Hi Peggy!  I hope you are doing great. First of all I want to apologyze for the late response to this group. We were immersed in getting all our bids to the government programs that will help us fund the process of training organizations on how to use WiserEarth and Social Networks. So. Here are our responses to the questions you placed.

 

1) Identify all the tasks to get started/ WiserEarth en Español?

 

Some key questions and carry out some initial research:

 

-         What is the financial model for WiserEarth in Spanish - how will it be funded?

 

The initial phase for Wiser Earth in Spanish has two basic parts. The first one is to translate just the basic templates that can facilitate a proper navigation through Wiser Earth. That would entail registry and main menus for browsing, creating groups, wiki pages, attach files, etc. That should entail no major complexity.

 

The second part of the initial phase has to do with translating the taxonomy of the areas of focus which entails a process of not only translating it but adapting it to the Latin American context.

 

That first phase can be covered financially by ActivArte – Innernet. We can cover the cost of the translation. We would need to define the process of getting the database of commands and templates to be translated and then integrate it into WiserEarth in Spanish. 

 

For the first phase we believe that is better to have only one site and the icon of the Spanish flag to switch into Spanish. (I need to understand what does that process entails technically. Can that cost be covered by Wiser Earth?)

 

 

-         Should WiserEarth and WiserEarth in Spanish sites be different sites (sister sites exchanging data)?

 

In the first phase it should be one site until we achieve a critical mass of Spanish speaking community. (We need to define what number or specific situation should be that critical mass).

 

I agree that we should perform a research and analyze what is the most effective way to do it. Cost and usability wise.  For instance, Wikipedia. It’s main site has the options to decide what language wants to use ie. http://www.wikipedia.org/  and then if you click that you want to use Spanish, it takes to this address: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portada

 

 

-         How will the governance of WiserEarth in Spanish take place?

 

It should be aligned to the governance model followed by WiserEarth. We will invite recognized leaders of civil organizations in México to be part of the governance group. The process should be organically evolving until we achieve a cellular and participative model of governance. Guidelines will be set for organizations to be inspired to participate and follow a positive and efficient spirit

 

 

-         How will the site be moderated (at least initially)

 

A team of voluntaries will be invited to play that role (hopefully paid people in the mid term) We will follow WE guidelines for moderation and will foster the research of best practices in other networks. In that way we want to motivate participation of organizations forming part of the WE Community.

 

 

-         How will the site be maintained from a technical perspective?

 

In the first phase we are counting with the technical maintenance from WiserEarth.

 

In the Second phase when the time and situation is proper for a separate site for Wiser in Spanish (if that is decided as a good way to proceed) funding and sustainability models will need to be defined in order to cover the cost of technical maintenance.

 

Action points:

- Market research on what other sites are doing to develop international sites

- Identify key leaders in the region to form a stewardship committee (maybe this is already done to some extent?: members of "Latin American Community/Comunidad Latino Americano"

- Define all the translation needs (list of all the key wiki pages, general navigation of site (Data dump from WiserEarth Org database), areas of focus (title and definition)

- Identify how much data is currently in Spanish (Peggy can do that)

- Identify how much content is needed before launch (is there a need for a critical mass of content?)

- Governance: replicate the editors group, suggestions groups on the Spanish site

 

2) Develop some phases with key people in charge

 

Phase 1

 

-         Translate the main database of templates for registering, creating groups, adding a file, create a wiki page, etc.

-         Translate the taxonomy of the groups of focus and adapt it to the Latin American context.

-         Define what the best strategy in terms of having a site that integrates WiserEarth in a multilingual platform is, or define if it will be necessary to have a separate site for each language.

-         Define what the critical mass of Spanish translated articles is in order to have a separate site in case that decision is taken.

 

 

Phase 2

 

-         Define the governability structure for and editing group

-         Select the members of the governability group

-         Research for the best translating tools available at the moment

-         Define a strategy and a process to foster the participation of organizations in Wiser Earth in Spanish.

 

Phase 3

 

-         Define the specific funding needs in order to have a technical support group for the Spanish area.

-         Define the funding needs to support the strategy and process to foster participation in the Spanish speaking world in Wiser.

 

 

3) Questions to think about

 

* How will a WiserEarth in Spanish be financed?

 

- Phase 1 and 2 requires minimum budget and most of that can be covered by ActivArte – Innernet.  It needs to be clarified what does the technical part of integrating Wiser Earth as a multilingual platform entails and what does it take to integrate the translation made into the Wiser. We hope that part if it is not too complex can be covered by WiserEarth. We are expecting some funding in August and could contribute to the development, but is not yet confirmed. In case is not affordable to cover those cost, we should create a plan for getting funding for this and the subsequent phases.

 

 

* What are the minimum requirements for the site to go live?

 

- What is described in phase 1

 

 

* Which servers should be used?

 

            - WiserEarth server until phase 3 if it is decided to have separate sites

 

* Who is going to be in charge of the software piece?

 

            - For phase 1 and 2 WiserEarth, for phase 3 it could be a joint effort is the decision of having a separate site for Spanish is taken

 

* Which code should be used? the open source software is not revisioning

 

The latest version should be used.