Holland Open 2008

This years Holland Open has come and gone. As always conferences are about people. The people that present are obviously in the picture, their message is getting the lime light. The people that present their company are also very much willing to present their products and services.

Simon Brouwer from Open Taal and the Dutch Open Office project promoted the availability of language tools for everyone. Simon discussed the need for Open Source tools to be as good in its support as any other tool. For the Dutch language this has proven to be problematic because of the proprietary nature of contracts for the support of the official Dutch orthography. The "Nederlandse Taalunie" has started to provide certification of a spell checker and this certification has now been issued to spell checkers for Dutch, including the one used by Open Office and Firefox. There is more to this story and, I hope to inform about this in a future post.

Talking with people I have worked with in the past is always nice. I met with the people of Edia, they have a great little tool for people learning the Dutch language. Terminology that is current and of interest is the terminology learned best. In their news reader "Alane", people read small articles about things that are currently in the news. They are combined with excercises that help improve language skills. This is great software. This approach would work with any language. We discussed how we could help each other.

At the conference there was a prominent education track. I was really happy to meet Bob Hofmans from iEARN. When you are in education, and you do not know iEARN, you should! It is an international organisation that helps students become citizens of this world. This conference was great for them because it brought people together and it kicked off new projects and experiments. I will be interested what Second Life will do for them.

With people of companies like SUN and IBM present, it proved an excellent opportunity to pitch some of the issues that I deal with. We talked about standards, the ISO-639-6, localisation and the role of communities, the changed role of companies in the face of Open Source.

Yes I showed what we did for Commons as well. People love the idea of being able to find pictures in multiple languages. The next step is to make the demonstration project a reality in Commons itself.
Thanks,
GerardM

Arab calligraphy restored part II

Durova was informed that her restoration became a featured picture. Thanks for helping out determining the exact text.
Thanks,
       GerardM

Brewster Kahle on TED

I love TED, short presentations that inform about the essence of things by people who live their subject. Brewster Kahle gave his presentation and I loved it. Brewster is a librarian, his approach to this modern age is one that you might expect of librarians. His approach is one of bringing things together, preserving them to make them available for all people.

Bringing things together needs doing for many different materials. Books, music, movies are all different and they all have their own issues. I love it that books that are either in the public domain or out of print are digitised and, at $10,- a book it is a bargain. I love it when he promotes the OLPC laptop as a book reader. I love it when storage is made available for movies and albums. When you hear Brewster talk, it can be done, it should be done we will give us the next generation we deserve.

When you listen or read about the Internet Archive, the way it works, it is interesting to compare it with another organisation; the Wikimedia Foundation. Both aim to bring knowledge to the people of this world. Both are not limited to one language and both give an exemplary example of how things can be done. The Internet Archive is much more structured, organised, relatively few people are involved but they are involved in a professional capacity. The Wikimedia Foundation involves people, communities to make new information available, as people volunteer their effort there is less structure, things get done when they get done.

When the Internet Archive provides the library, the Wikimedia projects provide the books and the people to read stories in the library. All people are welcome but like in a real life library not all the books are there. As both organisations provide a work in progress, it is exciting to know that such brilliant projects exist and that we are part of the world that makes this happen.
Thanks,
        GerardM

The value of Marathi

A new film by one of the most prominent actors was blocked to have its premiere. The movie starring Amitabh Bachchan met fierce opposition because his wife had the audacity to promote Hindi over the Marathi language. A politcian took this the wrong way and threatened to prevent any screening of a movie starring a member of the Bachchan family in the state of Maharashtra of which Mumbai is the capital.

Mr Bachchan apologised and indicated that no malice was intended. The movie may now have its premiere after all.

For me this news is relevant because it demonstrates quite vividly how much people care for their own language, their own culture. Language is the reason why East Pakistan is now Bangladesh. People who argue that just a few languages suffice for the Wikipedia project, are people who invariably speak a language that is not under threat. They are people who love to tell other people what to do.
Thanks,
GerardM

No time for localisation

One recurring activity of mine is to inform Wikipedia communities how the localisation of their language is progressing. For many languages there is a steady trickle of work done on Betawiki for others there is nothing to show. The chances of getting any localisation done when not even the "most often used messages" are at 50% are slim.

