community translation in a multilingual online environment: case study and theoretical framework
DESCRIPTION
Connections between translation and participatory media as seen through Project Lingua and Global Voices.TRANSCRIPT
Community Translation
in a Multi l ingual Online Environment:
Case study and theoretical framework
Chris Salzberg
November, 2008
Presentation Outline
1. Background Media attention, web publishing, bridgeblogging, Global Voices
2. Case Study Case study methodology, Project Lingua, research materials
3. Observations Research approach, profile of translators, content flow, problems
4. Analysis / Theory Related research, translation as news, theoretical framework
5. Next Steps
1. Background
Broad research question
How do we get our daily news about the worldbeyond borders of nation, culture and language?
Media
Broadcast media Telecommunications media
Global Media Attention
Global Attention Profiles A Working Paper: First Steps Towardsa Quantitative Approach to the Study of Media Attention (Zuckerman, 2003)
Attention Bias
Traditional news media have constraints: Physical constraints (size of printed page, length
of radio broadcast or television program, etc.) Personnel constraints (limited number of news
gatherers, reporters, gatekeepers) Attention of major media strongly biased:
Most accurate indicator of media attention is GDP Economy more important than language, culture
(Zuckerman, 2003)
From Global to Local
Large newspapers cutting staff heavily Focusing on local news, cutting foreign news
”The Changing Newroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost inAmerica's Daily Newspapers?” Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008)
Alternatives in web publishing
Internetbased tools differ from traditional media: Cheap: only computer + connection, no startup cost Unconstrained: arbitrary formats, unlimited space Instantaneous: no delays for production, publication Open: no barriers to entry, no economies of scale
Blogs as Media
Bridgeblogging (Zuckerman, 2008) “[W]eblogs that reach across gaps of language,
culture and nationality” to enable communication Community is small, but may be essential in
connecting separate parts of the global blogosphere Use of blogs by journalists (MacKinnon, 2007)
47% of correspondents in China read blogs daily for story ideas (but only 16% read Chinese blogs)
Global Voices Online
Citizen media project founded at Harvard University's Berkman Center in late 2004/2005
International group of bridge bloggers, original focus on regions with low media attention
Aggregate/introduce conversations in cit. media
The World is Talking
Blog conversations as primary source material: Articles introduce conversations through
aggregation, contextualization, translation
Focus on Listening
Objectives Convey conversations in citizen media Maintain close relationship with blogging communities
Not a traditional “news site”: Complementary relationship with mainstream media Articles often used as source (NYT, BBC, CNN)
New model for communitybased journalism
Review of Main Points
International news media Attention profile heavily biased (Zuckerman, 2003) Heavy cutbacks in foreign news (CEJ, 2008) Increasing reliance on bloggers (MacKinnon, 2007)
Web publishing Cheap, unconstrained, instantaneous Global Voices: blogs as primary source, focus on
listening / community
2. Case study
Case study methodology
Underlying principles (Gillham 2000) Naturalistic approach, results are highly specific Researcher is a participant observer Inductive theorizing: theory comes after observation
Goals of research Collect evidence and formulate a grounded theory Triangulate multiple sources
Importance of LanguageEnglish
Chinese
Spanish
Japanese
French
German
Arabic
Portuguese
Korean
Italian
Other
Language of Internet Users (Internet World Stats, 2008)
Blog posts by language (Technorati, 2007)
Online Translation Communities
Virtual community (Porter, 2006) “aggregation of individuals [...] who interact around
a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms.”
Define “online translation community” as: Aggregation of individuals who interact around the
central task of translation, with interaction at least partly mediated by web technology.
