[Slashcode-development] towerofbabel.com

[Malcolm L. <ma...@to...>]

Greetings all,

My name is Malcolm Lawrence and I=92m the guiding force behind the =
construction of Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal =
and community of arts and ideas which has recently incorporated =
slashcode on our site on our Map page.

If you=92re unfamiliar with Babel, we have over 300 translators in 75 =
languages offering their services to help translate the site. We are a =
non-profit organization, the translators are voluntary and work on the =
site because they enjoy it (kind of like Linux). Those translators who =
work on the site get their resume featured on the site. It=92s not =
exactly an open source project because I do ask that potential =
translators submit their resume or CV before being allowed to begin =
translating the site so I can see their education, skills, experience =
and knowledge base with translating in order to ensure that Babel=92s =
standards of excellence are maintained.

Anyway, as far as the goal I=92m trying to reach with Babel is =
concerned, ideally one day any user will be able to submit any story in =
any language which will then be able to be posted in any language and =
any user will be able to post comments in any language, all on the same =
page of code.

But there are still some multilingual issues with slashcode and =
apparently I=92m not the first person who has wanted to solve them. My =
interest in wanting to solve them is primarily based upon fulfilling the =
je nais se quoi of the original idea of the Babel site so I thought =
I=92d step in to see if I can regain interest in solving the issues in =
slashcode.

I guess the first thing I=92m curious about since I=92m unfamlilar with =
i18n issues with slashcode is exactly what are the core problems needing =
to be solved in the code for multilingual issues and how difficult are =
they to solve?

With the code as it is on my site right now slash has its variable set =
for US English since at the present time there is no way for an author =
to post a story, nor for a user to post a comment, in whichever language =
they wish. However, Cliff Wood, the senior administrator for my new ISP =
as well as one of the slashcode developers, and I are currently working =
on a solution which will enable other languages to use the slashcode =
part of Babel, although not simultaneously.

What this means is that we=92re going to have subdomains under =
towerofbabel.com for 8 other languages (to start off with) to have their =
own particular version of Babel=92s slash code. The other languages =
we=92ll start with will be Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, =
Estonian, Japanese and Russian. I=92ve chosen these languages initially =
because with the exception of French they are all languages which are =
currently using slashcode successfully. (To see them all go here. What I =
plan to do is have each language=92s slashcode page linked to their =
respective flag off the homepage and designate the particular =
language=92s subdomain using these l10n codes into the url. For example, =
ja_jp.towerofbabel.com for Japanese, eo.towerofbabel.com for Esperanto, =
etc.

As far as my goal for Babel is concerned, that will obviously be the day =
when we won=92t necessarily need other language-specific versions of =
Babel, as all languages will be compatible in the same page of code, but =
as you=92ll see from my idea below, perhaps other language-specific =
versions of Babel would be an entirely separate idea which is worthy in =
its own right.

What I'm curious about as far as using subdomains are concerned =
is...will each one use it's own slash and in essence be segregated unto =
itself or would it be possible to have a mezzanine effect, whereas the =
user chooses their flag, which maps to their language's particular =
subdomain, but the stories for each slash are from one main slash which =
each slash would view? Is such a thing possible or doable?

I=92m also wondering whether those sites which are using slash for other =
languages have translated the code themselves into their native =
languages and if so whether they=92ve donated their translations for =
their own slash site to the slashcode community. If not, one of the =
things I=92d like to spearhead is an initiative to get all of the inner =
workings of the code translated into other languages and then donate =
them to the slashcode development community so that when someone in =
another language wishes to start using slashcode on their site, they =
already have it translated and ready to go. Having slash sites =
translated so that a virgin site would be all ready to go straight out =
of the box in a number of languages would be a great benefit to the open =
source community.

Should anyone be interested in my personal immediate plans for slash on =
my site what I=92d ideally like to do is this:

Currently I am the only author on my slash site and I have been posting =
some stories to get the hang of using slash. Ala Slashdot, any user can =
feel free to submit a story or url and add their own comments. But this =
is where I want to open Babel up to the world. I don=92t want to be the =
only author, I want others to help me.

Ideally I'd like to have not only Babel fans and contributors but also =
some of the Babel translators join me as authors on the current =
boilerplate English slash site so they can get a feel for how slashcode =
works for a while until they get the hang of it and then once the other =
versions of the slash site are up in the other 8 languages (8 other =
languages only initially. Hopefully soon we=92ll have all 75 languages =
up), encouraging the translators to be in charge of their particular =
native language's version of the Babel slash. With the eventual goal =
being to have the inner workings of each language=92s slash site =
translated so they can in essence be free to deal with the code on an =
administrative level in their own native language.

What this means is that it would be great if, say, on the Spanish Babel =
slash site there were a handful of authors who were Spanish translators, =
and hopefully not from the same country. It would be ideal if there was =
one author from Argentina, one from Mexico, one from Spain etc. so you =
could all post stories or even find some yourself about issues =
particular to your specific country or your specific artistic passion.

What I=92m basically trying to do is take i18n and l10n and tie them =
together in a meaningful and constructive way. So in essence there would =
ideally be three language settings for slash:

1. One setting where any user will be able to submit any story in their =
own localized language which will then be able to be posted in only =
their own localized language and users will be able to post comments in =
that localized language. (For example, Spanish speakers in Peru would =
have a slash dealing with their own localized version of Spanish at =
=93es_PE.towerofbabel.com=94.) This is currently how slashcode is =
configured, to operate as a localized code. I=92ll call this a single =
slash.

2. One setting where any user will be able to submit any story in their =
own particular localized language which would then be posted on their =
own particular internationalized language version of the code. (This =
would be unnecessary for many languages such as Welsh or Finnish.) For =
example, posters from Spain, Mexico and Argentina all being able to post =
their stories to a main Spanish Babel slash at =
=93es.towerofbabel.com=94. This would be an internationalized slashcode =
if it were to be confingured. I=92ll call this a double slash.

3. One setting where any user will be able to submit any story in any =
language which will then be able to be posted in any language and any =
user will be able to post comments in any language, all on the same page =
of code. This would be a multilingualized slashcode if it were to be =
configured. I=92ll call this an omni slash.

Please let me know whatever comments, suggestions or ideas you may have.



Malcolm Lawrence
Editor-in-Chief
Babel: The multilingual, multicultural
online journal and community of arts and ideas.
http://www.towerofbabel.com
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Babel: Just when you thought you were at critical mass.
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