The Department of Kannada and Culture has tied up with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for hosting Kannada books on the Institute's server. It would be formally launched on November 1, Kannada Rajyotsava Day.
The IISc's digital library already has about 5.5 lakh books. There are nearly 3,000 Kannada e-books. But the new tie-up under which the premier research institute has agreed to share online space will help the department upload a large number of books. The plan is to upload not less than three lakh books in a phased manner. Even the rarest of the rare books in Kannada would be digitised.
To begin with, Kavirajamarga, the earliest available work in Kannada, and the 21 volumes on Dr BRAmbedkar would be uploaded among a host of other government publications, according to department director KADayanand.
Ravindra Hegdal, IT consultant to the department, said that till the URL address is formed, the link would be given on the kanaja.in of the department and redirect the search to IISc e-library. All prominent works in Kannada, novels, poetry, vachanas as well as Mankuthimmana Kagga, would be made available online which could be easily and legally downloaded free of cost.
"With space not being a constraint for the super computer being used by IISc, we would be able to make available a large number of Kannada books to readers. We would like to host even audio and videos. When we go by the language profile of Google analytics, Kavirajamarga, which is a textbook for degree students of Bangalore University, has witnessed 1.5 lakh downloads. The highest downloads were in the UK and the UAE. Other regional languages such as Tamil and Telugu already have a large number of e-books compared to Kannada," Hegdal said.
Dayanand said if a language has to survive, then it has to get technical support. And, hence the department is working towards it. The department had earlier digitised hundreds of books under the Creative Commons licence and had uploaded on Wikisource. But the IISc server, technically would be a better option, he added.
World Kannada conference
The department is busy in preparing itself to host the third World Kannada conference. The venue is yet to be decided. But the choice would be between the Kalaburagi or Bengaluru revenue divisions, Dayanand said.
The first Vishwa Kannada Sammelana was held in Mysuru in 1985 and the second one in Belagavi in 2011. "This time it could be either in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi division. The government has already set aside Rs 30 crore for organising the conference," he added. With 2016 being 60th year of reorgnisation of Karnataka, the department is planning its literary and cultural programmes for a year from November 1. The department will also soon re-launch the Janapada Jaatre programme, which used to be held in Bengaluru some years ago.
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The Department of Kannada and Culture has tied up with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for hosting Kannada books on the Institute’s server. It would be formally launched on November 1, Kannada Rajyotsava Day.
The IISc’s digital library already has about 5.5 lakh books. There are nearly 3,000 Kannada e-books. But the new tie-up under which the premier research institute has agreed to share online space will help the department upload a large number of books. The plan is to upload not less than three lakh books in a phased manner. Even the rarest of the rare books in Kannada would be digitised.
To begin with, Kavirajamarga, the earliest available work in Kannada, and the 21 volumes on Dr B R Ambedkar would be uploaded among a host of other government publications, according to department director K A Dayanand.
Ravindra Hegdal, IT consultant to the department, said that till the URL address is formed, the link would be given on the kanaja.in of the department and redirect the search to IISc e-library. All prominent works in Kannada, novels, poetry, vachanas as well as Mankuthimmana Kagga, would be made available online which could be easily and legally downloaded free of cost.
"With space not being a constraint for the super computer being used by IISc, we would be able to make available a large number of Kannada books to readers. We would like to host even audio and videos. When we go by the language profile of Google analytics, Kavirajamarga, which is a textbook for degree students of Bangalore University, has witnessed 1.5 lakh downloads. The highest downloads were in the UK and the UAE. Other regional languages such as Tamil and Telugu already have a large number of e-books compared to Kannada,” Hegdal said.
Dayanand said if a language has to survive, then it has to get technical support. And, hence the department is working towards it. The department had earlier digitised hundreds of books under the Creative Commons licence and had uploaded on Wikisource. But the IISc server, technically would be a better option, he added.
World Kannada conference
The department is busy in preparing itself to host the third World Kannada conference. The venue is yet to be decided. But the choice would be between the Kalaburagi or Bengaluru revenue divisions, Dayanand said.
The first Vishwa Kannada Sammelana was held in Mysuru in 1985 and the second one in Belagavi in 2011. "This time it could be either in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi division. The government has already set aside Rs 30 crore for organising the conference,” he added. With 2016 being 60th year of reorgnisation of Karnataka, the department is planning its literary and cultural programmes for a year from November 1. The department will also soon re-launch the Janapada Jaatre programme, which used to be held in Bengaluru some years ago.
