Interesting....
Dear Jon,
Today Google launched the Global Impact Challenge. Over the past few months ACEVO has been working very closely with Google and think that this game-changing award will celebrate the innovative work happening within the sector. So we are inviting charities and voluntary organisations to showcase how they would use technology to transform the lives of their beneficiaries. The top four entries of the competition will each receive £500,000 and support to help their project become a reality. A team at Google will announce 10 finalists in mid-May and the public will be invited to vote and donate to their favourite project.
The prestigious panel judging the finalists will be inventor of the Internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Mogul Sir Richard Branson and founder and CEO of Forster Communications Jilly Forster. It’s thrilling to know how similar Google and ACEVO’s approach is in celebrating innovation - I feel that this is the start of a great corporate friendship.
Applications opened today so apply here www.g.co/impactchallengehttp://www.acevo.org.uk/page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.globalimpactchallenge.withgoogle.com&srcid=12704&srctid=1&erid=1398813&trid=29df4467-c782-447a-a6f6-ada6cd3a8c06for your chance win.
Best wishes and good luck,
[image: Stephen signature]
*Sir Stephen Bubb* Chief Executive
If you would like to unsubscribe from this list, please click herehttp://www.acevo.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=188&srctid=1&erid=1398813&trid=29df4467-c782-447a-a6f6-ada6cd3a8c06
Privacy Policy (Privacy Page)http://www.acevo.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=411&srctid=1&erid=1398813&trid=29df4467-c782-447a-a6f6-ada6cd3a8c06
I agree, it is interesting and we do desperately need to diversify our revenue. Do we have any suitable projects we've been wanting to run but haven't due to lack of funds, though? Funds haven't really been our limiting factor.
The VLE work might be suitable, but I doubt Google would consider it interesting enough (it's useful, but it isn't really transformative).
Coming up with new projects specifically to apply for a particular grant is generally a bad idea.
On 25 March 2013 10:21, Jon Davies jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Interesting....
Dear Jon,
Today Google launched the Global Impact Challenge. Over the past few months ACEVO has been working very closely with Google and think that this game-changing award will celebrate the innovative work happening within the sector. So we are inviting charities and voluntary organisations to showcase how they would use technology to transform the lives of their beneficiaries. The top four entries of the competition will each receive £500,000 and support to help their project become a reality. A team at Google will announce 10 finalists in mid-May and the public will be invited to vote and donate to their favourite project.
The prestigious panel judging the finalists will be inventor of the Internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Mogul Sir Richard Branson and founder and CEO of Forster Communications Jilly Forster. It’s thrilling to know how similar Google and ACEVO’s approach is in celebrating innovation - I feel that this is the start of a great corporate friendship.
Applications opened today so apply here www.g.co/impactchallenge for your chance win.
Best wishes and good luck,
Sir Stephen Bubb Chief Executive
If you would like to unsubscribe from this list, please click here
Privacy Policy (Privacy Page)
-- Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 tweet @jonatreesdavies
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to make the knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to realising some of that goal.
As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the onus should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort.
Thoughts?
On 25 March 2013 21:43, rexx rexx@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to make the knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to realising some of that goal.
As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the onus should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort.
Thoughts?
I don't think we have anything like the skills or experience to make good use of the money on that kind of project.
The money could bring in the skills and experience I think. If a project is worth doing, it's worth doing properly (with community involvement as the key, obviously). I think Rexx's idea is a very good one - and we already know Google loves Wikipedia.
Stevie
On 25 March 2013 21:47, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
On 25 March 2013 21:43, rexx rexx@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to make
the
knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to realising some of that goal.
As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the
onus
should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort.
Thoughts?
I don't think we have anything like the skills or experience to make good use of the money on that kind of project.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On 25 March 2013 21:58, Stevie Benton stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
The money could bring in the skills and experience I think. If a project is worth doing, it's worth doing properly (with community involvement as the key, obviously). I think Rexx's idea is a very good one - and we already know Google loves Wikipedia.
Why would Google give us the money if we're just going to use it to pay someone else to do it? They could just pay the same people directly. What would we be bringing to the table?
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Medicine/Projects#Translation_Task_Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_Task...
Wiki Project Med already has made steps in this direction in the area of Medicine. Perhaps we could help bring together similar initiatives and give them a framework to develop within.
"What would we be bringing to the table?"
Expertise. Understanding. A committed community and a committed charity. Experience. Support. An international reach. A proven need. A clear benefit. A project that is scalable and sustainable.
All of those things are there, if we get the approach and parameters established properly.
On 25 March 2013 22:02, rexx rexx@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Medicine/Projects#Translation_Task_Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_Task...
Wiki Project Med already has made steps in this direction in the area of Medicine. Perhaps we could help bring together similar initiatives and give them a framework to develop within.
