Group items tagged

"Claude Almansi started a topic 3 months ago (2013-04-18) Feedback situation on this Help forum boards: Your suggestions to make Amara great ... Out of the so far 50 posts in this "Your suggestions to make Amara great" board, which is the only board where Amara staff can label posts to indicate the progress of suggestions, only 7 have received such feedback labels, of which 3 are wrong and one I can't check: A. Wrongly labeled "Implemented": 1 Add a feature that imports Youtube machine Auto Captions directly into Amara for editing. It still impossible to import YouTube autocaptions directly. B. Wrongly labeled "Planned": 2 Restore the Send a message link in users' profiles. The link has been restored 2 months ago, but the request to change the label made then in a comment has been ignored. Independent subtitle sets for each video. It's now been possible to again differently time subtitles for a video C. (Hopefully) correctly labeled "Planned": 3 Representing each volunteer's work. Give more info about the implications of team settings choices. Reliable history of revisions. D. ? "Planned": 1 Allow us to save & exit "approve"-tasks. (I don't know whether it's been implemented or not, because I don't do such tasks). So that's 3, perhaps 4 suggestions out of 50 that got a hopefully correct developers' feedback, out of 50, on the only board - out of the four boards of this forum - that enables such feedback: a tiny proportion. Situation on the other boards: Updates and News ... 5 announcements, most recent one - Localization of Amara Website updates put on hold - in January: no reply to question asked in comment, no update as to how long this localization will remain on hold. Amara Questions ... 70 questions. No reply from Amara Staff to the ca 18 questions asked after the end of February 2013 Help me, please! ... 76 topics. No reply from Amara Staff after the end of February 2013, except for an April 1st, 2013 comment in t

No reply. Since April 18, 2013, there have been replies to 2 forum topics from PCF Support: - Mami Kawade's "My subtitles are gone" http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/24667 June 29, 2013 (3 PCF Support replies) - Zikoinak's "New editor: translating existing subtitles" - http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/26493 - July 15, 2013 (one PCF Support reply)

"Jules Rincon started a topic 9 months ago (2012-10-23) A special thanks for all the wonderful Amara community volunteer captioners, translators, subtitlers, promoters and sharers who joined us in the live broadcast. We'd love to get more feedback about the new Amara platform mockups we shared on the October 23rd, 2012 Townhall. The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXj9Qcneo_s&feature=plcp With Communication Access Realtime Transcription (CART) provided by Jason Bradley from bradleyreporting.com (Thank you so much Jason and Michael!) The slides with the mockups of the new Amara look are here: goo.gl/gPdZe IMPORTANT INFO Before adding more ideas: This forum is an "idea" forum. Every separate post can be voted up or down (and discussed), we can also track the progress of the ideas, to see which ones will be implemented and see how they are progressing. We suggest: Post one idea per topic. Add really descriptive titles. Vote ideas up instead of duplicating, feel free to expand through replies."

So far it is not possible to track the progress of the ideas submitted by users in this board, due to lack of - and lackadaisical - tagging of posts by Amara staff. However, this could be corrected if developers start reviewing the submitted suggestions, and this could help them in applying UXD to further changes they make to the software.

"56 Suggestions for features in Amara, changes in the documentation, suggestions for new articles and much more [Suggestions can be tagged:] Recent Popular Planned In Progress Deferred Implemented Not Taken"

A) Out of presently 56 users' suggestions, only 7 have been tagged by Amara Staff, of which 3 erroneously and one perhaps erroneously: 1 Add a feature that imports Youtube machine Auto Captions directly into Amara for editing http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/9560 : "Implemented" erroneous. 2 Restore the Send a message link in users' profiles http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/10250 : "Planned" erroneous (should be "Implemented") 3 Representing each volunteer's work http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/8513 "Planned" (correct, but some news would be welcome) 4 Give more info about the implications of team settings choices http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/9095 "Planned" (correct, but some news would be welcome) 5 Independent subtitle sets for each video http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/8897 - "Planned" erroneous: this has been implemented. 6 Reliable history of revisions http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/8896 - "Planned" (correct, but some news would be welcome) 7 Allow us to save & exit "approve"-tasks http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/8857 "Planned" (perhaps erroneous: it seems to have been implemented) -> Amara staff should review the topics of this board and tag them correctly. B) Due to the overall lack of official response on the support forum, some users have started using this board not for suggestions, but presumably in the hope that it would get more attention than the other ones from Amara staff. See: - Edit doesn't works anymore http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/25695 by Veroneblack - Why did you remove so many subtitles ? + BETA new editor http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/24682 by Veroneblack Such topics should be replied to by Amara staff, then moved to the proper bard.

