[Hf-info] Hacker Foundation Project Application

[Martin Benjamin]

The Hacker Foundation Project Application
Version 1.1 // 02 February 2005 
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Project Name: The Kamusi Project (kamusiproject.org)

Involved persons (Project roles if applicable): Martin Benjamin, Project 
Director

Date: November 15, 2007

Project Brief:
(In this space, give a 100-200 word brief statement of what your project 
does and why it does it. In corporate terms, what's your "pitch"?)

The Kamusi Project is the world's leading African language resource.  We 
serve approximately one million Swahili dictionary look-ups a month to 
over 600,000 users a year, including tens of thousands in Africa.  The 
project has also developed online learning resources, and has an active 
user community that participates in editing dictionary content through 
unique editorial tools.  All project resources are available to the 
public for free under a Creative Commons license.

Project Goals:
(Give a complete list of the project's goals and how you intend to 
achieve them.)

The project is poised to expand to a free and open source multilingual 
dictionary based on the existing site architecture.  The Pan African 
Living Dictionary Online (PALDO) will be an interlinked dictionary of 24 
languages widely spoken in Africa.  A full proposal is available on 
request.  IDRC is likely to commit funds by the end of 2007 to develop 
PALDO tools and a localization terminology dataset, and discussions are 
underway with funders for other specific components of the project.  We 
will also be taking the lead role in an IDRC-funded project to build 
software locales for 100 African languages during 2008.

Resource Requirements:
(Give a specific, prioritized list of goods and services and other 
resources you believe would be required for your project, and 
approximate price estimates for these requirements.  For example, do you 
need to obtain a dedicated workspace to hold your project?  Do you 
require dedicated hosting?  Do you need persons with certain expertise 
that are currently unavailable to you?)

We have a long task list for programming improvements, so we would 
welcome any coding support that can speed resource development.  Our 
primary immediate need, however, is a US non-profit affiliation to 
enable American donors to support the project.  We were based at Yale 
University until October 2007, and have now moved under the auspices of 
a registered UK non-profit, the World Language Documentation Centre. 
Our mission and methods remain non-profit, so we need a legal financial 
base in the US that will reflect this.

Resources Available:
(Give a specific list of goods and services and other resources that are 
immediately available to you.  Include "intangibles" such as expertise, 
persons with special skills who are willing to donate time to the 
project, and other unique resources you believe would be valuable.)

We currently have all the resources developed by the Kamusi Project 
since 1994, including a large Swahili database and a number of unique 
software applications.  We have a member base of about 8000 registered 
users around the world, many of whom participate in project activities. 
  We "in-source" most of our programming to a firm in Ghana, and benefit 
from collaborations with a number of people throughout Africa on a 
regular basis.

What other projects have you or do you intend to work with?

We are housed at the World Language Documentation Centre, which gives us 
access to a global network of linguistics professionals.  Our 
programming is fully integrated with kasahorow.org, which works on 
languages of West Africa.

The list of projected partners for the PALDO project is long and 
growing, including:
•	Centre for the Advanced Study of African Societies (South Africa)
•	African Academy of Languages (Mali)
•	Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (France)
•	OmegaWiki
•	UNESCO
•	IT+46 (Sweden)
•	Bisharat, Ltd. (US)
•	translate.org.za (South Africa)
•	Nahuatl Learning Environment Project (US and Mexico)
•	Laboratoire Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire (France)
•	World of Languages (US)
•	University of Vienna (Austria)
•	Bunkyo University (Japan)
•	Usmanu Danfodio University (Nigeria)
•	Centre de Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée (DR Congo)
•	Éveil du Congo Asbl (DR Congo)
•	Institute of Research on Science and Technology (Rwanda)
•	Grambling State University (US)
•	University of Illinois (US)
•	Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (Burkina 
Faso)
•	Twaweza Communications (Kenya)
•	University of the Western Cape (South Africa)
•	Univerity of South Africa
•	African Languages Technology Initiative (Nigeria)
•	Institut des Sciences et des Nouvelles Technologies (Djibouti)

Are there other projects doing something similar to what you're doing now?

Wikipedia is similar in that both projects invite anyone to edit 
content, the major difference being that all submissions to the Kamusi 
Project must pass editorial review and the quality of the data is 
therefore more trustworthy and consistent.  OmegaWiki has its goal to 
build a dictionary of all words in all languages; we will in fact be 
collaborating with them to share data and expertise.  Neither of these 
projects has a focus on Africa and neither spends money on content 
creation, meaning that their African language resources are generally 
paltry.  SIL is creating print dictionaries for numerous African 
languages, and we are in discussions with them about incorporating their 
data within PALDO.


Are there other projects whose model you intend to emulate in some way?

We are happy with our work and distribution model.  Our business model 
is lousy, however, so we are always seeking to learn from organizations 
that have managed to remain sustainable despite giving away everything 
they produce.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?


Standard Y/N Questions:
(Please answer Yes or No immediately after each question.)

1) Is your project open source, or otherwise a shared technology 
pursuit? Yes

2) Do you intend to shield any aspect of the technology behind your 
project from the public? No

3) Have you applied for or do you intend to apply for funding or grants? Yes

If you answered yes to question #3, answer the three questions below:
3a) Do you intend for the Hacker Foundation to administer the grant 
funding? No
3b) Do you intend for the Hacker Foundation to provide administrative 
support? No
3c) On a separate page, specify funding sources and give a brief 
explanation of how the project meets the funding guidelines.
We do not currently have funding, but we expect to receive a grant from 
IDRC in the near future.

4) Does any part of this application need to be held in confidence and 
not disclosed to the general public? No

If you answered yes to question #4, please explain on a separate page 
which parts of your project application are confidential and why they 
should be considered as such..

5) Is your project charitable, educational or scientific in focus? Yes, 
yes, and there are terminology components in PALDO that will be yes to 
scientific as well

If you answered no to question #5, please explain on a separate page how 
you would describe the non-commercial nature of your project.

6) Does your project advocate a certain domestic political party, 
viewpoint or candidate for public office? No

If you answered yes to question #6, please explain on a separate page 
how your project might advocate a certain political party, viewpoint or 
candidate for public office.

END OF APPLICATION
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