Grants:IEG/South African language translation bot development (SALT-BD)
seanpackham.com
Project idea[edit]
What is the problem you're trying to solve?[edit]
The lack of content on isiXhosa and isiZulu language Wikipedia and lack of language translation tools for Xhosa and Zulu.
What is your solution?[edit]
Development of a crowd sourcing platform to empower people to translation content for use on Xhosa and Zulu language Wikipedia whilst also used to improve a statistical language translation system for isiXhosa and isiZulu. This will then be used to develop a multilingual translation bot for use on isiXhosa and isiZulu language Wikipedias.
Project goals[edit]
The project has the following goals in order of preference:
- Develop a isiXhosa and isiZulu language translation bot to automatically translate articles from en.Wikipedia to xh.Wikipedia and zu.Wikipedia
- Develop an open source crowd sourcing platform
- Increase the number of new articles on isiXhosa and isiZulu language Wikipedia by at lest XXXX number of articles each.
- Increase the quality of Xhosa and Zulu language Wikipedia by using the human editors contributing to the platform
- Get contributions from at least 100 Xhosa and Zulu language speakers to xh.wikipedia and zu.wikipedia through to the platform mentioned above. Thereby exposing a greater number of language speakers to the concept of editing Wikipedia.
Project plan[edit]
Activities[edit]
Budget[edit]
- Contingency fund: (Amount) USD 1,000
- Project management/software development: (Amount) USD 15,000
- Writing competition prizes: (Amount) USD 1,000
- Total Budget: USD 17,000
Community engagement[edit]
Wikimedia community:
- Wikimedia ZA
- Contact most active editors on xh.wikipedia and zu.wikipedia directly.
Translator community:
- Use existing contacts from the University of Cape Town
- Create new contacts with the University of the Western Cape and other South African universities
Focus will be on university graduates followed by university students as this will ensure a higher degree of quality and consitancy in the translations. It also allows for much easy access to an established community of language speakers.
Sustainability[edit]
Measures of success[edit]
Need target-setting tips? Note: in addition to your project-specific measures of success, you will also be asked to report on some Global Metrics at the end of your final report. Please keep this in mind as you plan, and we'll support you as you begin your project.
Get involved[edit]
Participants[edit]
Community Notification[edit]
Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?
Endorsements[edit]
Do you think this project should be selected for an Individual Engagement Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the talk page of this proposal).