Wikipedia:LaGuardia Community College/Reports

Translatathon 2019
Meetup page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Translat-a-thon/NYC/2019

Dates held: Thursday 04 April (04:00pm-07:30pm); Friday 05 April (11:00am-05:00pm)

Attendees: 71 attendees at LaGuardia (students, faculty, staff, and community); 21 remote participants.

Trainers: 8 (Jeremy Baron, Thomas Cleary, Tara Coleman, Ximena Gallardo, Jim Henderson, Richard Knipel, Loren Koenig, Ann Matsuuchi)

Presenters: 3 --Wynnie Lamour, Daniel Bogre Udell, Loren Koenig.

Languages our editors said they would be translating into: Arabic, Bangla, Burmese, Chinese, Dutch, English, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukranian.

The Translatathon Dashboard reported 8 articles created and 72 articles edited, but there were many more articles in progress. See https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/LaGuardia_Community_College/Translatathon_April_2019_(2019_April_04-05)/home

Pre-event publicity
This year was characterized by an attempt to diversify our marketing materials: Arabic: Bangla: Chinese: French: German: Hindi: Polish: Russian: Spanish: Turkish:
 * 1) User:Pharos created a banner to be translated into different languages and placed in Wikipedia;
 * 2) The events page was moved into meta and its header translated from English into Chinese, German, Italian, Persian, and Spanish;
 * 3) 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;
 * 4) 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;
 * 5) 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
 * 6) The LaGuardia faculty had its main poster translated into:
 * ةساعد في جعل ويكبديا اكثر فائدة للجمىع = Help make Wikipedia more useful everyone
 * ترجمة مقالات ويكبديا = Translate Wikipedia Articles
 * التواصل مع الاخرين بلغات الفكر = Connect with others through language
 * نشر المعرفة من الاشياء التى تحب = Spread knowledge of things you love
 * للحجز و المعلومات زوروا الموقع = For RSVP and more information visit
 * يقترح جلب جهاز كمبيوتر = If you have a laptop, please bring it
 * الخميس ابريل 4  من الساعة  4.30 مساء الي ااساعة   8   مساء  = Thursday, April 4th, 4:30 - 8pm
 * الجمعة ابريل 5 من الساعة 11باحا الى ااساعة 5 مساء = Friday April 5th, 11am-5pm
 * উইকিপিডিয়া Translatathon @ LaGuardia= Wikipedia Translatathon
 * সাহায্য উইকিপিডিয়াকে আরও বেশি উপকারী করে তোলে = Help make Wikipedia more useful everyone
 * অনুবাদ করুন উইকিপিডিয়া নিবন্ধগুলি = Translate Wikipedia Articles
 * ভাষার মাধ্যমে অন্যের সাথে সংযোগ করুন = Connect with others through language
 * উইকিপিডিয়া জ্ঞান ছড়িয়ে সাহায্য করে (wikipedia helps spread knowledge)
 * উইকিপিডিয়া = Wikipedia
 * আরএসভিপি এর জন্য এবং আরও তথ্যের জন্য দেখুন: For RSVP and more information visit
 * বৃহস্পতিবার (Thursday)
 * এপ্রিল (April)
 * শুক্রবার, এপ্রিল (Friday, April)
 * সবার জন্য বিশ্বের প্রতিটি ভাষা= Wikitongues
 * ল্যাপটপ আনুন (Bring laptop)
 * LaGuardia 维基百科翻译节 = LaGuardia Translation Event
 * 让维基百科对你更有帮助 = Help make Wikipedia more useful everyone