"Hi, again I have a problem here. Thanks to Amara support, my subtitles once gone after the maintenance were restored and after that I could add some new subtitles to the video I had been working on. That's ok, but when I got back from a couple of days' trip and tried to add new subtitles again, I realized I had to "type whatever I hear". I mean, when I started to translate this video, I translated what the speaker says from English subtitles to Japanese subtitles as I usally do, but now, I have to translate what I hear in the video directly to Japanese. Why is this happening? Does this have something to do with the maintenance? Can anybody help me? " Mami Kawade is member of the TED team and this is about subtitles of a TED team video. I pointed her to Dharma Lee's "I am translating talks, but appears the transcribing system" topic on the same issue in the TED help forum, to which PCF Support (Margarita Shamraeva) replied to use the new editor to get a translation interface. Mami Kawade re-replied she'd done that, but had problems getting the 2 transcripts showing subtitles for the same moment in the video. In the TED support, apart from PCF Support's answer, a how-to about the new editor was added to the Solutions section: http://ted-support.amara.org/support/solutions/articles/107527-the-transcript-is-missing-when-i-resume-my-translation No reply from Amara staff on the general help forum and no tutorial added in the general help solutions section 2013-07-15. Mami Kawade reposted the description of the issue with the new editor on the TED help in http://ted-support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/25107 2013-07-15

In http://ted-support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/25107 , PCF Support explained: "There is a small lock icon at the bottom of the left column. If you unlock it, then you can scroll each list of subtitles independently from each other and align them as you wish."

"Jules Rincon started a topic 9 months ago (2012-10-25 October 25th: Yesterday, we made a significant update to Amara, including a number of bug fixes and a new infrastructure setup that makes Amara much more robust in case of AWS failures. As part of the update, we re-index all the videos in the system. Last night during the update we had a few video indexing issues, which may have made it seem like videos disappeared from your team. We attempted to repair this last night, but need to make some additional changes before the repair is complete."

Example of how issues caused by an upgrade should be announced in the Updates and News board of the help forum. A similar announcement should be made about the issues caused by the June 29, 2013 upgrade: - Disappeared subtitles and subtitle revisions (solved) - Slow server -> Bad Gateway (perhaps solved) - Disappeared video language setting in Amara video pages - Problem with viewing subtitles in player - Subtitle editing problems - Legacy translation editor replaced by Legacy transcription editor - Deleted line breaks etc: the post could be marked "in progress" so as to accomodate new issues.

"Updates and News 6 Find out what's going on with Amara, reported bugs and changes. Recent Popular"

"Claude Almansi started a topic 2 months ago (2013-06-14) [Update July 2, 2013: the original title of this discussion, as posted mid-June 2013, was: "Let's beta-test the imminent new subtitle editor before it is released". In fact, on June 6 Dean Jansen had announced it's release for "in the next week or so", then on June 14 he wrote that the new editor was "still very much in beta, [...] still under heavy development", mentioning "necessary confirmation tests and modifications to ensure a smooth transition". (...) I suggest that questions about how the editor works be added in comments to this thread. But for reporting possible bugs and issues I made a Google Drive form , whose replies go into a spreadsheet that can be viewed, downloaded and commented on by anyone who has the link (no sign in required). This way Amara developers too should be able to download it e.g. as .csv file and reuse the data in whatever beta-testing program they are using on their own. It is important that we actual subtitlers beta-test innovations to the Amara software, because developers, not being subtitlers themselves, cannot properly assess the impact of some changes they make: see the Team moderation: let's learn together from the Friday 13 team thread."

Google Drive form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1x_akD-_fBW4aRPoJq4jyG07OQ5GAGYdZxEjbgTogaXI/viewform Google Drive spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApuzSw0MoY82dDlPYnB3cUlwQlNJV2VVWS1XSy1DSWc#gid=0 Forum topic about the Friday 13 team: http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/5241

"James Bruce started a topic 9 months ago I see American Sign Language in the list, could we get a few more sign languages added such as BSL - British Sign Language, International Sign Language, Auslan - Australian Sign Language etc? Thanks, James "

Comments: other requested sign languages: French Sign Language Irish Sign Language Israeli Sign Language Discussion on how to implement a truthful definition of sign languages as video language.

