Survey on volunteers preferences and expectations

[kitsunenosaraT]

🇺🇸Take the survey!

Please, complete this brief survey to help us better understand your aspirations and talents!
No question is mandatory, feel free to skip any question you like.
Just remember to come and say hello in issue #20 so that we can reach out to you.

---

🇮🇹Inizia il sondaggio!

Completa questo breve sondaggio per aiutarci a conoscere meglio le tue aspirazioni e i tuoi talenti.
Nessuna domanda è obbligatoria, sentiti libero di saltare quelle a cui non vuoi rispondere.
Se non lo hai già fatto, ti chiediamo di presentarti nello issue #20 così potremo metterci in contatto con te.

---

Survey participants so far

• eliogi
• valtermura
• winfox
• Sav22999
• Owlz

[eliogi]

Q1. I'd like automatic notifications for some categorized project (i. e.: started from me or where I am a contributor).
Dashboard is the main reference tool for upgraded projects. Mail from reviewer are good, but only at the beginning (with personal suggestions); I suppose it's better automatic notification.
Q2. At the beginning of the collaboration it's important the role of the senior translator as a mentor. It could be helpful ask information about the beginning of the collaboration.
The official guide it's important for a permanent reference book, but in addiction It's always better ask to someone what to do, what project choose at the beginning (for complexity or urgency).
Q3. This question is not easy because I've really found helpful email direct messages from my mentor. It is immediate, and I could read corrections everywhere I was.
The problem of the email is that is not controlled and it is not easy to find a particular topic after the work.
Threads in the forum are better organized... so, it could be better use the forum for "permanent and official" communicaition, sending a copy of the content by email (so user can read the preview everywhere he/she is). (It would be really great use the "reply" button for reply the comment and update directy the forum in this way, but I suppose it's not easy but it would be really great).
Q4. Really interesting point.
In this section there are several issues that can be defined.
Interest in project:

• a weekly email with "open" project; every project with a graph bar and the % completed (like the official dashbord) and the number of "remaining sentences" and a message like this: "contribute to FINISH this project to add expertize to your profile". If I see in a graphical way the current status I could decide to cooperate with small project of 10 or 20 sentences to finish "like a game" the project; like a gaming.
• a weekly email with tests and games. If I am busy I'd like notifications because personal email needs to be answered.

[kitsunenosaraT]

Duly noted. Thank you for your input, @eliogi! 👍

[valtermura]

1. Project notifications preferences

I'd prefer to receive an e-mail, better in a dedicated mailing list, with notification that a project needs my attention: e.g., there are strings to translate, there is a review, and so on.

In another project I work, I receive an automatic notification that there are new strings to translate; in the other ones, I'll have to check the mailing list (LibreOffice, OmegaT); in KDE I'll check directly the local web page.

2. Relationships with reviewer/senior translator

I'm both junior and senior translator :)

As junior translator, what I need is to receive useful infos from my mentor/reviewer, with suggestions and corrections and/or proposals on my work. I'd also like that my mentor explains to me all the important aspects, useful to me, of the translation process, giving to me all indications to make the work easier: they should involve useful links, tools to use, how-to, translation guidelines, etc. It should be better if a summary web page includes all the links to them

• In the KDE process, which is done offline, I submit my work to my reviewer/mentor, who "loads" my strings into the system (subversion), putting myself in copy (e-mail). He also writes to me a mail, in which he explains the possible corrections to my work.
• In K/Ubuntu (Launchpad) and LibreOffice (Pootle. Here I'm also the team leader, but we are really very few who collaborate...) we work online. Only the team leaders have the authority to insert translations and revisions, the volunteers can only work with suggestions. In Pootle I also manage the authorities to translate, suggest, submit, etc..., while the strings are updated about every six months by the international responsible of the project. In LibreOffice, which is a vast project, there are also other localization areas, website, wiki and guides. The guides, linked to the project ODFAuthors, are not managed by me, and we work on them locally, using the tool OmegaT.

3. Communication channel

I usually prefer a mailing list composed by localizers (every good open source project should have one), but also I use a direct contact with the other translators. I think that every system is good, if previously decided and used correctly. The strength of the mailing list is that you can concentrate all communications in one system, the mail client!
If you work in one project, maybe you can use integrated comments, but if you manage three or four the best choice are the mailing lists.

4. Long-term commitment

IMHO, people really interested in collaborating in an open source project, usually don't need any effort from the community side, in order to collaborate. I mean people who really believe in the open source community.
I think that collaborators should be "formed/informed" in how important is their role inside the community, giving to them the right space. Their work should be visible to all the world, inside the official website and inside the translated application/pages/guides. A translator's tab in the app, or a contributors' page is a good idea. Gadgets are also a good idea.
A periodic e-mail, during dead times, could be useful, also linked to an availability system.

[kitsunenosaraT]

Thank you Valter, you have been very clear and insightful!
It is extremely interesting to learn about the localization workflow in other open communities, and we are lucky to have someone like you who contributes in multiple communities.
By the way, I would like to mention, as a bit of trivia, that before the transition to our current translation platform Pontoon, Mozilla has been using for years a customized version of Pootle.