 * 翻译维基百科的条目 = Translate Wikipedia Articles
 * 通过语言连接别人 = Connect with others through language
 * 传播知识；分享您喜欢的事情 = Spread knowledge of things you love
 * 预约和详情请访问 = For RSVP and more information visit
 * 如果你有手提电脑，请把它带来 ! = If you have a laptop, please bring it
 * 4月5日 = April 5th (4th month, 5th day?)
 * 星期四 = Thusday
 * 星期五 = Friday
 * Aidez-nous à rendre Wikipédia plus utile pour tous !
 * Traduisez des articles de Wikipédia !
 * Partagez le savoir sur des choses que vous aimez !
 * A travers les langues, prenez contact avec les autres !
 * Pour plus d’information et pour réserver votre place:
 * Help make Wikipedia more useful for everyone = Hilf uns, Wikipedia für alle nützlicher zu machen
 * Translate Wikipedia articles = Übersetze Wikipedia Artikel
 * Spread knowledge of things you love = Verbreite Wissen über Dinge, die du liebst
 * Connect with others through languages = Verbinde dich mit anderen durch Sprachen
 * if you have a laptop, please bring it = Wenn du ein Laptop hast, bring es bitte mit
 * For RSVP and more information visit =Für RSVP und weitere Information, siehe:
 * Donnerstag, 4. April, 17:30 – 20 Uhr
 * Freitag, 5. April, 10 – 17 Uhr
 * Help make Wikipedia more useful for everyone = विकिपीडिया को सभी के लिए अधिक उपयोगी बनाने में मदद करें
 * Translate Wikipedia articles = विकिपीडिया लेखों का अनुवाद करें
 * Spread knowledge of the things you love = आपकी पसन्दीदा चीजों के ज्ञान का प्रसार करें
 * Connect with others through languages = भाषाओं के माध्यम से दूसरों से जुड़िये
 * For more information and to register = अधिक जानकारी और रजिस्टर करने के लिए:
 * Please bring your laptop if you have one = यदि आपके पास लॅपटॉप हो तो कृपया लेकर आएं
 * Help make Wikipedia more useful everyone – Pomóż zrobić Wikipedię bardziej użyteczną dla wszystkich
 * Translate Wikipedia Articles – Przetlumacz artykuły na Wikipedia
 * Spread Knowledge of Things you Love - Rozpowszechnij wiedzę o rzeczach, które kochasz
 * Connect with Others Through Languages - Połącz się z innymi poprzez języki
 * Help make Wikipedia more useful for everyone: Сделай Википедию более полезной для всех!
 * Translate Wikipedia Articles: Переведи статьи в Википедии!
 * Spread Knowledge of Things You Love: Поделись знаниями о том, что тебе интересно!
 * Connect with Others Through Language: Познакомься с другими, кто говорит на твоем языке!
 * For RSVP ... : Записаться (RSVP) и получить информацию можно здесь:
 * Вторник, 4 апреля 5:30-8
 * Пятница, 5 апреля 10-5
 * Haz que Wikipedia sea útil para todos
 * Traduce artículos en Wikipedia
 * Ayuda a difundir el conocimiento de aquello que amas
 * Conéctate con otros usando tu idioma
 * Para responder a la invitación​ y para mas información​:
 * Yardım et Wikipedia herkese daha da faydalı olsun
 * Wikipedia makaleleri tercűme et
 * Senin sevdiğin şeylerin varlığından başkaları da haberdar olsun
 * Dil aracılığıyla farklı insanlara ulaş
 * Kendi laptop’un varsa getirebilirsin
 * Katılmak ve daha ayrıntılı bilgi için: __________

