Linguasoft: June 2005

Article on Linguasoft in Montreal Mirror

This one was published after our presentation for National Aboriginal Day.
Read it.

First Peoples' Festival 2005... June 13 - 22... Montréal

A big "thank you" to LAND InSIGHTS for organizing such a fantastic event. It is a great time to meet First Peoples and discover their cultures, traditions, arts and histories.

We had the pleasure to meet fine artists and outstanding craftspersons, coming from various areas spanning Northern Canada to South America. By the way... we're pleased to show you some of the superb pieces of work we bought.

This festival also is a unique chance to discover movies made by Native filmmakers and actors.

Make sure you don't miss the festival in 2006!

Solstice des Nations - June 22 - Old Montréal

Traditional drum - Made by Samuel Ojeda, a craftsman from North-West Mexico

Our favorite (also made by Samuel)
@ front part is the bottom part of a buffalo leg (you can see the dark nails, bottom left and right angles)
@ back part is horse skin
@ button is a slice of deer antler
@ traditional and colorful composition of beads

Atikamekw basket made of birchbark.
Decorations are scraped off, rather than colored.
This technique is used to make huge canoes,
the seals of which are made waterproof by spreading spruce resin.

This is a musical instrument from Peru, made from fruit shells.
Wrap it aroung your ankle, and dance... in rhythm!
It should go "Tshiki-tshiki-tshiki-tshick" :-)

National Aboriginal Day 2005... June 21

We unveiled our InuktiChat, a pure-Inuktitut chat system. People in the audience were unanimously enthusiastic. Some of them even told us they were moved by the human dimension of our projects. Read on...

InuktiChat :: unveiling
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - 2pm - Free admission

As part of the National Aboriginal Day, launched by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, NunaSoft and the SAT unveil their new line of technology (hadware and software) dedicated to the aboriginal cultures:

- InuktiChat (first pure-Inuktitut chat environment);
- InuktiBoard (first keyboard specifically engineered for the Inuit language);
- InuktiCode (first universal tool for Inuktitut conversion and transliteration).

The aboriginal communities are, for the most part, isolated. Community exchanges are limited by technology, infrastructures and therefore by the costs related to them. It is the reason why the SAT and NunaSoft took on this ambitious research and development program, whose objectives are the preservation and dissemination of the aboriginal arts and cultures.

For more information on NunaSoft, go to: http://www.nunasoft.com
For more information on the National Aboriginal Day, go to: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nad/index_e.html

InuktiChat... live!