The IISc's digital library already has about 5.5 lakh books. There are nearly 3,000 Kannada e-books. But the new tie-up under which the premier research institute has agreed to share online space will help the department upload a large number of books. The plan is to upload not less than three lakh books in a phased manner. Even the rarest of the rare books in Kannada would be digitised.
To begin with, Kavirajamarga, the earliest available work in Kannada, and the 21 volumes on Dr BRAmbedkar would be uploaded among a host of other government publications, according to department director KADayanand.
Ravindra Hegdal, IT consultant to the department, said that till the URL address is formed, the link would be given on the kanaja.in of the department and redirect the search to IISc e-library. All prominent works in Kannada, novels, poetry, vachanas as well as Mankuthimmana Kagga, would be made available online which could be easily and legally downloaded free of cost.
"With space not being a constraint for the super computer being used by IISc, we would be able to make available a large number of Kannada books to readers. We would like to host even audio and videos. When we go by the language profile of Google analytics, Kavirajamarga, which is a textbook for degree students of Bangalore University, has witnessed 1.5 lakh downloads. The highest downloads were in the UK and the UAE. Other regional languages such as Tamil and Telugu already have a large number of e-books compared to Kannada," Hegdal said.
Dayanand said if a language has to survive, then it has to get technical support. And, hence the department is working towards it. The department had earlier digitised hundreds of books under the Creative Commons licence and had uploaded on Wikisource. But the IISc server, technically would be a better option, he added.
World Kannada conference
The department is busy in preparing itself to host the third World Kannada conference. The venue is yet to be decided. But the choice would be between the Kalaburagi or Bengaluru revenue divisions, Dayanand said.
The first Vishwa Kannada Sammelana was held in Mysuru in 1985 and the second one in Belagavi in 2011. "This time it could be either in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi division. The government has already set aside Rs 30 crore for organising the conference," he added. With 2016 being 60th year of reorgnisation of Karnataka, the department is planning its literary and cultural programmes for a year from November 1. The department will also soon re-launch the Janapada Jaatre programme, which used to be held in Bengaluru some years ago.
The Department of Kannada and Culture has tied up with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for hosting Kannada books on the Institute’s server. It would be formally launched on November 1, Kannada Rajyotsava Day. The IISc’s digital library already has about 5.5 lakh books. There are nearly 3,000 Kannada e-books. But the new tie-up under which the premier research institute has agreed to share online space will help the department upload a large number of books. The plan is to upload not less than three lakh books in a phased manner. Even the rarest of the rare books in Kannada would be digitised.
To begin with, Kavirajamarga, the earliest available work in Kannada, and the 21 volumes on Dr B R Ambedkar would be uploaded among a host of other government publications, according to department director K A Dayanand.
Ravindra Hegdal, IT consultant to the department, said that till the URL address is formed, the link would be given on the kanaja.in of the department and redirect the search to IISc e-library. All prominent works in Kannada, novels, poetry, vachanas as well as Mankuthimmana Kagga, would be made available online which could be easily and legally downloaded free of cost.
"With space not being a constraint for the super computer being used by IISc, we would be able to make available a large number of Kannada books to readers. We would like to host even audio and videos. When we go by the language profile of Google analytics, Kavirajamarga, which is a textbook for degree students of Bangalore University, has witnessed 1.5 lakh downloads. The highest downloads were in the UK and the UAE. Other regional languages such as Tamil and Telugu already have a large number of e-books compared to Kannada,” Hegdal said.
Dayanand said if a language has to survive, then it has to get technical support. And, hence the department is working towards it. The department had earlier digitised hundreds of books under the Creative Commons licence and had uploaded on Wikisource. But the IISc server, technically would be a better option, he added.
World Kannada conference
The department is busy in preparing itself to host the third World Kannada conference. The venue is yet to be decided. But the choice would be between the Kalaburagi or Bengaluru revenue divisions, Dayanand said.
The first Vishwa Kannada Sammelana was held in Mysuru in 1985 and the second one in Belagavi in 2011. "This time it could be either in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi division. The government has already set aside Rs 30 crore for organising the conference,” he added. With 2016 being 60th year of reorgnisation of Karnataka, the department is planning its literary and cultural programmes for a year from November 1. The department will also soon re-launch the Janapada Jaatre programme, which used to be held in Bengaluru some years ago.