Project:Wiktionarian in residence
2020
Context
The Dictionnaire des francophones is an online tool filled with several lexicographical open resources. It is founded by the Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France (a division of the French Ministry for Culture), realized by the Institut international pour la Francophonie (International institute for Francophonie), in Lyon. It is designed by Noé. A scientific council is backing the project, lead by Bernard Cerquiglini. Lyokoï is part of it as a member of Wikimedia France.
This project include French entries of French Wiktionary, and more resources under free license. An alpha version is here, and propose some entries from Wiktionary (without the inflections) and the Inventaire des particularités lexicales du français en Afrique noire, a dictionary released under free license for this project. The first public version will be released in March 2020, with more resources and the functions to contribute. Contributions in Dictionnaire des francophones will be complementary to the writing in Wiktionary. The area where the definition is in use will be primordial and be collected, when it is rarely indicated in the French Wiktionary. The main effort will be on the French languages outside of France, which is not very well documented in Wiktionary. The definitions will be linked with definitions (word A meaning 1 with word B meaning 2) when in Wiktionary the link is only between words (word A with word B). The technical under it is a RDF database based on an ontologie with make possible to request in Wiktionary's content, similarly as how Wikidata works.
The content of Wiktionary is not homogeneous, which is normal as it's a collaborative project evolving since more than 15 years, with a lot of people an point of view. The cleaning of obsolete templates, documentation of templates and writing of help pages could be done via Wiktionarian in residence, aligned with the Wikipedian in residence process. Wikimedia France fund half of this mission, with a 15.000 euros grant, and the DGLFLF is funding the same amount.
People
- Utilisateur:Seb en Résidence (2IF) is the account used by the Wiktionnariste en résidence, Sebleouf
- Noé supervise the project
Roadmap
Several actions should be made by the Wiktionarian in residence. They are connected with French Wiktionary but also implied the host and the project Dictionnaire des francophones.
- In French Wiktionary
- Fix, structure and document the use of usage marking, the info at the beginning of definitions. Those labels are poorly described and used inconsistently by the contributors. This task will rationalize and facilitate the connection between definitions in each entries and help to have a better description of the meaning. Some labels may be deleted and other gather by type, with dedicated categories.
- Correct some misusages of template, such as {{mplur}} and {{fplur}}. Some collecting decision haven't had repercussions because the changes were too important. Only a human verification could disambiguate some tricky situations.
- Clarify the inventory of semantic domains and clean some useless alias such as {{éleva}} for élevage. This task imply the writing of some discussion with the community. Some part could be made via scripts for massive changes.
- Create some semantic domains identified as missing, and add some entries to them. This could include electromagnetism, some sports, leather art, puppetry, etc.
- Support glossaries and link them with domains and Wikidata.
- Increase the quantity of definition with a geographical marking, thanks to the resources released under a free license in the project.
- Check definitions starting with Variation of... or Synonym of... and add definitions when necessary.
- At the Institut international pour la Francophonie
- Add examples of use for French words using the books from the library of the Institute.
- Contribute to Wikipedia with the books from the library.
- Support actions of scan for Wikisource if there's some possibilities.
- Document and write some reports to keep update the evolution of this original initiative.
- Operation Les accents de la francophonie [Voices of the Francophonie]
As suggested by the director of the institute, a punctual operation will occur in February 2020. As some student will come to Lyon for a Diploma on Francophonie and sustainable development, we will suggest them to bring some pictures from their country and we will record them via Lingua Libre. This will take place in a two-hours class on digital valuation and free licenses. The recording session will be made in Lyon, and may imply also a service civique (internship) from Wikimédia France. The feedback for the participants will be an exhibition of some pictures (if possible) and a page with all the recordings. In the course of 2020, those audio files will be included also in the Dictionnaire des francophones.
Benefits
For Wiktionary
This plan will enrich Wiktionary, help the contribution and the reuse of the content. It is well known that experimented contributors deal with several aspects of dictionary writing (writing of definition, choice of good examples, notation of pronounciation, inflections, etc.), it is also astonishing how much specialized terms of lexicography are used improperly (populaire is for example use a lot despite being demoted in printed dictionary for ages). Documenting and explaining the proper use will help the acquisition of those concepts and make them more easy to understand for the readers.
Those suggested tasks aim at lexicographical contribution for one part, and thematically focused on Francophonie for the other part. They will reduce the complexity of Wiktionary and enrich the content. Few to no new technical term should be added. This roadmap is delimited in the project page.
For the person in residence
The expected profile is someone who know Wiktionary quite well, or someone with skills in lexicography. Benefits may vary depending on the final profile.
- Be trained in lexicography, which mean having a clear view on how words can be described.
- Better understanding of the relations between definitions, and the way the vocabulary can be presented in a dictionary.
- Participate to a collective adventure to create a digital tool.
- Work in a team dealing with dictionaries under free license, which think about the frontiers of Wiktionary and how to overpass them.
- Discover new words from all over the world, and have a wider understanding of the way the language work, in the dictionary and beyond.
For the Dictionnaire des francophones
Corrections made during this residence will directly improve the content display in the Dictionnaire des francophones. Nowadays, a large sample of pages displays problems due to the irregularity of presentation in Wiktionary. Cleaning in the Wiktionary rather than in the copied content light the process of treatment and facilitate the update of content from Wiktionary.
The Dictionnaire des francophones is great thanks to a large amount of high-quality data from Wiktionary. This residence is a way to give back, to return the favour.
For the collaborators of the DDF
This project will improve the quality of the French description and increase the development of language diversity. Clarify the structure of Wiktionary will have a positive effect on a large audience, by the reuse in the DDF and by the own readers of Wiktionary. Harmonize the content will facilitate the understanding of the content and facilitate the improvement by speakers.
Practical considerations
This residence is in the Institut international pour la Francophonie, part of the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3. A desktop is provided and material conditions similarly as for every others catégorie A contracts. The contract is a CDD administratif (short-term contract) for a year, January to December 2020.
Transparency
This project have been diffused:
- Wikidémie of July 2019, Wikidémie of September 2019
- Bistro de Wikipédia of 4th of September 2019
- French Wikisource's scriptorium of September 2019
- Salle café of French Wikiversity, September 2019
- Mails with Wikimédia France board since February 2019.
- Chat in French on Discord.
- Grand debut the 6th of January 2020 on Wikidémie, Bistro, Wikimedia Space, English Wiktionary's Beer Parlour, Wikimédia France members mailing list, Facebook, Telegram.
- Article on Wikimédia France blog posted November 13th 2020, showing the project, plans and objectives, with a first report: « Un Wiktionnariste en résidence » (only in French).
A report?
A feedback in French had been published in Wikidémie page in January 2021.
What’s next
This residence will not be extended, based on a common consent. After this year, a new position will be offered to the person behind Seb en Résidence (2IF) account, has a Lead operator of Dictionnaire des francophones project.
A new operation of Lingualibrian in residence is planed in 2021 to keep on track the partnership and give it a new horizon! It will be a 4months internship and the mentor will be Sebleouf!
Discussions
What do you think of this plan? What do you think about the suggested task? You can do your feedback in the Talk Page.