Abasar
A general information website in Bangla language.
Background
Established in 2002, it covers health, law, environment, women's issues, science, literature, culture, food, art and film. The site contains a concise version of The Famous encyclopedia, Bharatkosh. Abasar has a directory of local and community services in Dhaka and Kolkata, a list of other important Bangla websites with links, a comprehensive database of old Bengali films and some recreational items.
History
Abasar was created for Bengali speaking people, who are not Conversant in English, to have access to information that affect their lives. The name abasar.net comes from the Bengali abasar (অবসর), which means time off. The development of the website was started with the idea that volunteers who had taken time off work could help build this database that would eventually help those in villages of West Bengal and Bangladesh who went online. The website has a total of 20,000+ web pages. It has a strong focus on women. Among other things it includes information on human trafficking, laws protecting women's rights in India and Bangladesh and tips for law enforcement officers to understand trafficking patterns.
Technology
Abasar uses font embedding technology and one needs to use Internet Explorer to view its content. For other browsers, the Haraf font of Abasar has to be downloaded. This is clearly a limitation as the site came into existence before the UNICODE era.