Tibetan Geeks

Tibetans are developing a respectable history and traditions in the IT field. Some people even say that the same qualities of mind that make Tibetan monks excel in Buddhist studies and debate, also make Tibetan techies good at IT.

• 600 AD to present Tibetan monks develop the deep "technology" of Buddhism with wisdom and compassion. ( History of Buddhism) Tibet
• 1903-1951 Gendun Chopehel དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་འཕེལ travels, studies and writes. Tibet, India
• 1940s His Holiness Dalai Lama explores and repairs watches, movie projectors, and other mechanical things. The Dalai Lama on the Scientific Method, Technological Innovation and Spiritual Development Tibet
• 1990 First email sent from Tibetan Government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Tibet-in-exile email history, by Bhuchung Tsering
  Tibet-in-exile
• early 1990s Tibet support groups and exile Tibetans are using mail lists, email and mail lists to communicate and spread information. Tibet-in-exile, Inji assistance
• late 1990s Tibetan IT starts to really take off in Dharamshala. Tibet-in-exile
• 1990s Tibetan IT develops within Chinese-occupied Tibet. Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 1990s Internet in India - its development affects Tibetans in exile in India History at YouthKiAwaaz.com Tibet-in-exile
• 1991 Thubten Samdup joins CanTibNet (which later became World Tibet Network – WTN). Tibet-in-exile
• 199? Tibetan Computing Resource Centre (TCRC) founded at CTA. TCRC at Tibet.net Who can tell us more? Tibet-in-exile
• 1993 Sonam Dargyay founds mail list TIBET-L (which later becomes part of WTN list). Tibet-in-exile
• 1994 Nima Dorjee and Peter Kauffner set up the talk.politics.tibet newsgroup http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tibet-faq/ Tibet-in-exile, Inji assistance
• 1996 Tibet.net rolls out - official website of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government-in-exile) Tibet.net Tibet-in-exile, Inji assistance
• 1998 Use of websites, webcasting, and other internet services grows rapidly; the web is soon full of websites built by Tibetans. TibetSites.com Tibet-in-exile, Inji assistance
• 200? Tibetan Computing Resource Centre (TCRC) develops TCRC Bod-Yig Tibetan font for use in printed publications (not a Unicode font). TCRC Bodyig Who can tell us more? Tibet-in-exile, India assistance
• 2000s Woeser ཚེ་རིང་འོད་ཟེར writes extensively on Tibet and China, through her blog woeser.middle-way.net ( english translations), Twitter degewa account, and other net outlets.
• 2000 Phayul.com Tibetan news site rolls out. Becomes the main source of exile Tibetan news, with vibrant message boards. Phayul.com Tibet-in-exile
• 2001 TibetSearch.com is a popular website for Tibetans in India, with a chat program widely used by Tibetans. Tibet-in-exile
• 2002 Lobsang Wangyal begins developing websites for world-wide communication of Tibetan popular culture. Lobsang Wangyal page Tibet-in-exile
• 2003 to present An explosion of Tibetan websites and blogs spread knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism, culture, and people to the world. TibetSites.com Tibet-in-exile
• 2003 to present Growth of Tibetan websites, blogs, email, and Skype/Yahoo Messenger inside Tibet, enable Tibetans to communicate, even though under restraints, inside and outside Chinese-occupied Tibet. Tibet-in-exile, Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2003 to present Exile Tibetans are making their mark in India and around the world with their own IT-based businesses. Tibet-in-exile
• 2005 TennorNet provides cable network to Hunsur. TennorNet Tibet-in-exile
• 2005 AirJaldi provides education and training to Tibetans and Indians in wireless networking, and wifi connectivity to NGOs, building one of the largest rural WiFi networks in the world — the Dharamshala Wireless Mesh Network. AirJaldi.com Tibet-in-exile, Inji assistance
• 2005 Individual Tibetan sysadmins are using Linux on their office servers (Dawa Tsering, Men-Tsee-Khang; Dorji Tsering, TCRC; ...) Tibet-in-exile
• 2005 TibetOnline.tv rolls out, built and maintained by Jigme Tsering of CTA. TibetOnline.tv Tibet-in-exile
• 2006? Thubten Samdup founds Dharamshala Information Technology Group (DITG) with Phuntsok Dorjee. Tibet-in-exile
• 2006? Phuntsok Dorjee founds Tibetan Technology Center in Dharamshala. TibTec.org Tibet-in-exile
• 2006 Ven. Lobsang Monlam develops Tibetan font and related applications, and spreads them via CDs and the web: LobsangMonlam.org. Tibet-in-exile
• 2006 Tenzin Sonam develops TibetSites, an exhaustive directory of Tibetan websites. TibetSites.com Tibet-in-exile
• 2006 China Tibetology Research Center attempts to standardize Tibetan (and Chinese) words for Information Technology terms Standardizing Tibetan Terms of IT [PDF 1.2 MB] Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2006-2007 TennorNet provides wireless internet services to Bylakuppe and Mundgod Tennornet Tibet-in-exile
