Degree of trust and quality for Ubuntu Localization Teams

[Milo Casagrande]

Hi,

2009/7/10 David Planella <david.planella at ubuntu.com>:
>
> These were all suggestions, and I'm wondering whether these should be
> rather made requirements for new teams or new team admins/owners:
>
>      * To join the ubuntu-translators mailing list
>      * To have a local translation mailing list, preferably at
>        lists.ubuntu.com
>      * To have a set of translation guidelines


I would also suggest that: if there already exists an upstream team
for your language and they already have guidelines, use those. Same
for glossary.

At least, use those guidelines as a basis on which expanding yours,
but I would suggest to stick to those. Maybe glossary is another thing
and is easier to expand because you want to assert a more strict
glossary to avoid certain translations that are permitted upstream
because are not in their glossary.

>      * To have a wiki with information on:
>              * How to join the team
>              * Description of the review process
>              * (alternatively this could be covered by the translation
>                guidelines)
>      * Make sure they are aware of the existence of upstreams (Debian,
>        GNOME, KDE) - note: I'd make the suggestion of them joining or
>        creating the upstream teams, but I'm not sure this should be a
>        requirement. Sometimes there are social issues involved and I
>        don't think we can _require_ that new teams join upstream teams.
>      * Anything else?

Explain what "upstream" and "downstream" is: telling about their
existence is one thing, telling what exactly are is a little bit
different (at least for me).

> I am aware that we cannot require all translators to do this, but at
> least we should aim for the team contact to fulfill the basic
> requirements and act as a proxy to relay all relevant information to the
> team and to ensure the guidelines are followed.

Agree. I think that at least the the team contact/lead should be
subscribed to this mailing list. Other people in the team are free to
join as well.

> I'm not sure we can implement general quality checks, this should be up
> to each team.
>
> Now that would be for new teams/admins/owners. What about existing
> teams, e.g. the ones Adi was listing as Open?
>
> If so far we've all agreed that Ubuntu translation teams should be
> moderated, how do we suggest to existing teams they should consider
> being moderated?

We could articulate the pros of being a moderated team and the cons of
being a totally open one.

The first thing is the translations quality. Only for being moderated
you are already assuring some quality: that means that you need to
review others' translations.

> I like the idea mentioned in this thread about exploring the model used
> for LoCo teams: having a set of 'approved' translation teams in order to
> have a list with those certified with having a proven quality track.
> This would also encourage 'unapproved' teams to aim for 'approved'
> status by following a set of guidelines to improve quality.
>
>      * What does being an 'approved' translation team mean in practical
>        terms (apart from proven quality in translations)?
>              * Would they be listed as 'approved' in Launchpad?
>              * Should e.g. language packs only be released for approved
>                teams (I don't think this would be necessary)?
>              * Other...

Could be an interesting idea: have a super team that groups all the
other teams. So, if you want to be an "approved" team, your team need
to be at least moderated... and this could be one of the pros of being
moderated...

Like has been done for the LoCo teams we could have a "call to arms"
for updating your team and to approve it. So we can ask for
information like:
 * team lead(s)
 * team contact(s)
 * updated wiki page
 * if you're open, please moderate your team
 * ...

> I think this is a very good idea. I've started a wiki page collecting
> what team coordinators have shared regarding to team membership and QA
> in this thread:
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TranslatingUbuntu/QualityAssurance
>
> Please do share your practices in that aspect and expand the page. I
> think this is a very good opportunity for all the Ubuntu translation
> community members to see how other teams work and learn from others.

I wrote the Italian guidelines/practices in the new page.

Ciao.

-- 
Milo Casagrande <milo at casagrande.name>