Older blog entries for pusakat (starting at number 13)

Getting back in the saddle after being bucked off it isn't exactly easy. For starters, one has to overcome the sense of defeat that comes with the experience. Furthermore, it can be a PITA to regroup one's resources to get past the failure, and focus on working out a solution to the problem.

It's the third month of the year, and I have little to show in terms of work done on TL, or organizing the efforts that are underway in translation. It would be nice if someone on the translation team would draft something like a style guide, even just for comments or as a basis for a final style guide for the project.

Of course, there's also the fact that translation work doesn't just happen in one project or system. There are several fronts which direly need translation work for Tagalog, and only a few people are really serious about doing this over a broad range of projects.

In the course of researching for other tasks, I've discovered a wealth of documentation that would be helpful to the wannabe translator. But I'll save that for when I have it organized and have more time to enumerate them and discuss the options.

Zero work on FOSS today. Had automotive alternator anguish just a day before New Year's and that ate up most of my time on the run up to New Year's Eve.

No word from G. The wait is killing me. I'm expecting a rejection anyway since I think that I bombed out during the technical phone screen.

My outlook this year regarding my work on FOSS since I've decided to keep my FOSS posts here on advogato:

• Continue work on d-i tl. Keeping on top of this is fun.
  
• Start getting the bulk of gnome-tl in shape. It's a long way to go.
  
• work on wwwtl.gnu.org
  
• Find other things to package for debian
  
• promote i18n/l10n/a11y work in the Philippines
  

My work on Debian gets into Ubuntu somehow, so my focus is there instead of on Ubuntu per se. I do take some time to log into launchpad and fix a couple of translation files here and there when I have time. Of course, it would be great if there were more people involved in this. If you are interested in doing Tagalog translation work for Free/Open Source Software, join our mailing list at debian-tl. It isn't strictly a Debian mailing list anymore, nor is it strictly for Tagalog translation, the scope has expanded to any Philippine language, so please join us if you're interested in translating F/OSS to a Philippine language.

My wishlist of FOSS related stuff for this year:

• More technical books (like I don't have enough of them already)
  
• maybe a new 'puter that I actually own since the one I'm currently using isn't really mine (UPM legally owns it, I merely possess the object),
  
• if not a new 'puter, maybe a new hard disk
  

Just finished updating the Tagalog translations of the shadow package and sent the tl.po to Tomasz, the upstream maintainer. I'll try to get the updates to him much earlier since he takes the time to send update email to all translators ahead of a release.

d-i is definitely a moving target and I have to keep on my toes to keep the tl translation in sync. It is easier to do this daily since the updates are usually a few strings a day, and it is much more manageable to do that than all in one go. It would also make things easier if there were more translators who are dedicated to maintaining translations for even just one program each to distribute the load of translation. But at the moment, it's wishful thinking. The drawback to this is that the style of translation will vary with each translator. Someone should spend time writing up a style guide for translation in Tagalog as well as an updated glossary of technical terms with their suggested translations.

Did a little work on d-i translation, just 4 strings in the master translation file. Am doing a little work on shadow upstream translation so it can be merged back into debian quickly. I'm a little behind in the additional files that haven't been translated to Tagalog: xserver-xorg/debian/po/tl.po and menu/po-sections/tl.po. I seem to recall that jsg might have worked on menu/po-sections on launchpad, so I should check that out. I also have to ping the aptitude translator, Ryan E., to find out if he's making any progress. Looking at the aptitude translation file though, I may have to set aside time to review it and suggest revisions to keep it in sync with the rest of the translations.

I've been working primarily on translation of the Debian GNU/Linux installer to Tagalog. Here's a link to a summary of translation statistics for Tagalog. Although most of the work has been done by myself, I'm grateful that there are others who are interested in working on translation as well. The work is slow for the most part; this is due to the fact that translation isn't automatic. There is much work to be done toward making it easier for translators to contribute. In this regard, I think that the Ubuntu infrastructure, as well as their distribution's integration of launchpad, is a good example of how it can be achieved. I'm interested though in working out a framework for translation in Filipino languages to help coordinate the different efforts in this arena.

Vacation can put a damper on free software work... of course, everything takes a back seat to family.

yes... it's been that long. i haven't had time to advogato online, but have been sucked up in RL.

python xml rpc entry

I'm test posting a diary entry on Advogato using the XML-RPC interface using Python. No, it isn't scripted yet, but if this works, I just might write one for myself as an instructive exercise.

Teaching Kids

Teaching kids, particularly in grade school, can be very educational for the would-be-teacher as well as for the kids. I spent most of today helping my step-son-to-be review some science and geography lessons. Going over the material just brings back facts and information that I normally would take for granted, but attempting to make all that make sense and for it to be meaningful enough to remember for our kids is not an easy task. It makes me more appreciative of teachers. Of course, my own background as an Education major in college colors my perspective a bit. It makes me want to review Papert's work in education and how much computers can be used as a tool in learning.

Storms

It is still Typhoon time here in the Philippines. Twenty fatalities last I heard. Weather can still be a killer even with all the advancements man has made.

Books

Finished reading "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman today. It was a good read for me, since I enjoyed his "Stardust" and "Neverwhere." I look forward to reading more of him.

Last week, I wrapped up reading Dennis Danvers "The Fourth World" after finishing his "Circuit of Heaven" and "End of Days" novels, which give some interesting perspectives about consciousness, AI, personality simulation. The former novel gives a view of developing countries (i.e. Third World/Fourth World) that many in developed nations might take for granted. The idea of how one man's trash is another man's treasure takes on a different meaning after reading this maybe.

I started reading Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" this morning. I understand that this is a pre-quel to "A Fire Upon the Deep," which I enjoyed immensely.

Python

I've begun work on learning Python XML since a few of the projects I'm getting involved in will be using XML. Using Python as a glue for database, PalmOS integration isn't as difficult as I had thought. However, I need to try my hand at using Python under Win32 since our target clientele will be mostly using Win32 platforms. There isn't much of a problem when dealing with the server side aspects because most of our development on the server is GNU/Linux based.

Free Software and Developing Countries

Will pursue reading up on this and maybe write a lengthier article about it here or elsewhere. Thanks to goingware for the hints on where to look. I've been finding his diary entries very informative. I applaud his efforts at teaching his niece how to make her own website. My current thinking is that abundance of documentation/literature in the vernacular (or the native language) tends to lower the barrier to acceptance of a particular technology, in this case, Free Software and Open Source Software. Hence, I initiated the Filipino LinuxDoc Project.

Hmmm... why are there Advogato articles posted that look more like they should be on a mailing list? I'd have expected articles to be of a more substantial length and providing information and perhaps ideas to think about and an exposition of a line of reasoning or some other such ephemera. Bizzare.

The Filipino Linux Documentation Project now has a mailing list up here and a place-holder webpage I put up a year or two ago here. It might be worthwhile for me to google around for other translation projects to see how they went about their work, for pointers and all that. I'll probably do that later.

Free Software and the Third World

I did a search for Free and Open Source Software and Third World countries. I turned up with one related article here and another reference here. I'd like to get more articles about how it makes more sense for Third World countries to adopt Free Software in lieu of proprietary. Piracy seems to water down the importance of this. High availability of illegal copies of proprietary software in this country (the Philippines) seem to diminish the importance of this issue as well as awareness about it. Of course there's that letter from that Peruvian(?) Congressman that intelligently discusses why adoption of Free Software is in the best interests of their State. I figure that it is the same case for a country like mine. Pointers to related lit would be helpful.