[Foundation-l] IYL'08: Moratorium on deleting language projects?

[Don Osborn]

Greetings and Happy New Year 2008 to all! 

 

This year has been declared by the UN as "International Year of Languages."*
What exactly that will mean depends in part on what UNESCO - which is
charged with coordinating the Year - and in part on what various groups and
individuals dealing with languages and linguistics decide to make of it.

 

I would like to propose that Wikimedia - which is in many ways on the
cutting edge of multilingual exploitation of the potential of the web, but
which has some language projects slated for deletion after a period of being
"closed" (which I understand also means being placed in an "incubator"
status) - declare for the duration of the IYL (2008) a moratorium on
deletion of language projects.

 

The moratorium period would also be used to discuss (and implement) new
means to save and develop projects in incubator status, which may involve
any of the following and more:

* A "mentor" or "champion" for each project that is "closed"/"in the
incubator"

** This person would advocate for the project within Wikimedia and outside,
and coordinate efforts on its behalf

* Developing a methodology or set of guidelines for searching for relevant
experts and language bodies that might help with the project in question

* An "incubator" period longer than the currently typical (as I understand
it) one year for languages that meet certain criteria

** The criteria would probably involve the number of speakers 

* Develop a project proposal for outside funding to support development of
Wikimedia projects in less-widely spoken languages

 

A permanent change might also be considered:

* Change in terminology since "close" and "delete" sound equally final to
average users, when in fact a "closed" project still lives

 

I'm particularly concerned about this issue because some African language
projects are at risk, and I think that part of the problem is that there
needs to be new ways of proactively identifying people and resources to save
and develop such editions. I would mention that for example the Afar
Wikipedia is slated for closure (which I understand means it is on the
"incubator" and not deleted), but at the same time Afar has a locale and
there is a project to localize AbiWord in it. That's an interesting
juxtaposition of facts, which is probably not unusual, but is not always (or
perhaps almost never?) noted in discussions on closure/deletion.

 

Part of the problem is successfully reaching people who are activists or
"mavens" (per Gladwell's Tipping Point) for/in the language who simply are
not connected with Wikipedia or perhaps not even really aware of it or how
it could be useful in their efforts. Setting up a system with something like
a mentor and a longer stay of execution for inactive projects could pay off
with more active projects in more languages sooner - beginning with the ones
that exist but are not yet active.

 

Part of the problem with closing a project while saying that "well, when
there's a community, they can apply for a new project" is that the bar is
also raised. It is much easier to work with the fact that the Wikipedia
space is already there and get a handful of individuals involved to get it
started than to have to prove the concept and get a group organized to apply
for a new project. Much easier to push start a car with the key in the
ignition than to take away the key until they get a proper repair job done. 

 

Anyway I put this forth for discussion in the spirit of IYL 2008. All the
best.

 

Don Osborn

Bisharat.net

PanAfriL10n.org