"Claude Almansi started a topic 9 months ago (2012-11-10) Mystery meat navigation where links are hidden and only appear when you mouse over them may be esthetically tempting for designers, but it's a pain for users in general and it excludes users with motor and sight disabilities, as well as those using mobile devices. So please replace such hidden, mouse-over only links by their former directly visible version. Two examples (but there might be more): "Decline task" in videos added to teams who enforce workflowed tasks Actions bottom-right of messages in Amara messaging. Update Nov. 14: the screenshot in the How can I decline a task page in the Amara teams part of the Solutions section here still shows the directly visible version of the "Decline" button"

No Amara reply Comment: See your own How compatible is Amara with Dragon NaturallySpeaking? FAQ - http://support.universalsubtitles.org/solution/articles/49647-how-compatible-is-amara-with-dragon-naturallyspeaking-

"Rodrigo started a topic 4 months ago (2013-03-26) Dear, When I try to search for a video to subtitle, in the "with" filter, could be an option that I could choose the language that has not been choosen to be subtitled. For example: I translate to Brazilian Portuguese, so I want to filter the videos that are not subtitled in my language. I need it to show me the videos that are not subtitled in my language, to make it easier to me, to search directly the videos not subtitled in Brazilian Portuguese. Regards, Rodrigo."

No reply. In a way, this is what the suggestions of team Dashboards attempt to do from the opposite perspective, but Rodrigo is speaking of videos in general, not just teams' - and the Dashboard suggestions don't work.

"CC started a topic 8 months ago (2012-11-30) I currently download Youtube's Auto Captions from Youtube, and then upload them to Amara as a good starting point (both for the captions and the timing of the captions), and then start editing the subtitles that way. Is there a way you can auto-import those machine captions so we can skip a step? Thanks! "

Erroneously tagged "Implemented".

"tatjana jevdjic started a topic 4 months ago - 2013-04-04 I took to revise translation in enlish http://www.amara.org/en/videos/G6nGLoj4LJPJ/info/conserving-our-spectacular-vulnerable-coral-reefs-joshua-drew/ Amara added it to my tasks, but I could not enter in and edit. The message was something like "Sorry you are not allowed..". The problem is that Amara shouldn't permit me to take it in the first place. I would suggest that you make visible when you click on a name of translator all the files he is presently working on Amara, instead of searching members. Best Tatjana"

No reply. This topic is about a task in a TED team video.

"Claude Almansi started a topic 5 months ago (2013-03-15) It would be nice if there were a search tool for subtitlers' profiles, on the model of the one for videos in the Watch page or in teams' video page, but with different criteria. I.e. something like: Search box: "Search subtitlers" 1st filtering criterion: "who have made subtitles from (droplist of languages)" 2nd filtering criterion: "into (droplist of languages)" 3rd filtering criterion: "covering more than (droplist with > and some duration values) minutes of video." This way, people who need subtitles for a given video could view various members' profiles fitting the chosen criteria, check some of their work, then contact them - also for paid subtitling. I take it our subtitling activity produces the data corresponding to these criteria, somewhere in the Amara server? In the unlikely case of privacy issues with this proposal, having one's profile included in such a search tool could be made opt-in."

No reply.

"Mauricio Navarro Miranda started a topic 3 months ago (2013-04-28) Hi everyone! We wish to request new languages to be available in amara. We're localizing some Mozilla's videos into indigenous languages. Here you can see the list of indigenous languages we're requesting: http://www.mozilla-mexico.org/firefox-en-lenguas-indigenas/ And, the list: ctu yua nci ncj tsz oto tar hus toj tzh tzo hch yaq zam cak qvi Thanks!"

No reply so far. About Mauricio Navarro Miranda, see http://blog.mozilla.org/l10n/2012/06/01/awesome-l10n-contributor-mauricio-navarro-miranda/ .

"Jules Rincon started a topic 9 months ago (2012-11-01) Hello! You may have heard us mention that we were expecting to do a few hours of planned downtime for a database migration, and that time has arrived. When - The Amara service will be temporarily paused at 8pm EDT tonight (Nov 1st). We expect the service will be back up in 1.5 - 2 hours, but our designated window is from 8pm EDT - midnight EDT. Why - This downtime is for a database migration that will increase the accuracy of subtitles. We're really excited to get these underlying components improved-once they're all complete, it will pave the way for many more visible changes to Amara!"

Only bookmarking this announcement, because there should have been a similar official announcement about the June 29, 2013 upgrade: all users knew was that Amara was not available while it was taking place, and that a lot of recent subtitles and subtitle revisions weren't showing any longer when it was done. Moreover, if unavailability due to an upgrade is not officially announced, it is difficult for users to know if the unavailability is due to an upgrade or ust to the server maxxing out (see "Bad Gateway" pages after the June 29, 2013 upgrade). Such official announcements should be made for each future system upgrade.

