gilc global initiative for local computing pat hall, open university [email protected] reinhard...
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GILCGlobal Initiative for Local Computing
Pat Hall, Open [email protected]
Reinhard Schaler, [email protected]
Tenth Localisation Conference organised by the LRCLRC-X The Development Localisation Event
University of Limerick +++ 13–14 September 2005
Agenda
• Overview of current, mainstream localisation efforts
• A new approach is needed: Development Localisation
• An infrastructure for DL10N:The Global Initiative for Local Computing (GILC)
The rationaleThree underlying principles of current localisation efforts
Motivation: Increase return on investment (ROI)– Adapt an already developed product superficially to the requirements of
foreign markets - with a minimum effort– Then sell it into these new markets for a similar price as the original product:
there is no easier way to make money
Use globally acceptable content (LCD / I18N)– Develop products using the lowest common denominator (LCD);
the out-of-the-box product should not offend anyone– Use recognisable colours, symbols, sound and signs– Less adaptation = higher potential earnings– Reduce the localisation effort to translation Good for revenues, but bad for diversity and the information and
entertainment value of the product and/or service
Re-use (leverage) as much as possible (L10N)– Process as much as possible – translate as little as possible;
reuse previous translations– Limit changes to an absolute minimum (eliminate snowball effect) Recycling of translations is good for business, but bad for living languages
(and the people using them)
Localisation is a success if the people buying a product or paying for a service believe that it has been developed for them, in their country – although this was not
the case.
TM
Barriers to effective localisationShortcomings of current localisation efforts
• Basic issues remain unresolved for all commercially not viable locales (not just in developing countries in Africa and Asia): availability, accessibility and cost
– I18N: fonts, character encoding, script rendering engines, spell checkers, thesauri, hyphenation rules, collating
– L10N: no equal access to information society; but also: no access to these cultures
– For example: the digital divide and the script encoding initiative; at the current rate it will take 700 years (but only US$2-3m) to encode the world’s remaining scripts in Unicode
• Current localisation efforts promote ‘western’ languages and cultures– 90% of content being localised originates in one country/culture
– Dominant locales create a blanket, suffocating the rest
• The negative value chain endangers languages and cultures globally
• D. Brooks: Languages not present in the digital world will soon become obsolete.
NoMarket
NoL10N
NoDigital
Presence
NoI18N
NoSurvival?
Languages and Cultures in the Digital World
Kofi Annan
The new information and communications technologies
are among the driving forces of globalization. They are
bringing people together, and bringing decision makers
unprecedented new tools for development. At the same
time, however, the gap between information "haves"
and "have-nots" is widening, and there is a real danger
that the world's poor will be excluded from the
emerging knowledge-based global economy.
http://www.unicttaskforce.org/sg_challenge.html
Breaking the barriers: creative and imaginative approaches
Development localisation
Other reasons to localise
Case studies
The Global Initiative for Local Computing
ROI is not enough
Development localisationSocial, political, cultural and long-term
investment reasons to localise
• Social reasons– Bridging the social divide
• Political reasons– Access to information
• Cultural reasons– Survival of languages and cultures
• Long-term investment– market penetration, millions of potential
users, competition
Development localisationSocial reasons: bridging the digital divide
• Localisation for under-represented communities– modersmal.net; a resource for those working in child
care and school education with minorities and immigrants in Sweden (www.bestglobalwebsite.com)
• Translators without borders– Reporting the forgotten wars in Africa
• Community localisation: Open source’s local heros– Creating local software versions in developing
countries: If the commercial sort does not speak your language, open-source software may well do so instead (The Economist, 4 Dec 2003)
Development localisationPolitical reasons: access to information
• LRC 2004 Best Global Website Award Winner: BBC World Service
• Indian Government localisation initiatives– eVoting– land registry– mobile libraries and internet access
• China/Japan/Korea initiative for open source operating system (US$9m investment)(reported at LRC ’04 by Paul Gampe, Director Technology, RedHat)
Case study: IndiaPolitical reasons: access to information
• Basic considerations– > 1 billion people– > 20 official languages– > 1600+ other languages– Federal structure and responsibilities
• Myths– English is spoken widely (~ US attitude towards European languages in
the mid 1980s)– Rural economy (Report: Contours of Rural India; Omkar Goswami, CERG Advisory, FT 7Dec04, p.5)
• 2/3 live in rural areas, in 680,000 villages• BUT > 1/3 of rural households derive their income from services or
manufacturing• In Punjab, Kerala, Haryana (successful farming states) >50% of all rural
households have escaped agriculture altogether.
