November 5, 2004
Ethiopic goes mobile
Here's an article I just did for Wired on research which could bring Ethiopic characters -- hundreds of them -- to mobile phone text messaging.
By Andrew Heavens
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- For centuries, its letters have covered the pages of goatskin manuscripts, illuminated Bibles and the chronicles of ancient kings.
Now one of the world's oldest living alphabets could be about to make its debut on a mobile phone, if a group of Ethiopian academics gets its way.
Professors and research students here in the Ethiopian capital have just released a piece of groundbreaking research that they hope will open the door to SMS messaging in Ethiopic characters.
The earliest use of Ethiopic lettering has been traced to before the fourth century. Today the letters are shared by a range of languages spoken by millions of people across the Horn of Africa and hundreds of thousands of emigrants settled in the United States, Canada and parts of Europe.
The new report, catchily titled "Ethiopic Keyboard Mapping and Predictive Text Inputting Algorithm in a Wireless Environment," sets out to overcome some of the substantial technical obstacles to the alphabet's transition to the mobile age.
Its authors said they hoped it would also persuade mobile companies like Nokia that there is a viable market for mobile texting in Ethiopic.
"We think there is a great need for it," said Solomon Atnafu from Addis Ababa University's department of computer science, one of the key advisers on the project.
"There are so many people in Ethiopia who cannot write English. A localized version of SMS would open up the technology to the whole population."
Languages that use Ethiopic as their alphabet include Ethiopia's official tongue, Amharic, and the ancient Orthodox Christian script Ge'ez, still chanted in incense-filled Ethiopian and Eritrean churches to this day.
One of the main obstacles to widespread Ethiopic texting is the sheer number of characters involved. Texters would have to find a way of using the nine character keys on a mobile phone to type out the 345 letters and letter variations available to an Amharic writer.
The new report describes two possible ways of mapping a limited set of 210 characters onto a mobile keypad, using a combination of keystrokes for each letter.
The number of letters had to be cut down, the report explains, because of another technical limitation -- the average memory of a mobile phone.
"Most cell-phone manufacturers have a 64-KB memory limit (in some cases less) on the size of the wireless application file," states the report. "But most Ethiopic font files commonly used in desktop applications alone have sizes in the ranges of 175-250 KB."
The report also sets out a road map for detailed statistical study of the language and its most common letter combinations. That would be used to produce a "predictive text inputting" algorithm to allow the phone to "guess" which word the user was trying to type, thereby saving scores of keystrokes.
Text messaging has already proved a huge hit in established mobile markets like Europe, where teenagers have used the technology to flood the airwaves with abbreviated gossip and chat.
But Ethiopia's academics have already set out a much more substantial use for the standard: market and weather reports for the country's often drought-stricken farmers.
"Mobile phones are very much cheaper than PCs," said Solomon. "We could get them out to every corner of the country, even to the farmers.
"With Ethiopic texting, you could access market information. A farmer in the north of the country could find out the price of coffee in Addis."
Ethiopia was last month labeled one of the "least connected" countries in the world by its own infrastructure minister, Kasu Yilala. He told a conference of telecom experts in Addis Ababa: "Up until recently, access to telecom services in rural areas was almost nonexistent." The resulting digital divide between Ethiopia and the rest of the connected world, he added, was "closing the door to economic opportunity."
Some of that physical infrastructure shortfall has recently been balanced by the spread of the mobile-phone service offered by the state monopoly provider, Ethiopian Telecommunications. English-language texting services were introduced last December.
"It has not proved very popular," said Solomon. "But I am very optimistic that our system could catch on." He added that the research team, which includes research students Shiferaw Abebe and Tewodros Seyum, had already received expressions of interest from one of Nokia's main distributors in Ethiopia.
No one was available for comment from Nokia's headquarters in Finland.
Posted by aheavens at November 5, 2004 1:40 PM
Comments
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please I am Mr. Blessing Moyo, the only son of late chief Omega Moyo from Sierra Leone. I got your contact from the Information Centre in South Africa. My sources of your contact gave me the courage and confidence to rely on you. I am writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance to transfer our funds of forty million United States dollars ($40,000,000.00) now in the custody of a bank here in South Africa to your private account as our late father's business partner.
Please I am Mr. Blessing Moyo, the only son of late chief Omega Moyo from Sierra Leone. I got your contact from the Information Centre in South Africa. My sources of your contact gave me the courage and confidence to rely on you. I am writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance to transfer our funds of forty million united states dollars ($40,000,000.00)
now in the custody of a bank here in South Africa to your private account as our late father's business partner.
SOURCE OF THE MONEY:
My late father, chief Omega Moyo, a native of Mende district in the Northern province of Sierra Leone, was the general Manager of Sierra Leone mining co-operation(S.L.M.C.) Freetown. According to my father, this money was the income accrued from mining co-operation's over draft and minor sales before the peak of the civil war between the rebels forces of major John Kone and the combined forces of ECOMOG peace keeping operation that almost destroyed my country, following the forceful removal from power of the Civilian Elected President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah by the rebels.
My father had already made arrangement for his family, my mother, my little sister and myself to be evacuated to South Africa with our personal effects and the box containing items. My father deposited the fund for the safe custody until after the war when he will join us
During the war in my country, and following the indiscriminate looting of public and Government properties by the rebel forces, the sierra Leone mining coop was one of the targets looted and destroyed. My father including other top Government functionaries were attacked and killed by the rebels because of his relationship with the civilian Government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. As a result of my father's death, and with the news of my uncles involvement in air crash in January, dashed our hope of survival.
The untimely deaths caused my mothers heart failure and other related complications of which she is still recovering slowly in the hospital after we must have spent a lot of money on her. Now my 17-year-old sister ,my mother and myself are alone in this strange country suffering without any care or help without any relation and we ended up seeking for an asylum ( refugee statues) Our only hope now is in the funds our late father deposited in the Bank .
To this effect, I humbly solicit your assistance in the followings ways,
(1) To assist me claim this fund from the Bank as co-beneficiary.
(2) To transfer this money in your name to your country.
(3) To make a good arrangement for a joint business investment on our behalf in your country and under your good directives as the caretaker.
(4) To secure a college for my little sister in your country to further her education. And to make arrangement for our travel with you to your country after we have transferred the funds.
Note: All the documents issued upon the deposit of the funds is in my custody. For your assistance I beg to concede 20 % of this money to you for your effort and kind assistance. Honestly this transaction is 100% risk free and most be treated seriously/ confidentially for security reasons.
Please include your telephone and fax numbers for easy communications and to enable me forward all the important documents that back up this transaction if necessary. I advise that you respond to by email or telephone call.
Thanks and God bless.
MR Blessing Moyo.
+27 73 464 5785.
e-mail: blessingmoyo12@hotmail.com.
Posted by: blessing moyo at June 7, 2005 8:38 AM