Hi,
My concern about a list of 20 articles is that it will look far too intimidating, and many
volunteers will just decide not to get involved. But if others think it's OK I'll
go along with it. I'll probably draw up the list with Singapore featured articles and
good articles first.
When we've decided the above issue, could someone please draft a short message
explaining the purpose of the programme and how it's supposed to work? There should
also be an invitation to, and instructions on how to, join this mailing list. That message
can then (after translation, if necessary) be posted on WikiProject or other suitable talk
pages to explain to volunteers who were not at Wikimania what the proposal is all about
and how to participate.
Cheers,
Jack
(User:Smuconlaw)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 07:51:27 +0800
From: Josh Lim <jamesjoshualim(a)yahoo.com>
To: Asian Wikimedia Chapters coordination
<wikimedia-asia-chapters(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-asia-chapters] Wikipedia Cultural Exchange
Programme
Hi Taweetham,
On Aug 13, 2013, at 5:44 AM, KaewWiki(a)gmail.com wrote:
'ambitious' or not?
I think it depends on the resource we have and when we want to achieve
that. The initial email by Josh has indicated only what we want to
achieve.
* In Thailand, we have a number of volunteers capable of translation
from EN->TH but relatively smaller number on TH->EN.
* In English speaking countries, it is much easier. Perhaps, they
could help other non-English speaking countries on translation into
English?
We agreed in Hong Kong that English Wikipedia editors who are certainly more fluent in
English than the rest of us will help clean up our translations and copy-edit
participating articles. If, let's say, someone from Thailand were to translate a
participating article from Thai to English, he/she shouldn't have to worry about how
poor his/her English is, as there is a guarantee someone else will clean it up for
him/her.
The number of articles shouldn't be an issue here: we don't have to go through all
20 of them (or more, should countries make longer lists) in three months. The point is
that we have a reasonable timeframe upon which we complete the lists, and add onto them if
need be should we decide to expand upon this project in the future.
In principle, this project should be warmly welcome by
readers in many
countries. In Thailand, the AEC - "Asian Economic Community" is
discussed everywhere. Also, there was a big announcement about
"Australia in the Asian Century" -
http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au I
can see high demand from the reader side. However, many of our
contributors still do not take it into account.
Exactly why we are doing this now (and why we should do this now): we talk about the
integration of the continent on so many levels, and we both know that the creation of the
ASEAN economic community come 2015 is a big thing in Southeast Asia. However, I agree with
you that many contributors in Asia are still looking at Wikipedia from a national point of
view, and the integrationist rhetoric that we hear here in Asia has largely bypassed the
Wikimedia projects. While not bad, it neglects the fact that there is a community outside
of the country in question, and perhaps this project will help connect the continent
together in some form.
Regards,
Josh
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila
University Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Secretary (2013-2014), Wikimedia Philippines Member, Ateneo Debate Society Member, The
Assembly
jamesjoshualim(a)yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com