Chapter 9

Chapter 9765 wordsPublic domain

It's a valid debate. Some people, often those hiding behind the authority of an institution that ought to respect copyright, don't respect it and have no qualms about putting their names to articles written by somebody else. At FTPress, we more or less follow the guidelines of the GPL (a public licence used as a basis by Linux for free software). Our material can be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes, with the source mentioned of course. The authors of these articles are paid at a standard rate, have journalist status and are also given stock options in the company. This stake in the firm's activity and its value brings the journalist's pay up to the level for an article written for a given publication. But FTPress no longer pays authors extra if the article is sold to a third party for their own use. I think this is a solution to the problem as far as the press is concerned. But it's a complex issue with many aspects and no single answer.

= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?

I don't know how to answer that, except with a truism like "Everyone will keep their own language, with English as a language of exchange." But do we really believe all the world's people are going to communicate in every senses? Maybe. Through written or oral machine translation systems? It's hard to imagine having in the near future the means to translate nuances of thought unique to a given country. We'd have to translate more than the language, and set up bridges to convey feelings. Unless everthing is standardized by globalisation. So I think the real issue is a multicultural Internet.

= What is your best experience with the Internet?

When we passed the 10.000 subscribers' mark for LMB Actu, at the beginning of 1998.

= And your worst experience?

The time when we made a mistake in Internet Actu and angry messages from subscribers began pouring in just 10 minutes later. We all started panicking because LMB Actu had just gone private and FTPress, the new company, relied solely on its successor, Internet Actu. If we'd lost a lot of subscribers, we'd've been finished. But in the end, all the reaction allowed us to start a column for readers which was very popular. Mistakes often turn out to be beneficial, as soon as you admit them openly. These exchanges establish links between readers and authors.

ROBERT WARE (Colorado)

#Creator of OneLook Dictionaries, a fast finder of words in 650 dictionaries

*Interview of September 2, 1998

= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?

On the personal side, I was almost entirely in contact with people who spoke one language and did not have much incentive to expand language abilities. Being in contact with the entire world has a way of changing that. And changing it for the better! I have been slow to start including non-English dictionaries (partly because I am monolingual). But you will now find a few included.

An interesting thing happened earlier and I think I learned something from it.

In 1994, I was working for a college and trying to install a software package on a particular type of computer. I located a person who was working on the same problem and we began exchanging email. Suddenly, it hit me... the software was written only 30 miles away but I was getting help from a person half way around the world. Distance and geography no longer mattered!

OK, this is great! But what is it leading to? I am only able to communicate in English but, fortunately, the other person could use English as well as German which was his mother tongue. The Internet has removed one barrier (distance) but with that comes the barrier of language.

It seems that the Internet is moving people in two quite different directions at the same time. The Internet (initially based on English) is connecting people all around the world. This is further promoting a common language for people to use for communication. But it is also creating contact between people of different languages and creates a greater interest in multilingualism. A common language is great but in no way replaces this need.

So the Internet promotes both a common language and multilingualism. The good news is that it helps provide solutions. The increased interest and need is creating incentives for people around the world to create improved language courses and other assistance and the Internet is providing fast and inexpensive opportunities to make them available.