commas have their own code points, and so on. This file, containing all the encoded code
points, are then sent to the next device. The new devices´ keyboard, the font installed, is then
decoding these code points and recreates the ABC identical to what was typed on the first
device. And in this way, you have shared a text, or a document containing text. This is a very
simplified description of a font, how this system functions. The problem with Unicode and
Zawgyi is that the two fonts do not encode (save), the code points in a similar way, neither do
they decode (read) the code point the same way. The result then, is that if you try to open a
Zawgyi file with a Unicode software, you will see a meaningless mess of a text. The two fonts
cannot read each other. In order to ensure compatibility, it occurs a need to make a choice
between Zawgyi and Unicode.
As an example, as seen in figure III, A B C has created code
points in a device with Unicode font. These code points are
saved as a file and then opened on a device with the Zawgyi
font. The code points are now rendered different and the
letters A, B and C will then appear different as well. This is
an extremely simplified example of the coding process, but it
is an illustration of the Unicode and Zawgyi issue. In
Burmese characters the letters will not be upside down like
in my example, but rather have different add-on´s to the base
character, the wrong character, sometimes just an empty
box, a question mark, dotted lining or simply a blank or
bold-lined space.
Figure III - Exemplified model of an encoding
system
The font issue is a particular case that most people would not recognize in the beginning,
including me. These systems of writing are a “hidden/invisible technology,” they work in the
background without the users interfering or awareness of it. It is just there; it just works.
When this hidden technology seizes to function as it should, you notice its significance. It is,
however, to simple to explain fonts as something that is just there. This technology is one part
of a bigger system that we can think of as a set of infrastructures. An infrastructure can be
explained as a set of system that builds relations between things and people. You cannot limit
infrastructure to static material structures, such as water pipes, buildings or roads, it is also
something that facilitates projects, expand and flows, standardizes distributions, and extend
political rationality. An infrastructure works within several layers and together with other
infrastructures (Appel, 2015). It is easy to recognize this in the fonts. They are just one part of
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