Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2015-04-12

15:00 Carl Metropolitan Welcome everyone
15:01 Carl Metropolitan This is Q&A With the Deans
15:01 Carl Metropolitan You ask us questions; we answer.
15:01 Carl Metropolitan Questions about Oxbridge, Caledon, and Second Life in general
15:01 Wordsmith Jarvinen Whether or not our answers pertain to your questions ... well that depends.
15:01 Carl Metropolitan I'd like to start by asking the deans here if they have anything to report, then asking Josain a question about translator research.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan Wordsmith?
15:02 Wordsmith Jarvinen Well, we have Red Quixote back teaching, and with him 3 animation classes.
15:03 Larkylouz cheers
15:03 Carl Metropolitan Wonderful!
15:03 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Splendid
15:03 Meora (menchor) Yay!
15:03 Wordsmith Jarvinen This time also in logical order during the week.
15:03 Wordsmith Jarvinen Mon, Tues, and Thurs at 3pm.
15:04 Barbara Collazo nice time for people too
15:04 Wordsmith Jarvinen We had a quite successful counter-griefing meeting. I'll coordinate some notes on that.
15:05 Carl Metropolitan Jayleden... Anything to report from your area?
15:05 Jayleden Miles We have more sponsors signed up now, and updated.
15:05 Jayleden Miles Some new sponsors and some who have renewed
15:07 Carl Metropolitan I think you have gotten quite a few new and renewing in the last few weeks.
15:07 Carl Metropolitan Josain, do you want to speak for a moment on what you have learned about the translators from your research?
15:08 Jayleden Miles Yes. I'm hoping to get more in the upcoming weeks as well.
15:08 Wordsmith Jarvinen I've got one to get up on the web, but should have that later today.
15:08 Josain Zsun As we know the Metanomics translator failed last week.
15:08 Josain Zsun All Google API based translators are not functioning.
Aeval Luna found a Bing API based one, But read forum complaints it is no working now either.
I found MH translator that seems to do a good job. Several friends have acquired it and are happy with it.

Demand has caused a price increase to L$395 last I checked yesterday.
15:08 Wordsmith Jarvinen Sponsors: http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/sponsors.php
15:09 Carl Metropolitan They know they are the only game in town right now, I guess.
15:09 Jasmin Jolbey I ended up just buying the hm in the end
15:09 Jasmin Jolbey *mh
15:09 Barbara Collazo hm?
15:09 Barbara Collazo oh, mh?
15:09 Larkylouz Donohue (160,235,22)
15:09 Jasmin Jolbey mh translator
15:09 Josain Zsun There is an in shop demo available. I was lucky to have several foreign language people present when we played with it. All were suitably impressed.
15:09 Larkylouz That's the LM to the MH shop, I believe - in Donohue
15:10 Carl Metropolitan Is it on Marketplace?
15:10 Jasmin Jolbey yes
15:10 Larkylouz IM me and I"ll give it in IM
15:10 Wordsmith Jarvinen Any idea what webservice it's based upon?
15:10 lovejoy2199 Is that SL$395, or USD $395?
15:10 Jayleden Miles Well I hope the volunteers all realize that purchasing it is not required...if they don't have it, they don't have it.
15:10 Josain Zsun L$395
15:11 Barbara Collazo It is on Marketplace: marketplace.secondlife.com
15:11 Larkylouz the webpage - translate.google.com is another options. It is free, but I have to cut and paste from it, which is awkward.
15:11 Larkylouz *ption
15:11 Larkylouz *option
15:11 Larkylouz afk
15:11 Phrynne the Q translator is also an option, but also pricey
15:12 Barbara Collazo There seem to be a bunch on MP--has anyone checked them out?
15:12 Josain Zsun I meant to mention Web translation is still available, but tedious.
15:12 Carl Metropolitan Has anyone researched whether the Google API shut down is permanent?
15:12 Phrynne I have been trying out the MH and the Q this week and both work.
15:12 Phrynne the MH is a little easier for me to use, but that may be just me.
15:12 Jayleden Miles I just don't want our volunteers feeling budget strained or stressed that they must purchase anything to help out here, it isn't required to have a translator.
15:12 Josain Zsun When I searched, most were ripped of versions of Metanomics.
15:13 Barbara Collazo I figured most probably use one of the 2 APIs
15:13 Wordsmith Jarvinen I've also started looking at the Bing and Google application programming interfaces (APIs) as well as seeing what other translation webservices are mentioned out in the RL wilds.