• There are millions of potential users who do not speak English: Imaginative and creative approaches to localisation are essential (and possible)
Case study: IndiaPolitical reasons: access to information
• Mobile Digital Library – Knowledge at Doorsteps– Internet satellite-based mobile digital library– A million books available for download via satellite in
different languages of India– Library is fitted with printer, cutter and binding machine;
US$1 per book; highest cost is ink– Run by C-DAC Noida (Government of India)
Case study: South AfricaPolitical reasons: access to information
Languages of South Africa
N Sotho10%
English9%
S Sotho7%
Tsonga4%
Zulu22%
Ndebele2%
Venda2%
Swati3%
Xhosa18%
Afrikaans16%
Tswana7%
• Population: 40.5 million• 11 official languages• English ranks fifth as
mother tongue• 22% fully understand
English• 19% seldom
understand information conveyed in English
Case study: South AfricaPolitical reasons: access to information
• eGovernment Gateway project• Bridging the digital divide• Electronic lexicons
The African States recognize the imperative need to develop African languages which will ensure their cultural advancement and accelerate their economic and social development....”Cultural Charter for Africa of the Organization of African Unity, Article 17
Development localisationCultural reasons: survival of languages and cultures
• Initiatives driven by university researchers in cooperation with language communities– Encoding initiatives: University of Berkeley (Debbie Anderson)
– Language resources and technology development• Indic languages: Open University, UK (Pat Hall)
• African languages: UNISA (Kim Wallmach, Laurette Pretorius, Sonja E. Bosch)
• European Union research and market development programmes:– Framework Programmes
– eContent (plus)
• Canadian Government Development Programme
• United Nations– UN ITC Task Force
– International Open Source Network (an initiative by the UN Development Programme)
Case study: European UnionCultural reasons: survival of languages and cultures
• 380 million EU citizens (200 million only speak their language)
• 25 member states• 20 official European Union languages• 380 Possible language combinations• The largest language service in the world
– 1.5 million pages in 2003; 2.06 million pages in 2004 (~400m words)
– €500m (US$611m) in 2003; €800m (US$978) - €2.55 per citizen
– DG Translation alone: 1,300 linguists, 500 support staff (+freelancers), 8% of total EC staff
– 110 translators/freelancers to be hired per new language
The European Union occasionally speaks with one voice, but never in one language(Gone are the days when ‘Copyright’ was accidentally translated into French as ‘the right to copy’)
It is a question of rights, democracy, equality, as well as being part of a peace strategy and a multicultural society. The possibility of limiting the number of official EU languages can be ruled out. Everyone is entitled to information in their own language. Karl-Johan Loennroth, Head, EU DG Translation
Development localisationLong-term investment: market penetration, access to potential users, competition
• Microsoft– Local Language Programme (LLP)– Language Interface Packs (LIP)
• HP– eInclusion Programme
• RedHat and Suse– Open Source internationalisation and localisation efforts
driven by commercial providers applying a service-based instead of a conventional license-based model
• Shared initiatives– Common Locale Data Repository (founders: IBM,
SUN, Openoffice)
– Unicode
Case study: MicrosoftLong-term investment: market penetration, access to potential users, competition
• Language Interface Packs (LIPs) – Localised OSs for the masses
• Windows XP International Support
– 25 fully localised versions of the operating system
– 33+ Multilingual User Interfaces (MUIs) – language specific resource
files which can be added to the English version of Windows.
– 9 Language Interface Packs (LIPs) – create a language skin to
localise the 20% of the UI that is used 80% of the time
• Costs less than $100k (not 100s of k)
• Takes 5-6 weeks (not 5-6 months)
• Less disk space: 3.5-4 Mb (not 40-80 Mb)
Case study: MicrosoftLong-term investment: market penetration, access to potential users, competition
• Microsoft and UNESCO announce agreement (17 November 2004)– to help increase access to ICT and training
in underserved communities– to deliver digital inclusion programmes in
countries around the world– to increase the use of ICT in education and
learning, community access and development, and cultural and logistic diversity and preservation.
Case study: Open SourceLong term investment: market penetration, access to potential users
• Rationale– No ownership and no license issues– Accessibiliy, no dependence on suppliers
• Size– KDE: 42 languages (+46)– Mozilla: 65 languages (+34)– OpenOffice: 31 languages (+44)– KDE and Gnome are available in more than twice as many
languages as industry-standard desktop interfaces.
• Initiatives– Supported by commercial companies and governments
• Effect
These initiatives have an effect!
MICROSOFT - Steve Ballmer has put off Asian governments using Linux, by scaring them with the spectre of potential intellectual property legal actions. Microsoft's chief executive, appearing at the Asian Government Leaders' Forum in Singapore, said Linux violates more than 228 patents. 'Someday... somebody will come and look for money owing to the rights for that intellectual property,' Ballmer said in response to questioning. Ballmer did not provide details on the alleged violations, but Microsoft subsequently informed press Ballmer was citing an open source risk management (OSRM) report from August, which actually identified 287 patents in the Linux kernel. Of these, OSRM identified 27 Microsoft patents that could cover technologies in the kernel. OSRM, at the time of the report, did not actually say whether Linux violated any patents, adding none of the patents have been tested in court. Asia, and government, are two particularly sensitive areas for Microsoft right now. China, Japan and South Korea are among those pursuing either commercial or nationally sponsored Linux alternatives.
IT's Monday 631 22 November 2004
GILC2005 – the year of…
The Global Initiative for Local ComputingSupporting local computing across geographical, political, social and
economic divides
Building, on existing frameworks, the infrastructure for regional initiatives to coordinate, pool resources, raise awareness, and
communicate on a global level
Removing myths around localisation, dealing with real needs and requirements in an imaginative, creative way
Localisation – Not a ‘nice-to-have’ but a fundamental right
• Clarification of IPR
• Get the basics working
• Promotion of development localisation efforts
• Development of an avant-garde organisational infrastructure
• Facilitation of access to and learning about Linguistic Resources
• Repository of localised software
The Global Initiative for Local ComputingSupporting local computing across geographical, political, social and economic divides
LOTS and GILC Resources
Authentic materialConsisting of
Language and Localisation ToolsResources in a variety of formats
Multilingual source filesCommunity glossaries
Online access to localisation tools, technologies, terminology