Global Voices Online

NIDA, National Information Communications Technology Development Authority, is the government agency that oversees the country's telecommunication policy.  The Cambodian Government's ICT Policy encourages the development and deployment of Open Source software.

The implementation partner is Khmer Open Source Project, an Open Source Software Localization project to customize Khmer-Language versions of applications and most recently an operating system. (Tharum offers a screen shot via Da, a software enigneer working on the project).

How is the government mandate for Open Source software and the implementation of Khmer language software shaping the Cambodian Blogosphere?   During the summer, the Khmer Open Source Project released open source Cambodian language blogging software and in September the number of registered bloggers more than doubled, from 100 to 205.

Based on my reading of the few English-language posts, this young, but vibrant blog community is turning into an incredible information resource.  The blog conversations taking place include some on technology, for example, “How Can We Translate the Word Avitar Into Cambodian?.” There are also threads on cultural activities, music, and perhaps politics.

I'm not sure because my Cambodian language skills are limited, so I know that I'm missing out on lots more.     Not too long ago, I predicted that Global Voices will eventually need a bilingual bridge blogger to summarize in English some of the Khmer-Language posts.    The time has come! And, Tharum would be a fantastic bilingual bridge blogger!