Grants:Project/Rapid/Uniba - Dipartimento LELIA/Translatathon Uniba/Report
- Report accepted
- To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Uniba - Dipartimento LELIA/Translatathon Uniba.
- You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
- You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.
Goals
editDid you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?
Our two goals, i.e. Recruit new editors/ Add or improve content, were definitely met.
Our students have familiarized with Wikipedia editing skills, and some of them reported keeping on editing Wikipedia over the following months, independently on the project’s tasks and immediate goals. New content has been added to the Italian Wikipedia with specific reference to Sustainable Development and MDG. By way of example, the size of the article “Sostenibilità” has increased from 12 185 bytes (as of 14th May, when our Translatathon began) to 154 647 bytes, by effect of new translated content added thanks to our translation editathon.
Outcome
editPlease report on your original project targets.
| Target outcome | Achieved outcome | Explanation |
| Number of events: 1 launch event open to the general public and 2 translation editathons | 1 launch event, 2 translation editathons, 1 closing event | We decided to use remaining funds after the launch even to run a second event |
| Number of participants: 25 | 33 (in 2 editathons) | We expected to run the two editathons with the same group of students in a short time. In fact owing to problems connected with exam and teaching terms not all participants could confirm their participation in the second event, which was delayed to the following academic year, and a new group of students was involved. |
| Number of new editors: 20-25 | 33 | All the students involved in the editathon where new editors. |
| Number of articles created or improved: 40-50 | 14 | At first we had envisaged our goal in terms of number of articles to be translated, which eventually proved to be not a good idea, as articles can vary in length. In fact, some of the articles we had chosen were too long for a single task, so the translatathon eventually focussed on longer articles, which were distributed as a cooperative translation task among more participants. By way of example, the article “Sustainability” amounted to 156,109 byte, almost 12.000 words. Translating this article into Italian was a task for a group of 12 people. |
| Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): 20-25 | 14 | We expected to run the two editathons with the same group of students in a short time. In fact owing to problems connected with exam and teaching terms not all participants could confirm their participation in the second event, and a new group of students was involved.The reduced number of repeat participants accounts for an increase in the number on new editors than expected. |
Learning
editProjects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:
- What worked well?
The interaction with Wikimedia was perfect, and the grant has given us the opportunity to organize two dedicated events, which are having multiple positive impacts:
- Networking and sharing good practice with Universities adotping the same apporach in Italy (Padua) and abroad (Valencia).
- Engagement of the students both in the translation activity as such and in the Wikipedia project as a whole
- Opportunities for further research in the field of translation studies both theoretical and applied.
In more general terms, I want to stress that the project was a really positive experience. Things went on smoothly in terms of money transfer and feedback by Wikimedia on any specific doubt, and we are really happy about the support we have received by everyone in the grants team.
- What did not work so well?
In general terms, there is nothing the we could say that did not work well, apart from the above mentioned gap between the goals as we initially set them and the way the project actually developed. It was not easy to find articles of the 'right' size on the chosen topic and some tasks had to be completed as a shared task by more participants. As a result, specific technical problems have emerged when merging translated content from different sandboxes, which required extra-care in revising the articles before moving them from sandox to encyclopaedia. This also accounts for the time lapse between the tranlsatathon proper and the publication of revised content.
Other minor problems related to the time schedule which, in a Univeristy context, cannot be too tight, as the marathon had to be coordinated with other activities. Being the translation of Wikipedia articles part of a teaching module, on the one hand, and a real-life task, on the other, we needed much time to supervise the translated entries from several points of view by different people for language and content. Furthermore, we always worked keeping in mind the need to comply with Wikipedia standards in all aspects, as we did not want our contribution to undermine in any respect the integrity of Wikipedia. This resulted in a demanding supervision task for our expert Wikipedian (Nicolabel). The date of 14th May for the first tranlation editathon was not a good choice as this made it difficult for us to finish the poject in the same academic year, and forced us to delay the conclusion of the project.
- What would you do differently next time?
- The marathon should be planned earlier in the academic year (e.g. January/February in the break between 1st and 2nd semester) so as to allow enough time to finish everything before the end of the same academic year (e.g. June/July).
- The goals for a translatathon could be more appropriately set in terms of words/bytes to be translated, rather than articles.
- Given the time investement required of the expert Wikimedian, we should probably consider having a Wikimedian in residence next time
Finances
editGrant funds spent
editPlease describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.
- REIMBURSEMENTS AND HONORARIA
Travel Expenses PROF. MARIA CALZADA PEREZ 192,33 EUR + 16,35 (Tax – IRAP)
Travel Expenses PROF. LUIGI CATALANI 37,82 EUR + 3,21(Tax – IRAP)
Travel PROF. MARIA TERESA MUSACCHIO 110.38 EUR + 9,38 (Tax – IRAP)
Travel DOTT. CINZIA FERRANTI 119.33 EUR + 10,14 (Tax – IRAP)
Conference DOTT. NICOLA BELLANTUONO 150.00 EUR + 12,75 (Tax – IRAP)
- ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS
Lunch 13_05_2018 PROF. MARIA CALZADA PEREZ 25,00
Lunch 14_05_2018_ FOUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 100,01
Dinner 14_05_2018 PROF. MARIA CALZADA PEREZ 30,00
Coffee Break 14_05_2018 for the students taking part in the Translatathon 74,00
Hotel PROF. MARIA CALZADA PEREZ 196,00
Hotel PROF. MARIA TERESA MUSACCHIO 98 euros
Hotel DOTT. CINZIA FERRANTI 98 euros
Dinner 17_03_2019 THREE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 105,01
TOTAL 1387,71
Remaining funds
editDo you have any remaining grant funds?
Yes, there are 212,29 euros, which were unused.
I should be very grateful to keep the remaining funds and use it – if allowed to do so – to be reimbursed for travel expenses when engaged in dissemination actvities. I will be reading the paper "Out of the (sand)box. Teaching translation with Wikipedia" at the upcoming biannual conference of the Italian Association for English Studies (AIA), scheduled 5-7 September 2019 in Padua (Italy). To this end I have also applied for an Individual Travel Grant to attend Non-Wikimedia Events:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid/%22Uniba_-_Dipartimento_LELIA/Translatathon_Uniba%22_Dissemination UPDATE: these remaining funds will be applied to the new grant above.
Anything else
editAnything else you want to share about your project?
It was a great opportunity to experience the convergence of interests between the world of higher education in Translation Studies and the multilingual project of Wikipedia. Our students were enthusiast about their involvement in a real life translation task, and deeply felt responsible for their contribution to the world of knowledge through their translations. The cooperative approach behind Wikipedia influenced the learning environment in which the project was developed and fostered mutual support among the students. Also, from the point of view of the the didactics of translation, this experience provided insights and suggestions for further research which could well be find its place in a more comprehensive project.