I'll paste here the mail from Quim Gil:

---

Hi, while I know that this is not the solution to your problems, let me say
that if you want a Wikisource focus area at the Wikimedia Hackathon in
Jerusalem (31 March - 3 April), the time to decide this is now, and the
place is https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T119703


On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Andrea Zanni <zanni.andrea84@gmail.com>
wrote:

> What wikisource lacks is development to core software, not only external,
> cool tools, which are fine but in the end don't really solve problems.
>

Some of the "core software" can be developed with the help of IEGs,
developer outreach programs, and hackathons. These activities are not
reserved for "external, cool tools" only.

One step that could be useful regardless would be to reflect the most
urgent/important "core software" development needs at
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/wikisource/board/ , in epic/task
units, associating the actual projects related to them.


I can elaborate further and bore you with details but, ina nutshell, we
> just need  commitment from people who can bring theirlines ofcode into
> production. As Wikisource is formally a Wikimedia project, and provides its
> tiny contribution to the mission and also to fundraising, I would expect a
> commitment of this sort coming from WMF.
>

I think the WMF would also like to have a clear strategy about the
developer investment required for Wikisource and other projects with
specific needs. In the next months we are going to discuss the Annual Plan
for July 2016-June 2017, and I recommend the Wikisource community to make
their voice heard in that context.

Meanwhile, the tiny and humble Developer Relations team is happy to help
you in the practical and pragmatic ways that we can help you right now.  :)

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 12:01 PM, Anika Born <WikiAnika@wikipedia.de> wrote:
Quim Gil also mentioned the Hackathon 2016 in Israel (Thursday to Sunday March 31 - April 4) may be a good opportunity to address some wishes regarding Wikisource, especially to the hebrew(-RTL)-community. 
* https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T119703
* https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T96826

I had the pleasure to meet Quim at the Wikiconventions 2014 and 2015 in Cologne and Dresden. It made me happy today, to see he is (also) interested in the (software)development of this project. 

I think that is a very good opportunity for Wikisource. Let's use it. 


Anika

2015-12-16 22:17 GMT+01:00 Andrea Zanni <zanni.andrea84@gmail.com>:
FYI: Danny was saying good things towards us in a Wikimedia-l thread, so I replied as you see below.
Good job, guys.

Aubrey




On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 9:55 PM, Danny Horn <dhorn@wikimedia.org> wrote:
The Wikisource community did a tremendous job in showing up and giving
support to the Wikisource proposals. The top wishes in that category got 41
and 39 votes, which is really impressive considering the relative size of
the projects.

The discussion on using Google's OCR in Indic language Wikisource is
especially interesting -- a lively debate about finding the right solution
to what is clearly a deeply-felt need from a community that's working
really hard to add their languages' knowledge to the movement. I hope that
having that debate here is a step towards a larger discussion about how we
can support Wikisource projects.


Thanks, Danny.
In the Wikisource Conference, held in Vienna from 20 to 22 November, we discussed a lot about what Wikisource needs to reach it's full potential as a project. We decided to agree on a priority list (here: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wscon2015needs) and also to participate in the Survey.

But, if you feel brave enough, there is the whole 665 lines Etherpad here: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wscon2015weekend [1]

Wikisource, as a project, is completely dependent on the Proofread Page Extension [2].
Unfortunately, the extension is maintained by volunteers only (I think, just one: Tpt).
Also, the extension doesn't support RTL languages: so Wikisources in arabic, hebrew, farsi, indic languages don't really work as the others.

This is to be added to the fact that there is no good embedded OCR for Indic languages, right now.

And, finally, to the simple fact that we'd love to have the Visual Editor, *within* the ProofreadPage Extension, as Wikisource uses a *lot* of formatting, and that could enable many, many more users in proofreading and validating pages.

Of course, we are a small community, but we're trying really hard to make our case.
At the moment, to the best of my knowledge, there is no, and there's never been, any software development dedicated to Wikisource from the WMF.

Aubrey
(also a member of the Wikisource Community User Group)


[1] I hereby claim this as the longest Etherpad written by a group of wikimedians (~40). I hope there is a prize for it. You can even read the Wikisource mission forged and translated in real time in 21 languages (line 564).
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Proofread_Page


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