Amitabh Bacchan Now Blogs in Hindi (or rather: अमिताभ बच्चन अब हिन्दी में ब्लौग करते हैं)

Cross-posted from my current blog: http://ashishinbschool.blogspot.com

While I haven't figured out a 'solution' (or perhaps even a clear problem definition), I am still quite passionate about the promotion of Hindi language usage on the web, and in computers in general. I have seen first-hand the transformation of my students in Bagar when they start using a Hindi-language interface versus an English one.

Looking back: the key difference is in the confidence to explore. I have never really been formally 'taught' Windows: my guess is by now many people who use Windows on a daily basis haven't been either. Simply the amount of time you spend on it making mistakes and then learning from them probably determines how good you get at it (of course, formal training will help you get there much faster). So the basic scenario that changes is that when an error message pops up in English, the students look for the teacher to 'tell them' what to do. In Hindi, they are much much more likely to start clicking around and learning themselves from a cause-and-effect method.

I believe that access to technology is NOT the chief impediment in the uptake of computer/cyberspace by hindi-language users in rural India. The issues is compelling applications and content. So far the only things that have worked are a) Bollywood b) Bollywood and c) Matrimonials (but even THAT is usually in English).

So, Amitabh Bacchan's announcement that he is going to blog in Hindi (बिग बी ने हिन्दी में लिखा अपना ब्लौग) is somewhat exciting. It is more of what works, but the mass media appeal of Amitabh Bacchan can't be denied. We had a Diwali party a week ago at our house, and we were showing some Bollywood videos on the projector. I remember all the Indians getting excited when Big-B came on the screen during 'Kajre Re'. And I remember my American friend's comment, "He's...got funny hair", in response to his Mehendi-dyed hair. It really his appeal and legacy that draws the crowd (and not his current performances), and through a Hindi-language channel, that could be a potential draw.

Actually, having JUST read his blog, i don't think (or rather hope) that there's going to be much traffic to a site full of photos of the view from his hotel room (I sure hope the Oberoi Udayvilas is paying him for this)

Anyways, will keep posting stuff as and when it creeps up. अल्विदा।

P.S. Here's the direct link to Big-B's blog: http://bigb.bigadda.com/

MJunction - now in Hindi language

Yet another Hindi language site goes up.

http://mjunction.in/hindi/

And this one is exciting: it claims to be India's biggest e-commerce site. According to this article, mjunction was launched in Hindi with a view to lure small and medium scale entrepreneurs, and offer them insight in Hindi.

I need to find a way to keep abreast of more of these developments, other than just chancing upon what the ad bar on top of Gmail provides. Come to think of it, it's the only ad space that I regularly seem to find value in and click on.

शब्दनिधी (Shabdnidhi)

I was recently introduced to Shabdnidhi (http://myjavaserver.com/~hindi/shabdnidhi.jsp), a new English to Hindi Online Dictionary that I was very impressed . What's especially powerful about Shabdnidhi is that it provides contextual examples on how that word is used. And, the results are not (yet?) overcrowded like www.shabdkosh.com. Having said that though, I must give MANY kudos to shabdkosh for really pushing the Hindi Dictionary effort online. It has been an invaluable resource to me and all the GDL team here in Bagar for the last two years.

I sent an email to Debashish (one of the guys working on Shabdnidhi) with a few questions on how Shabdnidhi is different, and what, in his opinion, should people use. Debashish had a very candid and straightforward reply. Basically, he recommends using both Shabdnidhi and Shabdkosh.

My recommendation? Use Shabdnidhi if you're a general user. Use Shabdkosh if you can't find the meaning. Use Google Translator for what it's really most powerful: Translating entire web pages to get the gist of it. It's a game changing equation in some sense - it allows the Hindi user to at least get SOME meaning out of English language sites. However, like most online automated translators, it's nowhere close to a natural language translation. Ahhh, memories Babelfish and freetranslation from my Spanish class days.

New StatCounter already throws up insights: there might be future for Hindi language content on the web after all

This new StatCounter I added two days ago (right at the bottom of this page), is already throwing up some surprises. Also this blog is still largely surfed by a handful of friends and acquaintances, StatCounter has a cool feature where you can see HOW people are getting to your site. Now, this is nothing really NEW per say, it's been around since the earliest days of web analytics. BUT, it's cool that it's moved from enterprise traffic tracking to free for ye ol' garden variety personal bloggers (like yours truly).

Why is this cool? Because it delivers insight on readership, and content that matters to them. The picture below shows my current a-ha moment:


Yup - There are people searching for share bazar information in Hindi, and stumbling onto my webpage. Which means, there might just be a market for Hindi language stuff, we just have to provide it (Granted, this is based on ONE hit on ONE blog, but, the foolhardy have to hope). In fact, Rachit and I were semi-actively/passively working on a project to identify the best hindi-language content on the net catering to a rural clientele. The objective of the study was to 1) Find this content so we can deliver it through a one-stop-shop-portal and 2) identify where the gaps lie and find ways to convince content providers to deliver their content in Hindi. The example I site: How cool would it be if howstuffworks.com was in Hindi? Mind-blowing. Imagine cheezenkaisekaamkartihain.com. Even better, if ICANN ever gets international domain names going, चीज़ेंकैसेकामकरतीहैं.भारत.

That thing could single-handedly propel the next generation of scientists, adventurers, wanders, Intel Science Competition winners, all from rural India. Now that's a global flattener that even FlatWorlder Thomas L. Friedman could be proud of (incidentally, I just started reading that book).