Social challenges faced by technology in developing countries: focus on Tamil Nadu State

Technology has always been closely associated with the society. In many cases, it can be argued that technological advancement aims to improve living conditions and benefit the society. Language forms the base of the technology and a medium through which a technology effectively caters to the requirement of a particular society. Literature from postcolonialism suggest that identity is closely related to language. Therefore, this factor also needs to be taken into account in the context of technology, its development and advancements in developing countries. Tamil Nadu is home to approximately 70 million Tamils and is regarded as one of the oldest civilisations in the world. There are ongoing researches in the field of speech recognition, text to speech in Tamil to benefit the native Tamil speakers. Politics aside, the English language is perceived as a language of aspiration and knowledge amongst the native Tamil speakers in Tamil Nadu which in tune with today’s globalization but on the other hand, the question of whether Tamil as a language is slowly becoming a language of Computational Intelligence for Societal Development in Developing Countries (CISDIDC 2017) the past needs to be explored further. The presentation shall highlight the importance of socio-technological approach in developing countries in the Tamil context and lay further emphasis on embedding social science aspects with technology until the society and language makes remarkable progress in technology.