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MediaWiki and Script Translation for the Morevna Project (Free Software Magazine)
Free Software Magazine looks
at the use of MediaWiki by the Morevna Project. "Putting together a
collaborative film production involves a lot of bits and pieces. Workflow
is unclear at the beginning, and has to be developed organically. That
argues against putting too much structure into the software that you use -
otherwise it would straightjacket you. Furthermore, when you're working on
an artistic project, you don't want to waste time developing (or fixing)
software that doesn't work like you need it to. So it makes sense to use
something that is well-tested. So, really, MediaWiki is a
no-brainer." (LWN covered the
Morevna Project last March.) (Thanks to Paul Wise)
(Log in to post comments)
MediaWiki is great Posted Jul 27, 2010 19:07 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]
I'm surprised there's nothing better specifically for coordinating translations.
But among wikis, I wouldn't even considering using anything but MediaWiki. Using any lesser-known wiki is adding a barrier because potential contributors are more likely to not know the syntax. Attracting contributors is already very difficult, so adding barriers is a big deal.
If you've a fixed group of techy contributors, then something like ikiwiki which can be edited via SVN (IIRC) can be good. Others like to install an obscure wiki to avoid wiki spam. Others install MoinMoin - I think that's usually because the install is less work or because it works well with single-sign-in systems.
All fine for their own reasons. But if you want to build as large a community as possible, MediaWiki's yer only man.
I've also found MediaWiki to be the most flexible for handling page name changes, which is essential for keeping information well organised in a growing wiki. This is something that other wikis could easily catch up on, but last time I checked, they're still way behind.
MediaWiki is great Posted Jul 27, 2010 20:52 UTC (Tue) by midg3t (guest, #30998) [Link]
Plus,WikiWordsAreTheWorstIdeaEver.
MediaWiki is great Posted Jul 27, 2010 22:31 UTC (Tue) by Simetrical (subscriber, #53439) [Link]
MediaWiki itself uses MediaWiki for translation -- although it's actually a MediaWiki extension, Translate, that handles the work. MediaWiki and Wikimedia-related translations take place at http://translatewiki.net/, along with translations for a number of other random projects (FreeCol being perhaps the highest-profile non-wiki user). Localization statistics are here:
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Localisation_statistics
I count 49 languages at 100% translation, and a further 35 (84 total) at 90% or higher. Things were in a far worse state when we required people to submit translations as patches on Bugzilla, or get commit access and edit text files! Now developers just commit new messages in English, and they're quickly translated into dozens of languages.
Of course, the Translate extension is really geared toward software localization, not translating plays. It's meant for small strings that are constantly added and removed as the software is changed, so it's probably totally unsuitable for this project.
Actually, there are various projects to translate works at Wikisource, and they use regular old MediaWiki too. Haven't heard any complaints from them (unlike from Wiktionary, Wikibooks, or Wikimedia Commons), so I guess it works well enough. It works "well enough" for lots of things, in fact, although it's probably not ideal unless you're basically operating exactly like Wikipedia.
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