Main Case Study: Project Lingua
Project Lingua (Salzberg, 2008) Subproject of Global Voices Online Cluster of 15 language teams, formed in 2006/2007 Translate Englishlanguage Global Voices articles
into other languages One of the largest and most active translation
communities in the world
Challenges of case study Other case studies in media/journalism
Individual: Hautanen (2008) studied news translation by observing a Finnish correspondent at work
Institutional: Bielsa (2007) conducted a 3week ethnographic observation at global news agencies
In contrast: Global Voices is an entirely virtual organization Method relies on electronic record, like study of fan
translation (Díaz Cintas and Muñoz Sánchez, 2006)
Research materials
Qualitative Individual online interviews Meeting transcripts, internal reports Email questionnaires Inperson conversations, meetings
Quantitative Surveys (also qualitative) Statistical data (hits, frequency of posts)
Initial Goals
Document structure and development What is the history of Project Lingua? How does this community function internally? What are the major challenges?
Comparative analysis Are there other domains of translation with similar
features? How are they similar/different? Are there aspects which can be generalized?
3. Observations
Approach
Structural / Compositional History of organization, position within Global Voices Roles and functions of contributors/participants Content/translation flow, internal coordination Source/target text structure, problems of lost context
Experiential Background and motivations of contributors Coherence of group narratives (Baker, 2006)
Global Voices as Mailing Lists
Diagram by GV Managing Editor Solana Larsen
Situating Project Lingua
History Started independently by one blogger, developed
into GV Chinese in 2006, then Lingua from 2007 Unique aspects among other projects
Initiated by Global Voices community Almost as large as Global Voices, and growing Different audiences from other projects No editorial oversight covering entire project
Roles and Functions
Global Voices consists of: Regional Editors (parttime staff, 10 positions) Language Editors (parttime staff, 9 positions) Authors (volunteers, 8090 active contributors)
Project Lingua consists of: Currently 15 translation teams One editor per team, total 70100 volunteer
translators
Profile of translators
Based in many different countries, e.g. Spanish: Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, U.S. Arabic: Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Bahrain
Various different backgrounds: Most common: bloggers, journalists, translators,
students But also: lawyer, system engineer, professor, IT
professional, financial analyst, web designer, etc.
Map of Lingua translators
Activity of translation teams
Spanish
French
Chinese
Bangla
Macedonian
Portuguese
Italian
Malagasy
Arabic
Japanese
Albanian
Swahili
German
Hindi
Serbian
Farsi
Past 6 months, leftblog posts October, leftblog posts
Spanish
French
Chinese
Bangla
Macedonian
Portuguese
Italian
Malagasy
Arabic
Japanese
Albanian
Swahili
German
Hindi
Serbian
Farsi
Most active teams:Spanish, Chinese, Bangla, French, Portuguese, Italian
Growth in small languages
Many smaller, localized language communities: Malagasy Macedonian Albanian Serbian
Motivations/expectations are different For smaller language communities, translated
content stands out in local media landscape
Content flow in Global Voices
3part process (always starts with cit. media):1. Search: Regional Editors, Language Editors and
Authors search for topics in blogs, forums, etc.
2. Select: Once an issue or topic has been found, entries and background information are selected.
3. Compile: Selected passages from blog entries and other UGC are compiled into an English article
Translation into English at step 2 or step 3
Example of content flow
Blogs on topic X inChinese Blogosphere
Article in English
Contextualization
Translation (optional)
Translation flow in Project Lingua
Global Voices articleBlog entry
GV en EspañolGV en françaisGV in ItalianoGV amin´ny teny malagasyGV em PortuguêsGV në Shqip (Albanian)GV на македонски (Macedonian)
GV بالعربية (Arabic)
GV োোোবোল ভেেেেে অনলোইন: বোংলো ভোেসন
(Bangla)
GV 全球之声 / 全球之聲
GV 日本語
Regional BlogosphereLingosphere
Global Voices in English Project Lingua
Flow to/from other organizations French: Rue89, Rezo.net (news),
Cucumis (translation community) Arabic: Al Jazeera Talk (cit. media) Spanish: Canal Solidario (news) Chinese: China Times, Memedia
(news) Backpackers.com.tw (travel) Bangla: Biborton Bangla
(news/entertainment site)
Communication and Coordination
Main methods of communication in Lingua: Mailing list + editor review (most common):
Translators announce article to translate, one or more editors proofread translations
Wiki + peer review (GV Chinese team): articles proofread by other team member, sent back for confirmation, then published
Direct publication: minimal communication, experienced translators can publish directly
Problems (1): Lost Context
Major challenge of lost context: Assumptions of background knowledge not
appropriate for nonEnglish audiences Links to Englishlanguage references are not
accessible in translated article (sometimes replaced) Choice of subjects assumes English audience, not
always suitable for readers of a different language Presentation may evoke unintended response
Example of lost context
Article about Mauritia (Andriamanajara, 2007) Mentions genital excision, a foreign concept to
Malagasy audiences When translating to Malagasy, translator had to
consult other people for advice Final compromise: “circumcision for young girls” Through translation, translator introduced a new
concept to a language community (Malagasy)
Problems (2): Sense of Community
A B C D E0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
To which online community do you feel the closest attachment?
