Naoko Takano 6:12 am on August 29, 2018
Tags: gwtd ( 29 )

Global WordPress Translation Day 4: Preliminary Planning

What is Global WordPress Translation Day (GWTD)?

For the past years, GWTD has been a 24-hour-long event consisted of:

Offline & online translation contributorTranslation Contributor Translation Contributors (formerly known as Translators) are volunteers that focus on translating projects into their language. They contribute to improving their language either in a small way, like fixing a typo, or a large way, likes translating entire projects. day events, hosted by local meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers.
Live stream on Crowdcast, hosted by polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. volunteers and local event attendees.

Here are links to past event archive pages:

GWTD1 (April 24, 2016)
GWTD2 (November 12, 2016) Recap
GWTD3 (September 30, 2017)

You can check out more posts on event planning and announcements through #GWTD tag.

When should we organize the next event?

September 30 was chosen last year because that date was declared as the International Translation Day by the United Nations General Assembly in May 2017.

There are some comments on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. #polyglots-events that it will be too short of notice for us to start organizing the event now and having the event on Sept 30 again this year.

Maybe mid- to late-October could be a possibility?

Local Meetup Format

Offline & online translation contributor day events are the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. of the Translation Day, when we all work on translating WordPress core and related project all around the world.

The basic guide is available on Polyglots Handbook page:

[Guide] Organize a local event on Global WordPress Translation Day

What kinds of live-streaming contents are useful/meaningful?

Contents type: Sessions, panels, interviews
Content language: English, localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ languages
Type of speakers: GTEs, PTEs, translators with special skills, pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party/theme authors, metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. developers, GlotPressGlotPress GlotPress is the translation management software that powers Translate.WordPress.org. More information is available at glotpress.org. developers, others?

Feedback & Volunteers Welcome!

If you have any thoughts or would like to be involved in the planning/organizing, please leave a comment on this post.

(Edit) We had these roles last year. The list may change because we are still determining the scope of the event – sharing just for FYI go get some ideas.

Communication (marketing) volunteers
Design volunteers
Outreach volunteers
Website/admin volunteers
Live Streaming content volunteers
Local events mentors

You can also join the Slack #polyglots-events for discussion.

raffaella isidori 7:03 am on August 29, 2018

Here’s my perspective (which obviously represents only my view)
I was on the Orga team for WPTD3. I believe a lot was done to push the event and its value (for participants and Community) forward and I would like to see the next event one that went even further, making a point to make it better and more valuable every year. Or, at least, not to scale it back.
For that, there needs to be time.
Last year was organized in 3 very intense months (I personally was on the project almost full time) and while it being on the UN international translation day was cool, it also fell on a holiday time for part of the meetups, which should be considered.
September is a busy month for work, after the holidays, and October, November and December are very event-intense.
With these premises and considering putting the machine in motion now, I would aim for the event date to be on Jan 26/27 or Feb 2/3. (After checking there’s no big holiday clash anywhere)
- Naoko Takano 7:53 am on August 29, 2018
  Good to hear your perspective! I agree with “making a point to make it better and more valuable every year.”
  
  I mentioned “scaling back” at one point but should have picked words to describe my thoughts more accurately. What I was going for was “streamlining” and “making it more manageable & collaborative”.
  
  The topic of GWTD has come up from time to time for the past few months but we’ve been putting it off because we know it’s a lot of work (as you said).
  
  Our goal is to bring coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. translations 100% and then reach full translations for top plugins/themes. Without collaborating well as each localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ team and global polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/., the goal is hard to achieve.
  
  The past GWTDs provided great opportunities for 1) local meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. groups to have a translation contributorTranslation Contributor Translation Contributors (formerly known as Translators) are volunteers that focus on translating projects into their language. They contribute to improving their language either in a small way, like fixing a typo, or a large way, likes translating entire projects. day 2) polyglots team members to “meet” each other online and get to know others more.
  
  I feel we’re missing those benefits this year if we wait longer, and the scale of the event organization prohibits us from the event on a regular basis.
  
  Some ideas:
  - Using a Meetup.com template to automate mapping pins, like the WP15 cerebration.
  - Making it easy to coordinate the 24-hr live streaming (maybe not making everything live, recording Zoom/Hangout sessions and broadcasting on the day?)
  Looking forward to hearing from others as well!
  - raffaella isidori 8:36 am on August 29, 2018
    
    Yup, I agree with the need for a more streamlined process, and I think that adding to the stream pre-recorded sessions (and creating a repositoryWordPress Localization Repository The WordPress Localization Repository at https://i18n.svn.wordpress.org/ is a Subversion repository where official WordPress translations are maintained. See Working with the Translation Repository for details. for further viewing) is a must, as it allows to manage fewer, more key, live streams and rely on well established available information for more basic/standard issues.
    That’s why I would consider giving WPTD4 all the necessary attention (=time) to create a platform/system that can after be easily managed for every following appointment.
    Last year we tried to aim at that, but as mentioned, for some aspects there was simply not enough time.
    That’s why I suggest taking the necessary time for WPT4 to “finish” what was started last year in terms of “systemizing-it” and creating a smoother process for all following events.
    I also want to stress the need to place the event (which, if successful in the streamlining processes, could be bi-annual) at times where is not too conflicting with all other happenings in the community and when people could give it a bit more time. For example it could be winter/January summer/July as they seem a bit less crowded with WordCamps/major long holidays
Jb Audras 7:44 pm on August 29, 2018

Hi @nao and thank you for this post!

Since I helped with website dev/admin during WPTD3, I’m up to do the same job for the next event!
I can help with theme templates and to set up the meetup.com APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. calls (and map) like I did for WPTD3 🙂

Cheers,
Jb
tokyobiyori 6:18 am on September 5, 2018

I’m fine with any date, but September/October seems a tad bit too rushed for me! My students at my University and I will be contributing this year as well 🙂
Nemanja Cimbaljevic 8:39 am on September 11, 2018

Comments are only from perspective as local event org 🙂

While I love idea of having #GWTD match date or at least a month with UN’s International Translation day, setting everything up now for end of September or even October seems to be way too much, just to get local support and traction to have enough people plan this, will take more than that I believe.

I see benefits of making an event in this period of time, and it can surely help to spread the word around about localisationLocalization Localization (sometimes shortened to "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel." and idea of WordPress in general.

But for this year, I have agree we should aim somewhere in first quarter of 2019. Maybe after that get back to 30.09 when possible or +/- days around it (even if that will make 2 events in 2019).

We really had good experiences with it in last few years, but to make it happen again, I think every community needs time.

Also, I’m willing to help in every way possible on global scale this year.
Jonathan Bossenger 8:33 am on November 12, 2018

I know I’m late to the party, but keen to assist, both with being a local event mentor as well as in any other ways I can help remotely.

With 5.0 and WCUS on the horizon, I think a 1st quarter WPTD date is a good one. It will also give me some time to try and find new GTEGeneral Translation Editor A General Translation Editor (often referred to as GTE) is a person, who has global access to validate strings on all projects for a specific locale.’s for our local African languages.
Naoko Takano 7:14 am on January 23, 2019

In case anyone is following this thread.

I published Global WordPress Translation Day 4 – Call for Organizers, you can sign up from: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/164rCoqG9XM_eJ9MUrLU3lG7BhzncULe7uWpsCDG7OBU/edit#gid=0

cc: @audrasjb @tokyobiyori @ziontrooper @psykro @sultanmusic @bahram421 @rohamweb1988