Google Season of Docs 2021 with Learning Equality
We are not accepting applications for this year Google Season of Docs any more, but we would like to invite you to sign up for periodic email updates from Learning Equality to stay informed about:
- Updates from GSoD writing projects.
- The ongoing impact of the broader Kolibri Product Ecosystem.
- Other opportunities to get involved with Learning Equality.
You can sign-up here: le.fyi/newsletter.
Learning Equality (LE) is a non-profit organization based in the United States that creates and supports tools to enable equitable access to high-quality educational opportunities, with an emphasis on supporting effective education technology interventions in low-connectivity contexts. Learning Equality’s work emerged out of the recognition that the same global populations that have the least access to quality education also have the least access to the growing wealth of learning resources available online.
We work closely to co-design the product with a core network of collaborators, including national NGOs, UN agencies, government, and corporate partners, while also taking a needs-based approach to its development through insights gathered from Kolibri’s global user community. Through its do-it-yourself adoption model and strategic collaborations, Kolibri has reached learners and educators in more than 205 countries and territories.
Launched in 2017, Kolibri is an end-to-end suite of open-source tools, content, and DIY support materials, designed for offline-first teaching and learning. Centered around an offline learning platform that runs on a variety of low-cost and legacy devices, Kolibri Product Ecosystem also includes a curricular tool, a library of open educational materials, and a toolkit of resources to support training and implementation. These tools are available in a variety of languages, to better support learners and educators globally.
After successful participation in the first edition of GSoD in 2019, and two projects during the 2020 edition, this year we are again eager to welcome tech writing contributions through the Google Season of Docs program, to work on an exciting documentation project to support the internationalization and localization processes of Kolibri.
Core to executing LE mission is the ability to support the varied learning needs of the underserved populations in their own local languages, which is why we take internationalization (i18n) so seriously, and have made our Kolibri platform available in 23 languages thus far (including native tongues, like Fulfulde Mbororore, for example). Being an organization that actively co-designs its products and tools with its beneficiaries, it is only natural that the i18n path we’ve chosen, includes community volunteers and grassroot crowdsourced contributions, instead of professional localization services.
We use the Crowdin platform for the localization of several projects in the Kolibri Product Ecosystem. Crowdin offers two important features to aid translators to better understand the meaning and setting where each of the strings is located in the Kolibri user interface (UI), in order to provide the best possible translation for terms and phrases that users see:
- String context
- UI screenshot
Without context, when translators do not fully understand a word or a phrase that appears in the Kolibri UI, they have the option to raise an issue with the LE’s i18n team, and ask for support to comprehend the string in order to provide the most appropriate translation. The main purpose of the Context feature on Crowdin is to enable an optimal translation experience (even by non-professional translators), decrease the number of support questions and issues, and ultimately provide better user experience in localized versions of Kolibri.
Initially, both the context phrases and screenshots were stored only on the Crowdin platform, and had a drawback of becoming obsolete whenever a new set of strings was uploaded to Crowdin for each new Kolibri version. We managed to considerably improve our i18n workflow by implementing a process that stored the value of the context field together with their respective string in our codebase as a CSV file, which enabled persistence and adaptability across versions.
Currently, all the new strings that are introduced in Kolibri go through the i18n audit process during which we write the context for strings, that is later added in the code for the new features. However, there are still a lot of legacy strings that do not have a proper context written out, which can often create doubts during the translation stage. The purpose of this GSoD project is to remediate that by adding descriptions (context) for these legacy UX strings, to decrease the number of support requests by the translators and ensure better consistency across translations.
The easiest way to envision the writing needed for this project is to think how you would describe and explain the function of an UI element (or a message) presented to the user, while adding some complementary information for the translators.
| String | Context | Screenshot |
|---|---|---|
New |
Refers to CHANNEL; label that indicates that a channel was recently updated, imported, or unlocked. | - |
Visible to learners |
Column header for table that contains lessons data. Column cells will include a toggle switch the user can use to set the visibility status of a lesson. | - |
Clear completed |
Button on the task manager page. When pressed it will clear all the completed tasks from the list. | - |
Name |
This should be just translated as 'Name', not 'Network name'. | - |
Choose another source |
Button that opens the modal to choose source for content import workflow from Studio or an attached local drive. | - |
Transcript caption text cue |
This string is used to describe the container where the caption appears to help those who use the screen readers assistive technology. You could also translate it as "Text of the current caption” | - |
Class assignments |
Page/tab title displayed for the Learn page when the learner is enrolled in a class. This is where the learners can see the list of lessons and quizzes coaches have opened and made available for them. |
 full size image
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Crowdin screenshot feature has a fairly straightforward upload and annotation workflow. Not all strings will require a separate image, as in the majority of cases screenshots can be associated with several strings. Technical writers participating in this project can take screenshots with any software tool they feel comfortable with, but we also plan to implement a workflow to store screenshot filenames and their associated references to string IDs in a text format like JSON.
- From LE’s point of view, especially as it relates to efficiency in our product development processes, the measure of success for this project would be having the meaning for each string conveyed with more clarity for non-technical translators, and subsequently, a decreased number of support requests and issues raised by said translators on Crowdin, as a result of the clear, newly added context.
- From the perspective of the completion of the GSoD project, success will be measured by the total number (or overall percentage) of P0 prioritized strings that have the context documented during the GSoD project.
- Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English (near native).
- Experience in writing for global audiences (plain language).
- Ability to look at existing strings, understand the context of what’s being said, and relay the string context to non-technical translator audience.
- Availability to learn how to use Crowdin tools (LE to provide training).
- Ideally some familiarity with internalization and localization processes.
- Radina Matic - Main PoC and Project Coordinator
- Carine Diaz - LE Internalization Lead
- Jacob Pierce - Full Stack Developer
If you are interested to know more about this project idea, Kolibri or Learning Equality, send an email to radina@learningequality.org, and we'll reply with the invite to the #season-of-docs channel we set up in our team Slack workspace!