When I visited the Xitsonga Wikipedia, I got the message that the localisation would have to wait.. But when you then notice that an Introduction and a Tutorial have been translated, I do not mind to wait a bit more, I am sure that Xitsonga has the right potential :)
Thanks,
      GerardM

Diacritics

Durova is restoring some Arab caligraphy. It is part of her ongoing effort of restoring diverse and interesting material. What I admire in her effort is the amount of effort invested in restoring material about all kinds of subjects from all kinds of places.

The effort to restore this caligraphy came to a standstill because it is not yet clear what diacritic is to be found on the top line. We have asked a few people, one person insisted that several diacritics were to be changed and another was not sure what needs to be there..

Maybe you can provide Durova with the right information..
Thanks,
      GerardM

500

This is the 500th entry on this blog. It started on April ninth 2005, things progressed since then. At the time I wished for more people becoming part of the Wiktionary crowd at this time I think the Wiktionary aproach is obsolete and I consider OmegaWiki a more healthy approach.

The subjects that I have been written about have changed over time, I am still involved in the Farsi language; I now have a book that will help me learn to read Farsi, I am now looking for a typing tutor for the Persian keyboard layout. Sign languages are more on my mind as well, I am really looking forward to the process of getting the American Sign Language its Wikipedia.

When I read the many issues that I raised, I find that many are still there. People still fight over what languages we are to recognise and adopt. There are still projects that use a code that should not be theirs to use. Babel information is still this stupid template driven thing that is locked within the confines of individual wikis.

Many things have come a long way, the development of OmegaWiki is now reaching mark II. The Wikiprofessional is actually there and even better, it is useful. The localisation of MediaWiki is now considered to be relevant, there are now over 300 languages supported in Betawiki.

It took me three years to write these 500 blog entries. Things will be different in three years time. I hope to be able to converse in Farsi, I expect that Commons will have multi language support. We will still be struggling to keep MediaWiki localised and I am sure there will be enough good and bad to write about.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Chrome and security

I read a blog on the security of Chrome, and it was stated that Chrome was build in isolation and consequently that a lot of vulnerabilities have to be seen as a consequence. I beg to differ for two reasons;

• Chrome is using Webkit for its rendering and Chrome uses a lot of the Firefox code
• Chrome explicitly has a different architecture in order to allow for improved security

There are two types of vulnerabilities, typically people only talk about those vulnerabilities that have to do with hackers, phishing and the likes. More people have to deal with their software being vulnerable to crashes or slowdowns. This is where Chrome makes an important difference. With Chrome it is one session that takes the hit, the sessions behind other tabs are to continue unhindered. These vulnerabilities are part and parcel of what security is also about.

When a new browser becomes available as beta software, it is not necessarily complete, it may still have issues. It is nice when security issues are identified, this will help the quality of the product improve. But the general trust of the blog is narrow minded, it misses the point of Chrome.
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

Chrome

Google produced a new browser called "Chrome". Many words have been written about it, there is a strip explaining the technology behind it, many people have given it a test drive. I did. I think it is great.

What I like best about Chrome is its speed. The word Niue exists in many languages and this expression is one of the worst performers on OmegaWiki. With Chrome it is significantly faster. With processing done locally, Chrome makes a big difference.

The other thing that I like about Chrome is the fact that it is Open Source. Google explicitly invited the "other" browsers to borrow and steal from what Chrome has to offer. In the same way, Google happily indicates that Webkit and Firefox are part of Chrome's pedigree.

I love Firefox, it has features and extensions that are must have for me; spell checking is one such. With Chrome being the first iteration of a beta product, I think I can look forward to extensions with confidence. It is great that the browsers world is becoming even more an eco system where new developments are shared and where the scene can evolve and mature with multiple players having temporary advantages. It is the user that will benefits most.

Thanks,

GerardM

On the monthly Betawiki info

Yesterday, Siebrand send out the third Betawiki e-mail newsletter. As always his evaluation of the state of play at Betawiki was concise. The newsletter was send out to 830 people who have a confirmed e-mail account and who did not opt out.

The newsletter is important, the blogging and posting about localisation is important. Why we do it is best explained by the "sea of red" that can be seen in the group statistics. Localisation is vital for the success of all the projects in a language. Localisation is hard work, hard work that is done by a few good men for the benefit of all. We need many more good men and women to help our projects do better.

