Published On: 2008-02-23
StarTech
TechFocus
Bangla computing
Making technology culture specific
Edward Apurba Singha




Infants primarily respond to their surroundings by their own gesture and then gradually learn the language to develop physical and mental growth. This language is known as mother tongue, which has a great impact on personal, social and national activities.

Developed countries attach great importance to their native language and conduct all activities based on it. In Japan, all citizens use Japanese in their A to Z activities. They even do their overseas communication through it.

Now Japan has become an economic giant and technology leader, which has helped take the language to the peak. People now need to know Japanese to do business with the country.

But things are different in the developing world. People in countries like Bangladesh fight for daily survival; opportunities are hard to find and unemployment is soaring every year, triggering the necessity for more diversified approach. For this reason, switch to global language is quite natural.

From economic point of view, it is relevant for us to learn foreign language to enrich expertise and then contribute to the country's development. Economic stability could also be achieved by developing capacity through the use of native language. Differences of opinion may exist, but we can think in other ways.

From the perspective of Bangladesh, the use of foreign language in IT is a big problem for the people to enjoy the optimum benefits of modern technology. For instance, English is not intelligible to rural people. But then, nearly all computer applications available in the local market require a basic knowledge of English.

In order to overcome the problem, the concept of Bangla computing has become a reality. The craze for Bangla computing is now gaining momentum day by day. The impact of Bangla computing is not limited to socio-economic aspects only. It also pushes us to obtain a Bangla language identity on the global stage.

There are two ways to incorporate our native language into the computer system -- the first one is using Bangla in operating system and the second one is using the language in software. Many of us use Bangla font in office applications, which is an instance of the second type.

With the advent of Unicode, it is now fairly possible to implement Bangla language in modern computer system. But you may wonder how computer works with the language. Technically speaking, computer actually knows nothing but 0 and 1.

When you press any character on the keyboard, your PC just converts it into 0 and 1. 0 means low and 1 means high. Before the innovation of Unicode, many encoding systems were utilised to do this task. But they were not capable of incorporating all languages. Unicode has solved the problem.

It was in 1986 when Bangla language first entered the computer system through "Shahid Lipi". It was a breakthrough. The introduction of "Bijoy Bangla Software" also added a new dimension to the Bangla computing initiative.

The main problem at that period was the compatibility issue of Bangla language. Bangla was not usable as a general language on every system as there was no unique way to represent Bangla. Now Unicode has fixed this problem. All modern day software have Unicode compatibility.

In 2005, Ananda Computer released Unicode-compatible Bijoy software. Currently, two different Bangla software solutions such as "Bijoy Ekush' and "Bijoy Bayanno" are available from Ananda Computers.

Avro Keyboard was born on 26 March in 2003, bringing a new era in Bangla computing. It is flexible, gorgeous, feature rich, totally customisable, user friendly and already has a lot of typing automation tools. Ekushey.org is also contributing to the computerisation of Bangla.

Since 2004, the Centre for Research on Bangla Language Processing (CRBLP) at Brac University has been working on the effective use of Bangla on the computer system and the main focus areas are Bangla OCR, spell checker, font converter, Bangla grammar check, speech to text converter, Bangla pronunciation generator, Bangla dictionary, English to Bangla translation and others.

Bangla OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a nice solution that basically converts scanned text into Word document. This system is capable of generating Unicode-based output. CRBLP has included this software on GPL and for this reason people can enjoy free download opportunity. This software has very intuitive interface and easy-to-use features. .NET Framework Version 2.0 or beyond is required to run this software.

Another landmark in Bangla computing is Microsoft's initiative to develop Bangla Vista and Office 2007.

Chris Atkinson, president for South-East Asia of Microsoft Asia Pacific, said, "Microsoft has been a forerunner in the localisation revolution, extending the reach of IT across a diverse set of multi-lingual communities in languages they are comfortable with. Worldwide our flagship products will offer language localisation for 100 languages. We have focused R&D teams working round the clock to create new benchmarks on the product localisation front".

Microsoft Bangladesh kicked-started its Local Language Program (LLP) on November 08 in 2006. It is a global initiative of Microsoft that aims at attracting people to IT through their native language.

