Making the English Wikipedia more accessible to non-English speakers is a worthy objective and something which we could easily make a big difference to. Currently the main route for non-English speakers to access EN wiki is via Google translate and similar online translation services. If Google were willing to work with us, we could make an easy and uncontentious difference to that by getting lists of translation anomalies and where practical amending the Wikipedia article. I've been doing this on a small scale for years working my way though easily confused words like staring/starring and cavalry/calvary. It is now far less common to have Wikipedia articles about actors staring in particular movies or calvary armies charging into battle, and as for the throwing of discusses I've abolished an entire Olympic sport. My understanding of translation software is that it works on a probability basis, so if we were to get lists of articles and phrases on EN wiki that a particular translation software finds to be ambiguous and can only give a borderline probability to, we should be able to identify a lot of ambiguities and errors on EN wiki;. Fixing these would benefit all editors but particularly those who depend on translation software.
Taking things to the logical next step, we could introduce a system of hidden templates to resolve words with multiple meanings such as bonnet, bolt, batter, tramp or pants. As well as transforming the quality of machine translation of the pedia, this would also make it easier to offer people a choice as to which version of English they view Wikipedia in. Working in the opposite direction would be more contentious due to licensing, in fact I doubt we could help any translation software improve its own code unless they had a compatible license. I'd also be loathe to see us work with one set of machine translation software in a way that gave them an advantage over their competitord WSC On 25 March 2013 21:43, rexx <r...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: > The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to make > the knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak > English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to > realising some of that goal. > > As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the onus > should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort. > > Thoughts? > -- > Doug > > > > On 25 March 2013 12:20, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dal...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I agree, it is interesting and we do desperately need to diversify our >> revenue. Do we have any suitable projects we've been wanting to run >> but haven't due to lack of funds, though? Funds haven't really been >> our limiting factor. >> >> The VLE work might be suitable, but I doubt Google would consider it >> interesting enough (it's useful, but it isn't really transformative). >> >> Coming up with new projects specifically to apply for a particular >> grant is generally a bad idea. >> >> On 25 March 2013 10:21, Jon Davies <jon.dav...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote: >> > >> > Interesting.... >> > >> > >> > >> > Dear Jon, >> > >> > Today Google launched the Global Impact Challenge. Over the past few >> > months ACEVO has been working very closely with Google and think that >> this >> > game-changing award will celebrate the innovative work happening within >> the >> > sector. So we are inviting charities and voluntary organisations to >> showcase >> > how they would use technology to transform the lives of their >> beneficiaries. >> > The top four entries of the competition will each receive £500,000 and >> > support to help their project become a reality. A team at Google will >> > announce 10 finalists in mid-May and the public will be invited to vote >> and >> > donate to their favourite project. >> > >> > The prestigious panel judging the finalists will be inventor of the >> > Internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Mogul Sir Richard Branson and founder and >> CEO >> > of Forster Communications Jilly Forster. It’s thrilling to know how >> similar >> > Google and ACEVO’s approach is in celebrating innovation - I feel that >> this >> > is the start of a great corporate friendship. >> > >> > Applications opened today so apply here www.g.co/impactchallenge for >> your >> > chance win. >> > >> > Best wishes and good luck, >> > >> > Sir Stephen Bubb >> > Chief Executive >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > If you would like to unsubscribe from this list, please click here >> > >> > Privacy Policy (Privacy Page) >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 >> > tweet @jonatreesdavies >> > >> > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and >> > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered >> > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A >> 4LT. >> > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia >> > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation >> (who >> > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). >> > >> > Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990. >> > >> > Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimedia UK mailing list >> > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org >> > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >> > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia UK mailing list >> wikimediau...@wikimedia.org >> http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >> WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org > >
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