Localizing the Q&A Systems
by José Antonio Rey
You may know one of the most used resources for support in the Ubuntu Community is AskUbuntu.com. But there is a big problem with the system: it is only in English. So many people end up wondering where can they get support in their local language, as their English level is not that good, or do not even understand it, or maybe they want to get support on their language. They go to their Local Community teams, and maybe Launchpad, but we all feel this is not enough.
In an effort to give a solution to this problem, which we discussed last UDS during the Leadership Summit, I got assigned the work item to investigate and work on localizing the Question and Answer (Q&A) systems. As I mentioned before, we are using Ask Ubuntu! as the current Q&A system, and is only available on English, and if anyone asks a question in other language it gets translated. But we want to have a system that can be used in various languages for people to get support in their native language, with no hesitations. This will be a way to improve the quality of the support given at the moment, and also get to a broader scope when we are talking about outreach. Ubuntu is available in many different languages, so why not also offer support in those languages?
So this is where you come in. I have been investigating on various Q&A systems, but would like to hear from all of your suggestions on which systems can be used for this specific project. That is why I have created the QandALocalization wiki page for you to add all your ideas on the project. We really need your help on this issue, as I would like to have many systems to compare, and finally decide on which one we should be using, so I do not regret about choosing the wrong system.
I would like to mention some requirements for the systems, remember they should have most of them (if not all!):
- Free and Open Source Software
- Easily translatable, even better if it can be done with Launchpad
- Integration with Single Sign-On systems, as we would use the Ubuntu SSO for logins
- Points or trophies system
- Obviously, a nice design that looks professional, and can be tweaked to get an Ubuntu theme
- It would be great if it is already translated in some languages</li
If the system you are thinking of meets those requirements, it is certainly something we are looking forward to analyze. In the future we will need the help from developers, translators and designers, so we can create a platform that can be stable and fulfills all of our requirements. I will also make sure to provide constant updates on how the project is going. I am really excited to start this, and expect a great outcome from it.
If you have any suggestions or want to chat about the project, you can go to the #ubuntu-q+a channel on irc.freenode.net (click here to join using webchat) and ping me (JoseeAntonioR), or you can also send me an email to joseeantonior AT ubuntu DOT com, I will be happy to answer all your enquiries and listen to all of your feedback.
Perhaps this can get you started: http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2010/07/19/an-invitation-to-try-ubuntus-qa-on-shapado-com
That was almost *3 years ago*.
When I proposed that Canonical, and its community managers put all their weight behind Stack Exchange (which became AskUbuntu).
While discussing this with Jorge Castro he relayed the discussion to someone in the Debian project. Debian then chose to use Shapado, still running at http://ask.debian.net/
Go figure.
I am really considering more systems than the one listed on the Wiki page. Shapado is definitely one of those, it has great features.
We, the Italian LoCoTeam, are targeting on setting up an “ask” system based on OSQA. I’m not sure what you mean with “translation are hardcoded”, but as in almost all Open Source projects translation are possibile through PO files. There are still problems though, since some of the translatable strings are made in a very strange (nad wrong) way that is hard to translate them, but patches can be sent upstream. We have our own branch with an Ubuntu-based them too.
Oru Launchpad project is here: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-it-ask
Translations are done via Launchpad.
I see, and there’s still lots of work to be done. I’ll see if we can use this as a basis, the system seems solid.
I actually talked to one of the people who were tweaking the system, and he mentioned the strings were hardcoded and couldn’t be translated, that’s why I was noting that down. Ubuntu-PE tried to do a replica of the system, but couldn’t load some modules as we didn’t understand them at all, so maybe we can work on it together to make a complete install guide and take this in consideration for future deploys.
Good point Jose.
All non english LoCo can work togheter to maintain a core stack and fixing problem to send upstream (translation too).
We have a guide to deploy only in italian languages but we can translate it.
Having a translated guide would be a complete help, as for example, Google Translate is not that good in that aspect. I hope we can get a good result from this, there are many LoCo teams that need help.
askubuntu is really neat, what about allowing all langs there? and just classifying them?,
StackExchange is in the process of localizing, but this is big work and they don’t have an ETA. I have someone who is in contact with them, but we’ll stick to this until StackExchange’s problem gets solved.
Translate please to Russian
Our goal would be to have as many languages as possible