austraLasia #1731
Working on a new service - a digital library for EAO
ROME: 9th January (St. Julian!) 2007 -- In a widely spread and culturally diverse region such as East Asia-Oceania, one of the challenges is to be able to make available a range of documentation (in its widest sense - text, images, audio, video...) in such a way that it is readily searchable and widely available. No easy task, but there are possibilities.
austraLasia is working on one of these, using a FOSS (free, open source software) digital library developed in New Zealand, called Greenstone. For the moment, no attempt is being made to alter formatting details, so 'Greenstone' (jade!) it is, of the NZ variety! The present focus is to attempt to gather materials relating to 'Don Bosco the Writer', in languages from the Region where these materials already exist. It is merely a sample with no pretence at being anything but that.
The advantage of a digital library of this kind will be obvious enough - everything available from one place according to the language you choose. For the moment this sample is sitting on a single computer to which a small server has been added, and a link to it will only function while that computer is open. The process of adapting this collection to the variety of languages we have in the region is turning out to be an interesting one. After battling for several hours with Korean Han Gul script, I finally have a file that works for the Memoirs of the Oratory in that language, inside the library. If we can succeed with Korean, we can succeed with Chinese, Japanese and Thai. The Khmer script may be an interesting test too! Vietnamese is no difficulty. Obviously Tetum and Bahasa are no problem either.
Not sure if this link will work for you, but why not try it. http://10.0.2.31:1027/gsdl?uq=45291421 is likely to be effective for the next few hours and when the computer is reopened tomorrow morning (Rome time), so try - and let me know if you can access the library.
To use it for all but Korean, click on the image of Don Bosco at his writing desk. You can then search on text, titles, filenames and language. If you select filenames, you will get all 80 or so items, which include text, doc, ppt, jpg. You do not need to have these programs - with the exception of the images, they have been converted to html and will open in your browser. Try 'language' as English, then Italian, then Chinese. The last named will take you to one text which will not work in its 'simple' variety, but will open correctly in Word. If you then click on the Korean collection (no image, just title) you will find one document which at least on my machine reads in Korean script - if yours doesn't it only means your operating system is not set up to read that script.
I would be interested to know (1) if it works (2) if you consider it might be useful and (3) how you might like to see it deployed.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
Working on a new service - a digital library for EAO
ROME: 9th January (St. Julian!) 2007 -- In a widely spread and culturally diverse region such as East Asia-Oceania, one of the challenges is to be able to make available a range of documentation (in its widest sense - text, images, audio, video...) in such a way that it is readily searchable and widely available. No easy task, but there are possibilities.
austraLasia is working on one of these, using a FOSS (free, open source software) digital library developed in New Zealand, called Greenstone. For the moment, no attempt is being made to alter formatting details, so 'Greenstone' (jade!) it is, of the NZ variety! The present focus is to attempt to gather materials relating to 'Don Bosco the Writer', in languages from the Region where these materials already exist. It is merely a sample with no pretence at being anything but that.
The advantage of a digital library of this kind will be obvious enough - everything available from one place according to the language you choose. For the moment this sample is sitting on a single computer to which a small server has been added, and a link to it will only function while that computer is open. The process of adapting this collection to the variety of languages we have in the region is turning out to be an interesting one. After battling for several hours with Korean Han Gul script, I finally have a file that works for the Memoirs of the Oratory in that language, inside the library. If we can succeed with Korean, we can succeed with Chinese, Japanese and Thai. The Khmer script may be an interesting test too! Vietnamese is no difficulty. Obviously Tetum and Bahasa are no problem either.
Not sure if this link will work for you, but why not try it. http://10.0.2.31:1027/gsdl?uq=45291421 is likely to be effective for the next few hours and when the computer is reopened tomorrow morning (Rome time), so try - and let me know if you can access the library.
To use it for all but Korean, click on the image of Don Bosco at his writing desk. You can then search on text, titles, filenames and language. If you select filenames, you will get all 80 or so items, which include text, doc, ppt, jpg. You do not need to have these programs - with the exception of the images, they have been converted to html and will open in your browser. Try 'language' as English, then Italian, then Chinese. The last named will take you to one text which will not work in its 'simple' variety, but will open correctly in Word. If you then click on the Korean collection (no image, just title) you will find one document which at least on my machine reads in Korean script - if yours doesn't it only means your operating system is not set up to read that script.
I would be interested to know (1) if it works (2) if you consider it might be useful and (3) how you might like to see it deployed.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
