Hello,
The first Transcom open meeting is scheduled on today, November 5,
2006, 22 UTC at the IRC channel, #wikimedia-translation hosted by
freenode.
Thank you all who have shown interest already. We invite you, all who
are interested in translation on Wikimedia project.
You are invited to list your name and items;
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications_subcommittees/Trans/meetings#…
If you are plausibly offline then, you are still invited to submit
your comment on the page above.
Hoping to hear you soon,
--
KIZU Naoko
Wikiquote: http://wikiquote.org
* 有朋自遠方來 不亦樂乎 *
I have suggested a new project at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lookup_directory_wiki . Please have a look.
In short, the wiki has information on any person or organisation on the
planet. The page explains this concept in more detail.
Types of information include: contact, biographical, genealogical,
corporate, etc.
Strict attention is paid to data-protection laws, so very strong emphasis is
placed on citing sources and verifiability, although legitimate sources are
slightly more lax than Wikipedia (e.g. a home website is a good source for a
person's contact information). Vandalism through attacks, and personal
vanity, are kept strictly in check just like on Wikipedia.
*Any* person or organisation may have a page as anyone may be of interest to
someone else; and the wiki is interested in demographics, a global
documentation of individuals.
Tell me what you think!
There is no formal relationship between Wikisource and Project Gutenberg,
Googlebooks, the Perseus Project, or any other online library of texts, except
that we scour their offerings for ideas and content. I believe that through
hyperlinks and our translation and format projects, we are taking these texts
to the next level, where they integrate fully into our other projects. Of
course, there is still a LOT of work to be done, butr gradually we are making
headway. As an example, _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives/Tiberius_Gracchus_
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives/Tiberius_Gracchus) contains text that
can also be found in Project Gutenberg's library as part of a larger book,
Plutarch's "Lives." By linking to the relevant Wikipedia articles, we have
created an original annotated text.
Our translations are, of course, original works, and we also have some
content that does not exist in other repositories, such as individual letters,
etc. See this
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Louis-Philippe_to_Mary_Todd_Lincoln%2C_Frida…
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Louis-Philippe_to_Mary_Todd_Lincoln,_Friday,_…) for an example of an interesting
letter that complements an existing article on Wikipedia. We can also run
translated texts parallel to the originals, as you can see here with this text from
Poland _http://en.wikisource.org/w
iki/Protest_of_Zofia_Kossak-Szczucka?match=pl_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Protest_of_Zofia_Kossak-Szczucka?match=pl) .
In short, we admire what the other online libraries are doing, but we
believe that Wikisource can be more than just a datadump of words and images. It
can be a very useful collection, fully integrated into all our other projects.
Danny
In a message dated 11/5/2006 9:51:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
dgerard(a)gmail.com writes:
On 05/11/06, daniwo59(a)aol.com <daniwo59(a)aol.com> wrote:
> I thought it would be a good idea to share some news about another
project,
> the English Wikisource, which has been doing some remarkable work in the
past
> few months, thanks to a small group of dedicated editors and contributors.
> First for some background: Wikisource is much more than a library of old
and
> PD texts. It can, and should, operate in tandem with the other projects, by
> providing the background to the information we offer. For instance, take a
I have a question: what's Wikisource's relations like with that other
well-known source text archive, Project Gutenberg, and its associated
Distributed Proofreaders? And any other source text archives. I must
confess I have absolutely no idea of our relations with them, and it's
the first question that sprang to my mind when I heard of Wikisource.
- d.
_______________________________________________
foundation-l mailing list
foundation-l(a)wikimedia.org
http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
I thought it would be a good idea to share some news about another project,
the English Wikisource, which has been doing some remarkable work in the past
few months, thanks to a small group of dedicated editors and contributors.
First for some background: Wikisource is much more than a library of old and
PD texts. It can, and should, operate in tandem with the other projects, by
providing the background to the information we offer. For instance, take a
look at our English Wikipedia article on the Book of Omni, one of the books of
the LDS scriptures. (_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Omni_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Omni) ). By clicking on any of the verses mentioned
in the citations, you will be taken directly to the actual verses in
Wikisource, set in the context of the entire chapter. One of our goals is to make this
possible for a wide range of texts, including the Qur'an, the Vedas, and, of
course, the Bible, as well as classical Greek and Latin texts, which have a
standardized verse numbering system. One of our contributors, Robth1, is
already working on a version of Xenophon's Hellenica which will be integrated as
source material into the relevant Wikipedia articles, where chapter and verse
will link to chapter and verse.
Wikisource, however, is not just for old sources that already exist. We are
also doing some fascinating translation work, some of it never before seen.
One contributor, Dmitri Smirnov, is hard at work creating stunning translations
of some of the major Russian poets, including Baratynsky, Mandelstam, and
Pushkin. Here is just one example:
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_tender_than_tender_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_tender_than_tender) .
