Research Projects at the LRC LRC 2004: Open Source Localisation September 2004 Patrice Fanning Researcher University of Limerick & LRC

Overview A Brief History ELECT CLP TransRouter Current Individual Projects Traditional Chinese Internationalisation Aspects of Cultural Theory Applied to Localised Web Applications Open Source Localisation Enabling Effective e-Learning of Localisation Technologies A Bright Future IGNITE TechLink

A Brief History At the LRC, Research is our Middle Name Research and development in a number of areas of software localisation since 1995 Particularly successful in obtaining major EU funding for projects Fourth Framework Programme Fifth Framework Programme ADAPT Initiative eContent Programme Also received support from Forbait, the National Software Directorate, and the Office of Science and Technology

Completed Projects ELECT (European Localisation Exchange Centre) Providing reliable information on best practice, facilitating easy access to know-how and technology, making available guidelines on linguistic and cultural customisation, and enhancing the visibility and recognition of this industry in Europe and worldwide CLP (Certified Localisation Professional) Establishing an accreditation system for the Software Localisation Industry. Programme has since been adopted by TILP TransRouter (Translation Router) The decision support tool for translation managers For more information

Current Individual Research

Traditional Chinese Internationalisation Issues and Their Resolution Using ASP.NET Joanne Cheung Outline Key Issues in the Internationalisation Process Specify Issues that create most difficulty for Traditional Chinese Internationalisation Character Sets, Input Methods, Fonts and Sort Order Highlight Possible Approaches to Overcome these Issues Develop a Basic Web Application using ASP.Net Determine the Ability of this Platform to Deal with these Issues

Resources for Traditional Chinese Internationalisation Lunde, K., CJKV Information Processing. 1999: O'Reilly International, D., Developing International Software. 2nd Edition. 2003: Microsoft Press Gillam, R., Unicode Demystified - A Practical Programmer's Guide to the Encoding Standard. 2002: Addison-Wesley Development of the HKSCS. 2001: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Website Introduction to Chinese Information Processing: Linguistic Data Consortium. Website

Aspects of Cultural Theory Relevant in the Development of Localised Web Applications Patrice Fanning Research various Cultural Models and Theories Specifically the 5 Dimensions of Culture developed by Hofstede Investigate how Hofstede’s findings can be adapted to web design Run study to see if dimensions can be identified in web sites 48 students from 3 different English-speaking locales (16 from Ireland, UK and US) All individually rank 30 web pages for Hofstede’s dimensions on 10 point Likert scale (10 museum home pages from each of the locales) Analyse results & based on findings, develop templates for use in each of the locales

Resources for Cultural Localisation of Web Applications Hofstede, G., Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. 1991, London: Sage Publications Del Galdo, E., Nielsen, J. International User Interfaces. 1996, New York: John Wiley & Sons Marcus, A., Cross-Cultural User-Interface Design. IWIPS Berlin Cleary, Y., An Examination of the Impact of Subjective Cultural Issues on the Usability of a Localised Web Site. 1999, Limerick: University of Limerick Katan, D., Translating Cultures. Second edition. 2004, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing

Developing an Open Source Localisation Package for Localising Open Source Software Kevin Bargary Research current Localisation Processes used in the localisation of Open Source Software Study Open Source Localisation Trends Based on findings, develop an Open Source application to support these processes Final application will enhance existing processes with additional design features Incorporation of new standards and technologies

Resources for Open Source Localisation Savourel, Y., XML Internationalization and Localization. 2001: Sams Publishing Rusty Harold, E., Processing XML with Java. 2002: Addison-Wesley Gnome - KDE - Mozilla - Asian Open Source Forums -

Enabling Effective e-Learning of Localisation Technologies Rafael Guzmán Investigate current localisation technologies Classify them according to their main functions Research the most suitable pedagogical methodology and components to enable effective e-Learning Run free pilot e-learning course implementing methodology and components. 7 EU universities (18 lecturers, 88 students and 15 professional translators) Duration: 2 weeks Contents: Localisation Tools (MT and TM, GUI, Web and Testing) Analyse results and propose a model to enable e-learning of localisation technologies

Resources for Teaching Localisation Technology via eLearning Horton, W. 2001, From Using E-learning, William Horton Consulting, Boulder Kruse, K. 2002, Constructivism and Discovery Learning articles/art3_6.htm Lauridsen, Ole. 2003, Is Virtuality Virtual? tn1 Shadbolt, D., 2002, Finding the Right Language Technology Tools, Journal of Multilingual Computing & Technology, vol. 13, No. 7 Sherry, L Issues in Distance Learning. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, vol. 1 no. 4, pp

A Bright Future IGNITE (The Interoperability Standard Verification Initiative for Localisation) To pool together linguistic resources and make them accessible To develop and implement localisation scenarios to showcase resources To verify the interoperability of standards and test for standards compliance eContent Programme - Fourth Call Partners: LRC (Co-ordinator), PASS Engineering, Vivendi Universal Games, Veritest and Skrivanek TechLink (The Europe-Asia Localisation Technology Training Initiative) To set up and run courses to transfer know-how and resolve Asian Internationalisation and Localisation issues EU-Asia Information Technology and Communication Programme - Phase II Partners: LRC (Co-ordinator), The Open University, TILP and CDAC Mumbai (formerly National Centre for Software Technology)

Questions??? Patrice Fanning Researcher University of Limerick & LRC