15:13 Carl Metropolitan The Google translator API charges now: $20 per 1 M characters of text
15:14 Jayleden Miles I assume M is megabit
15:14 Carl Metropolitan Million actually
15:14 Carl Metropolitan I just looked it up
15:14 Wordsmith Jarvinen Although they do still have a free amount, but the setup and authorization likely changed.
15:15 Carl Metropolitan Bing can do up to 2 million characters a month for free.
15:15 Carl Metropolitan shouts http://datamarket.azure.com/dataset/bing/microsofttranslator
15:16 Jayleden Miles I believe mega means million
15:16 Carl Metropolitan If we had our own translator that ran through bing, and was only used by Oxbridge staff, we would probably be well under that limit.
15:16 Larkylouz So does this mean that the translate.google.com or other services like that will eventually stop working on my IP address, or am I extrapolating too much here?
15:17 Carl Metropolitan translate.google.com is still free on the web.
15:17 Carl Metropolitan I have noticed that if you try to translate a lot of web pages you start getting mysterious errors.
15:17 Carl Metropolitan I think they throttle use from an IP address
15:17 Larkylouz No, I only use it to cut and paste.
15:17 Carl Metropolitan Unless you make the requests from their Chrome browser
15:17 Wordsmith Jarvinen That's basically the direction I'm thinking, Carl.
15:18 Wordsmith Jarvinen Seeing what's possible with the available services. I've recently done similar programming with the Twitter API (using Python), so the concepts are familiar to me.
15:19 Jayleden Miles How difficult is it to create a translator in SL?
15:20 Wordsmith Jarvinen It's not that difficult to issue the HTTP request or to pick up the returns.
15:21 Jayleden Miles So it might be worth considering creating one for our staff/volunteers use.
15:21 Wordsmith Jarvinen Well, I'm considering it. :P
15:21 Jayleden Miles grins
15:22 Carl Metropolitan On another note, the Patron program continues to work well. I just sent out a few reminders for this month's contributions. We have paid tier here for another three months and have plenty of L$ in reserve.
15:22 Jayleden Miles Glad to hear that, Carl.
15:22 Wordsmith Jarvinen Particularly, now that I've finished passing through the yearly U.S. accounting drudgery.
15:22 Gronk Seriman The problem is finding an actual translating service to do the actual work for cfheap or free. Google obviously plugged a big data hole in their kingdom.
15:23 Wordsmith Jarvinen Nods to Gronk. The Russian Yantex seems to be the 3rd service that gets mentioned.
15:25 Wordsmith Jarvinen Between patrons and sponsors we are looking secure.
15:25 Gronk Seriman Any idea what translating service MH uses?
15:26 Phrynne The notecards that came with it do not say. I think it might be Bing.
15:27 Gronk Seriman Ah.
15:29 Wordsmith Jarvinen Nods. Looking through some discussion, including about the viewers, there was mention of the "API key" being deprecated and more mention of using an application token approach based on registering an application and getting a consumer secret and key which are then used by the app to get a token. Upshot, a more complex authentication system (ritual) that breaks a less formal one. Twitter, btw, did the same thing.
15:30 Carl Metropolitan Does anyone have any questions now?
15:30 Carl Metropolitan General Q&A about Oxbridge, Caledon, or Second Life?
15:30 Jasmin Jolbey *raises hand*
15:31 Carl Metropolitan Ask away, Jasmin
15:31 Wordsmith Jarvinen Yes, Sponsor Jolbey?
15:31 Larkylouz raises hand.
15:31 Jasmin Jolbey Im not sure if this is supposed to be public knowledge but I heard a sneaky ruomour there are plans to do something where the group shop currently is
15:32 Wordsmith Jarvinen Jayle, have you been hatching any such?
15:33 Jayleden Miles Jasmin has an issue with her item and I suggested she probably need not worry about replacing it because there was thoughts of remodeling that area. I didn't want her to spend time on that to have it undone in short time.
15:34 Carl Metropolitan Any remodel of that area would preserve existing items (though they might be moved).
15:34 Jasmin Jolbey if we plan to keep the shop I was hoping to add more items to it at some point
15:35 Carl Metropolitan It is a low priority now, as our financial needs are met well via sponsorships, Patrons, donations, and fundraising events.
