Presented at Museums and the Web 2013, Portland, OR.

1. In Other Words: Crowdsourcing
Translation for a Video Driven Web
Jonathan Munar
Director of Digital Media and Strategy
Art21
@jonnymoon / @art21
Susan Chun

3. A non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring a more creative world
through the works and words of contemporary artists.

4. FILMS
TELEVISION/DVD
“Art in the Twenty-First Century” (2001–present)
“William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible” (2010)

5. FILMS
ONLINE
“Exclusive” (2008–present) “New York Close Up” (2011–present)

6. FILMS
ONLINE
“Exclusive” (2008–present) “New York Close Up” (2011–present)
Over 200 total episodes
Over 12 total hours of video

7. FILMS
ONLINE

8. FILMS
ONLINE

10. •Largest global video site
•Second largest global search engine*
•70% of traffic comes from outside U.S.
•Localized in 53 countries, across 61
languages
SOURCES: YouTube Press Room; Nielsen

11. Online Video Trends
SOURCE: Nielsen, 2012
AUGUST 2012
Unique viewers 164,002,000
Total Streams 27,279,400,000
Streams perViewer 166.3
Time perViewer (hh:mm) 6:57

12. Video Producers

13. Global Internet Language Usage
1.English (27%)
2.Chinese (25%)
3.Spanish (8%)
4.Japanese (5%)
5.Portuguese (4%)
6.German (4%)
7.Arabic (3%)
8.French (3%)
9.Russian (3%)
10.Korean (2%)
SOURCE: Internet World Stats, 2010

14. We need to translate our video content...

15. Crowdsourcing Translation
IMAGE: Do Ho Suh, “Doormat: Home Sweet Home,” 2003. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
SOURCE: @art21org on Instagram

19. “It’s an act of generosity from many
people, just sharing knowledge.”
—Lidia Cámara de la Fuente,
Volunteer Spanish Translator

20. “It’s an act of generosity from many
people, just sharing knowledge.”
—Lidia Cámara de la Fuente,
Volunteer Spanish Translator
“To inspire people, to give hope to
some people. This changes a lot of
things in the world.”
—Kristine Sargsyan,
Volunteer Armenian Translator

21. “It’s an act of generosity from many
people, just sharing knowledge.”
—Lidia Cámara de la Fuente,
Volunteer Spanish Translator
“To inspire people, to give hope to
some people. This changes a lot of
things in the world.”
—Kristine Sargsyan,
Volunteer Armenian Translator
“I go and read about the speaker, and
his book, so I get the whole context.”
—Anwar Dafa-Alla,
Volunteer Arabic Translator

22. Art21 Translation Project

23. Art21 Translation Project
•Global access and accessibility
•Global community engagement and support
•Global reflection and dialogue

24. Art21 Translation Project
•Global access and accessibility
•Global community engagement and support
•Global reflection and dialogue
Crowdsourcing is the right fit

25. Crowdsourcing is...
Not about saving money.

26. Crowdsourcing is...
Not about saving money.
About building a community.

28. Keys to Crowdsourcing
•Engage the right communities
•Align project goals with community goals
•Establishing trust
•Rewarding the community

29. Evaluating Platforms

30. Evaluating Platforms

31. Targeting Languages

32. Targeting Languages
Chinese
Art21 audience (0.65%) vs. Global (25%)
Japanese
Art21 audience (0.25%) vs. Global (5%)
Arabic
Art21 audience (0.05%) vs. Global (3%)

33. Targeting Languages
Chinese
Art21 audience (0.65%) vs. Global (25%)
Japanese
Art21 audience (0.25%) vs. Global (5%)
Arabic
Art21 audience (0.05%) vs. Global (3%)
Let’s not be too aggressive (yet)

34. Targeting Communities
•Art21
•PBS NewsHour
•Amara

35. Project Launch!

36. Results
End of Week #1
80 translations
31 active contributors
15 languages

37. Results
End of Week #1
80 translations
31 active contributors
15 languages
End of Month #1
150 translations
58 active contributors
22 languages

38. Results
End of Week #1
80 translations
31 active contributors
15 languages
End of Month #1
150 translations
58 active contributors
22 languages
End of Month #3
253 translations
78 active contributors
27 languages

39. Languages: End of Week #1
Bengali
Burmese
Chinese, Simplified
French
German
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Korean
Portuguese
Romanian
Serbian
Spanish
Turkish
Vietnamese

