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PanAsiaExamples from outside of Africa: The PAN Localization project in Asia(Presentation by Amar Gurung, download the presentation here) Note: This page is based on notes taken during the presentation and may contain errors and unintended misrepresentations of Amar's statements. Please download the original presentation! Presentation of the Pan Asia Networking (PAN) Localization project http://www.panl10n.net/ (funded by IDRC) and coordinated by the Center for Reesearch in Urdu Language Processing (http://www.crulp.org). Phase 1 - 7 countries and 9 partners organisationsMain focus was to research the key challenges and solutions to enable ICTs in local language. This included different activities: (1) Capacity development / Training
A survey showed that respondents found mentor placement and summer school most beneficial, unfortunately those are also the two most difficult to organise. (2) Language Technology Policy
Phase II (2007 - 2010)Increased to 10 countries (18 partners, 14 languages). Three regional research components
End-uses were not involved very much in Phase I. Phase II will test if the tools that were developed are useful and how they will impact end-users. What has worked:
Network was set up with a strong hub (National University in Pakistan) and spokes who contract only with the hub, not directly with the funder. Why is that good?
Some things to keep in mind:
Comments / QuestionsDawit: From Amar's presentation we see that there is lots to learn from experiences in other continents. It also is apparent that in Africa activities are lagging behind. For example, we have not really considered issues around IPR very much. Another really important factor I think is institutionalization. Often, in Africa, projects are driven by the passion of one person (rather than organisational dedication) and if that person moves on, the efforts end. Reinhard: IPR is important to consider not only to protect something, but also if you want to make sure your things are open and can be shared. If the IPR is not clear, then many commercial companies will not touch it - to make sure they don't risk infringement. Dwayne: Being an open source localisation group, we found IPR quite important. In some cases, government starts using terminology that is owned by private companies, which can cut the other way. < 2/24 #2 Layercake & Ecology | Agenda | 2/24 #4 Localisation in Europe > |