knol - a unit of knowledge

I can't believe I'm just now learning of this. I found out at Ed Yourdon's blog.

Back in 2007, Google released Knol, a user edited repository of knowledge that some have likened to Wikipedia.

According to Google's own Knol Help,

Knol has one goal: to help you share what you know.

The Knol project is a site that hosts many knols units of knowledge written about various subjects. The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and elicit reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments, and related information. So the Knol project is a platform for sharing information, with multiple cues that help you evaluate the quality and veracity of information. 1

As I see it, Knol is pretty cool. It is like Wikipedia, in that users are invited to share their knowledge, submit and contribute to "knols" or articles thereon. There are distinct differences, however.

The tools provided for creating and editing pages on knol are a bit more "user-friendly" for your average net-citizen to use, including wysiwyg tools, rather than requiring knowledge of wiki markup of any particular variety (there are various out there now), and doesn't require knowledge of any html or any other coding skills.

On thing that could, in my opinion, stand improvement, is the manner in which knol URLs are formed. At Wikipedia, you can pretty well find an article by adding that for which you search to the end of the wikipedia domain, as in, say you are searching for "cows", you know you can find relevant information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cows . Pretty simple. Unfortunately, knol does not build article links in so simple a fashion. A search for "cows" on knol gives a long list of results, with URLs that look like this: http://knol.google.com/k/chris-kovacs/cow/2muevqpdz8cz/2# . You will notice that, after the knol.google.com domain, there is a name (in this case, Chris Kovacs), then the topic (cows), and then some garbledy-gook. All knols appear to be organized by author, first, which does have certain advantages, for the author, as the author IS important at knol, unlike wikipedia, in which authors are sometimes rather anonymous. Also, various authors may submit knols on the same topic, so there is no definitive knol on any particular topic. Also, once an author has created a knol, they have the right to manage that knol, meaning they can accept or reject contributions from other authors, as they see fit. As such, knol differs widely from Wikipedia, being more of a place for authors to showcase their knowledge, rather than a community maintained knowledge repository.

I surfed around knol a bit this morning while drinking my first few cups of Pilo (o Cafe Forte do Brasil), and particularly enjoyed this knol about chilenismos (Chilean slang), by Tomas Bradanovic.

I dug around a bit more, and was astounded to find that there was no knol about Free Software! I just couldn't believe it!
So, I rolled up my sleeves and waded into the fray, and have now become the proud author of this knol on Free Software.
It was easy!

So, dust of your knowledge and share it on Google's Knol.

Enjoy,
./tony

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originally published on the baldwinsoftware.com | blog

transprocalc - free translation project management tools *MUCHO TODO*

I've decided I need to drag out the transprocalc code and get hacking again.



TransProCalc is a little program I sarted building back in late 2007/early 2008, when I was outsourcing a lot of translation work, and found that the time I was spending managing the projects didn't justify the meager profits I was making from outsourcing. I determined that I really needed to find a way to automate parts of the process, and I couldn't find any existing free/open source software projects that would meet my needs. I was "scratching an itch", as they say in the hacker community. I had a need; I started hacking.

TransProCalc IS handy, too. It helps me keep track of all the documents and assignments for a project, and crunch of the financial numbers, and spits out handy little reports. It needs work, though. I want to get it playing with a database to manage information on clients and providers, get it hooked up with a real calendar/reminder system, to remind me when invoices are due (to providers, or from clients), keep track of which clients have online invoicing systems and help me automate the process of dealing with those, etc....much trabajo.
I have good ideas on how to get a lot of that accomplished, but I need to set aside some time to get to work on it.
Additionally, I would not mind other devs jumping on board with the transprocalc project.
I added transprocalc on google code this morning, which may assist in finding other hands to get into that code, perhaps, and provide tools to manage the project.
Of course, it is already on sourceforge, too.
At the moment, I have some academic articles from Brazil to translate that are keeping me pretty busy.

Furthermore, I have a lot of really good friends in Santiago, Chile, where there was an 8.8 earthquake early this morning.
So, today, I am spending a lot of time, today, worrying about them and trying to track them down and make sure everyone is okay, and obsessively checking the news, etc... VIVA CHILE, MIERDA! (a todos los chilenos, les quiero mucho, mando abrazos, cuidense)

Originally published at tony baldwin | baldwinsoftware.com.

!VIVA CHILE, MIERDA!

By now, of course, everyone has heard that there's been a brutal earthquake this morning in Santiago de Chile.