Materials used during the event
During the event we made materials to hand out to attendees to help them get started and orient themselves in the Content Translation tool:
 * Slide deck with a "getting started" and Content Translation guide: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-sGjwvrUeED4grZqhjqDq7K87_SjO_abWWo7l9Npx7k/edit?usp=sharing

Post-event publicity

 * Ximena reported on the 2019 thon at Wikimedia NYC's WikiWednesday on Wednesday, April 17.
 * Presentations:
 * Thomas presented on the event for librarians at the LACUNY Institute 2019 on 3 May 2019 (with User:Megs, User:Mozucat, User:Napplicable, User:rockwren) - WikiProject CUNY: On CUNY Librarians’ Collaborative Projects with Wikipedia.
 * Thomas presented on the event with User:Mozucat for the LaGuardia Community College, Center for Teaching and Learning - Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) faculty seminar on 01 May 2019.

Preliminary conclusions
Responses to the Google form feedback survey that was sent to all participants (7 responses total) can be found in the shared Google drive.

The Good & Recommendations

 * 1) The event was decently attended both days; it is recommended the two-day format be kept for the next time.
 * 2) We now know that we can hold the event mainly in E111 with a computer lab on the side just in case it is needed. It is recommended that we focus our efforts on ensuring we can get laptops every time; that we use Ximena's projector; that we have a Bluetooth speaker and perhaps use the Listen to Wikipedia melody for background (http://listen.hatnote.com/); that we create multi-language materials such as large posters to decorate E111; that we discuss the option of changing the days the thon is held (the Thursday-Friday option was recommended to ensure there were computer labs available).
 * 3) The program featuring short set presentations worked well; it is recommended that it is repeated but maybe topics be geared to a general audience. Also, we might devote a separate space for that so that people who want to listen in can hear and others can keep working without distraction.
 * 4) Creating a Wikipedia classroom assignment geared toward having it translated at the translatathon 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 translatathon. 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.
 * 5) 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 translatathon and after it.
 * 6) 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.
 * 7) 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 translatathon, as it felt like a lot of work at the last minute.
 * 8) Videos: we only did a handful of individual short interview videos. We should work on this for future events, perhaps laminating a list of questions, and ask students to collect these video reflections. Here are the questions:
 * 9) Please briefly introduce yourself.
 * 10) Have you ever edited Wikipedia before? In what language or languages?
 * 11) What entries have you worked on, or would you like to work on?
 * 12) Has your opinion of Wikipedia changed after what you learned about it today?


 * 1) The Powerpoint with guidelines about getting started was used by some participants; it is recommended that we keep it but get a better projection/laptop setup so that people can use it. Perhaps we might also print out the slides to have on the tables.

The Unclear

 * 1) Handouts with assignments and mini-lessons were created, but it is not clear whether these were used by any faculty.
 * 2) 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.
 * 3) 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

 * 1) 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.
 * 2) 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.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) Especially if we rely more on people bringing laptops, we need more power strips to reach all of the tables.
 * 5) 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.
 * 6) 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.
 * 7) We will create an introductory pamphlet for people who might stop by an event: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cAZFCHRU0UDkcIzG0F0ZpYfZxa5d5TTcapeAoSBjW0Y/edit
 * 8) 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

Translatathon 2018
Meetup page: LaGuardia Community College/Translatathon April 2018

Dates held: Thursday 26 April (05:00pm-07:30pm); Friday 27 April (11:00am-05:00pm)

Attendees: 84 at LaGuardia (students, faculty, staff, and community); 6 remote participants from France

Trainers: 10 (Sherry Antoine, Jeremy Baron, Daniel Bogre Udell, Thomas Cleary, Tara Coleman, Ximena Gallardo, Jim Henderson, Richard Knipel, Loren Koenig, Ann Matsuuchi)

Languages our editors said they would be translating into:
 * Albanian to Greek
 * Arabic to English
 * Burmese to English
 * English to Arabic, Bangla, Burmese, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Nepali, Patois, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian
 * French to English
 * Japanese to English
 * Punjabi to English
 * Romanian to French
 * Spanish to English

The Translatathon Dashboard reported 18 articles created and 95 articles edited, but there were many more articles in progress, as not all editors signed into the Dashboard.

Pre-event Publicity: LaGuardia faculty along with the college’s Marketing department: posters, handouts, e-mail blasts, social media; meeting with student clubs; Wikimedia NYC: meetup page, FB posts, announcement during 4/25 WikiWednesday meetup.

Post-event Publicity: Photography (Jim Henderson and LaGuardia Events), Video interviews (Sherry Antoine and Ann Matsuuchi).

