File talk:Black Seminoles.ogg

Spoken article quality assessment

Version reviewed: As at 16 May 2008

Technical quality: High/Medium

The license details and standard introduction are present and well done.
Very noticeable and frequent changes in audio level, with clipped editing at most changes. These fluctuations are present at the introduction of each section and also present mid-body of sections. For example, in section 2, African-Seminole Relations, the audio level changes at least six times, from 5:15 at the section heading, again at 5:50, then 6:35, then 7:15, then 7:51, then 8:27. Although overall not an issue, it is distracting to the listener and makes the editing "obvious" where it should be seamless.
Besides the editing clips, there are no obvious artefacts or background noises and the voice is clear.

Clarity: High

Voice is clear and enunciation is excellent.
The pacing was a little fast over-all; at times, rushed and audible breaths were taken in order to keep up the pace, which was slightly distracting. This was most notably present in the first paragraph.

Accuracy: High/Medium

Excellent pronunciation of Spanish words. It is clear that the reader is a speaker of Spanish, or at least thoroughly familiar with the language, and this is of great benefit to the article. It was so good, in fact, that it was like the words were "audibly" italicised. Impressed :)
Other reviewers may not agree, but including See Also, Endnotes, References, and External Links in the recording is "overkill". It is not content that enhances the article for the listening user, and is both lengthy and "boring". I think a better approach may be to gloss over these sections, by mentioning that they are present in the article, but will not form a part of the spoken recording (perhaps similar to the format used in Isaac Newton).
Some minor things to point out:

Section 2, African-Seminole relations, para. 3: The large quote is very well handled. However, the three-word quote in the next paragraph is too small (in my opinion) to warrant the reading of "quote" and "end quote". I think this could be more clearly achieved through inflection.
Section 3, Blacks in the Seminole Wars, para. 2: The name "ryan" was inserted into the text as random vandalism, and has been present in the article since 25 Jan 2008. This word was not actually read in the recording, implying that it was already marked by the reader as not belonging in the text. As the improvement of Wikipedia is our main aim, I would like to have seen this corrected by the reader, either before or after producing the recording, instead of leaving it in place.
Section 4, Black Seminoles in the West, para. 1: the phrase "500+" is used. I feel that this should have been changed to "more than 500," or at least, if not changed in the text, then read as such instead of "500 plus".
Only a couple of minor variations from the text; one example: Section 2, African-Seminole relations, para. 2, second to last sentence: "population" is read instead of "people". There is also a slight pause here; methinks the mistake was noticed by the reader but not changed.
Section 4, Black Seminoles in the West, para. 4: Very minor, but I would read 100 as "one hundred" instead of "a hundred".
Section 4, Black Seminoles in the West, final para: Where $56 million is present in the text, it is read as "fifty-six million" instead of "fifty-six million dollars" or "fifty-six million US dollars".

Although not a reflection on the recording, a section of the article, Culture, was vandalised out of Wikipedia in 2007 and mistakenly not re-instated. As it has only now been re-inserted into the article, the recording is now incomplete and the section numbering altered. Does this warrant a re-record?

Notes: {{{notes}}}

Help with recording issues can be obtained under "Recording assistance" here.
Information on the assessment procedure can be found on the spoken article assessment page.

Reviewed by: Maedin (talk) 10:09, 9 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Overall very pleased, especially with the clear enunciation and great pronunciations.