Excruciating Key Strokes

I remember, being a commerce student way back when, that I used an Amharic typewriter. In today’s standard, it is noisy, cumbersome, and hazardous. Did I say it right, hazardous? These days, considering how spoilt we are, our succulent fingers may not handle the mechanics of those typewriters.  Had we used the same typewriter in the Western world today, I bet you, there would be a WHMIS “Workplace Hazardous Material Information Sheet” whereby the danger of using that typewriter would have been defined.

Where do you see Ethiopia as far as Information Technology (IT) is concerned, particularly, in the development of the Ethiopian (Amharic) fonts? I don’t believe special attention is given to it by the current government. If there are any initiatives to develop it, I have not heard about it. The existing Amharic fonts and keyboard layouts are inefficient and backward for the following reasons.

1. Always, a combination of keys must be stroked to type a character with the exception of a few.

2. Many Ethiopians who are accustomed to “le ma de, be ri ne ha” Amharic Typewriter could be frustrated in adopting the software based Amharic font and its keyboard layouts

3. It is operating system dependant.

4. No transparency on transitioning from the old to the new technology, whatsoever.

Apart from this the initiatives taken by individuals to create the various sizes and styles of fonts are very encouraging.  The programmers who developed Amharic fonts must be congratulated for their efforts. But we have a long way to go. Because of lack of standards, one can find various types of it. The discrepancies among them are huge.

Nowadays, IT is crucial in building a nation’s future social, political, and economic outlook; therefore, our government must pay due attention in developing and standardizing the Amharic fonts.

The Amharic fonts:

1. must run independent of an operating system. In a layman term, when the computer reboots, every thing must be seen in Amharic; that means, “Basic Input/Output System” BIOS must be read in Amharic.

2. must avoid a combination of key strokes to always type a character.

3. must be transparent so that many Ethiopians who are accustomed to “le ma de, be ri ne ha” do not have to go through excruciating pain to adopt the new software

Our government in collaboration with citizens and private corporations must encourage Amharic Typewriter developers to standardize the layouts of the keyboard. I would strongly advice our government not to sit idly by until private companies come up with their own standards.

IT, without any doubt, is an essential part of an advanced economy. Ignoring IT and leaving it for private corporations without any discussion on standardization will drag our economy many steps backward.

As much as I want to use Amharic software, I am discouraged by its lack of standard and inefficiency as I have to rely on English keyboard layouts. This backward style should not be adopted and must be curtailed before the bad habits are cemented in our system.

Standardizing the keyboard will reduce the key strokes by almost 50 percent. For instance, in the old typewriter to type “le ma de”, you need 3 key strokes but with the new Amharic software, you need 6 key strokes. How inefficient!

When I see an Amharic Software embedded in the mother board and read the BIOS in Amharic, I can say with confidence that our Amharic fonts have matured provided that the standard of the keyboard layouts are maintained.

Could this be another legacy for the respectable Alamudi? God/Alah bless him.

Haile B.

01/16/08