unforum

[lhall]

[META] Wishlist - a multi-lingual social network (and more!)

[GeekDream]

Maybe this is somethign we could ask Kai for.... he said he's the internet wiz kid ...who would help in any way he could?

[mr.judkins]

Having been chatting with lhall about this in the irc channel, I agree that this would be an amazing resource.

It seems the whole purpose of this adventure is to get the entire globe working together, but so far there seems to be distinct separations between the different language groups - with a few multi-lingual people who move between.

This could be an brilliant opportunity for the beginning of a non-dating-driven social network which will span this gap - both for use in this game, and as an extraordinary resource after August...

Not being able to assume this is something "Kai and his team" can put together, is there anyone out there with the time to create something like this? I'm sure anyone with the skills can see the future potential...

[Elizabeth123]

Have nothing to add, really, except that I love, love, love this idea! And I know Jane M. would adore it as well--because that's really what she's trying to create with everything she does. Sounds kind of sappy and idealistic and Kumbaya-ish, but I think it'd be awesome to have a group interacting including folks from the West and East (and Middle East?) and learning about each other, and talking about ways to change the world.

Hmmm...What we need from Jane, actually, is a World Without Oil addressing in a collaborative way the other huge issues we're facing now.

[lhall]

Another quick thought, based on this thread about tracking strength missions - having the 'network' notify you of new stuff based on your Agono would be a good way to coordinate globally, and just plain keep track of what's what. I know that's getting a bit specific, but might as well store the thoughts somewhere, eh?

[lhall]

[Aerith]

I have to agree with Elizabeth. I love, love, love this idea!

But unfortunately I'm not the girl who can help to build such a platform. Absolutly no knowledge in programming.

Would be awesome if we could find someone who's willing and able to build one.

*Aerith*

[LaPingvino]

If I had the time to work it out, I would love to, and I've been around with idea's like this (but not this very idea) for a long time yet.

One idea maybe worth sharing: there is a really great dictionary esperanto > other languages at lernu.net

Maybe it's a good idea to ask whether we could use it on distance for other websites. At lernu it's used for instant translation of unknown Esperanto-words by just clicking on them. I think that would be a great system for a universal website, as it takes really loads of time to translate everything. It's much faster to get things in Esperanto, also because it's less vulnerable for interpretational mistakes.

If you need further assistance, I'd love to hear it.

PS: You could ask Chuck Smith (USA Esperantist now living in Germany) to create something. He's done an Esperanto social network yet, called amikumu.com, but I hope he'll be able to help us creating a new dedicated one for this mission.

[lhall]

[lhall]

I've been giving this a lot of thought, but now I need some group input!

My current question: what needs will this site be addressing?

My thoughts:

- global coordination, everyone who signs up is pinpointed on a map and perhaps connected regionally (a la Facebook)

- expertise location, depending on the game community needs (sorted by ticking a checkbox, so it could be translatable to the viewer's default language?)

- statistics, who's playing where, what are their 'ancient skills' (part of the game, again ties into global/expertise coordination)

- personal profiles and hanging out with the community at large (again like Facebook, just using a menu of symbols or pre-set words)

What else?

[DavFlamerock]

Of course a way to communicate, although I don't know how... wall maybe (once again ala Facebook) or a discussion board? (Of course there'd always be private messaging)

Maybe if we get it really well, we can keep it going afterwards and make it grow... THE NEXT FACEBOOK/MYSPACE

And in addition to email and name, your location and language should be part of the sign-up process, as well as taking the quiz to determine your strength.

[momonga]

Heyy, it can be the Lost Ring Database--'lrdb', like 'imdb' but not.

Really though, I think this is a great idea. If this game gets as massive as we'd hope, we'll need some way to keep track of everyone! Another idea: maybe there would be some way to see what task a person working on, a bit like Twitter or Facebook statuses I guess, or just the ability to organize groups by what their project is I guess and allowing newcomers to easily see who they can contact and whatnot.

I think looking ahead to be the next Facebook or MySpace might be tooooo far ahead though, for now. :O

[Junesun]

Kiel programisto mi ne pensas ke eblas krei tute novan socialigan retejon antaŭ Aŭgusto. Sed devus ebli ŝanĝi ekzistantan CMS por niaj kialoj, ekzemple Drupalo (www.drupal.org / www.drupalo.org). Mi scias ke specialaj uzantoprofiloj eblas en Drupalo kaj la internaciiga modulo permesus al ni traduki ĉion (la interfacon, kodekson kaj aliajn sciindaĵojn, blogerojn, forumerojn) en iu ajn lingvon. Eĉ ekzistas jam multaj tradukoj kiuj haveblas kun Drupalo. Ĉu ekzistas Drupal-spertuloj en nia grupo? Mi jam laboras 12 horojn tage sur alia projekto, mi nur povos helpi per konsiloj.

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As a programmer I do not think it is possible to create a whole social networking site from scratch before August. It should be possible to customize an existing CMS for our purposes though, for example Drupal (www.drupal.org). I know that custom user profiles are possible in Drupal and the i18n module would allow us to translate anything (interface, the codex and other clues, blog entries, forum posts) into any language. There are even a lot of translations that come with Drupal. Are there any Drupal whizzes among us? As I'm already working a 12-hour programming job, I can only assist with tips.

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Als Programmierer denke ich nicht, dass es möglich ist, ein komplett neues soziales Netzwerk vor August fertigzustellen. Es sollte jedoch möglich sein, ein bestehendes Content Management System unseren Zwecken anzupassen, zum Beispiel Drupal (www.drupal.org). Ich weiß, dass zum Beispiel spezielle Benutzerprofile möglich sind in Drupal, und das i18n Modul würde uns erlauben, alles mögliche in jede erdenkliche Sprache zu übersetzen (Benutzeroberfläche, Kodex und anderes wissenswertes, Blogeinträge, Forumposts). Es gibt sogar schon viele Übersetzungen, die mit Drupal geliefert werden können. Gibt es hier Leute, die richtig gut Drupal können? Ich arbeite schon 12 Stunden am Tag an einem anderen Programmierprojekt, deshalb kann ich nur Tips geben.

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Comme programmeur je ne pense pas qu'il est possible de créer une nouvelle site pour connecter les gens avant le mois d'août. Mais il doit être possible d'adapter un SMC pour nos plans, par exemple le Drupal (www.drupal.org). Je sais qu'il est possible d'avoir des profiles d'utilisateur personalisées en Drupal et le module d'internationalisation nous permettrait de traduire tout (interface, codex et d'autres choses d'important, blogues et messages au forum) en n'importe quelle langue. Il y a même déjà des traductions qui sont proposées avec Drupal. Est-ce qu'il y a des gens entre nous qui connaissent vraiment bien le Drupal? Moi je travaille déjà 12 heures chaque jour, je ne pourrai ajouter qu'avec des conseils.

[redct]

Hey, I have past experience with Drupal (built a few sites with it). Dunno what I can do, but it's something for me to play around with.

[redct]

Done - will this do? http://findtlr.ning.com/

What's awesome is that:
1) All premade.
2) Site already has translations into French, Chinese Trad/Simp, Italian, Spanish, couple other languages. Needs Esperanto, Japanese, German. Easy to translate through admin panel.
3) Groups!