An MDN localization driver coordinates and leads documentation activities on MDN for a particular language, or locale. They stay informed about the documentation structure in the MDN, the interests of translators, and of Mozilla. They do not have to do all translation work related to their locale themselves, and in fact, they are encouraged to gather a group of contributors interested in translating, and coordinate tasks among the group. See the Localization projects page for a list of active locale and current l10n drivers.
Why be a localization driver?
Being a l10n driver provides an opportunity to be or become deeply immersed in the community, and to have a strong impact on how Mozilla is perceived in your linguistic community. You might use this expertise in your current job, or to help you attain a different job.
In addition, as a l10n driver, you can be a driving force to improve the quality of the Web.
Becoming a l10n driver
To become a l10n driver for a locale that doesn't have one yet, you first need to meet certain qualifications:
- Expertise in the language of the locale.
- Active contributor in the locale (at least once a month).
- Ability to communicate with a diverse, geographically distributed community.
The best way to become one, is to act as one: most of the tasks of a l10n drivers doesn't require special powers or approval
Once you've met those requirements, you can post on the MDN discussion forum that you'd like to become the driver for a given locale, with an explanation of what needs to be done for this locale and an overview of your qualifications. If you meet the qualifications, we'll work with you to get you set up and trained in the basics of how to use the new privileges at your disposal.
Helping an existing l10n driver
We don't limit the amount of l10n drivers per locale. Of course, they need to be able to work together :-) So don't hesitate to help them: help monitor the content for spam, errors, and so forth; copy-editing of newly translated articles and updating of already translated articles are other possible tasks.
Responsibilities
The l10n driver role comes with a number of important responsibilities. Among them:
- Coordinate the writing community contributing to the translation in a language, to ensure that work gets done and that people don't accidentally translate the same thing twice. Recruit and engage new contributors for the locale, for the wiki, but also for translating the UI of the MDN Web site.
- Organize the translated pages. Fix the structural errors, the hierarchy of the document. Communicate the most important pages to translate to the community of translators. Be sure that macros are also translated.
- Share with the MDN community the progress and state of the documentation work, by participating in discussions on MDN discussion forum, and so forth.
- Contribute as much writing time as you reasonably can; you don't have to do all of it, but it's helpful if you can do some!
Privileges
In addition to the privileges available to all authenticated users on MDN (such as reverting changes, l10n drivers have these additional privileges:
- Move pages or trees of pages
- Upload and manage file attachments
- Edit KumaScript macros
We plan to add new privileges in the future, like access to the list of contributors or the ability to ban spammers.
Leaving the role
After you become a l10n driver, you don't have to stay in the role forever. Your interest, priorities, and available time may change, and that's OK. If you foresee that you won't continue as a l10n driver (or you realize that you have already stopped), please take the following steps:
- Contact Eric Shepherd, the MDN Documentation Lead, (or any other MDN admin) to notify him that you are stepping down as l10n driver.
- If possible, ask someone else who is an active contributor in your locale to step into the l10n driver role. If that person agrees, notify the MDN Documentation Lead of the new person taking the role.
If you haven't been active on MDN (or on the MDN discussion forum) in two months, you might be contacted to confirm that you want to continue as l10n driver. L10n drivers who are inactive for three months, or do not respond in a reasonable time when contacted, may be removed from their role.