SDNP conducts Islamabad's first Urdu Web Authoring Workshop

June 28, 2001

In Pakistan, where less than 5% of the population understands English, language is one of the biggest barriers to computer literacy in general, and use of Internet in particular. In real terms it means that out of 140 million Pakistanis, 133 millions Pakistanis are totally denied access to the Internet, mainly because they are not able to read and write English. People who don't know the English language do not feel the need to use the Internet, as hardly any Urdu content is available online.

Slowly, however, countries across the world have begun to realize that their national languages can thrive immeasurably on the Internet simply due to the sheer number of people accessing it and willing to learn from it.

Towards this end, SDNP Islamabad conducted a workshop in Urdu Web Authoring on June 27-28, 2001. This workshop, the first of its kind in the capital, was based on the special software developed by Pakistan Data Management Services (PDMS). The following government and non-governmental organizations took part in the workshop:

1.  National Book Foundation (NBF)
2.  National Institute of Psychology (NIP)
3.  Pakistan Energy & Environment Management Centre (PEEMAC)
4.  Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan
5.  Strengthening Participatory Organizations (SPO)
6.  The National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON)
7.  Women in Credit Information and Resource Center (WCIRC)
8.  Falahi Tanzeem Hasil, District Chakwal
10. Army Welfare Trust.

These organizations lived up to their commitment of contributing Urdu content on the Internet by developing websites in their respective fields; which will be uploaded on SDNP's servers and soon be available on the Internet. They will benefit a large number of organizations working for the uplift of rural communities in Pakistan.

This pioneering initiative by SDNP to strive to put Urdu on the "Web map" prompted keen enthusiasm from a wider audience than anticipated. People were excited about the prospect of seeing useful development information websites about Pakistan in their national language, and felt proud of their accomplishments.

SDNP has already created a web gateway for all significant development information about Pakistan (http://www.sdnpk.org/). Committed to promoting Pakistan's national language, plans are underway to establish a similar gateway in Urdu as well, so that a larger number of Pakistanis here and abroad will have access to the latest development news and information in a language that they can easily understand.