A challenge for #Wikidata

Not only #Wikipedia but also #Wikisource and #Wikiquote are in need for the #Wikidata treatment. OmegaWiki can demonstrate why. Julius Caesar has an article in all the languages with a translation. All that is needed is a link to Wikidata where Julius is known as "Q1048".

Linking to the quotes of Caesar on Wikiquote is not so easy; it has to be done for each language to the Wikiquote where there are quotes by Caesar. This is also needed for Wikisource for books or other publications. You may notice that Julius Caesar is a writer and a person. A writer publishes and any person may produce quotable quotes.

The challenge for Wikidata is to go the extra mile and rid us from those pesky interwiki links... on all the Wikimedia projects. These links can in return be used on all the projects. It also makes searching more interesting... Julius Caesar; what do you want? An article about him, his sources, his quotes..

What we at OmegaWiki would like is for Wikidata to go even further and incorporate our data. This will be a big benefit because it will allow people to search in Nepali for जुलियस सिजर and have a similar result at no extra cost as in English.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Chennai hackathon IV

Several of the Chennai hackathon projects were interesting because of the different approach they took to known problems. A hackathon is a perfect place to experiment; there are many people around and they often have their own ideas about how things should be done.

Wikiquotes via SMS

You send the name of a person and in reply you get quotes from that person. The idea makes sense but the problem is that the quotes in Wikiquote are not available in a structured way. When quotes are individually tagged, an application to send SMS messages becomes possible from the source. The approach of this project was to copy quotes into a database and use this.

When the Wikiquote communities start using templates for each quote, it will become possible to use Wikiquote itself.

Translation of Gadgets/UserScripts to tawiki

There is no doubt, the translation or localisation of software makes a hell of a difference to the usability of software. The standard approach is to localise at translatewiki.net but gadgets and user scripts are not yet supported in this way.

It is wonderful to learn that the ProvIt and the TwoColumn gadget are now available in Tamil. The challenge left is how to make them available in other languages and how to maintain them when the code needs changing.

Lightweight offline Wiki reader

Even though there are several off line readers like OkaWix and Kiwix, it was the considered opinion that there is room for another one, a reader that can be used when there is only a little room available. The Qvido project was revived at this hackathon and is now available with "build" instructions.

Open source projects exist as long as there is an interest in developing a project and as long as there are people who benefit from it. Being able to host MediaWiki content off line as widely as possible is certainly reason enough for this project to get attention.

Program to help record pronunciations for words in tawikt

When you learn a foreign language it is really hard to get the pronunciation of words right. A program that allows the recording of some 500 words in half an hour is really useful. However, getting it uploaded to Commons is equally important because this can be an enormous time-sink and this is one part of the puzzle that still needs solving.


WikiPronouncer

Another approach to recording pronunciations was to do this on an Android phone. Developing an app in a day is too much of a challenge.. What these two projects make clear is how much pronunciations is a feature that is very much in demand.

As soundfiles are used extensively on other wiktionaries, it does make sense to learn the best practices elsewhere. The least they need is a Tamil makeover eh, a localisation.

Thanks,

       Gerard

How about an Old Greek Wikiquote or Wikisource

The language policy is clear; no dead languages are allowed. The only exception is for a Wikisource. For as long as the language policy exists, there was opposition because Ancient Greek is so much like Latin and, there is a thriving Wikipedia for that language.

I have been asked if I would oppose a Wikiquote in Ancient Greek. It is easy to argue that a Wikiquote and a Wikisource are both based on what is already there. One thing I do not want is for either project to have its user interface in Old Greek, The policy says that the modern version of the language is to be used for the user interface and annotations.

There are a few issues:

• The Ancient Greek user interface makes use of Katharesouva to fill in the concepts not available
• Ancient Greek is of interest not only to people who speak modern Greek.

The first issue is very much not for me / the language committee to decide, it is for the powers that be at translatewiki.net.

The second one is something that would work when the annotations are translated and can show up in the language of the user interface of the reader. The question then would be what the default language would be.. I could even imagine that this would be something where quotes are available in other languages as well..

All in all, at this stage it is still not clear to me how to deal with Ancient Greek. I know and respect the people who ask for it but at the same time there are technical challenges that I do not know we can meet.
Thanks,
      GerardM

The most useful Wikimedia project

When you ask people what project is the most useful to them, you expect to hear "Wikipedia". Often it is not the English language variation of the project, but Wikipedia is what you typically hear. I asked a relative of mine what her favourite was, and to my amazement it was Wikiquote. Finding good quotes is of importance to her and Wikiquote fulfils this role.

Some people are of the opinion that Wikiquote is not so useful, that it is to be closed because many of the quotes are at best available under fair use and not under a viral license. The proposal can be found here..

Many of the arguments are a bit stale and as always, it is other people telling the people who do the work what to do. I am sure that when the WMF has a valid reason to kill off this project they would do so....

I hate these recurring eruptions of destructiveness.
Thanks,
      GerardM