3 While official data on Zawgyi’s user base is not available, members of Myanmar’s ICT community estimate 75-80% of users in Myanmar type in Zawgyi. Some members of Myanmar’s nascent developer community have opted to offer their applications in English only. 173 Others have taken steps to support broader information accessibility as Myanmar’s ICT community migrates to full Unicode support. While Google Translate allows users to input text in Zawgyi, output text is in Unicode. The Myanmar Computer Federation (MCF), an umbrella organisation for computer-related groups and associations, now includes a Zawgyi-Unicode two way conversion tool on their website. 174 Previous attempts to compel users to switch from Zawgyi to Unicode have been unsuccessful when framed as a mutually exclusive choice between the two. However greater migration to Unicode will increase content that is searchable and retrievable through search engines and databases. This will have positive education, transparency and governance impacts. Supporting Ethnic Language Use and Content ICTs can positively impact people’s ability to access and understand information. But in some cases, it can have the opposite effect. The IDRC notes “…ICTs can also be used to crowd out minority languages due to content in a dominant language being more readily available and spread.” 175 With over 100 languages spoken in Myanmar, language localisation is essential to ensure all communities have the potential to benefit from new technology. Unicode is a powerful resource, providing support for Shan, Mon and Karen languages. 176 Allowing users to type in their local language enables content creation, which in turn can support users developing familiarity and comfort interacting with ICTs. Table 31: Language Localisation Challenges in the Danu Community Myanmar’s linguistic context is complex and continuing to evolve, evidenced by the Danu people of Shan State who speak a dialect of Burmese. During MCRB’s field research in Shan State, Danu villagers noted that there is on-going debate around alphabet use in the Danu community. Because Danu people do not have their own alphabet, they have adopted Burmese alphabets to teach their children but spellings may vary between Burmese and Danu. Some Danu people are thinking of creating their own alphabet based on old Burmese alphabets dating back to the 16-18 century. In the future, ethnic language support for the Danu language would include keyboards and software to support the newly created alphabet. While ethnic language fonts are not currently available on the Myanmar Computer Federation (MCF) homepage, MCF now provides links to Myanmar3 (Unicode font) and Pyidaungsu Font (a font package for iOS devices, the operating system designed and 173 For an example see, Tim Mclaughlin “The Uber of Myanmar” (March 2015). Myanmar Computer Federation, “Zawgyi – Unicode Conversion Tool“ (last accessed August 2015). 175 See IRDC, “Connecting ICTs to Development: The IRDC Experience” (2013), pg 101. 176 As an example, Shan Unicode resources are located at http://www.shanunicode.com/. 174 106 PAGE CHAPTER 3: SECTOR-LEVEL IMPACTS