[Indic-computing-users] Indic Computing -- Appeal for Funds

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Dear Indiccers,

We are in the process of setting up Indic Computing as a non-profit organization and Prakash, Tapan, Dr. Pavanaja, Vijay, Ashish, Karunakar and I have donated Rs 2,000 each towards setting up the organization. We request other members to step forward and send us their contributions. The money received will be used for setting up Indic Computing, staffing the organization and furthering the cause of Indic Computing. We also request you to circulate this far and wide to all those interested in bringing the benefits of IT to the Indian masses. 

Regards,

Venky

Indic Computing - Shaping India's Digital Destiny
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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, 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, a need that was 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, individuals, developers and others 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 basic linguistic information appropriate for software 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 and evaluating the large number of Indian language software 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!

Contact: vi...@ek... or ve...@vs...

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