(Online survey conducted in January 2008)
A: All bloggers across the world (2)
B: Bloggers in your language or region (8)
C: Global Voices (7)
D: Lingua (0)
E: Lingua community for your language (5)
Bloggers vs. Translators
Bloggers Connected to local blogosphere / lingosphere Wellversed in blogging software, web services Speak language of “web 2.0”, conversationoriented
Translators Typically work as individuals, professionoriented Lack of knowledge about blogging technology, need
for training
4. Analysis / Theory
Context in Case Studies
Determining context is important in case study Investigation starts by exploring case study Research context is not a priori defined
Cases have highly specific characteristics Need to get to know case in context:
Research questions emerge from investigation Basic process centers on gathering evidence
Research Context
Journalism StudiesResearch on Internet and Society
Translation Studies
Language and Global Voices
History of Global Voices: Began as a regionoriented, not languageoriented Translation embedded in organization at an implicit
level (no mention in manifesto, etc.) English bridgebloggers, translation not essential
This approach was not sufficient: Began hiring translators to cover “lingospheres” Overlapping structure of region and language
From Region to Language
“In the next century, [...] the definition of proximity [will change] from geographic to linguistic: two countries [will] border one another if and only if they have a language they can use in common.” (Shirky, 1999)
Shift of Research Context
Translation Studies
Journalism StudiesResearch on Internet and Society
News TranslationTranslation in Global News (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2008)
Community TranslationFan translation (Díaz Cintas and Muñoz Sánchez, 2006)
Examples in (Baker, 2006) and (Salzberg, 2008)
Participatory Media / Citizen Media / Citizen JournalismMany references, e.g. MacKinnon (2007, 2007a), Zuckerman (2003)
Project Lingua
Global Voices
News Translation
Resent research has shown: Drastic reorganization in news translation (Hursti, 2001) News translators see themselves as “international
journalists”, not translators (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2008) Translation plays a critical role, but is invisible
Relation to case study research: Problem of lost context, blogger / translator conflict Comparison of structural aspects of translation flow
Community Translation Translation in communities of anime fans (Díaz
Cintas and Muñoz Sánchez, 2006): Networks of fans collaborate to translate anime
subtitles (typesetters, translators, editors, encoders) Frequent use of detailed translator notes English as pivot language, translation into English
often conducted by nonnative speakers Translators translate for a specific community of
anime fans (not a general news audience)
Translation and Participatory Media
Translation Studies
Participatory MediaStudies
Research on Internet and Society
Journalism Studies
News TranslationCommunity Translation
Theoretical Framework
Two basic concepts used to define framework: Gatekeeping theory (structural) Narrative theory (experiential)
Theories bridge all three areas: Translation Studies Network Society Journalism and Media Studies
Gatekeeping and Translation Gatekeeping is a common theme:
Gatekeeping in news media (White, 1950; Bell, 1991) Translation as network gatekeeping (Cronin, 2003) News translation as gatekeeping (Fujii, 1988;
Vuorinen, 1994) Translation as gatekeeping in a network setting
Physical accessibility linguistic accessibility→
Ideas such as access, transparency and bias take on new meaning in multilingual network setting
Narrative and Translation
Mona Baker (2006) investigates translation communities through narrative theory: communities “held together by a sense of identification
with a narrative or set of narratives” importance of narrative coherence, narrative fidelity
Global Voices has a cohesive narrative: blogging, web 2.0 technology, freedom of speech, etc.
