Mozzeenet

I’ve been on the Digital Divide Network (DDN) mailing list for about a year now and find it really interesting and useful for finding out what is going on in this area. There are some really inspiring and switched-on people who post to the mailing list and it is a great resource for finding out about new tools, information and perspectives related to ICT in commmunity and social development. The people who run it have recently launched an associated website for the DDN at:

http://www.digitaldivide.net

It includes the option to create a blog on the site, join or create online communities in topics of interest and read news and articles (provided in xml as well for RSS readers).

It’s great to see such a useful site being launched for people who are interested in this area.

While studies have shown that some local languages and dialects have been gradually falling out of use for a variety of reasons including the effects of globalisation and the increased use of languages such as English as a universal communication tool, some thought has also been given to the role the internet may play in preserving languages.

In Cambodia, I became aware of the importance of providing information in the local language (Khmer) but also understood the technical difficulty in doing this. Khmer script like Thai has its own alphabet. It’s a complex system and you’ll understand why I didn’t persevere trying to learn it (speaking was hard enough) if you check out the Khmer Alphabet information on Omniglot. There are no spaces between words, only at the end of sentences and there are many more characters and variations of characters than in English.
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Early this year, I started volunteering at a community computer centre in inner-city Sydney where local kids can drop in on Saturday mornings to surf the Internet, create videos and websites, take digital photos, listen to and make music and meet other kids and volunteers. The most popular activity by far, however, is playing computer games and as a result of volunteering there, I’ve become aware of an interesting debate about the positive and negative influence of gaming.

After reading the article Games ‘deserve a place in class’ on BBC World Edition: Technology recently as well as an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, I was motivated to write a few of my own observations on the topic from Saturday mornings.
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