First National Computational Linguistics Seminar in Afghanistan
   
Overview

The first ever National Computational Linguistics Seminar in Afghanistan was conducted on August 12th-13th, 2006 at Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan. The two day seminar was organized by the Afghanistan component of the PAN Localization Project and was sponsored by Afghan Telecom and Alcatel Afghanistan office. This event was highly significant as it was the first step to promote awareness of local language computing standards on such a large scale.

  
   
Objectives

 


The objective of this seminar was to provide a platform for networking between the linguists and ICT professionals, which is crucial for collaboration between the two in the future. The impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on a language and culture was discussed, as well as the importance of compatibility and structure of a language with the ICT. The work done by Afghanistan country component of PAN Localization project was highlighted in the seminar by the country leader Mr. Omar Mansoor Ansari.
 

The expected outcome of this seminar is contribution to the awareness of public about the latest development of this project through media outreach. Moreover it was a quick and stable move towards advancement of the localization program by meeting with high authorities of the Government of Afghanistan. The gap between linguist scholars and ICT professional is also to be bridged by creating a joint committee from the members of these two sectors.