Microsoft Bangladesh has been partnering with Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and Brac University (BU) to prepare the Bangla Language Interface Pack under the LLP. The software giant hopes that this solution will be available by 2008.

Apart from this, open source software development has also gained huge popularity in this country. Many teams and individuals are now engaged in this process.

Probably many of us have come across "OpenOffice" office suite. Ankur, a local organisation, is working on open source platform for a long time now. The firm has developed the Bangla version of OpenOffice.org 2.0. This software does not require any licence fee and is open for developer so that they can customise it according to their requirements. It also supports more than 70 languages.

Nowadays Wikipedia is a very popular online encyclopaedia, which contains numerous entries on hosts of issues. Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) has already published the Bangla version of Wikipedia. Currently, Bangla Wiki has more than 1600 entries and 1700 contributors.

Bangla computing is necessary to bridge the gap between technology and people. We have talented people and they have already proved their competency in several circumstances. But due to the lack of right projection, they have not been able to come in the limelight. It is the government's responsibility to nourish the talents and transform the country into a hi-tech hub.

প্রযুক্তিচর্চা হোক বাংলায়

নতুন প্রজন্ম ক্রমশ নির্ভরশীল হয়ে উঠছে কম্পিউটার আর ইন্টারনেট প্রযুক্তির ওপর। সফটওয়্যার, ওয়েব বিশ্বে বাংলার ব্যবহার ইতিমধ্যেই শুরু হয়েছে। এমনকি সবসময় হাতের মুঠো ফোনের ওপারেটিং সিস্টেম ও এখন বাংলায় পাওয়া যাচ্ছে। বাংলায় প্রযুক্তি চর্চার বিস্তারিত নিয়ে লিখেছেন আরেফিন আদনান

বাংলা সফটওয়্যার
তথ্যপ্রযুক্তির ক্ষেত্রে বাংলা ভাষার ব্যবহার বেড়ে চলছে দিন দিন। এরই মধ্যে আমরা পেয়েছি অনেক বাংলা লেখার সফটওয়্যার। এগুলোর মধ্যে লেখনী এবং বিজয়ের ব্যবহার উল্লেখযোগ্য। বাণিজ্যিক প্রতিষ্ঠান এবং ব্যক্তিগত ক্ষেত্রে এগুলো ব্যবহার করা হচ্ছে। তবে একই সঙ্গে আরও কিছু বাংলা লেখার সফটওয়্যার যুক্ত হয়েছে। একুশে বাংলা টাইপিং সফটওয়্যারটি ইউনিকোড সমর্থন করে না; তবে বাংলা টাইপিংয়ের জটিলতা এটি কমিয়ে দিয়েছে অনেক অংশেই। এটি বেশিরভাগ টিটিএফ ফন্ট সাপোর্ট করে। সহজ বাংলা টাইপিংয়ের আরও একটি সফটওয়্যার হল বাংলা ওয়ার্ড। বাংলা যুক্ত অক্ষরগুলো এটি দ্বারা সহজেই লেখা যায়। এতে যুক্ত রয়েছে প্রায় ২০০টি ফন্ট। এছাড়া বাংলায় ওয়েবসাইট তৈরি করতে এই সফটওয়্যারটি ব্যবহার করা যাবে। বাংলা এবং ইংরেজি দুটো ভাষাতেই সমান পারদর্শী ল্যাঙ্গুয়েস্টিক। এটি এক কথায় একটি পরিপূর্ণ ওয়ার্ড প্রসেসর। এতে যে কেউ ইচ্ছামতো তৈরি করে নিতে পারবেন কি বোর্ড লে আউট। এছাড়া এতে বাংলা বানান সংশোধনের ব্যবস্থাও রয়েছে। যারা বাংলা টাইপ করতে পারেন না তাদের জন্য রয়েছে অভ্র কি বোর্ড বাংলা সফটওয়্যার। ইংরেজিতে বাংলা লিখলেই এটি আপনা আপনি বাংলায় রূপান্তর করে ফেলবে। এছাড়া শুধু মাউস দিয়েও বাংলা লেখা যাবে অভ্র দিয়ে। বাড়তি হিসেবে আরও রয়েছে এটি ইউনি কোড সাপোর্ট করে।


