Quality Concerns and Ethical Implications in the Context of Voluntary, Crowdsourced Wikipedia Translation Projects

Abstract

This paper investigates the issue of voluntary, crowdsourced translation of Wikipedia articles which is one of the major subtypes of online collaborative translation. In particular, it seeks to tackle relevant issues and dimensions including the quality of translation produced by people who are not trained as translators as well as concerns relevant to the idea of exploitation that surround translation crowdsourcing for both for-profit and not-for-profit activities. This investigation takes place within the framework of DADD initiative voluntary project in which the untrained crowd collaborate to translate Wikipedia articles for the purpose of enriching Arabic digital content and enhancing knowledge sharing. Semi-structured interviews with initiative team are conducted to explore quality control measures adopted by DADD and the ethical issues raised in the context of voluntary work. Results show that despite concerns over the quality of end-product, such voluntary projects serve to provide ‘good’ translations of large volumes of materials and ensure easy access to knowledge by native Arabs. Moreover, volunteers who choose to participate in a non-profit, cause-driven crowdsourced initiative are greatly encouraged when initiative mission, agenda and organization are clearly presented and exerted efforts are non-financially rewarded.