Society - I vote for Society > - How will it initially be managed and operated - I vote for an > elected body of 5 directors. We would assign voting rights by some > criterion - maybe those who have posted >5 times to any Indic list. > - What is our charter? - Vijay and Venky had a good start to this. > Basically, cutting to the chase - our basic goal is to provide an > objective, unbiased central forum and information source for the > Indic-Developer and User Community. To support projects and > initiatives that we feel are for the common good of good Indic > Language Software. Maybe Venky or Vijay would care to re-post the full > charter they had drawn up > - What kinds of projects will we take up? First and foremost - > projects to support the development and maintenance of Indic Website > and documentation efforts. Those are our most important efforts thus > far. Also workshops for the general good fo the community. Maybe then > later we can think of expanding into actually developing resources and > tools, if they REALLy, REALLY couldnt and wont be done by someone > else.- How will we raise money just to incorporate ourselves - Good > question... ;) > > Let me make one thing that is clear in my mind. Indic's role is NOT > to generate money, or resources, or anything like that. It is a civil > organisation who's main and primary goal is to work for the Indic > Developer Community. That should never be forgotten. > > So I hope we can take this discussion forward in a rational, forward, > goal-oriented way. Who else can contribute? > > -- Tapan > |
|
From: Keyur S. <key...@ya...> - 2003-01-21 05:16:13
|
Tapan, I agree with your idea of society. Turning it into a company will create problems for many individuals as they may be bound by their current employer. Also, running a non-profit company is not an easy job even though there are volunteers. Once majority on indic-computing lists agree to the idea then first task should be to define clear-cut goal. - Keyur --- "Tapan S. Parikh" <ta...@ya...> wrote: > > Oops, maybe jumped the gun a little on the questions below. > > I think the first discussion should be whether or not we formally > organise in the first place. I think we should, and my reason is > simple. There are people who want to support the kind of work we do, > and they should have an outlet for that. I think if we put proper > operational and management processes in place, we would be good > candidates to put those resources to the best possible use of the > indic-developer community. I really think we would do a good job with > that if we put our mind to it. That is why I think a formal > organisation would be helpful to our stated goals. > > Just what I think... Anyone have any counter-points, or support? > > -- Tapan > > > On Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:16:43 -0800 > "Tapan S. Parikh" <ta...@ya...> wrote: > > > > > > > I have been following the discussion about "incorporating" > > Indic-Computing. I put it in quotes because first of all that is the > > wrong word in my mind. What we want to do is organise and > > institutionalise the kinds of work we want to do through Indic. > > Incorporate has certain self-serving connotations which I dont think > > are right. But maybe that is only a semantic distinction. > > > > The main point I want to make is this: I feel this organisation is > > required. Formal / informal, Corporation / Society - that is a > > seconday point. But as Mr Jitendra said - we need somewhere we can > > all congregate and work together and document as one all the different > > kinds of work we are doing. And people like Venky are right - > > sometimes that will require money. If people are willing to > > contribute to help us, they should have somewhere to do so and know > > that it will best used for the furtherance of the goal, and not for > > vested interest. > > > > But looking for fund first and then trying to figure out what you are > > going to do with it is the completely wrong approach. Venky (and I) > > should have plenty of experience with that approach. So first let us > > get our own ship in order - let us all, on the list, discuss seriously > > how, when and if we want to formally organise Indic-Computing as a > > formal body. > > > > Here are some questions that need to be answered. I am just putting > > my answers. If anyone disagrees (or agrees) with me, please post that > > to the list also > > > > - Company, Non-Profit Company or Society - I vote for Society > > - How will it initially be managed and operated - I vote for an > > elected body of 5 directors. We would assign voting rights by some > > criterion - maybe those who have posted >5 times to any Indic list. > > - What is our charter? - Vijay and Venky had a good start to this. > > Basically, cutting to the chase - our basic goal is to provide an > > objective, unbiased central forum and information source for the > > Indic-Developer and User Community. To support projects and > > initiatives that we feel are for the common good of good Indic > > Language Software. Maybe Venky or Vijay would care to re-post the full > > charter they had drawn up > > - What kinds of projects will we take up? First and foremost - > > projects to support the development and maintenance of Indic Website > > and documentation efforts. Those are our most important efforts thus > > far. Also workshops for the general good fo the community. Maybe then > > later we can think of expanding into actually developing resources and > > tools, if they REALLy, REALLY couldnt and wont be done by someone > > else.- How will we raise money just to incorporate ourselves - Good > > question... ;) > > > > Let me make one thing that is clear in my mind. Indic's role is NOT > > to generate money, or resources, or anything like that. It is a civil > > organisation who's main and primary goal is to work for the Indic > > Developer Community. That should never be forgotten. > > > > So I hope we can take this discussion forward in a rational, forward, > > goal-oriented way. Who else can contribute? > > > > -- Tapan > > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com |
×
Want the latest updates on software, tech news, and AI?
Get latest updates about software, tech news, and AI from SourceForge directly in your inbox once a month.
Thanks for helping keep SourceForge clean.
X