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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: XML Blueberry (non-ASCII name characters in Japan)
 From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...> > I'm afraid I lack contacts in Phnom Penh, but let's say a young > developer is given the job of creating a markup language for archiving > documents. The text is Khmer, but if we listen to the objections of > those who find additional Name characters distasteful, this developer > has to make a choice. The Khmer character set is only a few years old: it was created as a UN development project in order to allow recovery. I had some interesting email with the guy who developed it. At that stage, the big PC problem in Cambodia was that as soon as phone lines were laid, other people would rip them up to steal them and sell the copper. That is what happens in a poor country. So how do we get a country out of poverty? It is not sufficient, but it is important to remove all imposed barriers. In just the same way as new technology can create disabilities (e.g. maybe I could work fine in a shop with my bad eyesite, but now that there are computerised cash registers I cannot work there), so technology can create/perpetuate disadvantages. From that perspective, there is more need to support Khmer than German. And given the enormous cost of war (and that the military are not now the leaders in R&D with useful spin-offs, but the followers) it is prudent from a public policy viewpoint to make sure that there is a level playing field. Also, XML is clearly something which is a leader for other technology. APIs fit in with XML. So if XML gets something right, it flows into the specification of other systems. So XML is strategic for internationalization, because it adds an extra layer that overcomes many of Unicodes shortcomings. So, even if there are no current Khmer users, if XML is generous it increases the chances that as Cambodia reconstructs they will be able to utilize modern technology. Cheers Rick Jelliffe P.S. I met a very interesting Professor of Library Science from University of New South Wales, Prof. Helen Jarvis, once. What does a library professor do that is so interesting? Her "hobby" was to trek around Cambodia with a map and GPS system, tracking down graves and killing fields and the records of camps. She has put them up on a big website, and she told me that often she gets email from Cambodians saying things like "Thank you, now I know my daughter is dead". The records may also be useful in war crimes trials. (She is involved in the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, which tends to concentrate on centralized databases using common conventions--i.e. commonality of analysis of problems rather than of interfaces.) Computers are very useful after national devestation, because of the scale of the problems: imagine if you had to create a database but you could only use Russian character fieldnames (if you cannot read Russian) because the system was donated by Russian aid. It would add difficulty and you would give up. 
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