[OLPC library] A proposal to give some DICTIONARY pre-installed on the XOs that will be delivered to Peruvian Kids

Tue Mar 11 22:59:52 EDT 2008

Hello Dr. Kalyanaram

 >I had earlier given a free licence to use, and submitted my Indian 
Lexicon (for 25 languages) for inclusion in OLPC.

When you say "Indian lexicon"... it means a "25 international languages 
lexicon build in India" or "25 Indian languages" ??? (In Peru we have 
Quechua (around 4 to 6 varieties), Aymara (I don't know if it is a 
unique version, and the "Instituto de Verano" (NGO) described more than 
40 other languages in the peruvian jungle).

 >A general consensus may have to be arrived at on the availability of 
basic lexical/language resources at various levels, from primary to 
secondary school levels.

Our goverment (peruvian goverment) says that this project is for primary 
schools (6 to 12 years old aproximately).   I don't think that we must 
ask the children to return his/her dear XO once he get 12 years old... 
we, old grown adults, use many kinds of devices that are small: 
cellullars & palmtops are very common and we check mail, and send short 
messages... if we "open the window"... why we need to close it when the 
kid reachs 12 years old? (that "window" reference is without any 2nd 
implication! (smile) ).

 >Every prospective OLPC user is a child and will not be restricted to 
children alone, particularly in, for example, the rural areas of India 
with one billion population with a large percentage of illiteracy.

uhmmm... that was I thought when I realize there will be 250,000 XOs in 
Peru in the next year (40,000 are here in this moment).  All of these 
machines can CHANGE the whole world because they are the TOOLS to 
communicate with the world.  One of the big problems that will arise in 
2 or 3 years is when these machines will be used to develop VOIP (very 
low bandwith needed).  Communication tools they are! then they will be 
used as COMMUNICATION tools without any restriction. 

Learning tool: in some areas of Peru more than 70% of the women are not 
able to read, that's what official statistics show.  From my personal 
experience I can say that it is not rare in the isolated towns and 
villages that the women are not able to speak spanish (only the men), 
and they have not personal identification document (no I.D.... they 
don't exist for the occidental society.. but they pay taxes: every soft 
drink, every beer (thats the kind of occidental culture that we carry to 
those towns) has its government tax included (VAT)).

My conclusion: XOs are not for children only.  They will be 
revolutionary tool for this generation.  It should be.

Regards,

Javier Rodriguez
Lima, Peru

kalyan97 wrote:
> Sorry for digressing on the subject of Dictionaries on OLPC and taking 
> the issue beyond Peru. I had earlier given a free licence to use, 
> and submitted my Indian Lexicon (for 25 languages) for inclusion in 
> OLPC. A general consensus may have to be arrived at on the 
> availability of basic lexical/language resources at various levels, 
> from primary to secondary school levels. Every prospective OLPC user 
> is a child and will not be restricted to children alone, particularly 
> in, for example, the rural areas of India with one billion population 
> with a large percentage of illiteracy. Best regards, Dr. S. kalyanaraman
>
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 5:02 AM, Samuel Klein <sj at laptop.org 
> <mailto:sj at laptop.org>> wrote:
>
>     2008/3/11 info at olpc-peru.info <mailto:info at olpc-peru.info>
>     <info at olpc-peru.info <mailto:info at olpc-peru.info>>:
>
>     >  I agree: some "dynamic" database will be better than a "static"
>     database.
>     > It is not hard to build: just add a form and some "append/sort"
>     routine to
>     > the main database.  Easy to say! (smile)... the "upgrade/add
>     words" option
>     > can not be done in plain javascript  (it goes against the idea that
>     > javascript comes from the server and runs on the client machine
>     in a typical
>     > Internet connection... many security issues raise up!).  So... the
>     > "add/upgrade" option or form needs to feed some "php" or java or
>     phyton
>     > or... any other language that can be installed on the XO (I
>     don't know which
>     > ones are installed in this moment... which languages come
>     installed with the
>     > XO? Phyton and... what else? )
>
>     Effectively, just Python.
>
>     >  Sharing new words: how the modifications of one user can be
>     "shared" with
>     > the rest of the "group" or the rest of the "neighborhood" ?
>      Possible
>     > answers:
>     >  * The school server will collect, organize and share the
>     "additional words
>     > & meanings".
>
>     To keep a record of all dictionary changes made by each individual,
>     you will need to do something on a machine or site with a fair bit of
>     memory that intends to be up for a long time.
>
>     XOs will probably want a way to merge a new dictionary with their
>     existing one, from the mesh, a server, or another place; it has no
>     reason to store lots of changes in memory.
>
>     > So we will have "english word =
>     > spanish word" or "english word = english meaning" ... and many other
>     > combinations: common phrases... localisms... concepts... etc.
>
>     Also picture dictionaries, working in both directions (word to image,
>     or image to words in various languages).
>
>     >  Othe names different than "words" ?
>
>     Do you mean phrases?
>
>     Cheers,
>     SJ
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