Oromo | Afaan Oromoo
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Publication Understanding Challenges in Contributing to Wikipedia in Amharic, Tigrinya, and Afan Oromo.(2024) Nigatu, Hellina Hailu; Canny, John; Chasins, SarahOnline Knowledge Repositories (OKRs) like Wikipedia offer communities a way to share and preserve information about themselves and their ways of living. However, for communities with low-resourced languages—including most African communities—the quality and volume of content available are often inadequate. One reason for this lack of adequate content could be that many OKRs embody Western ways of knowledge preservation and sharing, requiring many low-resourced language communities to adapt to new interactions. To understand the challenges faced by low-resourced language contributors on the popular OKR Wikipedia, we conducted (1) a thematic analysis of Wikipedia forum discussions and (2) a contextual inquiry study with 14 novice contributors. We focused on three Ethiopian languages: Afan Oromo, Amharic, and Tigrinya. Our analysis revealed several recurring themes; for example, contributors struggle to find resources to corroborate their articles in low-resourced languages, and language technology support, like translation systems and spellcheck, result in several errors that waste contributors’ time. We hope our study will support designers in making online knowledge repositories accessible to low-resourced language speakers.Item AFAAN AMAARAA, AFAAN TIGRII, FI AFAAN OROMOO WIIKIIPIDIYAA GUMAACHUU KESSATTI QORMAATA JIRU HUBACHUU(2024) Canny, John ; Chasins, Sarah ; Nigatu, Hellina Hailu; Sheleme, AyantuQormaata gumaachitootni Wiikiipiidiyaa afaanota odeeffannoo baay’ee hin qabneen mudatan hubachuuf qorannoo gaggeessineen, qorannoo (1) marii waltajjii Wiikiipiidiyaa irraa ragaa xiinxallee (2) hirmaattonni 14 barruu Afaan Tigrii, Afaan oromo ykn Amaariffaan barreessuuf yaaluu isaanii ilaalle. Argannoo keenya irratti hundaa’uun teeknooloojiiwwan afaanii hunda hammate ijaaruuf yaada dizaayinii ni kennina. Barreeffama kana keessatti argannoowwan maxxansa keenya irraa argaman kanneen asitti argamuu danda’an gabaabsinee dhiyeessina.Item How Multilingual Policies Can Fail: Language Politics Among Ethiopian Political Parties(2018-05-23) Worku, Mehari ZemelakBecause language has instrumental as well as symbolic values, the issue of language will always have a political aspect (Smith 2008). Often, the choice of language and its use is construed as one of the central traits to people’s definition of themselves. Besides, any given state must decide or determine the language that it deems appropriate to carry out its development and to generate, disseminate and enrich the knowledge necessary for such development. However, the case grows problematic when it comes to Sub-Saharan Africa where “every language carries a distinct and weighty baggage” of identity (Obeng & Purvis 1999). The decision was not easy for different regimes in Ethiopia, home of more than 80 ethnic groups (CSA 2008). The three consecutive regimes which have ruled the country for the last 75 years followed different paths in addressing this diversity management question. The reframing of the country under ethnic federalism, which legislates Amharic as the working language of the federal government (hereafter WL) and guarantees the right of each ethnic state to decide its own WL, is the recent attempt to respond to the same politics of recognition. However, dissatisfied voices regarding the current language policy (hereafter LP) can still be heard among political groups. Some see it as ‘not enough’ while others see it as Balkanization. Despite a few research efforts and publications on the LPs of the consecutive governments of Ethiopia, there has been no research done on the alternative policies and options available among the political parties or their relative value as LPs. Thus, the grand objective of this study is to survey, analyze and evaluate the linguistic proposals of Ethiopian political parties in government, education, and endangered languages.Item Manufacturing Procedures and Techniques of Indigenous Pottery Technology: An Ethno- Archaeological Investigation on West Guji Zone of Bule Hora District, Southern Ethiopia.(2022-05-27) Wodajo, Mengesha, RobsoThis an ethno-archaeological study focused on the investigation of indigenous pottery technology in West Guji Zone of Bule Hora district, Southern Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of the paper was to conduct an inclusive investigation about the traditional pottery manufacturing technology, procedures and its ethnographical tradition of the local communities (selected kebeles) in the district. The research was conducted on five kebeles (two rural kebeles, Goroo Gudina and Harroo; and three of Bule hora town kebeles) of West Guji Zone. These kebeles has own distinctive pottery making procedure, technique, styles, features and materials to their cultural clay products. The data in these areas were studied through employed primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include site observation, interview, photographs, and group discussions, while secondary sources also embraces brochures, books and documents. Potters of the study area mainly used black and brown clay and tempering material like, powdered potsherd and white clay to prepared paste. Besides these, some of the potters also used similar kinds of raw materials in molding, shaping and decorating pots while others used different treatment techniques and firing woods. This indigenous technology was mainly controlled by female potters who have long experiences in producing pots, jars, kets and other clay products.