Open Source – Open Knowledge: some stories from Cambodia by Norbert University of Phnom Penh, Department of Media and Communication 8 January 2009

8 January The start of my involvement: How to open access to knowledge OPEN KNOWLEDGE, FREE CULTURE A Conference on the Sharing of Knowledge Sharing the history how things started Looking ahead – doing it. The History

8 January The start of my involvement: How to open access to knowledge Sharing - how it started: No ? No access to knowledge! ( ) “MSc: Renewable tropical agriculture” 6 months: Ho Chi Minh City, University of Agriculture and Forestry 12 months: field studies in the home countries 6 months: Uppsala/Sweden The History

8 January The early stages: , but not in Khmer A DOS floppy from Colombia A modem – in 4 weeks – from Singapore The scholarship for Khieu Borin restituted Some – 40 – 100 – 200 users – too many? But: Why all only in English (or French etc.)? Borin in Sweden, his wife does not speak English The History

8 January Many confusing fonts – discovering UNICODE Khmer texts only in mail attachments But 8 not compatible font families (Cambodians in USA, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand – all independent) Joint brainstorming? “If all use my fonts, all problems solved!” UNICODE ! - At Singapore National University: ONE page in Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil The History

8 January Many confusing fonts – struggling for UNICODE Who decides? “As a result of our discussions we have learned that: 1. The encoding approach taken for the representation of the Khmer subscript letters in Unicode, the so-called "virama model", is not the preferred approach of the Cambodian National Body or of Khmer linguistic experts, and is at odds with the way the Khmer Script is perceived and taught in Cambodia. 2. A number of characters were added to the encoding of the Khmer script; which upon receipt of further input from the Cambodian National Body, now appear to have been clear mistakes. Those characters cannot properly be considered to be a part of the Khmer script, 3. A number of symbols and other characters used in the representation of the Khmer script were overlooked in the encoding,...” The History

8 January Many confusing fonts – struggling for UNICODE “...The Unicode Consortium acknowledges and regrets that over the last several years, and especially during crucial periods when the decisions about development of the Khmer script encoding proposals were being made, that insufficient efforts were made to maintain full communication and consultation with all interested parties in Cambodia. This has resulted in the current unfortunate situation where all interested parties now have to deal with a less- than-optimal outcome with respect to the Khmer encoding. The Unicode Consortium sincerely regrets the impact that this may have on the perception of the Khmer script, as well as any confusion that may result for those who are implementing the Khmer script on the basis of the Unicode Standard.” The History

8 January From standards to applications To have a UNICODE codification is only a start: 2002 Microsoft will localize, waiting, waiting... Still using 23 Khmer Windows font families: A file converter – no real solution! An expert arrives: Javier Solá KhmerOS – An NGO Open Source Initiative 2004 We share the results with the public - NiDA. The History

8 January The way into the future: keeping it open. From Open Source to Open Knowledge Ms. Chim Manavy, Executive Director of the Open Institute, and H. E. Kol Pheng, Minister of Education Sign Memorandum of Understanding on

8 January UNICODE made it!

8 January UNICODE made it! Wed, 06 Jan :10: Dear Khmer Unicode enthusiasts, I would like to share with you that attached file is an official document that the Royal Government of Cambodia now regulates to all government bodies to use Khmer Unicode for exchanging information. This is a great news and good gift of the year for all ICT users in Cambodia.

8 January UNICODE made it!

8 January The challenge to stay open Senior Minister, Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers Sok An, during the closing of 3 days national seminar on “Information Technology Awareness” ( ): “All laws, regulations and policies in the IT sector will reflect the following guiding spirit and philosophy: to uphold the interests of the consumers and general public to guarantee security of information, while facilitating the broadest possible access to public information to respect individual rights, and to avoid dependency on proprietary systems, instead promoting open systems and interoperability.”

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Discovering Open Source

8 January The challenge to stay open Doubts and affirmations Business interests? – National interests? “Open source is not capable” “Open Source is not secure” - ??? “Everybody needs to have a free choice!” - to pay! Efforts for promotion – selective : Ministry of Education accepted KhmerOS applications as official Khmer software in education, : UNICODE the government script standard

8 January The challenge to stay open Additional confusion

8 January The challenge to stay open Additional confusion Strangely enough, some people in NiDA want to move away from their own NiDA Standard Keyboard, saying to change the keyboard – after several ten thousand people have been trained to use it, knowing it is a NiDA STANDARD – now some people claim standards can as easily be re-defined as software versions. Internationally considered wrong, because upsetting! And the new proposal would require more complicated keyboard input. Not transparent at all why. I was also told that no foreigners should be involved.

8 January The challenge to stay open Additional confusion

8 January The way into the future: keeping it open From Open Source to Open Knowledge Now it is no more the programmers, but the users: from creating tools to using tools: creating and sharing content: data, ideas, information, knowledge, wisdom. Learning - sharing - fun - community.

8 January From Open Source to Open Knowledge Declaration of Principles UN WSIS 2003: Building the Information Society: a global challenge in the new Millennium Our Common Vision of the Information Society “We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

8 January From Open Source to Open Knowledge Learning, creating, sharing. Realizing our dreams Cooperating – building the society: New venues: Blogging, BarCamps!

8 January From Open Source to Open Knowledge First Cambodian Blogger Summit 2007 Blogs open communication in Cambodia But it is clear that young, tech-savvy Cambodians are joining Sihanouk in embracing blogs. The trend is changing their lives and their communication with people abroad — even as electricity remains an unreachable dream for most households in this poverty-ridden nation of 14 million. “This is a kind of cultural revolution now happening here in terms of self- expression," said Norbert Klein, a longtime resident from Germany... "It is a completely new era in Cambodian life."

8 January Closing session of BarCamp Phnom Penh

8 January Thanks. Norbert Klein