[sword-devel] Implementation questions for Wycliffe EasyEnglish representative

[Daniel Glassey]

On Sun, 2003-11-30 at 00:03, Lynn Allan wrote:
> Hello Troy,
> 
> It appears that the Sword-EasyEnglish project may be getting past the
> lethagic "requirements and design" discussion to implementation. As usual,
> people willing to put fingers to keyboard and punch out prototype code
> (rather than e-mails) are prevailing, fortunately, over their more "patient
> and learned" brethren.
> 
> I previously submitted what I claim to be a working prototype of a nsis
> installer. That was the easy part. I have several questions regarding
> specific implementation issues that only a Wycliffe representation could
> probably adequately answer. Are you willing and able to be the designated
> "point of contact" for this interaction?

I'll add in what I know already (fwiw I'm a WAUK member though not
involved in EasyEnglish).

> It appears that there are at least three sword members with adequate VB
> experience (not including me, obviously). Out of that elite group, perhaps
> one could actually accept that quaint task usually referred to as "Get It
> Done" with annoying guidance/feedback from the other two. Short straw loses?
> 
> My questions (mostly related to the person doing the VB implementation -- 
> not me, obviously)
> 
> 1. Does every document they would work on need to have the customized
> settings revised individually?

There will be a limited number of different settings. There are 2 levels
of EasyEnglish (A and B) and a lower level AEE (Accessible EasyEnglish)
to be written for.

> 2. Or is this a one-time change that suffices for most or all following
> documents?
> 
> 3. Could they start off with customized templates that have the appropriate
> .dot "in force"? (ezword-97.doc, ezword-2000.doc, ezword-xp.doc?)

That sounds like it would be ok.

> 4. How many documents does a volunteer work on? Do they tend to be a few
> large documents, or many small pages?

see http://www.easyenglish.info/lee.htm for examples. They are a few
pages each.

> 5. Do they have any actual numbers for the "drop-out" rate of overseas
> volunteers? Are we looking at 10 of 100, 1 of 4, 70 of 100, 98 of 100? Is
> there any way to get at least a rough estimate? Is there a rough objective
> for what is acceptable and represents satisfactory improvement?

I'm sure overseas[1] volunteers would be welcome but I don't know if
there are any at the moment. It is the endusers of the documents that
the volunteers (which will use the software) make that are mostly
overseas.

The enduser docs that you can get from the website are in RTF or HTML.

> 6. A useful requirements document could be them writing a tentative "user
> manual to install EasyEnglish". It would list the steps of the revised
> procedure that would appropriately fit their "user profile" of non
> computer-literate users who are not native English speakers.

The users that are writing the EasyEnglish are native English speakers
but not necessarily computer literate.

> 7. What is the actual level of end-user support available? Are end-users
> typically organized as teams of translators in one geographic area, so that
> training one or two of twenty would suffice? Or is it more a matter of
> onesies and twosies scattered around the world with marginal opportunies to
> contact Ez tech support? In other words, are they expected to be pretty much
> self sufficient once the software arrives?

It's still a UK-based project. 

> 8. Are there any actual numbers for the proportion of end-user that are
> native English speakers, and that are reasonably computer literate? Is there
> a group of end-user translators that could serve as a test environment?
> Preferrably, they could be contacted reliably.

It should be possible to get people to test it out.

> 9. Realistically, what are their time frames? Soft and hard deadlines? When
> do the funds run out?

http://www.easyenglish.info/eefunding.htm
"EasyEnglish Commentaries and all the other documents available on this
website are produced by members of a charity called Wycliffe Associates
(UK). Wycliffe Associates. is funded by the subscriptions of its
members. It is an opportunity for ordinary Christians to use their time,
talents and skills for God. If they can afford it, we like members to
make an annual membership donation of £20 (US$30). This is used to cover
office expenses, like stamps and phone calls, not to pay our members for
the work they do. Apart from members' subscriptions, Wycliffe Associates
has no external sources of funds. All our efforts are entirely supported
by members' contributions."

Regards,
Daniel

[1] overseas meaning 'outside the UK' here ;)