-- Doug
On 25 March 2013 21:58, Stevie Benton stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.ukwrote:
The money could bring in the skills and experience I think. If a project is worth doing, it's worth doing properly (with community involvement as the key, obviously). I think Rexx's idea is a very good one - and we already know Google loves Wikipedia.
Stevie
On 25 March 2013 21:47, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
On 25 March 2013 21:43, rexx rexx@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to
make the
knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to realising some of that goal.
As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the
onus
should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort.
Thoughts?
I don't think we have anything like the skills or experience to make good use of the money on that kind of project.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
--
Stevie Benton Communications Organiser Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173 @StevieBenton
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On 25 March 2013 22:34, Stevie Benton stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
"What would we be bringing to the table?"
Expertise. Understanding. A committed community and a committed charity. Experience. Support. An international reach. A proven need. A clear benefit. A project that is scalable and sustainable.
All of those things are there, if we get the approach and parameters established properly.
If we have everything it takes except the cash, why aren't we already planning it? There are a dozen ways we could get hold of £500k. Money really isn't an issue for the WM movement - people are lining up to give it to us.
Making the English Wikipedia more accessible to non-English speakers is a worthy objective and something which we could easily make a big difference to. Currently the main route for non-English speakers to access EN wiki is via Google translate and similar online translation services. If Google were willing to work with us, we could make an easy and uncontentious difference to that by getting lists of translation anomalies and where practical amending the Wikipedia article. I've been doing this on a small scale for years working my way though easily confused words like staring/starring and cavalry/calvary. It is now far less common to have Wikipedia articles about actors staring in particular movies or calvary armies charging into battle, and as for the throwing of discusses I've abolished an entire Olympic sport. My understanding of translation software is that it works on a probability basis, so if we were to get lists of articles and phrases on EN wiki that a particular translation software finds to be ambiguous and can only give a borderline probability to, we should be able to identify a lot of ambiguities and errors on EN wiki;. Fixing these would benefit all editors but particularly those who depend on translation software.
Taking things to the logical next step, we could introduce a system of hidden templates to resolve words with multiple meanings such as bonnet, bolt, batter, tramp or pants. As well as transforming the quality of machine translation of the pedia, this would also make it easier to offer people a choice as to which version of English they view Wikipedia in.
Working in the opposite direction would be more contentious due to licensing, in fact I doubt we could help any translation software improve its own code unless they had a compatible license. I'd also be loathe to see us work with one set of machine translation software in a way that gave them an advantage over their competitord
WSC
On 25 March 2013 21:43, rexx rexx@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
The most impact that we could realise on a global scale would be to make the knowledge in the English Wikipedia available to people who don't speak English. £500,000 and Google technical support would go a long way to realising some of that goal.
As the largest established chapter in the English-speaking world, the onus should probably fall on us to coordinate an effort of that sort.
Thoughts?
Doug
On 25 March 2013 12:20, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
I agree, it is interesting and we do desperately need to diversify our revenue. Do we have any suitable projects we've been wanting to run but haven't due to lack of funds, though? Funds haven't really been our limiting factor.
The VLE work might be suitable, but I doubt Google would consider it interesting enough (it's useful, but it isn't really transformative).
Coming up with new projects specifically to apply for a particular grant is generally a bad idea.
On 25 March 2013 10:21, Jon Davies jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Interesting....
Dear Jon,
Today Google launched the Global Impact Challenge. Over the past few months ACEVO has been working very closely with Google and think that
this
game-changing award will celebrate the innovative work happening within
the
sector. So we are inviting charities and voluntary organisations to
showcase
how they would use technology to transform the lives of their
beneficiaries.
The top four entries of the competition will each receive £500,000 and support to help their project become a reality. A team at Google will announce 10 finalists in mid-May and the public will be invited to vote
and
donate to their favourite project.
The prestigious panel judging the finalists will be inventor of the Internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Mogul Sir Richard Branson and founder and
CEO
of Forster Communications Jilly Forster. It’s thrilling to know how
similar
Google and ACEVO’s approach is in celebrating innovation - I feel that
this
is the start of a great corporate friendship.
Applications opened today so apply here www.g.co/impactchallenge for
your
chance win.
Best wishes and good luck,
Sir Stephen Bubb Chief Executive
If you would like to unsubscribe from this list, please click here
Privacy Policy (Privacy Page)
-- Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 tweet @jonatreesdavies
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A
4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation
(who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On 26/03/13 08:45, WereSpielChequers wrote:
Taking things to the logical next step, we could introduce a system of hidden templates to resolve words with multiple meanings such as bonnet, bolt, batter, tramp or pants. As well as transforming the quality of machine translation of the pedia, this would also make it easier to offer people a choice as to which version of English they view Wikipedia in.
Hmmm...... sounds like a natural language research project.
How about a crowd sourced translation engine? Using OTRS?
Gordo
On 26 March 2013 09:45, WereSpielChequers werespielchequers@gmail.com wrote:
... If Google were willing to work with us ...