"Eri Pançi started a topic 3 days ago (2013-07-26) Hi there, I have a problem. I see that some subtitles that I've added just doesn't open. Or some other videos that I've subtitled doens't open any language. :(((((( Here are the link for some of the videos, because all videos from this TV Show don't open subtitles: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/eadM5d5NKwu1/info/kuzey-guney-121912/ Doesn't open any of the languages! or http://www.amara.org/en/videos/WNxDhEwkSrEv/info/kuzey-guney-51bolum/ Sorry for my bad Englisht sometimes. Thank you! "

The impossibility to display subtitles in the video described by Eri seems to disappear when subtitles are started in the defined video language. I asked Eri to leave alone a couple of these videos so that developers can examine them, but I'm not sure he understood. See also Ezar Soeparman's "Why won't the English subtitle work for Fatmagul episode 26 part 2 and many more." - http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/28098 and my comment.

"Jules Rincon started a topic 7 months ago (2012-12-28) Starting Jan. 2, we will activate the amara.org domain. Customers can adjust the Amara base URL from universalsubtitles.org to amara.org at that time. On Jan. 10, we will start redirecting all traffic from the universalsubtitles.org domain to amara.org. If you're using our API, please either be sure that your clients will follow redirects, or update your base URL from www.universalsubtitles.org to www.amara.org."

No comments on that topic, so apparently OK.

"Jules Rincon started a topic 7 months ago (2012-12-20) We're excited to share with you the infrastructure upgrades, as well as the new team dashboard and user profiles. We have some under-the-hood improvements around the corner that will make way for the new editor and streamlined workflow system. Team dashboard New team landing page will direct users towards tasks (or untranslated/uncaptioned videos, if workflows are off), based on their personal language settings. Shows user's active tasks at top, and will generally help people find relevant subtitling jobs for any team, even if most of the recent videos have been subtitled. Updated user dashboard and profiles Users can now see all the activity they've done over time, plus have a nicer layout with larger user avatar (image) and list of videos they've added to Amara. Updated message area Users can now see more details for inbox + sent messages, plus can mark all messages as read. In the coming weeks, we're about to have a bunch of new automated testing functionality come online, which will speed up our test/release process even more. We'll keep you posted!"

1. Team dashboard suggestions remain unusable due to language settings being made even cruder than they were during the Dashboard preview. See "Preview of Amara Team Dashboard" http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/9105 , last comment; "Scrap the team dashboard page" http://support.amara.org/support/discussions/topics/10229 2. Users' profiles: the content of the main (activity) tab has been disrupted by the June 29, 2013 update in many users profiles. This doesn't mean that this topic should be updated, but a new official "Updates and News" topic should be created about the June 29, 2013 upgrade, and the issues with team dashboards and activity in users' profiles should be addressed.

"Jules Rincon started a topic 6 months ago (2013-01-18) For any users signed up to transifex (to assist in translating the website into different languages): Unfortunately, due to the major improvements being currently made to the software (what we call DMR), updates to the localized versions of Amara have been temporarily put on hold. They will be resumed when this major renovation is over. We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this may cause."

The original language file has not been updated on Transifex after that announcement, and no translations made since has been pushed to the website. It might make more sense to only update the original file when the new editor replaces the legacy editors. However, an official update of this help topic is needed now.

"Claude Almansi started a topic 15 days ago (2013-07-14) In some video pages where the video language had been selected before the June 29, 2013 upgrade of the Amara software, this selection has been deleted after (by?) this upgrade. Example http://www.amara.org/en/videos/rVHqxPbw8m90/info/importare-un-file-opml-in-bloglines/ . [Note: this is the same video mentioned in the The URLs of several subtitle sets have changed. Another aftershock of the June 29, 2013 upgrade? topic, because its subtitles have been affected by this change of URL. The issue with its language selection was also pointed out to me by luciab] When I started the original Italian subtitles for this video on May 24, 2013, I selected Italian as the language of the video. This selection was still working when awemaze translated these Italian subtitles into English , French and German on May 25, 2013. But when I checked it on July 12, 2013, because of luciab's comment on my blog, the language selection had been deleted. And it's still deleted now. Consequences: The player in http://www.amara.org/en/videos/rVHqxPbw8m90/info/importare-un-file-opml-in-bloglines/ , which should show the Amara Italian subtitles with "Italian subtitles" preselected in the droplist below it, now doesn't show Amara subtitles and the droplist says "Select Language. See attached novideolanguage_mainplayer.jpg . Only the YouTube subtitles (in red in the attachment) show, not the Amara subtitles. When the Create a new translation! link below the player is clicked, the dialog box requests that the video language be selected and t

Several links to affected video pages, in the rest of the topic and in comments.