Community Translation in a Multilingual Online Environment: Case study and theoretical framework

Community Translation in a Multilingual 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 world beyond borders of nation, culture and language? Media Broadcast media Telecommunications media

Global Media Attention Global Attention Profiles A Working Paper: First Steps Towards a 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 ”The Changing Newroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers?” Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008)  Large newspapers cutting staff heavily  Focusing on local news, cutting foreign news

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 Language English 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 Arabic Spanish Arabic French Japanese French Japanese Chinese Albanian Chinese Albanian Bangla Swahili Bangla Swahili Macedonian German Macedonian German Portuguese Hindi Portuguese Hindi Italian Serbian Italian Serbian Malagasy Farsi Malagasy Farsi Past 6 months, leftblog posts October, leftblog posts 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 Contextualization Translation (optional) Blogs on topic X in Chinese Blogosphere Article in English

Translation flow in Project Lingua GV 日本語 GV 全球之声 / 全球之聲 GV en Español GV en français GV in Italiano GV amin´ny teny malagasy GV em Português GV në Shqip (Albanian) GV на македонски (Macedonian) Global Voices article GV ‫( بالعربية‬Arabic) Blog entry GV োোোবোল ভেেেেে অনলোইন: বোংলো ভোেসন (Bangla) Regional Blogosphere Global Voices in English Project Lingua Lingosphere

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 To which online community do you feel the closest attachment? (Online survey conducted in January 2008) A: All bloggers across the world (2) 9 8 B: Bloggers in your language or region (8) 7 6 5 C: Global Voices (7) 4 3 D: Lingua (0) 2 1 E: Lingua community for your language (5) 0 A B C D E

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 Translation Studies Research on Internet Journalism Studies and Society

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 Community Translation News Translation Fan translation (Díaz Cintas and Muñoz Sánchez, 2006) Translation in Global News (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2008) Examples in (Baker, 2006) and (Salzberg, 2008) Project Lingua Research on Internet Global Voices Journalism Studies and Society Participatory Media / Citizen Media / Citizen Journalism Many references, e.g. MacKinnon (2007, 2007a), Zuckerman (2003)

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 Community Translation News Translation Research on Internet Participatory Media Journalism Studies and Society Studies

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.

References Andriamanajara, 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.

Community Translation in a Multilingual Online Environment: Case study and theoretical framework

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