Virtual Telugu Library
I am heartened to note the warm response I have been seeing Re. Telugu
Library. I agree with all of you, even if the collective opinion is "self
contradictory." I know there are problems. If it is easy, why would we need all
the brain power on this Net!
Let me summarize the central ideas in all these messages
1. Donate books to local libraries, they know how to do the job better - PALANA
2. Develop a Viewer for Indian Languages, in conjunction with Mosaic/Netscape
so we can actually see the Telugu script on the screen - Ramana
3. Establish some "ground truth" (a.k.a. do something) before you go to any
Telugu Association - Jampala. The real work cannot be done until OCRs are
widely available.
All these ideas are good. We can implement Idea 1 right away. For the long
run, my thoughts are in Sync. with Idea 2. I think we should start thinking
along these lines, develop a system, and debug and improve the system as we go
along. If, for example, we can capture some of the current Telugu writings on
the net (some of it is of high quality!) and begin the development of a
"library" with a Web site and a Home page. That is the technical problem.
Again we have to have strict quality control on what goes into this
"collection." What goes into the collection need not be all Allasani Peddana or
Potana variety. Even such mundane issues like "how can I learn Telugu" (as
Kamala is asking) are relevant. This is an editorial issue.
The first order of business is get a Viewer for Telugu script and an easy way
to transfer Telugu files across heterogeneous platforms. What are some of the
problems here?
V. Rao Vemuri
University of California, Davis