Translate-a-Thon draft Learning Pattern draft.

What problem does this solve?

Wikipedia is a multilingual, international project, but edit-a-thons often focus on a single language. This can make some attendees feel as if their language skills are underappreciated and lead to a lack of cohesivity among attendees of disparate language background.

What is the solution?

Organize a translatathon, an edit-a-thon that focuses on the act of translation, instead of editing on one or more specific Wikipedia projects. A translate-a-thon is a way to bring together attendees from disparate language and cultural backgrounds and to unite them with a unified goal.

Write a more detailed description of the problem your pattern is intended to solve, the question it answers, or the situation in which you would use it.

A translatathon is distinguished from other public facing editing events in that is not limited to projects in specific languages. Therefore, while it requires many of the same skills and resources as an edit-a-thon, the translatathon requires a greater number of on-hand organizers, additional preparatory steps, and flexibility on the day of the event.

Things to consider

Consider tying the translatathon with an event that could make a positive impact in a thematic area, such as Black History Month or Womens' History Month.
Consider inviting a speaker to give a relevant talk. For instance, a talk on historically undervalued languages or on how the Internet helps keep languages alive.
Once the time and place are decided, create a Wikipedia page for the event providing the details. The page should additionally function as a place to sign-up for the event, and for listing potential articles or topics that attendees may want to edit. One-line descriptions of people or topics can be very helpful to those determining which article(s) to edit. As in a typical editathon, strongly encourage attendees to register Wikipedia accounts well before the event.
Reserve a space larger than what one would need for an edit-a-thon of equivalent size. During the translathon, attendees may be distracted by ambient discussions in different languages; more space will allow attendees working in different areas to group together.
Identify dominant languages in the community you wish to invite. For instance, what languages are spoken by students at a University?
Assess the organizers linguistic capabilities, and identify any gaps you may wish to fill through outreach. A Central Notice Banner across different language Wikipedias will help organizers reached logged-in editors in a specific geographic location.
Produce promotional materials in multiple languages in order to reach more people. For instance, a poster that says Wikipedia in many languages visually demonstrates the focus of the event.
Since attendees will be editing in numerous languages, there will be a reduction in the ability to share computers or laptops. Organizers need to ensure appropriate numbers of computers and know how to change the language settings. You may have to use virtual keyboards when translators have literacy in the language but are not used to touch-typing.
Discuss how you will teach newbie attendees to translate across Wikipedias. For instance, attendees might focus on the lead section, or use the Content Translation Tool to translate a larger portion of the article.

When to use

Results learned: What worked & Recommendations for the future: Language issues

Creating multi-language materials to enhance environment
Creating a Wikipedia classroom assignment geared toward having it translated at the translate-a-thon. In this particular case, the articles in English Wikipedia for Jackson Heights and Queens Pride Parade were edited by students in teams prior to the translate-a-thon. Students also presented on their work at LaGuardia's Latinx Symposium, wrote a reflection on their work and, based on those reflections, will be invited to present at the upcoming Wikipedia North America conference.
The recommended articles list with one-line lead descriptions worked well. Several editors (both mono and multi lingual) used it to begin their work; it is recommended that we keep this model to suggest articles.
The translation of materials created much enthusiasm; beyond that, it is the right thing to do (insert discussion on de-colonization of Wikipedia). We should push to create permanent materials in as many languages as possible. It is recommended that this is done well in advance of the translate-a-thon, as it felt like a lot of work at the last minute.

Project / Task

A translate-a-thon at LaGuardia Community College.

Why (1):

[List from the 2017 planning]

To promote the linguistic and cultural knowledge of LaGuardia students, faculty and staff
To help students build a sense of agency around their own learning and develop critical thinking about the information they find on the Internet
To help students appreciate the value of their access to information as part of CUNY and as bilingual or multilingual people, and consider ways to share that value

Why (2):

From 2019:

To understand the principles that guide Wikipedia
To experience editing Wikipedia
To value their access to information as bilingual or multilingual people
To share their linguistic and cultural knowledge
To gain the ability to discuss Wikipedia's place in the information society

Preparation

Institutional Support Translate-a-thon supported by City University of new York, Wikimedia New York City, Wikitongues, Afrocrowd, and Consumer Reports.

Promotional activity

User:Pharos created a banner to be translated into different languages and placed in Wikipedia;
The events page was moved into meta and its header translated from English into Chinese, German, Italian, Persian, and Spanish;
As was the case in the first year, Wikimedia NYC created a meetup page, sent FB posts, and announced the event during the 3/20 WikiWednesday meetup;
To promote interest in the translatathon at LaGuardia Community College, faculty held three separate film screening in March. Editors then could edit or translate the articles associated with these films;
Tara Coleman and Thomas Cleary also appeared in an episode of Hugo Fernandez' podcast "It's On" at the LaGuardia radio station: https://soundcloud.com/wlgr/hugos-itss-on-thomas-cleary-tara-coleman?in=wlgr/sets/its-on-with-hugo-fernandez
The LaGuardia faculty had its main poster translated into Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

Methods

Eight trainers (2 LaGuardia faculty), 4 from WMNYC, and 2 from …?
Day 1, Thursday April 4, 4-8: 2 presentations (at 4:30 and 6 pm) on introduction to editing; lightening talk at 7 pm.
Day 2: Talk on Wikipedia principles (at 11:30 am and 3 pm)
Talk on Historically Undervalued Languages & Wikipedia as a Tool for Language Advocacy (12 pm)
Talk on How the Internet Helps Keep Languages Alive (2 pm)
Talk on Wikidata (4:30 pm)

Articles to work on

List of neighborhoods lacking articles in Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, German< Grench, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Spanish
Parades in NYC
NYC carnivals and festivals
LGBTQ+ topics
films
Women in healthcare
specific topics assigned from DoctorXgc’s class (Jackson Heights, Queens, Queens Pride parade, Julia Rivera).

