I am forwarding the discussion to
*wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org*mailing list. The wikipedians
who haven't subscribed to the Wikimedia India
mailing list can subscribe it by visiting
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l I have moved
the email addresses of all to bcc.
Let all the Indic language Wikipedians benefit from these type of
discussions. This list is one place where we can share our experiences.
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l>To move
forward, we need more co-operation from all the Indic language wikipedians
since we have many things in common.That will benefit many of us.
Thanks
Shiju Alex
On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 4:36 AM, Ganesh Krishnamurthy <
ganeshkmurthy(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Why isn't the e-mail distribution list,
> wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org being used? Using that will put these
> discussions at a central place. If you are not subscribed, please visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l and get
> yourself subscribed.
>
> If you are going to translate the visible content on template, it does not
> matter if you change the name as well. You will not be able to overwrite the
> template anyway. You can still add interwiki links so that you let people
> know the related templates in other language wikipedias. My 2 cents.
>
> Saravask and myself tried adding a translation layer that receives values
> in English fields, but displays them in other language. It was slowing
> things down, and so we decided not to proceed with it. But it is something
> that you can be tested further. This way the English template can be copied
> over anytime and a few changes will need to be made to the the transaction
> layer.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ganesh Krishnamurthy
> User:Ganeshk
>
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 11:24 AM, Shiju Alex <shijualexonline(a)gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I assume that you are talking about this template:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Rapid_transit_in_India
>>
>>
>> Yes, leave the name of the template as is. And translate all the content
>> that is visible to the user
>>
>>
>> Shiju Alex
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 8:47 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <
>> rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> So, if I coy Template:Rapid Transit in India to hiwiki, I leave it with
>>> the same name?
>>>
>>> 2009/8/21 Shiju Alex <shijualexonline(a)gmail.com>
>>>
>>> Mahitgar,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Here is my experience.
>>>>
>>>> You can name a template according to your wish *if you have any
>>>> template that is specific to your wiki*.There is no harm in that. We
>>>> have many templates in Malayalam Wiki with localized names. None of these
>>>> templates have their counter part in English Wikipedia.
>>>>
>>>> *But*, I won't recommend using a localized name for a template if you
>>>> are copying a template from English wikipedia. You can very well localize
>>>> the contents (NOT WIKI CODES) of any template according to your wish.
>>>> Remember, a reader will see only the human readable output format of a
>>>> template, and not the name of a template or the wiki codes inside the
>>>> template.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> My recommendation is, DONOT use *localized name* for templates
>>>> especially if the template is a copy of an English wikipedia template.
>>>> Localized *Template names* without the interwiki links will make the
>>>> life of a future local wiki user very very difficult.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As you might be aware, many of the templates in English Wikipedia are
>>>> related to each other. How you keep track of the changes in the templates
>>>> (English wiki templates) if the name is localized and if there are no
>>>> interwiki links added to the localized template. I might have created around
>>>> 1000 templates in Malayalam Wikipedia. But I never went back to any template
>>>> to update it nor I have added any interwiki links. If the name of the
>>>> Template is in English, any interested user can always go back and check the
>>>> same in English Wikipedia and update the same in local wiki. This type of
>>>> update has happened many times in Malayalam Wikipedia.
>>>>
>>>> As mentioned above, many templates are related to each other. So
>>>> translating the name of some templates may lead to the non working of some
>>>> other templates. Remember one or two wiki users cannot keep track of all the
>>>> templates of a wiki. Also none of the users are going to be active in wiki
>>>> forever.
>>>>
>>>> My recommendation about the translation of the content of a template is,
>>>> *translate only those content that is visible to the user. Leave the
>>>> rest of the content as it is.*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Shiju Alex
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 11:35 AM, Mahitgar from Marathi Wikipedia <
>>>> mahitgar(a)yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dear All
>>>>>
>>>>> Currently at Marathi language wikipedia we are working on creating
>>>>> subject wise projects like project for boatany,sport,India related articles
>>>>> etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> We could achive good amount of localisation(Local language
>>>>> translation) of infobox templates for the article successfully.Still is
>>>>> done as per requirement by individuals who need it and have technical
>>>>> competance to do so.
>>>>>
>>>>> But the defficulty we are facing is localisation project templates to
>>>>> put on articles they constitute. Their rating systems etc. Besides there are
>>>>> numorous project wise templates for each project on english wikipedia.
>>>>>
>>>>> English wikipedia has got huge manpower and also more technical hands
>>>>> to create complex templates. Now at wikipedias like Marathi WIkipedia we are
>>>>> short of manpower and also enough technical exposure .I would like to know
>>>>> if any other Indian language wikipedia have tried to do so? if yes , then
>>>>> Whether you are importing/forking templates from english wikipedia , are you
>>>>> importing in bulk or as and when needed , are you keeping the english/roman
>>>>> nomanclature as is or you are translating at times and at times not, or you
>>>>> are translating it compulsory , Are you translating all the content in
>>>>> templates or you are translating it as much needed ,Are you using any bots
>>>>> if so how for which template purposes ?
>>>>>
>>>>> How Wikipedia's in your mother tounge language is coping up with
>>>>> about difficulties in localisation of templates from english wikipedia.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any body knows how German/french/Japanese and Chinese wikipedias are
>>>>> coping the same.
>>>>>
>>>>> Can we get any smart way of doing the things and saving our time and
>>>>> energy for more valuable work on articles rather? Please let me learn from
>>>>> your experience.
>>>>>
>>>>> Of course above subject is far mor important in little diversion to
>>>>> above subject I do have one more query
>>>>> Last but not least is I am not very conversant with how wikimedia
>>>>> india email list works. I usualy receive those messages not instantly but
>>>>> after a long time, How I do I ensure instant delivery of my message through
>>>>> list and how do i receive messages instantly.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks and Regards
>>>>>
>>>>> Mahitgar from Marathi Language wikipedia
>>>>>
>>>>>
Department of Mass Communications and Al Madhyam of the St. Aloysius
College, Mangalore in collaboration with Centre for Internet and
Society, Bangalore are holding a State-level Wiki-Academy in Mangalore
on 22nd August, 2009. The one-day workshop will focus on the use of
Indian languages in Wikipedia, editing and its application in academics.
Registration is free. Register before 21st August for the workshop.
Registration is open on the day of the event, as well.
Wikipedia editors will speak about the history of Wikipedia and its role
in making information freely available to people in several languages.
They will also provide hands-on training on editing and improving
articles on Wikipedia.
The talks for this edition will be presented by:
Prashanth N S (editor, English Wikipedia)
Hari Prasad Nadig (sysop, Kannada Wikipedia)
More details on the program is at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Prashanthns/Wikiconferencehttp://hpnadig.net/sites/hpnadig.net/files/WikiAcademy.pdf
(Feel free to pass this on to your friends in Mangalore)
Hoi,
The MediaWiki developers are working on the advanced toolbos that is part of
the usability initiative. At the moment there is support for several scripts
... but not for any of the scripts used in the Indic languages. This is a
good moment to consider how your scripts can be supported..
http://prototype.wikimedia.org/en-wp/index.php?title=Talk:Main_Page&action=…
This is where you can find the scripts currently supported in the "special
characters" part of the beta part of this wiki. You may have to create
yourself a profile and enable the advanced toolbox in the user preferences.
NB also vector is the skin of choice..
Thanks,
GerardM