The Global Voices translation team <https://globalvoices.org/global-voices-translation-services/> may have thoughts. Syndication services may help use of the translations begets interest. Perhaps process insight from the AP?
On Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 10:52 PM Erik Moeller <[email protected]> wrote: > Up until recently, Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi worked for > the Washington Post. What happened to him? I couldn't say it better > than Wikipedia: [1] > > (begin quote) > > On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in > Istanbul to obtain documents related to his marriage; he never left the > building and was subsequently declared a missing person. > Anonymous Turkish police sources have alleged that he was murdered > and dismembered inside the consulate. > > (end quote) > > The Washington Post has now published Khashoggi's last column, titled > appropriately, "What the Arab world needs most is free expression". > [2] In it, he writes of the need for translation efforts and platforms > for free expression: > > (begin quote) > > Arabs need to read in their own language so they can understand > and discuss the various aspects and complications of democracy > in the United States and the West. If an Egyptian reads an article > exposing the actual cost of a construction project in Washington, > then he or she would be able to better understand the implications > of similar projects in his or her community. > > The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational > media so citizens can be informed about global events. More > important, we need to provide a platform for Arab voices. We > suffer from poverty, mismanagement and poor education. > Through the creation of an independent international forum, > isolated from the influence of nationalist governments > spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the > Arab world would be able to address the structural problems > their societies face. > > (end quote) > > I'm wondering what folks in the Wikimedia community and movement make > of this call to action. Is there more that Wikimedia can do, for > example, to support translation of news articles into many languages? > > There is nothing in Jamal's own op-ed that indicates that it would be > legally permissible to translate it. This is, unfortunately, the norm > for news; there are few outlets that use a Creative Commons license, > and those that do, typically tend to choose the most restrictive > variants. > > Perhaps there would be value in an organized community effort that > would pick up news articles [3] that _are_ licensed under free > licenses, and translate them into as many languages as possible. If > launched under a prominent umbrella -- e.g., Wikimedia --, this might > then also help incentivize more outlets to selectively license content > openly, permitting translation. Beyond its intrinsic value, such an > effort would also help the Wikimedia projects by expanding the reach > of impacted citations into more languages. > > Thoughts? Does Jamal's call to action resonate in other ways with > Wikimedia's mission? > > Sincerely, > > Erik > > [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi -- written by > multiple authors and distributed under Creative Commons Attribution > ShareAlike-License 3.0 Unported > > [2] > https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/jamal-khashoggi-what-the-arab-world-needs-most-is-free-expression/2018/10/17/adfc8c44-d21d-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html > -- quoted as fair use > > [3] Likely restricted to some subset of outlets, e.g., sources most > Wikipedia editions would accept as citations > > _______________________________________________ > 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: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> -- Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266 _______________________________________________ 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: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
