OTP Learning Series 02: User roles and workflow

This tutorial explains the user roles and workflow in TED's Open Translation Project. The links used in this video are:

List of language-specific Facebook groups: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/Language_Groups

List of Language Coordinators: http://translations.ted.org/wiki/Category:Language_Coordinators

Amara support email: [e-mail]
(also see the Amara Knowledge Base at http://ted-support.amara.org/support/home)
TED support email: [e-mail]

This video has been created for the volunteers working in the TED Open Translation Project. The TED Open Translation Project brings TEDTalks beyond the English-speaking world by offering subtitles, interactive transcripts and the ability for any talk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.
Learn more at http://www.ted.com/pages/287

[User roles and workflow]

Let's go over some questions and answers

about what volunteers
in the Open Translation Project do

and what steps
your subtitles will go through

before they're published online.

So, first...

What roles are there?

We have translators or transcribers,

reviewers and Language Coordinators.

What do they do?

A transcriber creates TEDxTalk subtitles
in the language of the talk.

Those subtitles will then serve
as a starting point

for translations into other languages

and they'll also allow non-hearing viewers
to access the talk.

A translator creates subtitles
in another language.

A reviewer checks
the transcript or translation

for mistakes in grammar, punctuation...

But also things like subtitle length,
reading speed, and so on.

A Language Coordinator or "LC"

does the final check
on the translation or transcript

and approves it for publication.

Language Coordinators
are also mentors in your language.

They can help you solve linguistic issues

and help you get the hang
of working with our tools.

Who can do what when?

Anyone can begin
translating or transcribing right away.

We have a lot of training material
to get you started

and we're here to help.

Reviewers need a little more experience.

We recommend
that you don't start taking review tasks

before you have translated
at least 90 minutes of talks,

and the same goes for transcribing.

This will allow you
to learn from the comments

that you get from experienced reviewers
and Language Coordinators

and to gather
the experience that you'll need

when you start reviewing
other people's work on your own.

Now, who are these Language Coordinators?

Language Coordinators
are experienced volunteers

selected for their expertise

and their history of helping
their language community

in the Open Translation Project.

What happens with my work?

Everybody has 30 days to work on a task.

After you've completed
your transcript or translation,

it usually takes some time

before another volunteer picks it up
to do a review,

so if your work has been waiting
for a review for a long time,

you can ask for a review
in your language group on Facebook.

While working on the review,

reviewers are asked to communicate
with the translator or the transcriber

about any major changes.

They can do it by leaving comments
on the translation

or through direct messages.

Once a review has been accepted,

a Language Coordinator picks it up
for the final approval.

In some cases either the reviewer
or the Language Coordinator

will send the task back,
explaining what needs to be changed.

And once the final approval
has been completed,

your work becomes published online.

What to do when something goes wrong?

Again, we're here to help.

You can talk about linguistic issues
in your language's group on Facebook

or you can contact
your Language Coordinator.

Bugs and issues on Amara

can be reported to
[e-mail].

And finally, TED-side issues,

like mistakes in the way
subtitles are credited on TED.com,

can be reported to [e-mail].

You'll find all of these links
in the video description.

And for now,
happy transcribing and translating!