On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 3:49 PM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen@gmail.com> wrote:

> My point is very much that we can do things NOW. There is no need to point
> to things that you would like when there is so much that CAN be done.
>
> The WMF IS working on translation functionality. That may help under some
> circumstances but it is unlikely to help the languages that do not have a
> Wikipedia yet. It is not likely to help the majority of those 285 languages
> either.

Making a language enabled for computing/digital presence is merely the
first step. And, making a dictionary available is not going to
substantially help things along. Wikipedia is not the only content
system, even if it might well be the largest and, most dynamic.

The problem that I've often seen is that the conversations around
"endangered languages", "digital death" etc often boils down to simple
'solutionism' eg. make dictionaries. Even making the entire set of
content available in Wikidata is not enough for a language to become
vibrant digitally. You do need to make a very concerted effort to
ensure that systems/workflows to create/review content are in place.
You need to work on ensuring that these workflows are simple enough
for anyone to sit and produce contributions without having to be
"technology literate" (ie. acquire enough skills in a technology
framework before attempting to be productive with it).

> Functionality that is probably available for many languages is
> transliteration This is where for instance a name is to be made available in
> another script. When such routines are available, we can transliterate the
> names of the humans in Wikidata and other types of data where we can safely
> assume that the transliteration is valid as a label for a languages...

I am not in disagreement with you. The point I wanted to make it is
that the world of content production is beyond Wiki*. Even if that is
sometimes a bit difficult to admit and appreciate.

> What we need to decide upon is what we can do now. India has so many people
> that there must be at least one person who can hear this message and
> understand that we can build relevant information in most if not all
> languages of India. When we advertise the existence of relevant information
> in a language, more people will have a look and some will take an interest..
> This is how you get to the tipping point where some people start using their
> language in a digital way. Using lexical data to add to Wikidata is one way,
> one step.. it starts with the realisation that we can make a difference now.

Adding lexical data to Wikidata is one way and, a very small step. The
larger steps are often ignored because the premises include "it is too
hard", "it is not accurate", "no one is doing this". The time has come
to have a vision as spine-tingling as the 'man on the moon within a
decade'. Wikidata and other Wiki* content is one piece, but there are
plenty others and, it really needs to happen.

Quick example, where is the qualitative analysis of predictive
keyboards for Indian languages that can be used and, does ULS consider
this a necessity?

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