Press Coverage
Symposium on Localised Systems and Applications
Published on Sunday Times on September 06, 2009
The development of localised software, systems and applications is not a novel concept to our nation. Although we boast of a history of more than five years of localisation in the field of Information and Communication Technology in Sri Lanka, there has never been a common platform for all the practitioners in the field of localisation to meet and share their experiences. The Symposium on Localised Systems and Applications, which is scheduled to be held on 2nd September, 2009 at the university premises is a step taken by the Centre of Excellence on Localised Applications of the University of Moratuwa, to fulfil this long-felt necessity.
This symposium also marks the launching of the Centre. The organizing team of the symposium is spearheaded by Prof. Gihan Dias of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, who has been a pioneer in the field of localisation of IT. The committee comprises other eminent practitioners in the field such as Dr. Sanath Jayasena, Prof. Asoka Karunananda and Mr. Dihan Morawaka.
Expressing his views of the organization of the symposium, Prof. Dias said, "We have been doing a lot of work in the area of localisation for five years, by developing localised software, systems and applications. Our aim is to extend the benefits of ICT to those who find the language of English a barrier to connect with the modern world and its competence. The symposium will highlight the localisation work that bears relevance to the field of ICT."
Original work in the areas of
* Local language support in hardware and operating systems
* localised software
* local language content and
* promotion and dissemination of local language computing
From several universities, institutes and commercial organisations will be presented at this inaugural Symposium. According to Dr. Sanath Jayasena, Senior lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Moratuwa,
"The symposium will be, to a great extent, results-oriented. We have already received a really good response from many parties: ICT agencies as well as individuals. This is clear evidence for the positive growth of the localisation of IT in Sri Lanka as well as the significance of having a common forum for such practitioners in the field."
Localisation of IT applications is a common phenomenon in the world today. Various countries have used it as a means of promoting ICT and its benefits to the local language users and thus heading towards the goal of connecting every individual in the global village through ICT.
However, as Dr. Jayasena points out,
"This is the very first time that a symposium of this sort is organized in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it will provide the contributors to the field an unprecedented opportunity to present their original work as well as meet their peers and widen their horizons."
The Symposium on Localised Systems and Applications will be held at the University of Moratuwa on 2nd September 2009 from 8.30 a.m to 4.30 p.m. All those who are interested in participation are kindly requested to e-mail
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and confirm your participation prior to the event.
As Prof. Dias further mentions, "We expect that this will be the beginning of many such discussions to follow and that it will further encourage the contributions to the field of localisation."
Sujeewa Tennekoon, LAKapps Team
LAKapps: Lets you use the Internet without having to learn English
Published on Sunday Times on July 28, 2009
The whole world has now entered the age of information. The survival and development of each individual and community depend on the ability to adapt and change oneself according to the rapid changes and developments of the international community which is united as one global village, today. It is at this juncture that ICT becomes a concept of supreme importance to each and every one of us, the instinctive members of the modern knowledge-based society.
Although many have well understood the importance of ICT and feel a dire necessity of being benefited by this modern phenomenon, one of the main barriers they face is the issue of language. Internet is presented to the world in the language of a majority: English. Yet, still the majority of theworld population is non-English speakers who are at an unfavourable end when it comes to the deployment of ICT tools.
LAKapps is a project initiated in July 2007 with the hope of facilitating the use of internet within the Sri Lankan society, through local languages, i.e. Sinhala and Tamil.
Apart from developing localized applications, providing necessary support; training and manuals for the effective usage of these applications was also a specific goal of the project. As the Project Advisor, Prof. Gihan Dias says, "Our main purpose was to facilitate the interaction of Sri Lankans through the Internet, for instance, the use of e-mail, chat and forums in at least one local language since the majority's not competent in English. We also wanted to provide user-friendly tools for creating web content in local languages."
The recognition of the potential of internetbased learning and information sharing is not new to Sri Lanka. However, what is new is the step taken to overcome the barrier of language met by many Sri Lankans along the path of seeking knowledge through the internet. LAKapps is a satisfying solution to those Sri Lankans who prefer to use IT tools in their mother tongues. LAKapps introduces Firfox for web browsing, Thunderbird and webmail for Email and Joomla for website creation in both Sinhala and Tamil Languages.
