Translate-athon

A translate-athon is a mass translation event.  Get a number of translators in
one room and begin translating and you have a translate-athon.  The general
idea is that translation is simply a numbers game, get a large number of people
translating and the task will be completed more quickly.

Hosting
Who should attend
Venue
Preparation
What should you translate?
On the day
Program
Post translate-athon followup
Quality
Checklist

Hosting partner

It might be good to involve a hosting partner.  Traditionally we have chosen the
language departments of Universities.  They have access to good skills,
computer labs and their own network of people.

Who should attend

You can take various strategies.  Either throw the door wide open in which case
you probably need to publicise the event slightly differently so that you can
attract various people.  Or make it a relatively closed affair with your hosting
partner.  For your first one it might be nice to make it closed as you can then
ensure a quality audience.  Remember that you have the chance to attract people
who might not know anything about Free Software and who have their own networks
that could tap into other potential translators.  A mass event has issues about
quality which we address below.

Venue

Your choice of venue should consider the following:

	1. Is it easy to get to
	2. Do they have enough computers
	3. Do they have Internet access if you need it

Remember to put lots of signage up on the day so that people can actually find
the venue.

Preparation

Work with you partner to arrange the venue, people, etc.  Make sure you have
actually seen the computer lab and tested how things will work.  If needed make
contact with the lab assistant, manager, whatever and get their buy-in.
They'll be a wonderful Allie if things go wrong and you have brought them
on-board.

It is also nice to arrange refreshment, prizes and talks.  So plan for those
and get sponsors if needed.  And perhaps give a slot for people to talk on
various aspect of Free Software and translation.  Talks and refreshments give a
nice break for people to network and get excited.

Ensure that you have a team of helpers that can assist newbies during
translation, the number depends on the number of people expected.  The ideal
people are more computer focused then language focused.  You need people who
can quickly tell if something is a brand name, explain a computer term,
describe what something does or how a term is used in computers.  Having
language specialists on hand is useful as they can direct the language aspect
of the same word choice problems.

Choose a date so that the majority of people are available.  Avoid the obvious
like school holidays.  Public holidays may actually be a good time to host the
event unless they are family orientated holidays or long weekends.  If you wan
to attract students at University make it fall into their program, avoid exam
times, holidays, etc.

What should you translate?

Ultimately the choice should align with broader goals for the language team.
If this is the initial translation then you might want to translate a glossary,
especially if you have access to language experts.

Another thing to consider is that if people have something to show for it
afterwards then it is more rewarding.  So translating the Mozilla web-browser
and actually completing it so that people could take it home or download it
shortly after the event.

A few days before

Remind people of the event and check the computers.  Nothing worse then no one
coming or the computers not working.  Check that you actually have access to
the lab and its not closed for some obscure reason.

On the day

Arrange for yourself and helpers to arrive early.  Check that the catering is
OK.  Recheck the computers.  Welcome people.

Take it as it goes and adjust your program if it isn't working.

Program

This is the suggested program that we use.

09:00 Arrive tea, Register (hand out program, translation guidelines)
09:30 Start - intro talk (very basics of translation)
10:00 Translate short session
10:15 More talk covering more advanced topics
11:00 Translate
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Translate
14:00 Talk
14:15 Translate
15:00 Tea
15:30 Translate (hand out evaluation forms)
16:30 Close
16:45 Continue Translating if you want

This gives you 4 hours of translation time with none more than an hour long.
Adjust as needed.  If you have a mixture of new and mature translators then it
might be nice to arrange the venue so that mature translators don't have to
listen to any of the talks.

Give people a copy of the program and include the titles of the talks.

Event close

Don't forget to thank people.  It would be good to send out an evaluation for
that allows people to give feedback, asks them if they want to be on a
translation discussion list and if they want to do this again.

Post translate-athon followup

Keep the energy going.  Some ideas for this are to establish a mailing list.
Send out copies of what was translated.  Give prizes to those who did the most,
had the least errors, made the funniest mistake.  Share stories about errors
that were funny.

Quality

How do you ensure quality of the work?  These are people who have just started
and their work will be suspect, take that for granted.  There are a few things
you can do to ensure quality.

- Ensure that people are well informed about common mistake
- Have a document that gives a guideline to translators
- The document should also identify things like variable, how to choose words,
  etc
- Talk to new people before they start, have a quick 15 minute translation
  session then talk again to reiterate the issues.
- Never accept translations from a translate-athon until they have been
  reviewed by an established translator.  If needed add them to the PO files
  but mark all of them fuzzy.
- Optionally only use professional language people: lecturers, translators
- Have computer people on hand to answer questions
- Encourage people to ask questions, regularly and often

Checklist

Planning
	- Found partner
	- Determine appropriate day
	- Create mailing list if needed
	- Arrange prizes

Lab
	- Lab suitable
	- Meet with lab supervisor
	- Book lab

Venue
	- Place for tea
	- Tables and chairs for tea arranged if needed

Few days before
	- Check lab booking
	- Reminder to participants
	- Contact assistants, technical and language to confirm
	- Plan and create program
	- Print evaluation and translation guides

Day before
	- Visit lab
	- Check on caterers
	- Arrange tea area
	- Arrange registration area
	- Meet with assistants to discuss their role and your expectations

On the day
	- Setup for tea or check on caterers
	- Bring all forms (registration, program, guidelines)
	- Force your assistants to mingle especially if they are already project
	  participants
	- Thank people
	- Hand out prizes

Followup
	- Add people to mailing list
	- Email thanks