Language/translation left out of this narrative
Limitations of Framework
Lack of data points Very little research on online translation
communities Global Voices and Project Lingua very young,
organizations are changing fast Financial aspects are largely omitted
Is this framework generalizable? Maybe not. But it is important for understanding the case
5. Next steps
Observations and Analysis
Structural Complete organizational structure of content flow Compile and analyze statistical data Comparison of roles/functions with news translation
Experiential Complete second set of interviews Comparison with translation community (Cucumis) Compare narratives of Global Voices and Lingua
Preliminary Recommendations
More explicit incorporation of language and translation in Global Voices public profile
System needed to track and respond to translator content selections
Outreach expanded from regional to linguistic Broaden nonEnglish organizational ties:
News sites, travel organizations, translation schools, translation communities, etc.
ReferencesAndriamanajara, Mialy (2007). ”Mauritania: Ignorance and Tradition,” Global Voices Online, August 30, 2007.
Baker, Mona (2006). ”Translation and Activism: Emerging Patterns of Narrative Community,” The Massachusetts Review 47(III): 462484, 2006.
Bell Alan (1990). The Language of News Media. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bielsa, Esperança (2007). "Translation in global news agencies," Target 19 (1), 135155.
Bielsa, Esperanca and Bassnett, Susan (2008). Translation in Global News, Routledge, 2008.
Center for Excellence in Journalism (2008). ”The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers?”, 2008.
Cronin, Michael. Translation and Globalization. Routledge: London, 2003.
Díaz Cintas, Jorge and Muñoz Sánchez, Pablo (2006). "Fansubs: Audiovisual Translation in an Amateur Environment," The Journal of Specialised Translation 6, 3752.
Fujii, Akio (1988). ”News translation in Japan.” Meta 33(1), 3237, 1988.
Gillham, Bill (2000). Case Study Research Methods, London and New York: Continuum, 2000.
Hautanen, Suvi (2008). ”Le processus de travail d’une correspondante: une étude observationnelle,” Master's Thesis, University of Helsinki, 2008.
Hursti, Kristian (2001). "An insider's view on transformation and transfer in international news communication: An EnglishFinnish Perspective," Helsinki English studies I, 2001.
MacKinnon, Rebecca (2007). “Blogs and China Correspondence: How foreign correspondents covering China use blogs,” paper presented at The World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC), Singapore, June 2528, 2007.
MacKinnon, Rebecca (2007a). ”Blogging, Journalism and Credibility: The Future of Global Participatory Media,” in Ono, Yoshikuni, ed., On Global Communication (Kyoto: Seikai Shisosya, 2007), 2007.
Porter, Constance Elise (2006). ”A Typology of Virtual Communities: A MultiDisciplinary Foundation for Future Research,” Journal of ComputerMediated Communication 10(1), 2006.
Salzberg, Chris (2008). ”Translation and Participatory Media: Experiences from Global Voices,” Translation Journal 12(3), 2008.
Shirky, Clay (1999). ”Language Networks,” shirky.com, 1999.
Vuorinen, Erkka (1994). ”News translation as gatekeeping.” Mary SnellHornby et al. (Eds) (1994), Translation as Intercultural Communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994.
White, David M. (1950). ”The 'Gate Keeper': A Case Study in the Selection of News.” Journalism Quarterly 27, 383390, 1950.
Zuckerman, Ethan (2003). “Global Attention Profiles A Working Paper: First Steps Towards a Quantitative Approach to the Study of Media Attention,” Research Publication No. 200306, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, 2003.
Zuckerman, Ethan (2008). “Meet the Bridgebloggers,” Public Choice 134: 4765, 2008.