Thus, LAKapps provides a person who is not competent in English with the opportunity to explore the benefits of the internet in Sinhala/Tamil. For example, if one wants to find out more about the project sites of LAKapps, s/he can first go to the LAKapps home page on www.lakapps.lk and click on the link, "Sinhala". Once you go in you find the link "Wyapruthi adavi". There you find the names of the sites and the names of people who are in charge of the sites under the LAKapps project.
LAKapps was the thriving result of a joint venture of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) of the University of Moratuwa (UOM), the Arthur C. Clarke Institute (ACCIMT) and the Lanka Internet Networking group (LKiNG). As a result of the committed effort as a team, the LAKapps team members have been able to achieve 100% successful completion of the targets within the agreed time frame.
With on-site training in seven locations around the island (Sevanagala, Nenasala-Monaragala, Nenasala-Kothmale community Radio-Kandy, Bandaragama MV-Kaluthara, Dharmapala MV-Kottawa, St. Sylvester's College- kandy and Ramanathan Hindu ladies College-Colombo) the LAKapps project has been able to train nearly 150 adults and 300 students in the effective usage of IT applications in their mother tongues. According to the Project Team Leader, Dr. Sanath Jayasena, "Training and support are the keys to successful deployment of the project. LAKapps team members are based in universities around the country, and have hands on experience to provide on-site support." Thus, the co-ordinators specially trained to support the users of the localized applications at each site are expected to maintain the software continually.
Feedback from both the students and adults has proved the immense success of the LAKapps project.
Fortified by this positive response, the initiators have already taken steps to expand the project nationwide. RAP (Replication Assistance Programme) is one such project to replicate the LAKapps project in Tamil which is already initiated mainly in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Through widening the usage of IT applications in local languages, the Sri Lankans are provided with a window to access the most modern technologies of the world. The day will not be too far for every Sri Lankan individual to be proactive members of the information age, in which 'knowledge is power'.
Sujeewa Tennekoon, LAKapps Team
Two Sri Lankans honoured by Mozilla Foundation
Published on The Nation on June 16, 2009
By Azhar Razak
Two Sri Lankans have been granted access to modify official releases of Mozilla Foundation’s products, language packs and patches such as Mozilla Firefox web browser.
The two members of the LAKapps team, a Mozilla localisation project K.Sarveswaran, Systems Engineer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa (UoM) and Rohana Dassanayake, Systems Analyst at the Arthur C. Clarke Institute (ACCIMT) have been awarded this opportunity to access Mozilla’s L10n repository.
Both gentlemen have been active members of LAKapps from its very initiation and their commitment to the localisation of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) was thus rewarded by the Mozilla localisation project. This is a rare opportunity in the IT field and LAKapps is honoured to have been recognised,’ an official from LAKapps, a project to improve local language Internet-based software development and deployment said.
In July 2007, the LAKapps project www.lakapps.lk was initiated to facilitate the use of Internet within the Sri Lankan society, through local languages, i.e. Sinhala and Tamil, with partial funding of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka. It was the thriving result of a joint venture of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) of UoM, the ACCIMT and the Lanka Internet Network groups (LKiNG).
‘As a result of the committed effort as a team, the LAKapps team members have been able to achieve 100% successful completion ahead of deadline,’ a source who wished to remain anonymous said.
Open source software is a type of computer software where the source code and certain rights are normally reserved for copyright holders and provided under a software license. The main advantages of free and open software are to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms free of charge. It is often developed in public with the assistance of many developers and reviewers spread across the globe.
Apart from this achievement, the LAKapps team has received a good deal of positive feedback from the users of the localised software and requests for its replication in other parts of the country. As a result, a new project with ICTA funding is soon to be implemented in the Eastern province targeting mainly the Tamil users of IT. The LAKapps team recently visited the pilot sites there and a series of training programmes is soon to follow.