avaiki UPDATE

avaiki UPDATE

Twelve months ago, avaiki joined a global communcations revolution with just three words - easy web publishing.
 
After just a few hours of online searching, avaiki added another word. Free.
 
These four words will change the world.
 
 
read how >

 

avaiki UPDATE background

avaiki UPDATE background
 
Nearly 600 years ago, in 1438, Johann Gutenberg invented printing with movable type.
 
The Gutenberg press lead to an information revolution in the most powerful institution of the day: the church. As Gutenberg developed his press, more and more Christians got first-hand access to what previously only a few people had been permitted to look at: the Bible. No more waiting for hand-written copies more precious than gold.
 
Today, the New York Times describes free web logging services - and the ability to make money from blogs - as a publishing revolution, as significant as the Gutenberg press.
 
publishing revolution? >
 

avaiki UPDATE publishing revolution?

avaiki UPDATE


Are blogs revolutionary? Many claims for information and publishing "revolutions" have been made since the world wide web became widely available in 1997.

Not many have stuck. Most of the world remains pretty much the same. Rich countries get richer much, much faster than poorer countries. Hundreds of people continue to die, every minute, even though the English-speaking world alone has the technological capacity to sustainably feed, cloth and house the world population several times over.

Will blogs change any of that?


< back to gutenberg
changing the world >

microsoft describes maori language use as "strategic"

Encarta may be a minor part of the global Microsoft empire, but the cd-based encyclopedia packs a cultural punch.
"Maori is a metaphoric and idiomatic language, which uses ambiguity strategically to reduce the emphasis on differences," observes encyclopedia authors, "thus making it easier to reach consensus."
In doing so, Microsoft makes rare commentary on the essential nature of the Maori language - suggesting how it might difffer in use from other languages.
Under "Maori Language or Te Reo Mäori", Encarta draws from  Ethnologue: Languages of the World, produced by SIL International, describing Maori as a "language from the Oceanic sub-group of the Austronesian language family, spoken by up to 170,000 in New Zealand where it shares status as an official language with English."
Encarta also acknowledges Maori as a pan-pacific language.
"It is one of seven languages—including Rarotongan (Cook Islands Maori) and Tahitian—that make up the Tahitic subset of the Oceanic languages."
There are still gaps to plug.
One error is writing "Te Reo Maori" in first letter capitals - in the middle of a sentence.
Only one word - Maori - is capitalised by most writers.
In another section, on French Polynesia, the US-based Encarta identifies languages in the territory only as "Polynesian" but contains no reference to Maohi - the local version of the word, as is Maoli in Hawaii.
Neither word was found, despite Hawaii being a US state.
Macrons also cause some problems, appearing on Encarta compact disc as a European style double dot above the a in the word Maori, rather than a horizontal bar in the same place.
This is despite Microsoft being the first major software developer to produce a special set of characters, especially for Aotearoa Maori, last year.
Overall, however, there is brief but balanced commentary.
"Many Maori leaders view learning their own language as an essential step towards the rediscovery of Maori identity, reads the encyclopedia. 
"In 1982, the first special sessional or all-day Maori language immersion early childhood centres known as kohanga reo (“language nests”) were established for pre-school pakeha (white) and Maori children. There are now 13,000 children enrolled in more than 700 kohanga reo centres throughout New Zealand, although there are few Maori primary and secondary schools to continue the exposure to the language."
Short details on Maori language form part of a much bigger section on Maori generally, concentrating almost exclusively on Aotearoa.