I found out early this morning when my mother called me, and asked if I had heard from my friend, beautiful and talented artist, Paholita, who resides in the Santiago.


art of pahola jasmina sarda castro

I immediately attempted to phone Paholita, unsuccessfully, but have since heard from both her and her daughter, and they are well.
I have other friends in Santiago, too.

I'm pleased to announce that my friend Hector Mansilla of the Fundación GnuChile is alive and well.


I'm still waiting to hear from otros amigos chilenos.
To all in Chile, we send MUCHO AMOR.
Les mando abrazos a todos, les quiero mucho.
¡VIVA CHILE, MIERDA!

A Translators' Petition Concerning ProZ.com's Job Policies

A Translators' Petition Concerning ProZ.com's Job Policies.

Over recent months, we have witnessed a steady and alarming increase in the number of ProZ.com job offers that contain rates and working conditions we consider totally unacceptable. One recent example of such a post provoked the enraged reaction of thousands of translators and interpreters and was reported in the Italian national press, in addition to being widely discussed by thousands of other translators on translator mailing lists, blogs, Facebook, and elsewhere. The Italian Minister of Tourism ultimately released a statement disavowing the working conditions contained in the job posting that appeared on ProZ.com.

Originally published at tony baldwin | baldwinsoftware.com.

Yes! You, too, can use Free Software and Succeed as a Freelance Translator

This past weekend new versions were released of two Free software programs very important for translators, OmegaT, CAT program (Computer Aided Translation), and Anaphraseus, another CAT program, both Free (as in speech) and free (as in beer).

OmegaT, developed in Java, is the CAT program is most used by translators in the Free Software community, and has been used in translation and localization of other important Free Software projects such as OpenOffice.org, the complete, Free, office suite. It is rather distinct from other CAT programs, broadly useful, with ample functions and the ability to deal with a wide variety of files formats, including all those most common to the translation industry, such as all MSOffice® file formats, various software localization formats, and, of course, all Open Document Format files. In addition, OmegaT works with the standard translation memory format, TMX (Translation Memory eXchange).

Anaphraseus CAT works similarly to another, proprietary CAT program, Wordfast®, in its earlier incarnations, but as a macro in OpenOffice.org, not with MSOffice®, as does Wordfast. Anaphraseus developed in StarBasic, is important because it allows translators who are users of free software to provide their customers "unclean" .doc or .rtf files, a bilingual word processing file (containing both, the source and target languages), widely used in the translation industry. With both these tools, translators using only free software are able to compete with those who work with proprietary products that dominate the industry. Both programs are cross-platform, able to run in GNU/Linux, Mac or Windows.

I announced the release of these new versions over the past several days, but today, I'm taking the time to elaborate again on these release, because I believe these programs are extremely important. I've already discussed why I believe open document formats are important at some length, but it is a topic I am likely to revisit, and my original article touching on the matter is, as I see it, a work in progress. I'm certain I will continue to revise and update that article and repost it from time to time. Why freedom of information and open standards are important in my industry, translation, should, as I see it, require little explanation.

Now, my industry, translation, like so many others, is dominated by the use of propietary software tools, such as Trados® and Wordfast@, and inundated with the widespread use of MSOffice®. That's no surprise and no secret. Many translators, in fact, believe that you simply can't work successfully in our industry without MSOffice® and Trados® or Wordfast®, and I'm living proof that the notion is completely erroneous. I've been working as a freelance translator now for half a decade, and using only Free Software on my computers for a full decade, and my family eats three square meals a day. My three most used programs are the above mentioned, OmegaT, Anaphraseus, and OpenOffice.org (the 4th being a web browser, for research and to communicate with clients, providers, etc., and fifth being mocp to listen to music while I work. Seriously. But that's a matter for another article). I work for private clients, government agencies, school systems, and large translation warehouse agencies, the vast majority of whom use the popular proprietary products mentioned above. I've never had any difficulty due to lack of compatibility, and have always been able to deliver the product that my clients have demanded of me. Furthermore, it is my belief that I can do so more efficiently using the Free Software I use, especially since I use them with a GNU/Linux operating system. My system is secure, stable, and efficient. It uses fewer resources than popular proprietary operating systems, doesn't fall prey to the hordes of viruses and attacks to which those other systems are so easily and frequently prey, has never crashed on me (seriously, not once), and is far more customizable and configurable, allowing me to set it up in the way that is more "ergonomic" and efficient for me, allowing me to work as efficiently as possible. I save time, not having to deal with AV software updates, fixing crashes, removing intrusions, etc. Heck, I never even have to reboot the darned thing. Another factor, and, in my opinion, this is probably the least important, but often the most touted in some circles, is that none of my software has cost me a penny. Seriously. I have powerful CAT tools and office tools for my translation work, all the web communication tools needed (e-mail, chat, voip), tools for managing the financial back end (some day I should write an article on gnucash), powerful image manipulation software (sometimes I edit images for clients), essentially, everything I need for my work. (I also have all the toys, games, multimedia software, etc., I could possibly ever not need to distract me when I should be working...).