At the end of the month, we always reflect on the new statistics in time. This time it does not look too good. Most numbers have gone down. I have been told that it has to do with a lot of messages that have been "FUZZIED". When you compare the numbers included in the newsbrief, comparing 12 July with 30 August, you will find that in that time frame, the numbers have gone up.

We want to show good results, for this to happen we need active participants for the many languages that we support. Some languages like Arabic, Czech and Farsi always seem to do really well where it counts. Many other languages do not even have the 500 most basic messages localised and no activity to expect change.

What more can we do to improve our MediaWiki localisation ?
Thanks,
      GerardM

Video on the BBC website - an update

In a previous blog I mentioned that video on the BBC-news website did not work for me. I received as an answer that it "worked for me"..

I am happy to inform you that I no longer need other browsers to watch these videos. I am really pleased that I can inform you that it now works for me too.
Thanks,
GerardM

A proud moment

I received an e-mail about my publication on Genome Biology. The message is that the article that I am one of the authors off is being well read. Some 13.919 people have read it from the Genome Biology website and it is now rated as "highly accessed" relative to age.  This number does not include any of the readers who came to the article through Pubmed Central or other archive sites.

This article is of interest to the Wiki world for several reasons; there are a few other authors to this article that have a certain reputation in this world but more importantly, I want you to have a look at the semantic support that is provided by Wikiprofessional to the English language Wikipedia. Consider for instance the article Malaria, when you look at it with the "Concept Web Linker" a wealth of information is provided to the article.

Currently only English is supported. Support for Spanish and Portuguese is being developed and, we would love to include more languages. We are making a shortlist of languages Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Arabic are already on there ... for personal reasons I would love to see Farsi included..
Thanks,
      GerardM

Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you

Truisms like this are taken as being true. However such assumtions are sometimes proved to be wrong. Words do hurt is what I read on the BBC news website.

This provides a really powerfull argument why we should not allow for all the baiting, the insults that are sadly part of many of the discussions on Wikipedia. The argument why unfettered abuse should be allowed is either freedom of speech or that nobody is really hurt. The last argument is patently untrue and with this new research it should even more clear. Freedom of speech does not mean that you are free to hurt others. Freedom is limited by the extend where your freedom meets the freedom of others.

Obviously there is a need to express unpopular points of view, what is at stake is particularly the manner in which an opinion is expressed.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Learning to use a computer

A friend who I love dearly, got a new computer. She got her computer because she needs computing skills for a job. Given that she is completely new to computers, training is included. I have looked at the training material and it is like many others that I have seen before. You first learn basis skills like using the mouse, the key board and to start and stop the computer.

The classic method of teaching people to point and click, drag and drop is to use a game like Solitaire. It is not the first time that I found this to be a complete disaster. You cannot assume that people play cards, even know cards. It takes more effort to teach the game then the skill it is supposed to teach...

I really like that the course provides a typing tutor. Typing is an essential skill for computing. Typing with ten fingers really helps. The course provided is for the "International" keyboard, I am now looking for a typing tutor for the Farsi keyboard.
Thanks,
     GerardM

An anonymous coward asks for a Wikipedia to be closed

On Meta, an anonymous coward started a proposal for the deletion of a Wikipedia. I was asked for my opinion. I hate it when people think they start something controversial like the closure of a Wikipedia anonymously. In my opinion such a person deserves to be banned globally for at least a week or alternatively find a special place in hell.

There have been many such requests and I will not take them seriously. These cowards are not man enough to argue their case. Consequently I feel that we should close them on principle. I am really happy that Spacebirdy is a person who thinks like me in these terms. I am really happy with her closing this proposal.

Now if someone wants to close a project like the "Tarantino" Wikipedia, there may be all kinds of good reasons for it. I do not mind this discussion but these requests are highly political and it is extremely painful when such a request is made for your language. Anonimity is just not acceptable.
Thanks,
GerardM

The sound of a tit

I love tits, I love their sounds in spring, I love it when they fly endlessly to and from my house bringing grubs to their young. For me, spring starts when I hear my tits calling.

