Decrypting Mohenjo-Daro Scripts via Technology: Sindh Madressatul Islam University Organizes International Conference
As one of the largest settlement of the Indus Valley civilization, this heritage site has been excavated numerous times in order for its script to be understood and to find further clarification of the civilization that was. As the scripts currently present in the site of Mohenjo-Daro still remain a mystery, a scholar in Sri Lanka claims that the scripts of Mohenjo-Daro can be deciphered with the help of computer technology.
Dr Gihan Dias is a scholar at the University of Moratuwa who claims that the script can be deciphered through the constant work and effort of technology in order to successfully decrypt the text. Dr Gihan recently spoke on a two-day international conference which was organized by the Sindh Madressatul Islam University that collaborated with the Higher Education of Pakistan. This conference was held to fundamentally discuss computer related technologies.
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The scholar laid his claim on the foundation that the human language is entirely complex and can not be completely understood by technology and that it needed data in other forms to process it. As computers are prone to understanding text, images and speech, it needs resources in the form of data in order to grasp the linguistics of how a certain language functions. By using the example of renowned online translators such as Google and Bing, they heavily rely on large amounts of data in the forms of billions of sentences and hence when a certain language does not have the similar amounts of data (such as South Asian languages) it makes the translation inefficient. Hence it becomes apparent that in order to properly develop a good translation and a functioning translation system, a proper understanding of the language and its linguistic resources is needed.
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The moot was concluded after three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed by the SMIU with two Romanian universities and a Nigerian college- Dr Ramona Lile of the University of Arad, Dr Florin Popentiu of the University of Oradea and Dr Muahmmad Adamu Jebba of Niger College of Education, Minna, Nigeria. As the entire conference was winding up, the Vice chancellor of SMIU, Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh appreciated every international scholar present who shared their knowledge with the professors and scholars in Pakistan along with their students.
The conference also consisted of countless sessions on various subject areas which included speeches by both international and local scholars. This included Dr Hla Myo Tun of Yangon Technological University, Myanmar, speaking over the implementation of distributed control systems for Rice Mill using C#. Prof Manzoor Ahmed Hashmani of the University of Technology Petronas, Malaysia, highlighting business intelligence and analytics that are considered to be in high demand as organizations seek to use information assets to improve business outcomes, customer relationships, and operational efficiency. The conference concluded with discussions on avoiding broadcasts and loops in multipath topology, 5G networks, interior design e-commerce website, lack of e-CRM (customer relationship management) in Pakistan and changing information security awareness of the students in the higher education to name a few.