A common proprietary operating system, cat program, and office suite, alone, would cost me in the neighborhood of US$1500.00. Proprietary image manipulation software would easily tack on another $700, and, let's not forget that I'd have to pay for security tools to protect all my data, with regular AV updates, etc. I could easily spend US$3000.00 or more for the software I would need to do the work that I do, were I to use proprietary software tools. So, I'm not only more efficient in terms of time/energy waste maintaining my machine (able to focus more on work than maintenance...except when I'm blogging or facebooking), I'm also more efficient in terms of expenditure of financial resources, which enables me to pass the savings on to my clients, making, in fact, more competitive than my colleagues who use proprietary software tools.

Now, do I use Free (as in speech) Software just because it's free as in beer)?

No. For me, the issues of freedom of information and open file format standards, and the freedom to control my own computer (not be licensed to use a product over which I have little control, and in a fashion that gives its creators rights over the software on MY machine) are FAR more important to me than price. In addition, the added efficiency and configurability I have with the Free Software I use are convenient and agree with me immensely. Nonetheless, I do feel that it's worth mentioning the added financial advantage these tools bring.

With that, I will get back to work translating these Brazilian articles, and bid you good day.

./tony

update

Further developments at baldwinsoftware.com include the addition of a blog:

baldwinsoftware.com/blog

which will, likely, preclude the perpetuation of posting to this one.

Thankfully, you can grab the rss feed from that one, and substitute it for this one in your favorite reader thingy.

the Hungie Bungies

That's me on the far left, with the long hair.The Hungie Bungies was my alt/folk duo (w/ Mark Lechman, far right) in Indiana from 1990 to 1992.We recorded one album, Fun Things in the Kitchen.A few tracks are available as mp3 at my music page.

l0ooong day...

Well...it's been a long day working on these Brazilian academic documents. Tomorrow I must go interpret (Portuguese) in the courts in Waterbury, and, then I'll be back here translating again. Not much else to report today...no nifty scripts, hip hackery, or gro0vy geekery, no new paintings, no other news of note... sorry.

rm -f amelia*

Today I was updating my resume, and cleaned up the directory in which it is stored, removing copies of older resumes,

and, realized I still had copies of the eX's CV in there.

It gave me great pleasure to issue bash the command

tony@deathstar:~$ rm -f amelia*

:)

a thousand fireflies, lighting up the cat5 wires (or, my scattered and befuddled web presence becomes yet more obfuscated and confusing...)

I've been busy for this past week, slaving over the translation of some academic papers from Brazil.

Nonetheless, I have been frequently distracted by hackery and geekery, as is not uncommon in my doings.As such, I did want to share with you a couple of links.

First, I have decided to start posting my poetry online.I'm not going to make this a poetry blog...no way...and, I've even decided that a blog is decidedly NOT the best way to publish my poetry.

Instead, I have made a wiki for this purpose. I can add poetry at my leisure, and they will not appear chronologically, as they would in a blog, but, rather, will have each their own page.

Also, being a wiki, it is easier for me to separate the poetry into sections by language (since I write poetry in 3 or 4 languages, anymore).

The wiki is also simple and easy to maintain.

Oh, yes, you can find it here: tony baldwin | poetry.

That was fun.

The idea came as I began introducing my kid to the world of wiki-ing, in an attempt to being to educate her on how to master and conquer the internets, to scratch out her domain there, knowing that in the future, our entire lives will be spent online...(future? gosh, I've been living a virtual life for over a decade, and no IRL life to speak of...)

Well, I figured learning wiki-code would be useful, and will set us up for the next step, as I teach her to write html and css and develop her own site, thus effectively closing the casket on any real social aspirations she may have been harboring, while, hopefully, planting the seed for future, marketable skills. (Next I'll start her on php, perl, python scripting, and, before you know it, we'll conquer the internets and be on our way to world domination. Never say I didn't warn you...)