It's a great idea, but that "if" is pretty fundamental. We would need to get buy-in from Google as a partner in the project before we could apply for the grant. It wouldn't surprise me if Google loved the idea, but it might be difficult to develop the idea enough in the 22 days remaining to get a grant application in.
There is, of course, no reason why we can't develop the idea, talk to Google and then get funding from elsewhere (or perhaps just from Google Translate's budget). The key point I've been trying to make in this thread is that you should have good ideas and then go looking for funding, not the other way around.
Incidentally, it's worth noting that Google Translate is already crowdsourced to an extent.
IMHO the idea of translation "hints" embedded into Wikipedia articles is a better one. I'm not sure it's going to be possible to construct a pitch for as complex a project as that within a short amount of time however; it may even require a new web standard.
Harry
-- Harry Burt / User:Jarry1250
On 26 March 2013 13:53, Harry Burt harryaburt@gmail.com wrote:
IMHO the idea of translation "hints" embedded into Wikipedia articles is a better one. I'm not sure it's going to be possible to construct a pitch for as complex a project as that within a short amount of time however; it may even require a new web standard.
It could possibly be done using existing standards for the Semantic Web (as little used as they are!). Making text machine-translatable is basically the same job as making it machine-readable - translation errors happen because the computer doesn't know what the words actually mean and it is meaning you need to translate, not words.
On 26/03/13 18:24, Thomas Dalton wrote:
On 26 March 2013 13:53, Harry Burt harryaburt@gmail.com wrote:
IMHO the idea of translation "hints" embedded into Wikipedia articles is a better one. I'm not sure it's going to be possible to construct a pitch for as complex a project as that within a short amount of time however; it may even require a new web standard.
It could possibly be done using existing standards for the Semantic Web (as little used as they are!). Making text machine-translatable is basically the same job as making it machine-readable - translation errors happen because the computer doesn't know what the words actually mean and it is meaning you need to translate, not words.
Indeed....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
Gordo
On 26 March 2013 21:35, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
Indeed....
I've always considered that a pretty stupid thought experiment. The beauty of language is that it allows you to communicate new ideas by combining known ones. The instruction book in the room would need to be practically infinite. If you have a book that big, then I'm happy to fudge the definition of "understand" such that the book "understands" the language - the definition won't be any less useful for it.
Hello everyone,
I notice that this idea, and the scheme in general, has generated a fair amount of discussion. In order to help determine whether there is an idea we want to take forward I;ve created a page on the UK wiki for ideas. It can be seen at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Google_Global_Impact_Challenge
This is a good opportunity to develop what may seem like a bit of a "blue-sky" idea into something more substantial, but we need to act quickly - applications need to be finalised and received by 17 April. Time is of the essence if we are to apply.
Please do get involved, share your ideas, build on those of others and let's see if we can come up with something to pursue.
Thanks,
Stevie
On 26 March 2013 21:57, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
On 26 March 2013 21:35, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
Indeed....
I've always considered that a pretty stupid thought experiment. The beauty of language is that it allows you to communicate new ideas by combining known ones. The instruction book in the room would need to be practically infinite. If you have a book that big, then I'm happy to fudge the definition of "understand" such that the book "understands" the language - the definition won't be any less useful for it.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On 26 March 2013 08:45, WereSpielChequers werespielchequers@gmail.com wrote:
Taking things to the logical next step, we could introduce a system of hidden templates to resolve words with multiple meanings such as bonnet, bolt, batter, tramp or pants. As well as transforming the quality of machine translation of the pedia, this would also make it easier to offer people a choice as to which version of English they view Wikipedia in.
I've tried to introduce this previously, for example for species names ("Parus major" should not become "Parus mayor", when the English-language page it's on is translated into German.
The template was deleted: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion/Log/2008_September_16#Template:Biota
There's a version in my userspace if you wish to examine it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pigsonthewing/Template:biota
-- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
On 26 March 2013 13:55, Andy Mabbett andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote:
On 26 March 2013 08:45, WereSpielChequers werespielchequers@gmail.com wrote:
Taking things to the logical next step, we could introduce a system of hidden templates to resolve words with multiple meanings such as bonnet, bolt, batter, tramp or pants. As well as transforming the quality of
machine
translation of the pedia, this would also make it easier to offer people
a
choice as to which version of English they view Wikipedia in.
I've tried to introduce this previously, for example for species names ("Parus major" should not become "Parus mayor", when the English-language page it's on is translated into German.
The template was deleted: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion/Log/2008_Septe...
There's a version in my userspace if you wish to examine it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pigsonthewing/Template:biota
-- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
I think that one key enabling change here will be the visual editor. Once we can edit without seeing templates then maybe the community will accept an increased use of templates, especially ones that work behind the scenes and aren't visible to the reader.
WSC
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org