reminisces

When you blog as often as I do. With subjects as diverse as schizophrenic deaf people, the Tropenmuseum, translatewiki.net, statistics and what not, it is fun to look back and notice how the blog developed.

Illustrations are now a must have for my blog posts. Pictures do make my postings easier to digest and, I do thank Brianna for getting that in my thick skull.

I blame my current preoccupation with numbers and statistics on Phillipe. He insists that if a point cannot be backed up with numbers there is no point. I thank Erik and Siebrand for providing me with numbers that I use to "prove" my points. PS I still think statistics show what you want them to say and, this is why many people easily ignore them

Two lovely ladies, Durova and Susanne are a joy to work with. Durova is the grand lady of quality content not only her restorations but her articles and insights are formidable. Susanne is my contact at the Tropenmuseum, from her I learned a lot about what is important to a GLAM.

As I became involved in GLAMs, I find it utterly fascinating, there are so many opportunities... There are still so many things that are only beginning... A good example is provided by the two technologies that show this magnificent story cloth in all its glory (1, 2).

Language has an enduring appeal for me. There are over 270 languages all struggling for attention, all in need of a great localisation and all relying on the support of a Raymond, a Nikerabbit, a Siebrand. Translatewiki.net morphed from a place where you could work on MediaWiki localisations to a platform where many great applications are supported.

I concentrated lately on Wikimedia mobile, the mobile phone is expected to be the device that is to become as important as an Internet device as the computer.. The number of languages with great localised support has more then tripled. Several Wikipedias now have a good looking mobile main page thanks to the pioneering efforts of the Swedes.

There are ideas of how to further improve the functionality for mobile, we want support for images from Commons.. concepts from Wiktionary..

Another lovely lady, Naoko Kamura, told me that the great new usability functionality developed by her team is scheduled to go live. Soon, really soon.

A genuine big effort is needed to get the localisations ready so that people have a chance to understand what is new and what to do.

For a blog post this is already too long... rest assured there is more to say, more people to thank and, there is room for many more blog posts.
Thanks,
GerardM