15:35 Jasmin Jolbey hopefully ones that dont try and scam people ;)
15:35 Carl Metropolitan The shop is helpful but not a focus for change as I see it.
15:35 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) raises hand
15:35 Jayleden Miles those scripts are difficult to handle with the boxing if one is unfamiliar with them
15:36 Wordsmith Jarvinen I think the script / boxing problems are fairly quickly resolvable.
15:36 Carl Metropolitan I would much rather us concentrate on updating, pruning, organizing, and expanding our collection of freebies. That can be a huge job too, though.
15:36 Wordsmith Jarvinen Although, I would like to see the script in question.
15:36 Jasmin Jolbey I could help with freebies from a clothing side of things
15:36 Carl Metropolitan I was hoping to see if David has any ideas as it was kind of part of commons (or at least was while Martini was running Commons)
15:36 Jayleden Miles Marion wrote that script - so I am sure it is correct.
15:37 Carl Metropolitan But he's had health issues so I have not pushed it.
15:37 Jayleden Miles (notes Larky has a question followed by Andrea)
15:37 Wordsmith Jarvinen The issue Jasmin is mentioning had to do with the vendor being set to be directly buyable while the script was concurrently set to sell the hat within.
15:38 Carl Metropolitan Is that something we can fix with the current permissions?
15:38 Jasmin Jolbey it was easily resolved I had left the for sale box checked by accident
15:38 Wordsmith Jarvinen I think so. My believe is that the settings were simply inconsistent.
15:39 Wordsmith Jarvinen The vendor itself should not be set "for sale" under the general tab.
15:39 Jasmin Jolbey it allowed the buyer to purchase a copy of the item with the script still inside it
15:39 Barbara Collazo I can make any number of things, from clothes to clocks
15:39 Jayleden Miles There is high interest in stocking the shop but I don't want to stock it if things are being moved or changed.
15:40 Mae Best looks at the ceiling...can only make trouble
15:40 Jasmin Jolbey fair point and as carl says it isnt really a priority at the moment
15:41 Larkylouz giggles and considers changing her display name to BadAss.
15:41 Carl Metropolitan I don't expect the shop be moved or changed anytime in th near future.
15:41 Carl Metropolitan Like for the next year.
15:41 Carl Metropolitan I have no plans to do anything to it after that either.
15:42 Carl Metropolitan Though the building may ultimately get mesh-i-fied.
15:42 Gronk Seriman Is the forgotten gazebo behind the shop a legacy thing? So old it can't be changed because of permissions?
15:42 Carl Metropolitan Mae, if you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.
15:42 Carl Metropolitan Essentially.
15:43 Carl Metropolitan One of the things someone doing a freebie update would be getting as much of that stuff moved and in packaging we have move rights to as possible.
15:43 Mae Best No sir my suggestion only create chaos and lag *laughs*
15:44 Jayleden Miles side glances Carl, and makes note to stock the shop.
15:44 Larkylouz raises her hand
15:44 Wordsmith Jarvinen Miss Gronk, I'd believed that it was on a separate parcel because there were things on it that were not set to group and were not replacable if auto-returned. However, auto-return is on in that parcel -- i.e. it's not clear that it needs to be separate. Having perms to move things is another matter.
15:44 Carl Metropolitan Larky?
15:44 Larkylouz I wanted to include a bit of an update from the staffing side of things, if I may.
15:45 Carl Metropolitan Essentially our freebies, need to be organized and updated, but thats longer term.
15:45 Carl Metropolitan Please do!
15:45 Larkylouz I've just arranged with Wordsmith to do the next bit in a series of staff trainings - this on working with folks who don't speak English.
15:46 Larkylouz It is scheduled for two times (noon and 7 pm) the 22nd and the 24th.
15:46 Phrynne this month?
15:47 Carl Metropolitan Wonderful!
15:47 Larkylouz Also, while I don't have a lot of progress to report in the Tutor program from this week (at least from me), I do want to thank Josain for putting so much effort into the security class, which was extremely valuable, at least to me.
15:47 Wordsmith Jarvinen And for which we had good staff turnout.
15:47 Barbara Collazo Are there notes? I wasn't able to be there
15:47 Jayleden Miles Where will the training you're setting up take place?
15:48 Wordsmith Jarvinen I've collected notes from several people and will be merging them later today.
