Social media may be dismissed by some as being a waste of time but there has been recent twittering that Facebook, YouTube and even texting could save thousands of threatened languages from extinction.
And you may have assumed that only so-called developed nations in the thick of state of the art technology let their fingers do the talking through digital media. But this is far from the case. For example, nomadic tribes in Mongolia and Siberia have an iPhone app to teach pronunciation of the ‘minority language’ Tuvan.
Linguist K David Harrison is an intrepid tracker of disappearing languages – it is believed that around half of the world’s 7,000 tongues are at risk by being lost by the end of the century. The associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Philadelphia told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting that small languages are using social media, YouTube, text messaging and various technologies to expand their voice and expand their presence. Languages spoken in just a tiny geographical area are being sent around the world.
Ironically he describes this phenomenon as the flipside of globalisation. A positive effect of globalisation is that you can have a language that is spoken by only five or 50 people in one remote location, and now through digital technology that language can achieve a global voice and a global audience, he says.
His work sounds crucial in saving these languages. With National Geographic, he has just helped produce eight talking dictionaries. These dictionaries contain more than 32,000 word entries in eight endangered languages. All the audio recordings have been made by native speakers.
One of them, Alfred Bud Lane speaks a language known as Siletz Dee-ni, which is restricted to a small area on the central Oregon coast. He recorded 14,000 words and said that his community and tribe are determined that their language will survive.
It’s sad to say, but not all languages can survive as speakers die but the digital technology is helping to save a precious few. They are threatened by cultural changes, ethnic shame and government repression.
The National Geographic Society’s Enduring Voices project to prevent these ancient languages being forgotten has also produced dictionaries of languages in north-eastern India, Matukar Panau, an Oceanic language from Papua New Guinea which has only 600 surviving speakers, Chamacoco, from Paraguay’s remote northern desert, Remo, Sora, and Ho, from India, Tuvan, from Siberia and Mongolia and Celtic tongues
It’s funny because we so often here that language is being lost through texting, but this is a case of the opposite.
Freedom of information groups have been on the warpath recently over what they see as injustices in cyberspace.
First up for attack was Twitter after it announced that it has the technology to selectively block tweets on a country by country basis. And it can delete content from view in a specific country while the rest of the world can see it.
The freedom of information advocacy group Reporters Without Borders hit out at the news, saying it would have a negative impact on free speech and that freedom of information and the press cannot be compromised.
But in a blog post Twitter has defended giving itself the ability to withhold information as countries differ in terms of freedom of expression. They cited an example that France and Germany ban pro-Nazi content. It stated Twitter has to balance local laws with free speech.
Twitter hasn’t withheld any tweets yet and has pledged to advise the user if it does.
Many Twitter users have expressed dismay over the move, with some pointing out the adverse impact it would have on free speech, especially outside the US. Other commentators have suggested Twitter is leaving itself wide open for lawsuits by taking on an editing role. And they question how a computer system will be able to recognise negative or positive spins in tweets.
Meanwhile there were protests in Poland where thousands of marchers took to the streets over the signing of an international treaty that activists say amounts to internet censorship. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, along with the UK, among 22 EU member states, signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Tokyo.
ACTA aims to establish international standards to enforce intellectual property right, but critics say it could curb freedom of expression, and Polish government websites have been hacked in protest. But like the US anti-piracy bills, SOPA and PIPA, which saw websites such as Wikipedia and WordPress, shut down for the day in protest, ACTA has courted controversy.
Kader Arif, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for ACTA, resigned over how the treaty had been too speedily drawn up. The treaty still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament before it can be enacted. A debate is scheduled to take place in June.
Slow speed internet coverage in rural areas across the UK means internet access on mobile devices and the downloading of files and videos is frustrating. It is nigh on impossible while outside up here in Orkney where 3G coverage is non-existent.
With our ‘not spot’ status, we were pleased to hear that Ofcom has announced it has revised its proposals to bring 4G mobile tech and faster broadband speeds to rural areas.
But Ofcom’s plans for its fourth-generation mobile spectrum auction, would still only bring coverage to 98% of the UK. And although the regulator says the winning bidder will have to provide the high-speed coverage to current “not-spot” areas, we fear that our Northern Isles may not be included. The Scottish Government has expressed the view, relating to the areas with small populations, that we may miss out because of the cost to network providers.
Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said it is proposing a significant enhancement of mobile broadband, extending 4G coverage beyond levels of existing 2G coverage – helping to serve many areas of the UK that have traditionally been underserved by network coverage. The original spec was that the winning bidder would be obliged to get 4G to 95% of the UK but now it wants to extend this to 98% on the back of investment to boost 2G coverage in remoter areas.
Up here in Orkney we switched to digital television back in 2010 and the process is almost complete across the UK now. Spectrums that were being used for analogue transmission will be offered to mobile operators as signals can travel over greater distances.
It’s a double whammy for remote workers and lifestylers. We really need faster internet speeds to work and play.
Tweeting is one form of using technology that is continually in the news and this week was no exception with the decision that from now on Twitter can be used to help tell the news instantly from courts in England and Wales.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, has decreed that electronic devices including phones and small handheld laptops may be used by journalists and legal commentators for live text-based communications.
Previously, journalists had to make an application to tweet, text or email but now they have been told they can tweet as much as they wish, in the interests of open justice. Like any other court reporting it must be fair and accurate and contemporaneous reporting has always been the rule.
Members of the public, however, must seek permission from the courts first before they start tweeting, texting or messaging.
