In order to help create the most accurate translations of the Sikh Scriptures in the world through the Gurbani DataBase (GurbaniDB) project, it was necessary to develop a new innovative web application which I’ve coined the “Collaborative Translation System” – because that is what it is: a system which can help volunteers to collaborate on improving the accuracy of translations. No other application could do what we wanted, so we decided to develop our own.

Here are a selection of screenshots of the application in development so far:

Search engine for all 53 language translations and 22 transliterations of Guru Granth Sahib

Search results for "God" - fully customisable

Back-end for volunteer translators

And here is a slideshow of all the screenshots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56913188@N02/sets/72157625577351838/show/

You can see the full set of images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56913188@N02/sets/72157625577351838/

Also, I am looking for a small selection of very lucky BETA testers to help test this new platform as it is being developed to eliminate any bugs and improve its usability. If you are interested please send me an email to jasdeep |at| sikher.com and let me know your Name, Location and Native Language. Ideally, I’m looking for people who understand a variety of language scripts, but any help we can get will be most welcomed!

Until next time,

Jasdeep H.B.S. Khalsa
Founder & Director of The Sikher Project

Today on the 302nd anniversary of the Sikh Holy Scripture’s throne, the eGurbani revolution has arrived. The Sikher Project is today announcing the launch of the GurbaniDB.org project which aims to create the world’s most accurate database of the Sikh Holy Scripture, the Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and is today releasing 52 translations and 22 transliterations of the Sikh scriptures. You may download these from here: http://www.gurbanidb.org/download/.

Throughout history many translation efforts of scriptures have been made, but have been a long and arduous process taking many years or even lifetimes to complete. In today’s modern era we now have computer technologies to help speed along translation creation, such as Google Translate. We also have unified all languages with the invention of Unicode, making it easy to convert from one language script to another, to read another language script in our own language script.

GurbaniDB.org has taken advantage of these developments of the modern era to create 52 translations and 22 transliterations of the Sikh scriptures. But the project is not stopping there! GurbaniDB wants people who are passionate about the Guru, who can speak any of the native languages and who have a good command of English to come forward to check the accuracy of the translations and transliterations, and also to collaborate on improving them using our Collaborative Translation System which is currently being developed. Please go to: http://www.gurbanidb.org/collaborate/ and sign up now!

GurbaniDB stands for Gurbani Database, and will be opened up as a platform for software developers to create the next generation of Gurbani software. One of the biggest obstacles to Gurbani software development today is access to accurate Gurbani data, so we hope to eliminate this barrier by using GurbaniDB as a verified source of Gurbani data. Our developer platform is currently being finalised but we encourage all keen developers to register their interest here: http://www.gurbanidb.org/develop/.

Finally, all these developments have taken valuable time, effort and money. Please do donate anything you can to help us reach our donation target of £15,000, or become one of 25 Gold subscribers donating £50 a month, so that we can continue this crucial work in connecting people to the Word, the Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

In service to you and to the Guru,

Jasdeep H.B.S. Khalsa