Centre for Internet and Society

Utilization

praskrishna — 2016-02-22T14:07:57Z

Expenditure Analysis

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Utilization

praskrishna — 2016-02-22T14:03:42Z

Utilization

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Utility Models

praskrishna — 2015-11-24T14:40:14Z

Utility Models

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USOF Meeting in Delhi

praskrishna — 2011-09-13T10:13:18Z

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USOF Meet in New Delhi

praskrishna — 2011-09-13T10:30:59Z

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Using technology to address issues

praskrishna — 2016-08-15T04:26:21Z

Can technology help the visually-disabled, who have no access to books and reading resources in their schools?

The article was published in the Hindu on August 14, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan was quoted.

Currently, they are provided Braille books, most of which do not cover the schooling syllabus or are provided late in an academic year. This forces them to depend on scribes or someone to read out textbooks — something most cannot afford.

It is here that technology can provide some semblance of independence, believes Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director at The Centre for Internet and Society. “Open source screen readers are available in over 10 languages. During the time of publishing of textbooks, all that needs to be done is to prepare a digital copy. Within no time, audio for the blind will be available,” she said, adding that this was one of the demands put for inclusion in the National Education Policy.

Teachers can be trained to use these readers. They can guide students, she said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hindu-august-14-2016-using-technology-to-address-issues

Using Kannada in technology made easier with smartphones

praskrishna — 2016-11-01T05:19:17Z

With the IT revolution, many believed that the younger generation would prefer to type and communicate in English than Kannada.

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was interviewed by the New Indian Express. The article was published on November 1, 2016.

But U B Pavanaja, a member of Kannada Software Committee and a Kannada Wikipedia administrator, believes with latest technology, the use of Kannada has only been increasing. As the state celebrates Karnataka Rajyotsava today, Ashwini M Sripad spoke to Pavanaja on adapting Kannada language to the latest technology.

Where does Kannada stand when it comes to adopting technology?

Quite good. But not the best. Most tools needed to use Kannada in technology are available now. They are almost perfect.

Has there been any change in the use of Kannada in computer/mobile by youngsters in the last decade?

Yes. Due to the availability of Kannada input methods, and advent of smartphones, many youngsters are now using Kannada on their computers and smartphones. More people are typing in the Kannada script itself.

What should the state government do to popularise Kannada in technology?

A lot needs to be done. There was a committee to look into the standardisation and proper implementation of Kannada in technology. The committee submitted its report. The government implemented some parts of the report. After that nothing has been done. Now the committee does not exist. Standardisation is a continuous process. There must be a permanent committee to look into this. For example, domain names (website names) are available now in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, etc., but not in Kannada. This is due to the fact that no one represents Kannada in meetings of W3C India, an international community to develop web standards.

How is the response to Kannada Wikipedia?

A lot of awareness has been created among people about the existence of Kannada Wikipedia in the last three years. But more needs to be done.

What can be done to improve it further?

At present, the articles are written by enthusiastic Kannadigas who are not really writers. They are doing this out of passion for the language. But well-known Kannada writers don’t edit Kannada Wikipedia. Kannada has a good number science writers, but they are not editing Kannada Wikipedia, which is very badly needed at this time. Also, there is no comprehensive printed encyclopaedia in Kannada for science and technology. The last one came out 18 years ago. Therefore students in Kannada medium schools need a good Kannada encyclopaedia. This requirement can be met by Kannada Wikipedia. But the number and quality of articles is far from sufficient. Writing for Kannada Wikipedia could be made compulsory for degree and post-graduate students to bring in some well-researched articles. Such programmes already do exist in some colleges in the state but we need more.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/new-indian-express-november-1-2016-using-kannada-in-technology-made-easier-with-smartphones