Results

Results from dashboard

9 articles created
73 articles edited
294 total edits
70 editors
9,100 words added
714,000 article views
18 uploads to Commons

Post-event activities

Ximena presented at Wikimedia New York City month meeting
Thomas presented for CUNY librarians at the LACUNY Institute
Thomas presented with Mozucat for LaGuardia Community College Center for Teaching and Learning – Languages Across Curriculum faculty seminar

Results learned: What worked & Recommendations for the future

The two-day format works well and should be kept for the next time
The space needs preparation:
- Choose room with nearby computer lab so that laptops are available
- Use project supplied by event organizer
- Have Bluetooth speaker available
- Create multi-language materials to enhance environment
- Discuss in advance most advantageous days on which to hold event
Short presentations worked well; it is recommended that they be repeated but maybe with topics geared to a general audience. Also, we might hold such talks in a separate space so that people who want to listen can hear while others can work without distraction.
Creating a Wikipedia classroom assignment geared toward having it translated at the translate-a-thon worked well. In this particular case, the articles in English Wikipedia for Jackson Heights and Queens Pride Parade were edited by students in teams prior to the translate-a-thon. Students also presented on their work at LaGuardia's Latinx Symposium, wrote a reflection on their work and, based on those reflections, will be invited to present at the upcoming Wikipedia North America conference.
Emphasizing account creation before the event and signing up on the meetup page helped. Therefore, it is recommended that we create the Dashboard and events page at least a month before the event to allow classes to create accounts and sign up beforehand; it is recommended that we extend the dates of the Dashboard beyond the two days of the physical meeting so as to capture the contributions of classes working before the translate-a-thon and after it.
The recommended articles list with one-line lead descriptions worked well. Several editors (both mono and multi lingual) used it to begin their work; it is recommended that we keep this model to suggest articles.
The translation of materials created much enthusiasm; beyond that, it is the right thing to do (insert long discussion on the de-colonization of Wikipedia that may be presented at WikiConference USA, etc.). We should push to create permanent materials in as many languages as possible. It is recommended that this is done well in advance of the translate-a-thon, as it felt like a lot of work at the last minute.
Videos: we only did a handful of individual short interview videos. We should work on this for future events, perhaps preparing a set list of questions, and ask students to collect these video reflections. Here are the questions:
- Please briefly introduce yourself.
- Have you ever edited Wikipedia before? In what language or languages?
- What entries have you worked on, or would you like to work on?
- Has your opinion of Wikipedia changed after what you learned about it today?

The Unclear

Handouts with assignments and mini-lessons were created, but it is not clear whether these were used by any faculty.
Three films were screened to attract possible editors, but it is not clear if the screenings were taken as extra-credit activities INSTEAD of participating in the thon.
Was it a good idea to have the event early in April? Do we need more time for people to create viable assignments?

What needs to be done/will be done

April is a month with a bazillion events; we should coordinate with other campus committees/teams to attempt a coalition so they can benefit from our work and we from theirs. We also could use more working partners; as the topic for the 2020 translatathon will be Africa and related topics (African-American, AfroCaribbean, EuroAfrican, AfroAsian, etc.), it is recommended that Fall (or even before) is spent identifying and planning with partners at LaGuardia, NYC, the U.S. and the world. Suggestions: Outside LAGCC: AfroCrowd, WikiTongues, Black Lunch Table, Caribbean Wikimedians, BMCC faculty and librarians (perhaps for them to do an event in the Fall while we do one in the Spring). At LAGCC: Latinx Symposium, Black Lit committee in English, Black Lives Matter Summit, Black Action Committee, COIL, ePortfolio seminar at the Center for Teaching and Learning, selected ELA faculty.
Wikimedia NYC has asked for $2000 to bring Native American speakers to NYC for the 2020 thon. Since we do not know if this budget will be accepted as proposed, we should be prepared to write a grant to the Wikimedia Foundation requesting the money in case Wikimedia NYC does not get that part of the budget approved.
Sign up on Dashboard was smoother than last year but still somewhat confusing and not all contributors were included. We need to work out how to ensure we can track everyone more effectively.
Especially if we rely more on people bringing laptops, we need more power strips to reach all of the tables.
Getting more people to bring classes would be useful, but we should focus on bringing in classes who have already started a project rather than just bringing students who have no idea what they will be doing there.
We will pilot pop-up events in the Fall in the E Atrium to attract more attention and to slowly create posters to then use in the Fall. These pop-ups pop-ups may be centered around events by our partners, and/or support LAGCC faculty in including Wikipedia projects related to themes/readings/speakers next year, and then the translatathon could work on translatating those articles.
We will create an introductory pamphlet for people who might stop by an event:
We decided to use a spreadsheet of action items to spread out the work: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JhvRROfkxpm78qeinVyh_si6MvM9_XBElayQRR8XwFA/edit?usp=sharing

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