BirgitteSB managed to find a document in French, describing the establishment of
colonies along the Mississippi. It has already been transcribed and posted to
French Wikisource, and a new English translation is on the way. You can see it
here: _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_account_of_the_founding_of_St._Louis_
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_account_of_the_founding_of_St._Louis) . In
breaking news, we are about to collaborate with the Italian Wikisource to
transcribe and translate a series of manuscript letters by Michelangelo and
Galileo, found by Sherurcij. These letters appear nowhere on the Internet, and
will be a great addition to our collection.
We are also examining ways to handle multiple versions and translations of
texts. This month, our featured text is Donne's Elegie II, a poem for which we
have two editions (1663 and 1896). You can read the editions individually, or
find a comparison here:
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elegy_II_Comparative_text_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elegy_II_Comparative_text) . The Bible
offers a particularly challenging problem, when it comes to multiple transl
ations. To see one way that we are handling it, check
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible/Obadiah/1/1_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible/Obadiah/1/1) for
the first verse of the Book of Obadiah.
Journals are a great addition to Wikisource, and can provide some great
references for articles in other projects. For instance, in 1917, National
Geographic published an article about the Russian Revolution and its impact on
America. You can find the article, along with the images here:
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April…
ation_and_Its_Significance_to_America_
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_…
icance_to_America) . That same year, NG published a series of sketches on
warblers, complete with paintings by famed Swiss-American naturalist Louis
Agassiz. You can find an example here
(_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April…
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_…
17/Friends_of_Our_Forests/Golden-winged_Warbler) ), complete with links to
the English Wikipedia (click on the link above the painting) and Wikispecies
(click on the Latin name).
Finally, a word about other encyclopedias – we have them too, and many
different ones to keep us busy. Laverock is hard at work adding the original
letter B articles from the 1911 edition of Britannica, but we also have
specialized encyclopedias of Catholicism, the Bible, and more. Shanel, BookofJude,
Shimgray and others have been adding to The New Student's Reference Work, a 1914
edition of an encyclopedia for young people: Here is an article about
Australia:
_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work/Australia_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student's_Reference_Work/Australia)
.
Some of our texts appear nowhere else on the Internet. These include poems
by Francis Ledwidge (_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Francis_Ledwidge_
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Francis_Ledwidge) ) and the Historical
Library of Diodorus Siculus, is being developed by Zhaladshar. Soon to come are
the diaries of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Also, keep an eye out for our new French
Literature portal, which was developed by our friends in French Wikisource.
You will probably notice the specialized headers on each of these pages,
which were created by Pathoschilde. They help to create a uniformity among all
the texts, and make it easier to skip from one chapter to the next.
This is just some of the news from the English Wikisource. I hope people
will drop by and suggest ways that can help their pet projects by providing a
reliable system of internal sources. With all these projects underway, we are
also looking for volunteers to help transcribe, translate, scan, proof, link,
and add their favorite texts. All of the projects mentioned above are "in
progress," and we need all the help we can get. For more information, drop by
the #wikisource channel on IRC.
Danny
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Benefactors
Is probably outdated. Could someone from last wikimania add information
about last event (2006) sponsorship ?
Also, would there be any new names we could add to the list of
benefactors. Most is at best early 2006. No big support since then ?
I would actually suggest we put the most recent donations top down rather
than down to top.
Also... might it make sense to mention the participation of the german
chapter to the hardware effort ? If you look at it, it seems to be of the
same level than Yahoo support.... and may clarify to donors that chapters
are indeed here to support the projects.
What do you think ?
Ant
The Wikimedia Foundation will make next week a one-time donation of USD
5,000 dollars to the Peer-Directed Project Center, the non-profit
organization which operates FreeNode
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode).
This donation recognizes the tremendous value of online chat to the
Wikimedia community, on the level of projects, languages and chapters,
as well as to the Foundation itself. We hope it will help the servers to
keep running smoothly :-)
For directions to use irc and freenode network to communicate with other
wikimedians: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC.
We also renew our condoleances for the death, 2 months ago, of FreeNode
founder, aka Lilo.
Florence Devouard
Wikimedia Foundation, chair
Clifford Geertz, the great American anthropologist, died a couple of days
ago. There's this quote from his obituary at the IAS* which struck me as
being relevant to our projects:
In *Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author* (1988), Geertz stated,
"The next necessary thing...is neither the construction of a universal
Esperanto-like
culture...nor the invention of some vast technology of human management. It
is to enlarge the possibility of intelligible discourse between people quite
different from one another in interest, outlook, wealth, and power, and yet
contained in a world where tumbled as they are into endless connection, it
is increasingly difficult to get out of each other's way."
Though through the mechanism of a technology that wasn't imagined through
most of Dr. Geertz's lifetime, it seems to me that's what we're doing:
enlarging the possibility of intelligent discourse between people. It's a
worthy goal.
-- phoebe
* http://www.ias.edu/Newsroom/announcements/Uploads/view.php?cmd=view&id=354