Judges can stop live text-based communication at any time in the interests of justice. This would happen if reporting restrictions had been ordered. It’s all very different from the days when anyone caught texting in the courtroom would be hauled up for Contempt of Court. However, existing rules about reporting still apply. Cameras and tape recording, unlike in America, is still forbidden.
Mobile phones must of course remain silent in court. Earlier this year, our Orkney based composer and the Queen’s musician, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, criticized people who kept their phones on, even in silent mode, at classical concerts at St Magnus Festival. And those who tweeted during performances were vilified by the composer. People were spotted tweeting ongoing live reviews of the proceedings.
Meanwhile there has been praise this month for our local library and archive in Kirkwall. It received two Golden Twit awards in an international social media contest judged by compulsive tweeter, the actor Stephen Fry. The library has 4,495 followers at @orkneyLibrary, amongst them many celebrities including literary giant Margaret Atwood and several soap actors. It won the categories of Information Service and Public Service and attracts more followers than the National Library of Scotland. That’s because it is highly entertaining.
Although there is a time and place for tweeting, the rules and acceptance are changing as rapidly as you can tweet Jack Robinson.
Remote islands and rural areas rely on broadband connection to do business more than most places so we are pleased that Orkney has been chosen as a pilot area for superfast broadband connections which we hope will greatly enhance connectivity in many areas.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) put together a bid to the UK Government for funding to deliver superfast broadband in some of Scotland’s most rural areas. It is crucial as the next generation of digital technology is going to be a ‘must have’ for rural regions like our’s in the coming years. It’s the only way to ensure that up here businesses can stay competitive.
There is no doubt that superfast broadband will have a significant economic and social impact on the region and ensure it remains internationally competitive. We feel the benefits even more keenly than those in major cities.
For so long it has cost a fortune to access fast connections here but once the pilot is set up in Kirkwall, here at Copla we will be able to tap into this along with fellow companies. It will certainly transform our lives. And we hope it won’t be too long until the whole of the region will get hooked up.
But we know this won’t happen overnight as broadband firms have warned that a new digital divide is emerging. Speakers at the Westminster eForum said that around 10% of the UK will not be able to get superfast broadband in the next decade. And they have claimed Government funds set aside to address so-called notspots were insufficient.
BT was pessimistic, saying said that EU targets for all citizens to have speeds of at least 30Mbps (megabits per second) by 2020 were “impossible to achieve”. And now Fujitsu has revealed more about its plans to fill in the UK’s broadband blackspots, pledging to offer a fibre-to-the-home network to the third of the country bypassed by commercial broadband rollouts.
But after bidding to build fibre networks in just three areas – Wales, North Yorkshire and Cumbria – Fujitsu decided not to go for the Highlands and Islands as the sums did not stack up. Typical.
We are really excited that technology we’ve built has featured in an article on the New York Times website.
The article talks about HotSpots. This is a technology we created whereby content is linked from within video. So you could link to a webpage, an online shop, another video, anything you want.
Its a great way to encourage users to explore your content or to commercialise your video offering.
For the full article see here
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/fashion/18iht-rimran18.html?_r=1
If you’d like to find out more, get in touch!
Exciting news! If you are a developer and you want to change the colours used on a google map, you can now do it! You may be already know that google announced this back in May, but that was only for the v3 javascript api, you can now do it in flash! That opens up a whole new avenue of adventure.
For more information about styling maps in javascript take a look at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/overlays.html#StyledMaps
Google maps api for flash can be found at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/flash/
There is a nice tool that builds out the configuration in a graphical way, saving a lot of time http://gmaps-samples-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/styledmaps/wizard/index.html
copla are pleased to have been selected to conduct a review of the Digital Workflow within News International’s HQ in London. The work will cover the acquisition of video through to storage and editing.
We just want to let you know that we have started a new exciting project where we are going to depart from our current business activities a little and move into a hardware product.
We have been looking for a new challenge for some time and have finally whittled down the ideas to a hardware product for apple computer. We don’t want to reveal much more right now as it is early stages, but keep an eye on our blog for more news!
One of the most common tasks that a webmaster (are they still called that?) has to perform is putting security on to their site. If you are running an application it most probably has authentication built in, but you may simple have a bunch of pages that you want to protect quickly.
There is a technology that can help you with this, it has been around for a very long time, is not massively secure, but will do where you just want to keep casual snoopers from looking at something, you should not use it to protect your top secret information.
Basic authentication on apache using .htaccess files is quick and easy to setup and can be used to protect an entire website, or just one directory.
I will now give you some simple step by step instructions on how to password protect a directory on your website. I am assuming that you are using apache 2, are logged into your linux box shell prompt and know how to do basic file operations and navigate around the server.
1. create the .htaccess file – the .htaccess file is a file that you place into a directory on your website and acts like an extension to the main apache configuration file, create a new .htaccess file with the following content
AuthUserFile /home/websites/private/.htpasswd
AuthName "my private content"
AuthType Basic
Require valid-user
2. next you need to create the password file referenced in the .htaccess file, this file can be anywhere, but should not be accessible by everyone, especially from the web. To create the file and add a user run the following command from the /home/websites/private directory
htpasswd -c .htpasswd myuser
you will be prompted for the password for myuser, then the .htpasswd file will be created.
Thats it, you have now setup a simple password on a directory on your web server. Keep in mind this is old technology and is not very secure and does not even allow users to change for remember their passwords. Having said that there will be plenty of applications where you use this due to its simplicity.