Submissions/The Trend of Translation in the Indonesian Wikipedia: Substance v Aesthetic

After careful consideration, the programme committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2013 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no.: 3047
Subject no.: A2

Title of the submission: The Trend of Translation in the Indonesian Wikipedia: Substance v Aesthetic

Type of submission: Presentation

Author of the submission: Yordan Nugraha

Country of origin: Indonesia

Affiliation

E-mail address: yordan_313hotmail.com

Username: Mimihitam

Personal homepage or blog: -

Abstract: Since the dawn of Wikipedia in 2001, there has been a grandiose vision of creating the most comprehensive encyclopedia that shall be freely accessible and rectifiable by everyone. Unfortunately, in Wikipedias with small amount of active contributors, such vision is constrained by the problem of time and resources. One of the quicker solution to provide a comprehensive substance is through translation of articles from bigger Wikipedias. Nevertheless, this also poses an aesthetical problem if the translation is not undertaken appropriately. This presentation shall therefore explore how the Indonesian Wikipedia balances the interests of substance and proper translation.

Detailed proposal: Since the dawn of Wikipedia in 2001, there has been a grandiose vision of creating the most comprehensive encyclopedia ever written that shall be freely accessible and rectifiable by everyone. Unfortunately, in Wikipedias with small amount of active contributors, such vision is constrained by the problem of time and resources. As an illustration, to provide a complete knowledge of embryonic stem cell in Minangkabau language, one will have to conduct a research, obtain references, read the materials, consider the structure, and write the article. This is a time consuming process, and sometimes does not worth the investment since the content might not be fully comprehensive. Moreover, in many Wikipedias with speakers from remote areas, there might not be available resource on the facts of punctuated equilibrium, Turing test, or neutron star. This might paralyze the growth of smaller Wikipedias in terms of substance.

In order to solve this problem, one of the quickest solutions is through translation of articles from bigger Wikipedias, in particular importance the English Wikipedia. One will just have to translate a featured or good article in another Wikipedia without having to waste time conducting research. Such an effort has been conducted in the Indonesian Wikipedia, where articles are translated from English to Indonesian, and this rapidly expands the quality of one-paragraph articles.

Nevertheless, this solution might pose an aesthetical problem if the translation is not undertaken properly. Inappropriate translation might make the whole article awkward or simply incomprehensible. This trend has also occurred in the Indonesian Wikipedia, where several translated articles are tagged with “inaccurate translation” template. This eventually reduces the quality of the encyclopedia.

Thus, the focus of this presentation will be to assess how the Indonesian Wikipedia cope with such a problem and how the interest of substance and aesthetic is balanced. Moreover, a conclusion on which trajectory should smaller Wikipedias choose will be formulated.

Track

WikiCulture and Community

Length of presentation/talk: 25 minutes

Language of presentation/talk: English

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

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Bennylin (talk) 13:40, 1 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
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