Wired In
Hawaiian language network expands to Windows format

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

•

Getting hooked up Leoki is a virtual community for people who speak Hawaiian – about a year of high school or university language study is needed. Free download: www.olelo.hawaii.edu/OP/ resources/leoki.html Order a CD-ROM ($7 donation requested to offset cost): accounts@leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu Request a new account (ID and password): accounts@ leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu Information: e-mail Keola Donaghy, keola@leoki.uhh.hawaii .edu, or call Hale Kuamo'o, (808) 974-7339.

Leoki ("strong voice") the 7-year-old Macintosh program that allowed the creation of an "intranet" for Hawaiian speakers, has just been released in a Windows version. And this, as Bill Gates' personal accountant knows so well, means it's now available to the overwhelming majority of computer users.

"It's what used to be called a bulletin board system, in the old days," said Keola Donaghy, media and telecommunications director with the Hale Kuamo'o Hawaiian Language Center at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. Donaghy was on O'ahu last week demonstrating Leoki for students at Kailua's Hawaiian immersion school, Ke Kula 'O Kamakau.

The Macintosh version is used by about 1,000 Hawaiian speakers, Donaghy said.

An intranet is like a small version of the Internet; you still need a modem or some kind of Internet access to use it. People connect to Leoki by using a user ID (inoa mea ho'ohana — "user name") and password ('olelo huna — "secret word").

You need the software installed first, but Hale Kuamo'o provides this for free (see box).

The world of Leoki includes numerous functions:

• Leka Uila — E-mail; each user has a private mailbox for e-mailing others within Leoki or to regular Internet addresses.
• Laina Kolekole — Chat room.
• Ha'ina Uluwale — Open forums.
• Hale Ku'ai — Online purchase of Hawaiian language books and materials.
• Papa Hua'olelo — Hawaiian words being coined by the Komike Hua'olelo (users can suggest new words and react to those being considered).
• Na Maka o Kana — Back issues of the Na Maka o Kana newspaper.
• Noi'i Nowelo — Posting of stories, newspaper articles, songs and other resources
• Na Ke'ena '–lelo Hawai'i — Information about the various agencies that support Hawaiian-studies- related programs throughout the state.
• Ku'i ka Lono — Advertisements and information about Hawaiian language classes and upcoming events.

Almost everything in the software is in Hawaiian, Donaghy said: menus, log-in screens — even error messages. When one of the students mistyped his ID and password on the papa 'e'e (log-in screen), he received his slap on the wrist in a little box scripted courteously in Hawaiian. Ironically, the "OK" box you have to click still says "OK"; some aspects are built into the operating system of the computer and can't be changed, he added.

The words for computer terms are devised by a UH-based committee that tries to adapt existing Hawaiian language. For example, Donaghy said, "ho'oili" is used for "download" and also for "offload," as in taking a parcel from a truck.

And, although members might use the software to send e-mail to someone in the English-speaking world, such lapses aren't allowed within the openly viewed sections of Leoki, such as chat rooms and bulletin boards, he said.

"Within the system itself, we try as much as possible to have the students maintain the integrity of the Hawaiian language," he said.

The software is an adaptation of First Class, an intranet program developed by the Canadian company SoftArc Inc. Hale Kuamo'o paid the licensing fee so that the program could be distributed free to users, Donaghy said. New fonts were created to permit the use of diacritical marks not seen in conventional e-mail or chat.

This is crucial to people who believe in the viability of the Hawaiian language in the 21st century.

"We want to show that our kids (in Hawaiian language immersion classes) can gain all the skills they need in life to have successful careers," he said. "If we compromise with the computer, we're saying the computer isn't a place where the Hawaiian language is used."