Computer Key Board for Indian Languages
Introduction
For a majority of the Indian population, a vernacular is preferred for informal, communication, especially so within families. Even when English is used, it is often liberally sprinkled with words from an Indian language for greater effect. This is quite common in direct and telephonic conversations, and even in written communication, but not on a computer. This is because, typing Indian languages on the computer keyboard is complex, and current schemes for feeding text in Indian languages are not adequately usable. Hitherto, there have been many solutions for 'Text Input in Indian Languages' (TIIL) such as Inscript, Traditional Typewriter, ITR, Desha, Phonetic, and Transliteration, which are based on the currently used QWERTY keyboard designed for the Roman script. Further, they have essentially been limited to running a piece of software 'on top of the existing operating system and applications.
Indic scripts have a different structure from the Roman ones. A typical syllable is formed by placing a vowel symbol above or below a consonant, or by a conjunction of two or more consonants. Moreover, most Indic scripts need more primitives (a minimum of 52 for Devnagari, as compared to 26 for English).
Hence, none of the above commercially available keyboards are usable by a majority of Indian people.
As a solution to this problem, Prof. Anirudha Joshi and his team at the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) have worked on designing alternative mechanisms for text input in Devnagari. What began as a student project was later incorporated into a project in the 'Interfaces for All' group of the IIT Bombay hub of Media Lab Asia. Amongst several alternatives, a keyboard called Key-Lekh was developed with a goal to enable persons familiar with Devnagari to use it without instructions. For example, on a ticket vending machine at a railway station, literate passengers should be able to 'walk up and use' this keyboard to type their name, destination and other details to buy train tickets. The underlying concept of the design of Key-Lekh is based on the 'Varnamala'-the well-structured Indian alphabetic system. Studies on a prototype have proven that the Key-Lekh is an efficient 'walk-up-and- use' keyboard, and can also work as a desktop keyboard. The prototype has been subjected to extensive tests by users in various age-groups through road shows and competitions held. on the campus. The initial feedback suggests that Key-Lekh is the easiest-to; \earn keyboard yet developed for Indian scripts. Presently its performance is being tested more rigorously. Key-Lekh's design is being further improved to make it sufficiently robust and useful as a commercial product.
For further information please contact
Prof A Joshi,
anirudha@iitb.ac.in