15:48 Wordsmith Jarvinen One of the lecture halls.
15:49 Larkylouz Also, as staff and as community members, I encourage each one of you to make a special effort to thank folks who you see putting forth effort for Oxbridge. Burnout is a part of working with people - we all know that. A grateful word, a notice of effort, can go an unexpectedly long way for all of us.
15:49 Carl Metropolitan It can be held here without interfering with any existing classes.
15:49 Larkylouz I promise you, if you see someone putting out effort, there's likely 3x that much effort that no one sees.
15:49 Mae Best Will the training be open to Scholars or just to staff?
15:50 Larkylouz I want it to be open to any member of Caledon who wishes to come. It will be directed towards staff, but open to all.
15:50 Wordsmith Jarvinen She's given me two times that aren't interfering. Right now, even though we have two sites, I can't double book the schedule without changes to Tali's web interface.
15:51 Wordsmith Jarvinen "noon on Wednesday the 22nd and 7pm on friday the 24th to cover both usa and americans. "
15:52 Carl Metropolitan Okay.
15:52 Wordsmith Jarvinen Although the "usa and americans" may be indicative of a coffee failure.
15:52 Larkylouz In other words, one class, two different times.
15:52 Gronk Seriman heehee!
15:52 Carl Metropolitan USA and people in North and South America that are no in the US is how I read that.
15:52 Larkylouz faxes Wordsmith a pot of 10-shot tall mochas.
15:52 Jayleden Miles Wouldn't that be Europeans and North/South America?
15:52 Phrynne Um, yes, shouldn't it?
15:53 Larkylouz Let's leave it at World Citizens. I'd hate to leave anyone out.
15:53 Josain Zsun Eastern & Western hemispheres.
15:53 Wordsmith Jarvinen That's the way I'd think, Jayle. North / South can change the season but not the time.
15:53 Jayleden Miles So Earthlings.
15:53 Phrynne all sides of the ponds
15:53 Gronk Seriman Except the French. We don't need THOSE people! Kist lidding.
15:53 Gronk Seriman *just
15:54 Larkylouz Heck, Earthlings and Aliens of all shapes and sizes.
15:54 Josain Zsun Just not Daylight Savings Time.
15:54 Phrynne may show up as a typewriter beetle
15:54 Mae Best silently curses Daylight Savings Time
15:54 Wordsmith Jarvinen Anyway, another step in seminars.
15:55 Wordsmith Jarvinen (mumbles Daylight Shifting Time)
15:55 Larkylouz makes a note to include a special session for working with people who hate DST. She stares pointedly at Josain.
15:55 Carl Metropolitan Any other questions?
15:55 Jayleden Miles Did Andrea get to ask her question yet?
15:55 Carl Metropolitan Please ask, Andrea.
15:56 Larkylouz Is she still here?
15:56 Larkylouz She wanted an update on the horsee-and-carriages.
15:56 Jayleden Miles No update...Same thing. Desmond thinks he has a copy but hasn't checked yet.
15:56 Wordsmith Jarvinen That depends solely on whether Des has a copy and when he has the time to deal with it.
15:57 Carl Metropolitan So nothing until Desmond gets a chance to look
15:57 Carl Metropolitan That could be days or months away
15:57 Jayleden Miles Or years
15:57 Jayleden Miles grins
15:58 Wordsmith Jarvinen There's a reasonable chance he does, in that the carriages also used to run in Stormhold into Wellsian.
15:58 Mae Best hopes Desmond's inventory does not look like hers
15:58 Phrynne thinks Desmond has fewer clothes than any of us
15:58 Josain Zsun I resemble that.
15:59 Gronk Seriman Ha!
15:59 Carl Metropolitan I'd like to thank everyone for coming tonight.
15:59 Wordsmith Jarvinen But, I'm going to comment again that staff with return powers need to become familiar with the owners under "about land" when a griefing is NOT occurring.
15:59 Jayleden Miles Thank you everyone for coming
15:59 Jayleden Miles Yes...and if you have questions ask one of us
16:00 Wordsmith Jarvinen Thanks you all. Sleep well, Elf.
16:00 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) :-)
16:00 Gronk Seriman Thank you, Deans!
16:00 Meora (menchor) thank you deans
16:00 Barbara Collazo thank you!
16:00 Mae Best Thank you!
16:00 Larkylouz Thank you everyone.
16:00 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Be seeing you