বাংলা ওয়েবসাইট
বাংলা ভাষায় তৈরি ওয়েবসাইট খুব একটা বেশি না থাকলেও বর্তমানে অনেকেই এ বিষয়ে আগ্রহী হয়ে উঠেছেন। বিশেষ করে বাংলা সংবাদপত্রগুলোর অনলাইন সংস্করণ তৈরি করা হয়েছে সম্পূর্ণ বাংলা ভাষায়। তবে প্রচার মাধ্যমগুলোর মধ্যে অন্যতম বেসরকারি টেলিভিশনগুলোর ওয়েবসাইট ঘুরে দেখা গেল এগুলো তৈরি করা হয়েছে বাংলা এবং ইংরেজির ভাষা মিশ্রণে। এছাড়া অনেক ক্ষেত্রেই রয়েছে ইংরেজি ভাষার আধিপত্য। এদিকে অনেক প্রতিষ্ঠান তাদের ওয়েবসাইটগুলো তৈরি করেছে বাংলায়। আশার কথা হল, বাংলাদেশ সরকারের ই-সিটিজেন সার্ভিস এপ্লিকেশনের আওতায় তৈরি ওয়েসাইটিতে রয়েছে বাংলা এবং ইংরেজি সংস্করণ। এরই মধ্যে দু’একটি মন্ত্রণালয়ের ওয়েবসাইট তৈরি হয়েছে বাংলায়। অন্যদিকে বাংলাদেশ সরকারের অনান্য মন্ত্রণালয়ের ওয়েবসাইটগুলোতে রয়েছে ইংরেজির আধিপত্য। ওয়েবসাইট ঘুরে দেখা গেল, এগুলোর বেশিরভাগই তৈরি হয়েছে ইংরেজি ভাষাতে। তবে একটু সচেতনতা এবং সদিচ্ছার ছাপ থাকলেই হয়তো এগুলো ইংরেজির পাশাপাশি বাংলা ভাষায়ও তৈরি করা যেত। এছাড়া বাংলা একাডেমীর ওয়েবসাইট ঘুরে দেখা গেল, এটি তৈরি হয়েছে সম্পূর্ণ বাংলা ভাষায়। সেই সঙ্গে রয়েছে ইংরেজি সংস্করণ। বাংলা একাডেমীকে এই সাহসী পদক্ষেপের সাধুবাদ।


প্রযুক্তির সবকিছুই চাই বাংলায়
বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের গণ্ডিতে আবদ্ধ কয়েক তরুণ শুরু করেছে প্রযুক্তি আন্দোলন। প্রযুক্তির সবকিছুই চাই বাংলায় এই স্লোগানে আন্দলিত করে তুলেছে অনলাইন পাড়া। আপাতত এটি সীমাবদ্ধ রয়েছে অনলাইনে। প্রযুক্তির সব শব্দ উচ্চারিত হোক বাংলায়, লেখা হোক বাংলায়। প্রযুক্তি চর্চা হোক বাংলায়। আসুন আমরা সবাই বলি প্রযুক্তির শব্দ বাংলায়। তরুণদের সঙ্গে একাত্মতা ঘোষণা করি। চর্চায় শামিল হতে যোগ দিন http://forum.amaderprojukti.com

An amazing journey from Shahid Lipi to Avro

Syeed Ahamed

LIKE many chapters of our national history, the amazing journey of digital Bangla -- from English to Bangla computing -- remains largely unknown. Conversant persons should record that history for the new generations. This article however is not an effort to write that history. Rather, I share with you how few geniuses of our time are changing the way we write Bangla on our computers.

There were three major challenges for Bangla to be written using a computer -- Bangla keyboard, software for the background processing (the main programming), and fonts to display the characters.

Computer keyboards inherited the QWERTY layout (placement of alphabets on keyboard) from typewriters, which were developed in 1874. So instead of inventing a Bangla keyboard altogether, all we needed for Bangla typing was to determine where to place Bangla alphabets on an English keyboard -- be it for typewriter or computer.

In 1965, Munir Chowdhury developed a Bangla layout for a typewriter's QWERTY keyboard to reduce jamming of type-bars and increase the typing speed. This was the first scientific Bangla layout. It was later used in computer keyboards.