• 2007? to present More websites are built in Tibetan language as the technology improves. Please add what you know! Tibet-in-exile, Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2007? to present Tibetans and Chinese are using email, messaging and web to communicate with each other. Please add what you know! Tibet-in-exile, Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2007? to present More Tibetan websites are moving to CMSs such as WordPress and Joomla, and using the internationalisation capabilities of those CMSs to present content in Tibetan language. Please add what you know! Tibet-in-exile
• 2007 Tibetan individuals in Dharamshala begin trying Ubuntu and PCOS Linux on their home computers and laptops. Tibet-in-exile
• 2007 Tibetan NGOs in Dharamshala begin adopting Linux for some or all of their office computers; use of linux gains momentum through the support of Tenzin Norgay, David Huang, Dawa Tsering, Phuntsok Dorjee, and ... ?? Tibet-in-exile
• 2008? to present His Holiness Dalai Lama encourages Tibetans and others to reach out to Chinese inside China, and Tibetans follow suit with more websites and online communication. Dalai Lama periodically comments on the usefulness of technology, and reminds us that it is only a tool, and cannot by itself solve our problems or lead us to compassion. Articles – Dalai Lama and technology Please add what you know! Tibet-in-exile, Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2008 to present More major Tibetan news sites roll out: TibetSun.com by Lobsang Wangyal, TheTibetPost.com and ShambalaPost.com by Yeshe Choesang, TibetTimes.net, and more. Tibet-in-exile
• 2008 The Monlam fonts version 3 released. Completely designed and developed by Ven. Lobsang Monlam, and now completely Unicode. Monlam fonts version 3 home, download at TibetanGeeks Tibet-in-exile
• 2008 TennorNet provides wireless internet services to McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala, including to the offices of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Tennornet Tibet-in-exile
• 2008 Tibet Luozang Digital Science & Technology Ltd. Lhasa-based Tibetan enterprise, develops Tib-Ch-Eng digital dictionary handheld device. A few of these have made their way to Dharamshala. Story at Phayul Chinese-occupied Tibet
• 2008 The KalonTripa 2011 Initiative founded by Thubten Samdup, takes the Tibetan democratic process to the web with a website for nominations of candidate for 2011 election of Kalon Tripa KalonTripa.org Tibet-in-exile
• 2009 Tibet.net, website of the Central Tibetan Administration, is rebuilt using modern web technologies by Tibetan staff of TCRC. Tibet.net Tibet-in-exile
• 2009 TennorNet runs first private fiber-optic cable to McLeod Ganj and Bhagsu from Dharamshala, and expands security on the network. Providing wireless internet services to His Holiness Private Office and CTA (Central Tibetan Administration), and continuing to improve services in McLeod Ganj/Dharamshala. TennorNet Tibet-in-exile
• 2009 First Tibetan from India to go to Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Tibet-in-exile
• 2010 "The Tibetan blogosphere has created opportunities for Tibetan netizens that would be unimaginable in the offline world. Keeping in mind the state of internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China today, these new spaces can be seen as new outlets but also as new areas involving personal risk." — Article at TheCommentFactory.com
  by Dechen Pemba, creator of HighPeaksPureEarth.com More at DechenPemba.WordPress.com Chinese-occupied Tibet Tibet-in-exile
• 2010 More websites appear for candidates for 2011 election of Kalon Tripa, strengthening the Tibetan democratic process KalonTripa2011.org KalonTripaforTibet.org, and more Tibet-in-exile

Tibetans and IT

• Articles – Computers and CTA at Tibet.net
• Articles – Dalai Lama and technology at Phayul
• Links to Tibetan websites at TibetSites.com
• WorldBridges.com and Tibet

History of the Internet

A people's history of the internet from Arpanet in 1969 to today; at Guardian.co.uk

The first web page; archived at w3.org

Nothing stands alone, and none of us does anything all by themself! So, many non-Tibetans contributed in many ways to enable Tibetans to do these things. Many other sentient beings contributed to enable all of us to do the things we do as well! Once we start acknowledging, where to stop? Therefore, due to limited time and resources, this page confines its scope to the Tibetans themselves.

Many more histories are yet to be written; all others involved should be acknowledged. We would be happy to post links to related histories, such as the use of IT in the Tibetan movement, contributions by non-Tibetans, etc. Just send to us.

What do you know about the history of Tibetans in technology? Send to us and we will publish it here.