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Submissions/Wikipedia in teaching translation at the university level

From Wikimania 2012 • Washington, D.C., USA

This is a withdrawn submission for Wikimania 2012.

Submission no.

167

Title of the submission
Wikipedia in teaching translation at the university level
Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)
presentation
Author of the submission
Łukasz Golowanow
E-mail address
fillg @ ug.edu.pl
Username
pl:User:Airwolf
Country of origin
Poland
Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)
University of Gdańsk
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)
  • For three years, the Department of Translation of the University of Gdańsk has been organizing a course by the name of Wiki Translation (conf.). A Wikipedia administrator and graduate of the aforementioned Department, I have been chosen to arrange and conduct the course in 2010. Its goal is twofold:
    • To train aspiring translators in various aspects of the trade. Texts (articles) selected pertain to various aspects of knowledge, ranging from history to biology. All of them, however, are good articles or featured articles, which ensures their overall high quality. Feedback emphasises issues such as factual accuracy of translation, style, information mining, cultural context and competence, but also seemingly minor issues such as spelling and punctuation. Supplementary emphasis is placed on the topic of copyright and source analysis.
    • To help expand Wikipedia in Polish, at least to a limited extent. Generally, texts used for practical teaching of translation are used only for the purpose of the course, and after feedback and analysis are never returned to again. Wiki Translation changes this state of affairs, as the texts are post-feedback moved to the main namespace, where they serve users of Wikipedia. Articles translated include en:Mozart in Italy , en:Postage stamps of Ireland, en:Huangshan, en:Museum of Bad Art, en:Haapsalu Castle et al. Throughout the course texts are chosen by the teacher (usually two or three per round, with the students instructed to select one), additionaly for the grade each student selects a text according to his or her own preference. Thus, students are also encouraged to edit Wikipedia at their own discretion, with the hope that at least some of them will remain members of the project after the course is finished.
  • I wish to present the concept of the course as an innovative method of utilizing Wikipedia in an academic environment, the courses potential, the benefits and difficulties that come with it. For the students it is a new, captivating form of learning, which stands out by virtue of the medium being used. For Wikipedia (in any language), it is a chance to expand (as far as smaller Wikipedias, ie. not in English, are concerned) and acquire new, skilled and educated editors. The long term goal would be enouraging a) translation teaching institutions worldwide to adapt a similar approach; b) universities in general to accept the presence of Wikipedia.
Track
WikiCulture and Community; Research, Analysis, and Education
Length of presentation/talk
15-20 minutes for presentation, 5-10 minutes for Q&A.
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
I can only attend, if I receive the scholarship.
Slides or further information (optional)
none
Special request as to time of presentations
None. However, Submissions/Wikipedia Translation and Transnational Scholarship, Submissions/Experimenting with Wikipedia at a Mexican university and Submissions/Wikipedia at university: language learning should be held at different times, as some participants might be interested in attending all four (topic overlap).


Interested attendees

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  1. Heard a lot about this project, would like to get some in-depth information; a must-see for me! odder (talk) 00:19, 19 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Ldavis (WMF) (talk) 23:17, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. --Brest (talk) 00:22, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  4. CT Cooper · talk 20:06, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Add your username here.