When you record their call, you can propose them as a featured sound candidate because it is "encyclopaedic". A lot of research has been done on the calling of tits, and tits sound differently in the city then in the country site. There are dialects, so just a call of a tit may be alluring but it is just that.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is the secretary general of the NATO. He is encyclopaedic and sure enough, he has his Wikipedia article in nineteen Wikipedias. His article is most often written in the Latin script, but there is also Яп де Хоп Схефер, იაპ დე ჰოოპ სხეფერი, ヤープ・デ・ホープ・スヘッフェル, Хооп Схеффер, Яап деХооп Схеффер, Яап де, Яап де Ҳуп Схефер, Хооп Схеффер Яап де and 亚普·德霍普·斯海费.

When I hear how people pronounce his name, it often does not sound like anything his mother would recognise him by. Mr de Hoop Scheffer was born and raised in the Netherlands and consequently his name should be pronounced in the Dutch way. This is relevant encyclopaedic information. There are services that help newscasters pronounce the news by making recordings like this available.

According to some, it is not encyclopaedic at all.  " It's just one person talking & then done." or "For the same reason that voiced articles are not featurable." I can say "It is just a tit sounding off" or "It is just another recording of the four seasons by Vivaldi by a minor artist", why would these be more encyclopaedic ? The case for a good recording of the pronunciation of the name of a famous person or place is easy to make; it is the difference between being understood or not.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Bias in stock photography

I learned that Getty Images and Flickr have joined in an exclusive partnership. Both organisations represent some of the biggest resources of images of the world. Getty Images sells them to people and organisations that need illustrations. Flickr is a website where you can share your images with the rest of the world. As photographers retain their copyright, this partnership is to allow Getty to sell images of Flickr on behalf of the Flickr participants.

What is most notable, is the reason for this collaboration. Getty's stock has a bias towards what is photographed by typically Western photographers. As a result there is a bias towards Western subjects and more importantly, a lack of material that illustrates far flung places and events.

This same bias both Wikipedia and Commons suffer from. Given that Commons' user interface is in English, many people who are not able to communicate in English find it a hostile environment and consequently many Wikipedias in languages other then en.wikipedia do not contribute to Commons as a result. This in term leads to a bias in Commons as the material that is represented in the languages and cultures of those projects is missing; it is at best uploaded locally.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Captcha with a twist

In the Wikimedia Foundation we use captchas. They are a tool against spam bots and vandals. They do their job and they can be annoying as hell when you do not get it right the first time. As they serve an important purpose I am happy that we use them anyway.

The BBC news webiste reported on a captcha scheme that is different. The idea is so compelling, that I want to seriously argue for the adoption of this scheme in the WMF
.

The idea is that people recognise words that have been scanned but cannot be recognised by optical character recognition software. As we have projects in so many languages, we can provide an even better service, our people can do this same work for other languages then English. I am sure when our Wikipedias become part of such an effort, it would help the digitisation effort for many languages..

The good news is that according to the Recaptcha website, there is already a "plugin" for MediaWiki. So for me it is clear why we should join this great endeavour. It makes filling out captchas useful in more ways then one :) .. PS why not have in the user preferences a place where you can recognise words.. just because you can ??
Thanks,
      GerardM

Numbers, statistics and appreciation

When Tim Starling announced the release of MediaWiki version 1.13.0, he mentioned for the first time our localisation efforts: "59,000 new localised text messages have been added, taking the total to 266,000, spread across 281 languages". This is important because it is indicative of the importance that internationalisation and localisation has for the Wikimedia Foundation.

Having 29% more messages localised relative to what was localised at the 1.12.0 release is an impressive number. However, when you look at the "group statistics", you will see that there is a lot more work that needs to be done. There were 172 new core messages since the previous release, Betawiki actually supports 317 languages so on average each language gained 14,2 messages or 0,73%. Obviously some languages did well and others did not.

Tim's announcement is about the MediaWiki core software. Most MediaWiki installations use several of the more then 800 extensions. With the release of MediaWiki the extensions, the 300 that reside in the WMF subversion have also had their code branched. Several of these extensions are under active development and consequently it is not a given that these will function as designed. It is for this reason that an initiative is formed to provide an environment where extensions can be tested in a "plain vanilla" environment.

The Wikimedia Foundation always uses the "bleeding edge" software and consequently the releases provide an environment that is stable for the core. The localisation is ongoing and we can and do release language packs after the release. The extensions are not guaranteed to work on the new release, so we are getting this environment where we can test this and publish the results.

The whole idea is that MediaWiki is easy to use. We want to remove nasty surprises and, we want to create an environment where extensions are supported for the stable releases.
Thanks,
      GerardM