That is an interesting idea! Maybe we should be working on modelling the Bible better on Wikidata and cross-referencing it to dictionaries and all other religious texts. If it is so important for literacy, it may help unite efforts on labelling in Wikidata. I have no idea how many words are used in the Bible, but hopefully it will cover a lot of basic ground in any language. If the 2bn falls through I bet we could ask the Vatican for a grant to Wikidatafy the entire Catholic encyclopedia.
On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 7:38 PM, Amir E. Aharoni < amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: > Heh, I remember Mr Wales asking what could the movement do with a million > dollars some time around 2006. Is anything on the horizon? > > What could we do? Many things; one of them would be to get our act together > and become a true leader in software and content localization. Currently we > are proud about maintaining MediaWiki, a piece of software that is probably > translated to more languages than any other, and that is great, but: > > 1. Our software localization tooling, excellent as it is, didn't become the > industry standard, even though it could with better packaging. Why is it > important? Because a Wikipedia in a given language doesn't exist in > isolation—it exists in an environment of other programs, sites, platforms, > and media. There was a (relatively) thriving software localization > community in the Catalan language already in the 1990s (!), so it's not > surprising that Catalan Wikipedia was the first to start after English, and > is among the most successful Wikimedia projects now. Making software > localization better for everybody will bring computer usage to the whole > world, and we can be the leaders in it, rather than leaving it to the > corporations. > 2. We have the theoretical ability to write articles in any language of the > world, but not everybody actually does it. Some language communities need > stronger nudges than others to get going: Training about translation and > scientific writing, developing terminology, developing spelling > dictionaries, developing keyboards that allow convenient typing, literacy > programs, etc. In a lot of languages the Bible is the only published book; > this happened thanks to donations from people who want to spread their > religion around the world. If it can be done with the Bible, it can be done > with an encyclopedia. > 3. We are influencing public policy in the area of copyright law, but we > should be influencing public policy around the whole world to make > localized computing and content more accessible. Lobbying needs resources. > See > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Strategy/Wikimedia_ > movement/2017/Cycle_2/A_Truly_Global_Movement#Governments_ > and_computer_vendors:_Accessibility_to_localization_technology > > > -- > Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי > http://aharoni.wordpress.com > “We're living in pieces, > I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore > > 2017-05-17 20:08 GMT+03:00 David Cuenca Tudela <dacu...@gmail.com>: > > > Are there any activities that could have a meaningful impact if we ask > > donors for such amount of seed money? Are there reasons to do so? > > > > Do we have the guts to do so? > > > > Do we have the organizational capital to handle it? Or can we get there > > soon? > > > > Do we have the moral right to take a lead in the world and ask for as > much > > resources as needed? > > > > Is our leader and our members willing to take big undertakings? > > > > Are most of us ready to live in fear while the values that we cherry most > > would crumble under our own eyes? > > > > Would it matter much if we as a movement would disappear? Or is it a > > struggle always a positive answer against the shadows in the world? > > > > Can we offer anything else in this world than truth, free knowledge, and > an > > open inclusive environment? > > > > Would you take best wishes from a stranger like me? > > > > > > Micru > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