I've been giving her little assignments for pages or sections to build into her wiki, mostly just to annoy her, since she's on February break this week. (Not like I want her doing fun things, like playing in the snow, or talking on the phone...she'll never learn to hack the fed and move us some funds around doing that stuff...)

Now, I have also created a one page mini profile, as a sort of catch-all basin and minirepository of data on all that is tony baldwin here: tonybaldwin.info.

You know, because, I just know that all of my adoring fans out there have all been dying for some consolidation of the scattered, nebulous universe that is tony baldwin on the internets (self absorbed much?).

So, I've spent more time on livejournal than I have in some time. I have to say, I miss the days where LJ was the axis of my internet social experience. I believe that a social networking site centered on blogging gave greater depth to "social networking" on the internet than sites that impose 140 character limits, or focus more on animated fish tanks than on producing profound discourse and promoting sincere self-expression. As such, I've been ignoring the visage tome and interacting more with LJ, again. This had me thinking about blogging, not surprisingly, and, consequently, about creating a blog of my own, on my own server, etc., as opposed to using someone else's free blogging service (ie. LJ or blogger, etc.). This led me to exploring nanoblogger, a nifty little command line tool for creating, editing, and managing a blog from the bash command line! Very nifty.

I create/edit/manage a blog on my local machine with this tool, on the command line, and then just ftp the whole dir full o' stuff up onto my server, which I've done, thus creating the baldwinsoftware.com / tony baldwin / nanoblog.

I figure that one will be primarily used to document my adventures in hackery and geekery (similar to the tonytraductor livejournal).

With nanoblog, of course, I can make numerous such blogs and load them to my server. I may yet find other uses for that. The nanoblog, unfortunately, doesn't lend itself to community blogging, however, since I can only manage it on my machine and load to the remote host, and it doesn't feature commenting or other feedback/participating/community resources. It does enable both rss and atom feeds, though, so my nanoblog can be followed on google reader or other rss/atom aggregating appartuses.

Of course, at this juncture, I have a completely schizophrenic web presence, with numerous blogs and community profiles on countless sites, some highlighting my artistic whack-a-doodle-ry, others empahsizing my hackery-geekery, others focusing on my professional pursuits, while still yet others, such as this here blogspot, are of a more general and scattered nature, and, yet others, are far more personal.

I question, sometimes, whether it is best to have so fractured a web presence, while at other times I question the value in having any generalized outlets (such as this one), and wonder if I shouldn't do a better job of organizing my distinct efforts in various diverse fields to develop each more specifically, yet more fully (i.e., perpetuate the scattered presence, and fully explore each of those avenues, being 1) art/poetry/music, 2) geekery and hackery, and 3) professional matters pertaining to the international market and translation industry).

In any case, it seems that each of those areas is more likely to find an audience than just the befuddled and scattered ramblings I post here, and, that if I wanted to truly develop such audiences, I should step up efforts in 1 or more of those fields and be more conscientious about maintaining whatever efforts I realize in those specific fields (in others words, post regularly on the specific blogs).

What do you think?

Well, with that, me dr00gies, I must get back to slaving away at these Brazilian academic documents.

Spread the LOVE! (and the source code)

The Free Software Foundation has started a campaign to spread some love the Free Software developers (like me!) this year for St. Valentine's Day.

blubuddha2w

blubuddha2w, originally uploaded by tonybaldwin.

I painted this a few years ago.

You could, if you like, acquire t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs, posters and other items bearing this image at
http://www.cafepress.com/blubuddha

Additionally, you can view more of my artwork at photodharma.com.

Now, this post was mostly just a test...testing the "blog this" feature at Flickr.

I'm not sure how useful flickr is to me, and attempting to determine precisely that.

factoring baldwinsoftware.com

I redesigned baldwinsoftware.com last night, stealing the basic css from suckless.org, the makers of wmii, the window manager I've been using, as well as dwm, slock, and other nifty goodies.

I like their clean, simple style. Here's a co0l page about me... Go ahead...you know you want to read it...
Oh yeah, I left ion3, and was playing with openbox, again, for a few days, and openbox IS nice, but, I have settled into using wmii, now, and thoroughly digging it.

playing with wmii window manager

I'm fooling around, wasting time, and playing with the wmii window manager.

This is what it looks like:

Learn more at http://wmii.suckless.org

lotso co0l software @ suckless.org, seriously.

new hackery: hacking up a tcl/tk identi.ca client

Likely I will also make this work with twitter, since they operate on the same principles.

Anyway, started hacking up a tcl/tk identi.ca client.

Here are the very, infantile beginnings:

Code will be GPLed, of course.