40. Languages: End of Month #1
Bengali
Burmese
Catalan
Chinese, Simplified
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Serbian
Spanish
Spanish, Mexican
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

41. Languages: End of Month #3
Arabic
Bengali
Burmese
Catalan
Chinese, Simplified
Chinese, Traditional
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese
(Brazilian)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Spanish, Mexican
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

42. Languages: Expected vs. Unexpected
Arabic
Bengali
Burmese
Catalan
Chinese, Simplified
Chinese, Traditional
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese
(Brazilian)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Spanish, Mexican
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

43. Expected Languages
Arabic
Bengali
Burmese
Catalan
Chinese, Simplified
Chinese, Traditional
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese
(Brazilian)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Spanish, Mexican
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

44. Pleasantly Unexpected
Arabic
Bengali
Burmese
Catalan
Chinese, Simplified
Chinese, Traditional
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese
(Brazilian)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Spanish, Mexican
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

45. Community Management

46. Community Management
•Frequent private messaging
•Frequent group messaging
•Public recognition

47. Community Management: Private Messaging

48. Community Management: Group Messaging

49. Community Management: Public Recognition

50. Community Management: Public Recognition

51. Community Management: Lessons
•Community management requires time and attention
•Lags in messaging came along with drops in activity

52. Volunteer Perspectives

53. Volunteer Perspectives
Expanding Access

54. Volunteer Perspectives
"I see it as a way of contributing to the community. By translating the
content, I can give the opportunity to other people to listen to what
these artists have to say; people that otherwise may not have that
opportunity."
—Carolina Tamara (Spanish/English)
Expanding Access

55. Volunteer Perspectives
"I see it as a way of contributing to the community. By translating the
content, I can give the opportunity to other people to listen to what
these artists have to say; people that otherwise may not have that
opportunity."
—Carolina Tamara (Spanish/English)
"This is a great opportunity to spread some ideas, or things that are
worthy of being talked, or discussed about, globally."
—Mary Keramida (Greek)
Expanding Access

56. Volunteer Perspectives
Individual Growth

57. Volunteer Perspectives
"I love to discover something new, outside of my usual field of work."
—Isabella Martini (Italian)
Individual Growth

58. Volunteer Perspectives
"I love to discover something new, outside of my usual field of work."
—Isabella Martini (Italian)
"I translate to process the information and delve deeper into the
meaning."
—Elinoar Almagor (Hebrew)
Individual Growth

59. Volunteer Perspectives
Careful Reflection

60. Volunteer Perspectives
"When you translate, you have to think a little bit more carefully about
what the artist is saying."
—Carolina Tamara (Spanish/English)
Careful Reflection

61. Volunteer Perspectives
"When you translate, you have to think a little bit more carefully about
what the artist is saying."
"[William] Kentridge mentions, in one of the videos, how the act of
drawing something distressful or dreadful can actually turn it into
something compassionate. I never thought about it that way. Why an
artist spends hours depicting something painful? There is a
transformative process. I'm not an artist, but I can relate to that."
—Carolina Tamara (Spanish/English)
Careful Reflection

62. Volunteer Perspectives
Contemplating Language

63. Volunteer Perspectives
"It provides a deeper tool to get to know the creative process, because
it is necessary to reproduce a written, shorter voice of artists, without
depriving them of their personality and of their unique voice."
—Isabella Martini (Italian)
Contemplating Language

64. Volunteer Perspectives
"It provides a deeper tool to get to know the creative process, because
it is necessary to reproduce a written, shorter voice of artists, without
depriving them of their personality and of their unique voice."
—Isabella Martini (Italian)
"Artists do have a unique way of expressing themselves, and that
comes to language too. It's hard to understand them only by listening
to what they want to say, you need to dig in very deep and read
between the lines."
—Mary Keramida (Greek)
Contemplating Language

65. Takeaways from Crowdsourcing

66. Takeaways from Crowdsourcing
•A passionate community exists

67. Takeaways from Crowdsourcing
•A passionate community exists
•Balanced community management yields higher output

68. Takeaways from Crowdsourcing
•A passionate community exists
•Balanced community management yields higher output
•Opportunities to convert passion into loyalty

69. Takeaways from Crowdsourcing
•A passionate community exists
•Balanced community management yields higher output
•Opportunities to convert passion into loyalty
•Effective management requires staff time and resources

70. THANK YOU!
Jonathan Munar
Director of Digital Media and Strategy
Art21
@jonnymoon / @art21
Susan Chun