"media" vs "images", "videos", "songs" and "files"

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Amir E. Aharoni

22 Oct 2014 22 Oct '14

10:30 p.m.

In the user interface messages of MediaWiki and its extensions the word "media" is usually used to refer to images, videos, sounds and files. It is convenient, because they are handled similarly by the software. But it is also awful, because I'm quite sure that people don't talk to each other about "media" in real life, but they do talk about "pictures", "videos", and "sound recordings". Every time I translate messages that have the word "media" in them, I think that a lot of users will not actually understand them, and that if I would stand next to them, I'd have to explain what that is. Is my impression wrong? Is it conceivable to consider that using the word "media" less in user interface messages will make the interface clearer to the user? -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com ‪“We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬

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Subhashish Panigrahi

22 Oct 22 Oct

10:36 p.m.

I echo Amir. For instance, media is my native language Odia is often used for "print/digital media". Because of this reason I keep writing "images, audio, video, etc.) to clarify. Haven't yet got a better option. Best! Subha

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On 22 ଅକ୍ଟୋବର 2014, at 8:00 pm, Amir E. Aharoni <amir.aharoni(a)mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: In the user interface messages of MediaWiki and its extensions the word "media" is usually used to refer to images, videos, sounds and files. It is convenient, because they are handled similarly by the software. But it is also awful, because I'm quite sure that people don't talk to each other about "media" in real life, but they do talk about "pictures", "videos", and "sound recordings". Every time I translate messages that have the word "media" in them, I think that a lot of users will not actually understand them, and that if I would stand next to them, I'd have to explain what that is. Is my impression wrong? Is it conceivable to consider that using the word "media" less in user interface messages will make the interface clearer to the user? -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com ‪“We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Vira Motorko

23 Oct 23 Oct

1:44 a.m.

In Ukrainian "media" («медіа») is often used for "mass media" («мас-медіа»). Nevertheless, if one uses "media files" («медіафайли») it is perfectly clear to be meant "images, sounds and videos". So while translating I use the word «медіафайли» (i.e. "media files") and everything is OK. *Vira Motorko* Help save natural resources – please think twice before printing this e-mail or any attachments. 2014-10-22 17:36 GMT+03:00 Subhashish Panigrahi <subhashish(a)cis-india.org>rg>:

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On 22 ଅକ୍ଟୋବର 2014, at 8:00 pm, Amir E. Aharoni <

amir.aharoni(a)mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

In the user interface messages of MediaWiki and its extensions the word "media" is usually used to refer to images, videos, sounds and files. It

convenient, because they are handled similarly by the software. But it is also awful, because I'm quite sure that people don't talk to

each

other about "media" in real life, but they do talk about "pictures", "videos", and "sound recordings". Every time I translate messages that

have

the word "media" in them, I think that a lot of users will not actually understand them, and that if I would stand next to them, I'd have to explain what that is. Is my impression wrong? Is it conceivable to consider that using the word "media" less in user interface messages will make the interface clearer to the user? -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com ‪“We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines

Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,

<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

sankarshan

22 Oct 22 Oct

10:42 p.m.

On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:00 PM, Amir E. Aharoni <amir.aharoni(a)mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

...

Every time I translate messages that have the word "media" in them, I think that a lot of users will not actually understand them, and that if I would stand next to them, I'd have to explain what that is.

Is it the case that the translation ready strings with the word "media" are not accompanied by comments which would aid the translator to select the best specific word from a candidate list? -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay <https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan>

Amir E. Aharoni

10:49 p.m.

...

Is it the case that the translation ready strings with the word "media" are not accompanied by comments which would aid the translator to select the best specific word from a candidate list?

It's not really about translation. It's about English as well. In translation it's usually clear how to translate this word without a lot of context explanation, and in the languages that I know, it's translated as "media" transliterated to that alphabet. The problem is that "media" is (or at least appears to me to be) a technical engineering term that is not understood well by all users of Wikipedia and other MediaWiki sites, whereas "pictures", "videos" and "sound recording" are unambiguous and don't need any explanation. -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com ‪“We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬ 2014-10-22 17:42 GMT+03:00 sankarshan <foss.mailinglists(a)gmail.com>om>: > On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:00 PM, Amir E. Aharoni > <amir.aharoni(a)mail.huji.ac.il> wrote: > > Every time I translate messages that have > > the word "media" in them, I think that a lot of users will not actually > > understand them, and that if I would stand next to them, I'd have to > > explain what that is. >

...

Is it the case that the translation ready strings with the word "media" are not accompanied by comments which would aid the translator to select the best specific word from a candidate list?

> > > -- > sankarshan mukhopadhyay > <https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

sankarshan

10:57 p.m.

On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:19 PM, Amir E. Aharoni <amir.aharoni(a)mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

...

Is it the case that the translation ready strings with the word "media" are not accompanied by comments which would aid the translator to select the best specific word from a candidate list?

The part I had snipped from your original email seemed to indicate that the concern was lack of translation context. It would now seem that translation context isn't the big issue.

...

The problem is that "media" is (or at least appears to me to be) a technical engineering term that is not understood well by all users of Wikipedia and other MediaWiki sites, whereas "pictures", "videos" and "sound recording" are unambiguous and don't need any explanation.

The layering of "technical engineering meaning" to 'media' is a context based usage. It would perhaps be natural to desire that the generic/catch-all nature of 'media' be clearly articulated and specified as 'pictures' (is that photographs?), 'videos' etc - in short, the pieces from RFC6838 -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay <https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan>

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Amir E. Aharoni
sankarshan
Subhashish Panigrahi
Vira Motorko