Don Osborn

Expert - African languages & ICT; agriculture, environment & rural development

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Current
  • Director at Bisharat, Ltd. (A language, technology & development initiative)
Past
  • Project lead at PanAfrican Localisation project
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor at Payson School, Tulane University
  • Instructor at Chengdu University of Technology
Education
  • Michigan State University
  • Michigan State University
  • The Johns Hopkins University
Connections
319 connections
Industry
Research
Websites

Don Osborn’s Summary

Active collaboration on facilitating African language use on computers and the internet.
Expert in international development with focus on agriculture, environment, and rural community development.
Interest in more effective linking of L10n and ICT4D/E in Africa.

International experience esp. in West Africa (11 yrs total; in Guinea, Mali, Niger and Togo); also China (2 yrs.), and Middle East.

Don Osborn’s Specialties:

Tropical & semi-arid agriculture;
Environment & natural resource management;
Community development;
Multilingual computing issues;
ICT for development (ICT4D);
Lexicography;
African languages (esp. Fulfulde/Pular, Bambara);
Representational/liaison roles;
Teaching/training


Don Osborn’s Experience

  • Director

    Bisharat, Ltd. (A language, technology & development initiative)

    (Program Development industry)

    March 2000Present (9 years 9 months)

    Current activity: Research on language, ICT & L10n policy in Africa; sub-project of the African Network for Localisation

    Other:
    · Lists/links on multilingual computing & ICT for development
    · Compilations on orthographies & fonts for African languages
    · E-mail fora in English & French
    · Weblished documents on African orthographies & language policies
    · Collaboration on a web-based Pulaar <-> English translator
    · Featured in article in Media@ctions (12/03) & on BBC (8/06)
    · Participation in "Localisation Development Sprint," Warsaw (11/04)
    · Promotion of African language Wikipedias (8/06-pres.)
    · Hosted wiki of the "Know Your Rights" proj. (2007-8)
    · Meetings at the Univ. of Pennsylvania: Linguistic Data Consortium; Internat'l Literacy Inst.; African Studies; language policy (4/08)
    · Met with African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) & other organizations in Bamako, Mali (5/08)
    · Invited participant in expert group on multilingualism for the Internet Society (ISOC) (6-9/08)

  • Project lead

    PanAfrican Localisation project

    (Non-Profit; Program Development industry)

    April 2005March 2008 (3 years )

    • Developed project concept, program and budget with the Canadian agency, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the US nongovernmental organization, Kabissa.
    • Researched and wrote concept paper on the state of software and internet content localization in Africa
    • Developed a web-based resource for African language computing
    • Organized and facilitated workshops on African localization in Casablanca, Morocco, 13-15 June 2005 & Pretoria, South Africa, 5-7 Nov. 2007
    • Assisted organization of PanAfrican Research on L10N Workshop & Localization Blitz in Marrakech, Morocco, 24-27 Feb. 2007
    • Organized panels (IUC27, LISA/Cairo), gave presentatons (LRC-X, PAN-L10n, World Bank), and other conference participation (Unicode/IDN, IUC30)
    • This project was built on work done with the Bisharat initiative. It is succeeded by an African-based follow-up project.

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor

    Payson School, Tulane University

    (Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

    January 2007May 2007 (5 months)

    Taught a distance course in language and development communication (Language and Communication in Sustainable International Development)

  • Instructor

    Chengdu University of Technology

    (Educational Institution; 201-500 employees; Higher Education industry)

    September 2004January 2005 (5 months)

    Taught courses in Restoration Ecology, Environmental Management, and Community Development

  • Associate Director for Agriculture

    Peace Corps / Niger

    (Government Agency; 51-200 employees; International Affairs industry)

    July 2000March 2004 (3 years 9 months)

    · Head ag. sector of Household Food Security proj
    · Supervise ~30 village-based volunteers - field visits, contact w/ advisors & tech advice
    · Supervise 1 staff; indirectly or informally supervise others
    · Served as acting Country Director on several occasions
    · Contributions to planning, budgeting, policies & program eval.
    · Representation w/ govt officials & representatives of various devt organizations
    · Annual proj. status reports to HQ
    · Evaluating funding proposals for small proj's: field crops, gardening, fruit & food tree prod., paraveterinary training, wells, school construction, literacy, small income generation, envir. & health ed.
    · Monitoring & follow up of volunteer work
    · Explored new collaboration & technical possibilities such as animal husbandry, drip-irrigation & better management of rainfall runoff
    · Facilitated work w/ alternative crops
    · Organized and/or participated in training events
    · Led ICT for devt efforts
    · Worked to enhance language training


Don Osborn’s Education

  • Michigan State University

    Ph.D. , Resource Development , 19881997

  • Michigan State University

    M.S. , Resource Development , May 1993

    Outstanding M.S. Student in Resource Development, 1993
    FLAS Fellow studying Bambara, 1989-1992

  • The Johns Hopkins University

    B.A. , 19741978


Additional Information

Don Osborn’s Websites:

Don Osborn’s Interests:

Selected publications include: Donald Osborn, David J. Dwyer, Joseph I. Donohoe, Jr. 1993. A Fulfulde (Maasina)-English-French lexicon : a root based compilation drawn from extant sources followed by English-Fulfulde and French-Fulfulde listings. East Lansing : Michigan State University Press. [a dictionary for the Fula language of West Africa, focusing on the dialect of central Mali] Donald Osborn. 2008. "Soybeans and Soybean Products in West Africa: Adoption by Farmers and Adaptation to Foodways." in Christine DuBois, Tan Chee-Beng, and Sidney Mintz, eds. The World of Soy. University of Illinois Press. [highlights use of soy for tofu and soy dawadawa/sumbala]

Don Osborn’s Groups:

African Language Materials Archive (board member)
Vox Humanitatis (board member)
AIARD - Assoc. for Internat'l Ag. and Rural Devt. (current)
African Studies Association (recent)
MANSA - Mande Studies Assoc. (past)
ISSCO - Internat'l Soc. for the Study of Chinese Overseas (past)

  •    MSU Alumni Association
  •    Viadeo.com
  •    Facebook.com
  •    AfroTech
  •    Johns Hopkins University Alumni
  •    AfricaNews
  •    LISA - The Localization Industry Standards Association
  •    Devex (The Development Executive Group)
  •    UNESCO's Friends
  •    Africa ICT Network
  •    Participatory Geographic Information Systems & Technologies
  •    A12n - "Africanisation" of ICT Network
  •    Web2forDev - Participatory Web 2.0 for Development
  •    e-Development Network
  •    Automated Language Translation Group
  •    Peace Corps - Africa
  •    AFRICA Sustainability: V-360.org member
  •    Unicode
  •    Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD)
  •    Wageningen International Experts WIx .nl
  •    AGIS Network - Action for Global Information Sharing
  •    The Rosetta Foundation

Don Osborn’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests
  • business deals
  • reference requests
  • getting back in touch

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