USING COMMUNITY FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE SOCIAL NETWORKING TERMINOLOGY IN MICROSOFT

PRODUCTS

Palle PetersenTerminology Manager, Language Excellence Group

Sara Nicolini

International Project Manager, GPD Intl EMEA

Microsoft CorporationOctober 2008

WHAT WE WILL COVER

Microsoft community interaction framework for terminology

Terminology feedback programs Reasons for getting involved Challenges

Case-study: Obtaining community feedback for Windows Live social networking terminology

MICROSOFT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Microsoft Language Portal

Feedback programs

Style guide downloads

Online terminology Search

Glossary downloads

Blogs, articles, news…

Comment/ suggestion tool

Local market seminars, forums…

GOALS

Enable users of Microsoft products world-wide to directly impact the language quality and usability of our products

Enable Microsoft teams to obtain user-feedback on legacy and new terminology

Incorporate the voice of the community into our products

MICROSOFT TERMINOLOGY COMMUNITY FORUM

http://members.microsoft.com/wincg/en-us/mtcf_default.aspxhttp://members.microsoft.com/wincg/en-us/mtcf_default.aspx

GLOSSARY PAGE

PROCESS

TERMINOLOGY AND SOCIAL NETWORKING

“ If the Internet is a revolution, therefore, it is likely to be a linguistic revolution.”David Crystal (2002: 1)

Social-networking Web sites represent more than others a source of neologisms.

The vocabulary and the Internet jargon evolve very quickly in the interactive and integrated user experience of e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, etc.

Collaborative or ‘social translation’ can be an opportunity to understand whether the terminology used in our products differs from the terminology already established by communities of people on the Web.

Windows Live can make improvements through a closer engagement with its customers and by ensuring that market expectations are met using terminology that closely reflects the local culture.

PR

Source - http://www.microsoft.com/danmark/windows/digitallife/windowslivefeedback.mspx

Source - http://vivewindowslive.spaces.live.com/

PARTICIPATION

 

 

Top 5 regions for # registered users:

Overall statistics:

•816 registered users•1946 suggestions provided•4292 votes casted

• Turkish• Greek• Brazilian• Croatian• German

Top 5 regions for # suggestions:

• Turkish• Brazilian• Croatian• Romanian• Greek

LESSONS LEARNED

Community projects provide feedback on outdated terminology or unclear definitions.

Source terms that are ambiguous or difficult to grasp can generate discussion in many languages and a considerable downstream work.

Sometimes a good “US English term” does not equal good “Global English term”. In some languages the terms need to be converted into more understandable local equivalents.

No pattern as regards using the English term in the local market, but useful for validation.

In some languages, communities want to use the English term (and spelling), but this does not seem to be a general trend across languages.

LESSONS LEARNED (CONT’D)

• More than 6 languages suggested a different translation and source term as a better choice.

• Users suggested to use the term ‘Invisible’ instead since it better conveys the concept.

• More than 6 languages suggested a different translation and source term as a better choice.

• Users suggested to use the term ‘Invisible’ instead since it better conveys the concept. Some languages decided to convert

this to a more understandable local equivalents of ‘chat message’.

• In some markets, such as Germany Russia and Brazil, adopted anglicisms were unanimously preferred.

• This does not seem to be a general trend across languages, e.g. in Italian the term ‘online’ and ‘offline’ although widely used in the market only got one suggestion.

LESSONS LEARNED (CONT’D) Strong preference for simple and intuitive terminology avoiding wordiness

and descriptive terms (e.g. in French the term pop-up blocker = bloqueur de fenêtres publicitaires intempestives is too descriptive and most users voted to have bloqueur de fenêtres publicitaires instead).

Style and creative translations seem to be desirable and improve the user experience.

In Hungarian, the current translation is something like "vibrating alert". Users suggested "Haho!" It is an exclamation, and means something like "Hey, listen to me!"

CONCLUSIONS

Build a Windows Live community around our products.

Users can influence terminology in Microsoft products. They can connect directly with Microsoft and other users. Recognition from industry peers.

This initiative proved to be a validation tool of terminology / quality parameter. Increase terminology consistency and quality of Microsoft

products. Leverage expertise of local experts and customers.

© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. Microsoft

is a trademark of the Microsoft companies. The Microsoft Financing marks are used by CIT Financial Ltd. under license. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.