tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63358612009-11-03T06:45:51.926-05:00African languages and the "information society": Reflections on multilingual ICT, first-language and bilingual education, and uses of the vernacular in extension and development work in Africa.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifBeyondNiameyhttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-6544185607830168132009-02-21T23:59:00.006-05:002009-03-27T01:20:34.981-04:002009-03-27T01:20:34.981-04:00

With the formal conclusion of the International Year of Languages (IYL) on International Mother Language Day, I'd like to take a moment to ask: What did the IYL mean for Africa?With any such observances, any analysis right afterward will of course not be able to take account of long-term or latent effects (e.g., people or organizations whose awareness was raised and whose later action is somehow

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-did-international-year-of.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-13332661368783814132009-02-08T21:26:00.010-05:002009-02-20T02:52:31.308-05:002009-02-20T02:52:31.308-05:00

Since my last posting, which was after returning from a trip to Bamako, I haven't had the time to do much with this blog. Circumstances have changed somewhat, though the focus of my work and essence of the ideas that I am developing are much the same.The title of this entry remembers that trip to Bamako and alludes to a recent conference on languages and an ongoing one on African development,

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2009/02/bamako-triptych-and-resuming-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-16611413168706388742008-05-18T18:47:00.003-04:002008-05-24T20:19:54.909-04:002008-05-24T20:19:54.909-04:00

I need to post soon on the trip to Bamako, but wanted to quickly note two more sudden departures: Guido Sohne and Steve Cisler.On return from Bamako I heard that Guido Sohne died suddenly earlier this month in Nairobi. Guido was from Ghana and an IT specialist. I did not know him well but we had corresponded occasionally on various items and networked on LinkedIn (which he first invited me and

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com1http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/05/two-more-stars-fall.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-60808163903862803912008-05-09T09:42:00.004-04:002008-05-09T10:39:10.987-04:002008-05-09T10:39:10.987-04:00

A proposal to close the Xhosa Wikipedia has been made, and for some of us it raises some questions about how the Wikimedia Foundation deals with less-resourced languages, such as those in Africa. The bottom line here is really why there is little participation in African language editions of Wikipedia, and what the most appropriate course of action is - closing and eventually deleting, or finding

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com1http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/05/closing-xhosa-wikipedia.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-57100019448040306992008-04-24T07:27:00.005-04:002008-04-29T12:20:49.636-04:002008-04-29T12:20:49.636-04:00

I was surprised and saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Sonja Fagerberg-Diallo last month. (Un article en français ici.) Her quietly remarkable career was cut short last month at age 58 by a sudden critical illness. She is particularly known as a linguist specialized in Pulaar (a dialect of the Fula language) and for her long-time work on literacy and publication in Pulaar and other

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/04/remembering-sonja-fagerberg-diallo.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-4924059489527735972008-04-05T13:42:00.000-04:002008-04-05T13:43:23.571-04:002008-04-05T13:43:23.571-04:00

A friend and former colleague, Jonathon Landeck, once remarked that "it's hard to build food security on the backs of illiterate farmers." I think again of this in light of a recent UN press release (seen on H-West-Africa) about a call for "greater investments in agriculture and rural development to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in Africa" by Kanayo Nwanze, Vice-President of IFAD. This

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com2http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/04/farming-words-agricultural-development.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-40506298320757908642008-03-13T00:39:00.002-04:002008-03-13T00:52:54.377-04:002008-03-13T00:52:54.377-04:00

I've been e-mailing some non-governmental organizations involved in African development about the role of African languages in their work. This is an exploratory research on a small scale that hopefully will help further research in related areas. The core text of the letter follows:In order to better understand the evolving field, and how my range of expertise can best respond to and inform

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com3http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/03/development-ngos-and-african-languages.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-90105437407160480952008-03-01T10:51:00.003-05:002008-03-01T16:19:08.493-05:002008-03-01T16:19:08.493-05:00

The recipient of the Linguapax Prize for 2008 is Dr. Neville Alexander of South Africa. The prize is awarded annually (since 2000) in recognition of contributions to linguistic diversity and multilingual education.Although the Linguapax site does not at this writing have updated information, the website of the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia (which is connected with Linguapax) has this press release

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/03/linguapax-prize-2008-to-neville.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-16526460016988097252008-02-27T21:42:00.004-05:002008-02-27T22:43:03.601-05:002008-02-27T22:43:03.601-05:00

In the previous entry, I inserted a quote (from an article about International Mother Language Day in Ghana) about books being locked up in the warehouses of the Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL). Actually the point of that was that the supply is there, but that somehow the demand is not connecting with it - so the books remain, presumably, boxed and stacked, in storage.Another article from Ghana

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com1http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/whats-up-with-bureau-of-ghana-languages.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-2245896333118708492008-02-26T22:42:00.004-05:002008-02-27T00:50:20.132-05:002008-02-27T00:50:20.132-05:00

African languages have not only been passed over as languages of instruction and even omitted from school curricula in much of Africa, they have in some cases been actively excluded. While a full discussion of the issues involved would take something much longer than a blog post, I wanted to review a few facts and anecdotes. It should be noted that the worst abuses were in the colonial

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/burning-textbooks-beating.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-21899192275441227802008-02-24T12:52:00.004-05:002008-02-25T00:34:20.591-05:002008-02-25T00:34:20.591-05:00

The African Academy of Languages uses the slogan "African languages for African development." Unfortunately there is not yet a strong body of literature linking language and development in Africa. There are several works of note that discuss African languages from various perspectives - linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects to language and education policies. However few works make the case for