But for a computer, having a keyboard "layout" is not enough. We needed software that could process the meaning of the pressed Bangla-labelled key, and fonts-set that could show the Bangla alphabets on the computer screen.

Though there were a number of individual initiatives, "Shahid Lipi" was the forerunner of first-generation Bangla solutions and the first complete Bangla computing interface. Saif Shahid began working on this in 1983 and a complete Macintosh-based version appeared in the market in 1985. He provided a set of Bangla fonts and also offered a Bangla layout, different from the one developed by Munir Chowdhury.

A number of second-generation Bangla solutions hit the market by the end of 1990s. Bijoy, Proshika-shobdo and Proborton led this campaign. While most of them offered unique keyboard layouts, many did not follow the required level of research that Bangla key layout needed.

Since memorising different layouts can hinder the acceptance of new software and make typing complex, some suggested the use of the Munir layout as a basis for further development of Bangla layouts. Later on, Bangladesh Computer Council standardised this layout in National (Jatiya) keyboard layout.

However, continuity and compatibility remained a major problem for many of these second-generation solutions. Mustafa Jabbar addressed this issue by offering long-term entrepreneurial support through Ananda Computers, which hosted a bright team of software developers.

The first version of Bijoy "software" was developed in India (possibly by an Indian programmer). Subsequent versions were developed in Bangladesh by Ananda Computers' team of talented developers including Munirul Abedin Pappana who worked for Bijoy 5.0, popularly known as Bijoy 2000.

From the beginning Mustafa Jabbar provided a different layout for the software, now known as Bijoy layout. Yet, Ananda Computers could easily convince users to accept another new key layout to memorise because of the strong compatibility of its software with other programs. Bijoy software (especially Bijoy 2000) at that time became the most compatible Bangla software to support available publishing software.

However, sharing Bangla texts -- over the internet or between computers -- remained a major predicament. Both parties needed to have similar set of Bangla fonts installed on their computers; otherwise the garbled texts weren't readable. Bangla writing also remained unpopular to the non-professional users who felt discouraged to memorise a complex Bangla layout.

In 1996, the software industry entered the realm of Unicode 2. Unicode -- a universal character-encoding standard that was first developed in 1987 -- allowed virtually any letter from any language of the world to be coded and used under one single standard. Unicode opened up the possibility of having Bangla software that could be used without having to think too much about the fonts.

A number of talented developers in Bangladesh began to experiment with new Bangla software. Many were also influenced by the global Open Source campaign and created Bangla software for platforms such as Linux Mint and Ubuntu, which traditional software could not support.

Through these experiments came a number of Unicode supported software including Ekusheyr Shadhinota and Avro. Later, some traditional software also offered Unicode versions. Though the marvel of these third-generation Bangla software was in their programming, they also wanted to make sure that no one needed to go through another painful process of memorising another keyboard layout.

So, instead of one complex layout to memorise, they included a phonetic keyboard which does not require memorising of the whole layout. For instance, to write pau-phau-bau-bhau-mau one just needs to type P-F-B-V-M. This generated widespread acceptance among individual users.

They also kept the traditional key layouts as an extra option for those who had already memorised them. However, to better suit Unicode and possibly to avoid other patented layouts, these optional layouts did not follow traditional layouts completely.

For instance, the optional layouts of Ekushey and Avro differ from Bijoy and National layouts in some keystrokes and on vowel grapheme. But the unique architectures of the software made it possible to run on versatile platforms (e.g. Linux) where traditional software lagged behind.

Amazingly, most of the third-generation software do not have any business motive and are offered for free. To highlight the significance of being legally free, let me share with you one anecdote.

Before the last national election, the Bangladesh Election Commission conducted the national ID card program, the largest data collection initiative ever carried out in Bangladesh. But the commission faced huge expenditure when it needed to buy licensed Bangla software for each of the thousands of computers/laptops to be used in the project. One of the lowest offers they got from a local Bangla software company accounted Tk.50 million (five crore). Mehdi Hasan Khan, the creator of Avro, let his software be used for free!

I often try to grasp how much love is needed for one's language to be so self-sacrificing. It shouldn't come as a surprise though. After all, in the past we have sacrificed lives to keep our language free.


Syeed Ahamed is an Australia-based public policy analyst and can be reached at dpwriters[at]drishtipat[dot]org.