Expanding localization efforts into the area of minority/less-prevalent/sparse-data languages is not a trivial matter. Some people think and state that there is not a market for less-prevalent language technologies. Yet, this is contradicted by numerous objective facts about the need for closing the Digital Divide in order to improve the world economy.

The Digital Divide debate started with a focus on the basic issue of providing access to Information Technology, which included wiring schools, setting up computers in libraries of disadvantaged communities, and donating old computers to developing countries. Then the issue of Content came to be seen as even more important than Access, along with the factors of pervasive computing and the impact of IT on every aspect of society. Until relevant content for all population groups is provided for, it will be difficult to achieve the potential of the developing global economy. Now both Access and Content are influencing factors in focusing on the Digital Divide debate while the Digital Revolution rapidly increases the rate of globalization in exponential ways.

So is there really a market for the Digital Divide?

Well, a few major players have been showing significant interest in funding less-prevalent languages for information technology in order to close the divide. The following programs have recently been set up within the framework of an overall Digital Divide initiative:

• Cisco Systems promised to invest $3.5 million [all figure are in u.s. dollars] to expand its Cisco Networking Academy Program to 24 of the least-developed countries.
• Intel has launched a “Teach to The Future” initiative which is focused on providing over 400,000 classroom teachers with the skills to effectively apply technology to their curriculum.
• Microsoft will provide more than $1 million in cash and software grants to four new projects to close the Digital Divide. This is an addition to Microsoft’s $21 million ($8 million in cash and $13 million in Microsoft software) in support for projects outside of the United States in the year 2000 alone.
• USAID’s five-year, $15 million Leland Initiative has the goal of extending full Internet connectivity to 20 or more African countries.
• The Export-Import Bank will accept the credit of states and other subsovereign entities in many emerging markets, expanding access to U.S. Information Technology Products and Services.
• The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will establish a $200 million line of credit for E-Commerce and Digital Divide Projects in Developing Countries.

The Digital Divide is the challenge of the future. Let us now investigate some specific statistics about under-developed nations and less-prevalent languages.

• Asia, Africa and Latin America combined share only $18,000 million of the $111,000 million global total of e-commerce revenues for 1999. (Source: June 2000 report, World Bank)
• Of the estimated 332 million people online as of March 2000, less than 1 percent (2.77 million) live in Africa. (Source: Nua Internet Surveys, March 2000)
• Less than 5 percent of the computers that are connected to the Internet are in developing countries. (Source: International Telecommunications Union, Challenges to the Network: Internet for Development, 1999)
• Africa outside of South Africa generates only 0.02 percent of global Internet content. (Source: World Bank, The Digital Divide and the World Bank Group, May 2000)

Many of the countries listed above are recipients of financial loans, donations and hand-outs, etc. Yet, experience has shown that such financial assistance will be wasted or will never have significant impact for these countries. One of the shortcomings of global economic aid up until now has been that it focuses on the basic necessities of life. The basic necessities are necessary, but they continue to limit the countries to not be productive for the world economy. It has been noted for many decades that many of the best students and potential leaders of under-developed and emerging nations find ways to go study or work in the most economically powerful nations. The result: this creates a leakage of intellect and workforce that could support these nations.

An example of more wisely structured investments would be to set up funds within North America and Europe that are specifically designated to training students from some of the most economically disadvantaged countries. Another set of funds should be established for infrastructure build-up efforts for which such students and workers could prepare and submit project proposals to be implemented in their home countries. Such types of investments utilize the opportunities in the economically advanced nations for training those coming from the disadvantaged nations.

However, it does not remain at that level. Such investments also provide concrete opportunities for these educated native speakers to return to their countries with not simply knowledge, but also projects and funding that will establish necessary infrastructures for building up the economies in these nations. And for those skeptics that will say that such money would be subject to lack of proper management and corruption, they should spend more time with the native speakers from such countries that have spent years striving to be nominated as the single student from their home university for a scholarship to study in the USA, Canada or Europe. These students are highly motivated, and they are often forced to remain in the host countries because that is where the job opportunities exist that provide them with enough income to be able to support their immediate family, and to send money back to their extended family in their home country. The majority of students and young professionals would give anything to have the opportunity to bid for a project to take back to their home country and make an economic difference for the country as a whole. These native speakers are usually not at all interested in corrupt activities. They have fought long and hard to earn a living in a more powerful country, and they know well the misery of their homes. The impeding factor for all of this has been the lack of such monies for infrastructure building.

An example of infrastructure development for long-term localization is to ensure the setting up of telecoms and electricity providers within the countries. With a reliable flow of electric current and the telephone lines for communication, the sky is the limit for business development opportunities in such countries. It would then be possible to train hundreds of students to be Webmasters, Web content developers, and information marketers. By doing so, they could develop an entire network of marketing channels in their country in order to promote and sell goods and services that are conducted in-country. This would bring many more buyer nations to the bargaining table for such goods and services, rather than the developing countries having to rely on one single buyer nation with a fixed (and often imposed) price. These types of projects promote business and the economy within the currently disadvantaged nations.

How does localization fit in to the picture? Well, the majority of such under-developed nations each have between 3 and 100 official and national languages. The opportunities are phenomenal for not only providing such Web sites in one or two major international languages in order to attract the clientele, but also in five to ten other languages that would significantly benefit from the awareness of their existence at a global level. The lack of substantial localization business being conducted in less-prevalent languages is not because the business does not exist, but rather that it requires more medium- and long-term planning, as well as a clear understanding of the issues involved for such languages.

In this vein, we have decided to focus on the niche market of minority languages, most notably Creole languages. The set of tools and services that mit2 is currently preparing to provide, as well as those that it is planning on developing, are those that meet specific needs within rapidly growing sectors of information technology, communication, economic development, etc. It is essential to utilize the Internet and related communication channels as a means for increasing the awareness of Creoles and other less-prevalent languages. These technologies are support mechanisms for helping boost the economies of many countries of the developing world.

In the next article in this series on the topic of less-prevalent languages, we will focus on a case study and will show a few technical issues along the lines of language standardization which must be addressed in globalization and localization efforts for such languages.