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/role-of-african-languages-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-69411217792335619112008-02-21T19:36:00.002-05:002008-12-09T12:46:39.880-05:002008-12-09T12:46:39.880-05:00

Today is the ninth annual observance of International Mother Language Day (IMLD) and the date of formal launching of the International Year of Languages (IYL). (See also my previous posting about the IYL on 31 Jan.)A few mentions of IMLD in the African press:In Gambia, the Banjul paper Daily Observer had an article entitled "2008 - the Year Ahead in Education." Dated on 16 January, it mentioned

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/international-mother-language-day.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-2434950158645496472008-02-20T23:00:00.004-05:002008-02-20T23:34:50.305-05:002008-02-20T23:34:50.305-05:00

A recent article in the magazine of the Ugandan newspaper East African, with the odd title of "Mother tongue interference on the Internet" (also available here) discusses Kiganira Deogracious Kijambu's "dream that one day he will access the Internet in Lusoga, his mother tongue." He's described as having developed a successful "e-commerce agricultural business."The latter fact is significant.

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/accessing-internet-in-lusogo.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-20374352455002870342008-02-03T20:09:00.001-05:002008-12-09T12:46:40.626-05:002008-12-09T12:46:40.626-05:00

One way of describing my focus in working on Bisharat and the PanAfrican Localisation project is linking localization (L10n) of information and communications technology (ICT) with ICT for development (ICT4D) in Africa. Last October I framed this as a question on the LinkedIn network in this way: How to promote better integration & synergism among ICT4D & L10n activities in Africa?It's an

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com2http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/02/linking-l10n-ict4d-bring-back-afagrict.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-28889023842117588742008-01-31T02:59:00.002-05:002008-12-09T12:46:40.954-05:002008-12-09T12:46:40.954-05:00

This year has been declared the International Year of Languages by the United Nations. Official observance is being coordinated by UNESCO.One of the things we can hope for is that the time and focus on languages can in Africa be used to forward the efforts begun in the Year of African Languages (2006).Personally I've been collecting some links and ideas about the Year and how to support it on a

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-international-year-of-languages.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-91809042060845866112007-11-09T16:59:00.001-05:002008-02-27T18:55:01.900-05:002008-02-27T18:55:01.900-05:00

Currently in Tshwane, South Africa (more precisely in the Pretoria suburb of Centurion within the municipality of Tshwane) following the 2nd PanAfrican Localisation project workshop (5-7 Nov. 2007). The aims if the workshop included generating recommendations for the sustainability of the project output, discussing new projects, and facilitating networking among localizers and others involved

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2007/11/panafrican-localisation-project.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-81683759624045471302007-09-23T19:32:00.001-04:002008-02-27T18:56:41.411-05:002008-02-27T18:56:41.411-05:00

In another context someone suggested there might be too many lists about localization in Africa - a fair comment if you take a look at the amount of stuff I put in the left sidebar (which still isn't comprehensive - there are some other lists that should be added, and hopefully will be soon).To clarify what's going on I thought it would be worth a little bit of background. I haven't put all this

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-notes-about-all-lists-in-sidebar.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-17099368015388309532007-09-22T17:57:00.001-04:002008-02-27T19:07:55.782-05:002008-02-27T19:07:55.782-05:00

Following are some excerpts with minor modifications from the introduction I wrote to comments on a report about agricultural development in Africa several months ago. These are in italics, followed by some comments to put it in a personal perspective:I see language as an important consideration often - and paradoxically - omitted from discussions on agriculture and rural development in Africa:

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2007/09/language-vital-neglected-topic-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-89726704083029290772007-09-21T20:02:00.001-04:002008-02-27T19:57:45.976-05:002008-02-27T19:57:45.976-05:00

Busy. Some work highlights:Vastly expanded the Pan African Localisation wiki (and that's still in progress). The idea with this is to develop a comprehensive information resource for people of a range of backgrounds approaching localization in African languages. First of all, localizers - people working on or planning a project for some aspect of localization in one or more African langauges.

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2007/09/so-what-about-last-year-busy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-25276992437831784852007-09-20T20:50:00.001-04:002008-02-27T19:58:27.626-05:002008-02-27T19:58:27.626-05:00

After a year's hiatus, I'm going to post at least a few more items here.One task is to update the list of lists in the left sidebar and all the RSS feeds there - have begun that already. I tend to write more in various lists and online fora anyway, and those links and feeds will reflect those efforts (as well as posts by others of course).What I will try to do more of here is posting material

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2007/09/reviving-blog-again-after-years-hiatus.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-1159655584567849942006-09-30T17:56:00.001-04:002008-02-27T21:31:17.239-05:002008-02-27T21:31:17.239-05:00

Just a quick note as September fades into October, and referring first of all to August...At the beginng of last month there was a meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts called "Wikimania", which brought together various experts and enthusiasts working on Wikipedia and related Wikimedia projects. Although I did not attend, I participated virtually, or as close to that as one could, in two sessions

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2006/09/retrospective-wikimania-4-6-august-2006.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-1158278292505909762006-09-14T19:09:00.001-04:002008-02-27T21:32:40.866-05:002008-02-27T21:32:40.866-05:00

I've expressed reservations about the medium of blog before - in some ways very useful, but in some ways a drain on time. And then all the blogs and who has time to read most of them?I've tended to drain my expressive time on several lists, which require less in terms of maintenance and in theory have a built in readership as well as a more egalitarian mode of interaction. As a collective

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.com0http://niamey.blogspot.com/2006/09/back-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-1133937850978371122005-12-07T01:34:00.000-05:002005-12-07T01:44:10.986-05:002005-12-07T01:44:10.986-05:00