Found in Translation: Lessons from a Year of Open Source Localization

Description

When Kubernetes docs added support for localization, we observed a greater-than-additive improvement in the quality of the docs as a whole. By greater-than-additive, I mean that localization contributors don't just add their own localized content: they contribute upstream to English source doc; they contribute laterally to other localizations; and they contribute upstream to Kubernetes features.

Examples include:

  • Scripts to determine when an upstream English file has been updated, and whether an open PR is considered the single source of truth
  • Advice and support to optimize long-running branches
  • Grammar and etymology in linguistic groups

While we did not set out with these explicit goals in mind for collaboration, in hindsight they were neither accidental nor spontaneous. This talk covers how a community code of conduct shaped docs localizations for collaborative success across axes of gender, language, and national identity.

  • Conference: Write the Docs PRAGUE
  • Year: 2019

About the speaker

Zachary Sarah Corleissen