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Status Report: December 2001--January 2002
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The Indic-Computing Project > Tracking Status > Status Report: December 2001--January 2002
Status of the Indic-Computing Project
20 Jan 2002
-- Joseph Koshy <jkoshy(@)users.sourceforge.net>
Infrastructure
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We got our website up at http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/.
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Two mailing lists were created for carrying discussions:
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"indic-computing-devel@lists.sourceforge.net" is an
unmoderated list for developers discussing indian language
software tools.
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"indic-computing-standards@lists.sourceforge.net" is an
unmoderated list for people discussing and evolving indian
language computing standards.
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Two other special-purpose mailing lists were also created:
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"indic-computing-announce@lists.sourceforge.net" is a
moderated, low-volume list for project related
announcements.
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"indic-computing-cvs-logs@lists.sourceforge.net" is a
public list that contains summaries of changes to the
project sources.
We are using the excellent infrastructure for collaborative
development hosted by SourceForge.Net. Thank you,
SourceForge!
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Web-site infrastructure is partially ready.
The website is today described using a rather ad-hoc mixture
of SGML content in various forms. The website is built and
installed using `
make
', a standard program
development tool available in the unix environment. I am
looking at organizing the website better, both in terms of
content and build infrastructure. Suggestions are
welcomed.
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The Handbook skeleton is now in place.
The Handbook is written in DocBook/SGML. These SGML sources
are transformed into HTML, PDF, and RTF formats by the build
toolchain. The infrastructure has been adapted from that used
by the FreeBSD Documentation Project.
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CVS infrastructure (version control) for the project is being
put in place.
The documentation (Handbook, FAQ, the project website, etc.)
and project sources for whatever tools we develop, will be
placed under CVS, and made publically accessible using
SourceForge.Net standard facilities.
Languages
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Dr. U. B. Pavanaja of the Kannada Ganaka Parishat (KGP) was
kind enough to hand over a CD containing KGP's latest standards
in .doc (MS-Word) and PDF format. The CD also contained
Microsoft Windows(r) executables for a standards-compliant
word-processor and Kannada tutor.
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Neeru Sethi located and procured for the project, information
on the Gurmukhi script, some typewriter keyboard layouts and a
sample of popular Gurmukhi fonts for our analysis.
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Abraham Mathen has volunteered to compile information on
Malayalam for the Handbook.
Projects
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We've received offers of help from many quarters. Thanks to
all who have responded.
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P. S. Vinod has taken up the task of helping design and
implement a portable framework for indian language input. This
work ties into one of our roadmap items: providing support for
web-based indian language input.
Next Steps
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Project website to be worked on further. We need a "How to
Contribute" article, listing the expectations from volunteers!
Other infrastructure work to be completed.
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The Handbook needs editors for language specific chapters. A
call for Editors will be sent out, specifying the expected work
loads and responsibilities.
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Kannada and Gurmukhi information recieved has to be brought
into the Handbook.
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Continue on the tools and activities listed in the project
roadmap.
Our project status reports are sent out to the
indic-computing-announce
list at periodic intervals.
They are also archived under the project's website, at URL:
http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/status.html.