Preliminary conclusions: English, German and Italian also require permission to publish translation if you aren’t an approved editor. We should probably make this clearer to people somehow.
 * 1) The event was well attended both days; it is recommended the two-day format be kept for the next time.
 * 2) The set up (sign-in room with 25 laptops connected by WIFI as well as food and drink; separate hardwired computer lab) worked well; it is recommended it be kept.
 * 3) The event focused mostly on translating; a program also featuring short set presentations (possible topics: Translation Tool, Intro to Wikipedia, WikiTongues, AfroCrowd, Wikidata, Content Gaps, etc.) as well is recommended for the next iteration as it will allow newcomers to decide how to allot their time.
 * 4) Sign up on Dashboard was less smooth than we desired and not all contributors were included. We need to work out how to ensure we can track everyone more effectively.
 * 5) Tracking contributors may also become easier if we emphasize account creation before the event and signing up on the meetup page.
 * 6) Should we have a “create account” station specifically to have people make accounts and register on the dashboard then too? It might speed up getting people started and make sure they don’t have to wait too long for a laptop to go around once the IP address is locked by Wiki.
 * 7) We may want to create projects to involve editors in teams. There is no reason a longer article cannot be divided into sections and each be translated by a different editor.  Projects might work best if a professor is involved--she can assign the sections of eight to nine articles to an entire class beforehand.
 * 8) We should include projects for monolingual editors. One suggestion was Wikidata work on biographies.
 * 9) We should make a pamphlet on how to set up wiki accounts with the translation tool, it would free up our time more from setting up accounts one person at a time  and give us time to be able to show them how to use the tool.
 * 10) We may want to have a couple of Wikipedia workshops in the Fall to entice more profs to have their classes work on Wikipedia. We could create a few mini-lessons that they could do in class for those bringing class, before coming. Like two 15-minute activities about students’ languages and how Wikipedia works which would be helpful to the Prof and students apart from their participation in the event.
 * 11) It would be great to have some participation from the high school-early college programs. I tried to reach out to them but didn’t receive any response so if we know people with contacts there, that would be great. Same with ACE: we should try to get more participation from continuing ed students.
 * 12) We should make sure the computer lab is close by the main space. It was great for E-108 but not so great when we had E-141.
 * 13) Find out from IT about whether we can freely give out the Wifi code for next time. >> Follow-up problem - we have been told to be much more careful with the guest wifi account, and only give it out to visitors upon request. Students should use their own login if possible.--Mozucat (talk)
 * 14) Since we will have all the basics in place for next time, can we try to do it earlier in the semester, before there are a thousand million events? Also, should we try for a daytime date when there are more classes, since that’s how we get most participation? Or maybe like a Thursday 3-7pm and Friday 11-3.
 * 15) Languages we should have added but IT didn’t see that they were available: Tagalog, Haitian Creole.
 * 16) Languages we should also add next time: Thai, Punjabi (if we can figure out the script issue our student raised this time).
 * 17) Languages that don’t use machine translation via the translation tool (we should think of better workarounds for this):
 * Nepali ? – maybe we need to just change the keyboard in the tool
 * Tibetan ? – maybe we need to just change the keyboard in the tool
 * Italian
 * English
 * German

Beta Translatathon 2017
Meetup page: LaGuardia_Community_College/Translatathon_2017

Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Attendees: 10 LaGuardia faculty; 1 York College faculty

Trainers: 3 (Pharos, Jim.henderson, Blue Rasberry)

The 2018 Translatathon was preceded by a two-hour beta translatathon whose purpose was to troubleshoot technical problems that could arise during the full translatathon. Three key conclusions derived from this event:

1. The translatathon would be a two-day event so as to allow evening students as well as those who work all day to attend. 2. LaGuardia faculty would request that IT install language keyboards in the computers of two labs that would be used during the translatathon for the 30 languages most used at LaGuardia:

3. There would be need to create translation-specific training (how to access the tools for keyboards, what to do if a language is not supported by existing keyboards, what to do if Wikipedia’s Translation Tool does not work for a specific language), new editor handouts, and sign-in sheets.
 * Arabic
 * Bengali
 * Chinese- traditional
 * Chinese- simplified
 * French
 * German
 * Hebrew
 * Italian
 * Japanese
 * Korean
 * Nepali
 * Polish
 * Portuguese
 * Russian
 * Spanish
 * Tibetan
 * Urdu

Spring 2019

 * Meeting minutes 16 January 2019 (and for Fall 2018) : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qb9D9X4MkowDg-i9yTsOjYJ0TMZ-Y4lgw0h5uiIWv3Q/edit?usp=sharing
 * People + Pitches: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oEr5cwsZx8b1FoGv7xx5XTDPrU5cZzoXQdZGFTfT-YY/edit?usp=sharing
 * Program + Translatathon Events: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RSj5ffM34JoQqctz7gDmEkwXdgEKk-W3zJ0hsr0kOso/edit?usp=sharing