Call for voluntary interpreters, translators and technicians

For its fifth year, the WSF, in conjunction with the Youth Camp, has chosen a more inclusive and participatory approach to the drafting of the program and the organization of the venue. The WSF aims at increasing participation and interaction, not only through speeches and the sharing of ideas, but also with the way the forum itself will be run. Volunteer work is a key component of this evolution, which will integrate cultural events, environment-friendly architecture, fair trade practices, etc.

Approximately 1,400 volunteers will be needed during the WSF5 to provide simultaneous interpretation, written translation and technical support.

You are invited to join a dynamic group of activists coordinating the human and technical aspects of this work, coordinated by the WSF Organization Committee. By interpreting the WSF debates, you will be making it possible for more than 100,000 people to participate actively in the WSF, regardless of their knowledge of foreign languages. Volunteering during the WSF requires you to be available for a minimum of 7 days : from January 24th to 31st (end of the event). We wish to encourage the participation of local volunteers. However, depending on the budget that will be shared by all, we will be able to cover round-trip travel costs to Porto Alegre. Accommodation will also be provided, preferably in private homes thanks to the hospitality of the city’s inhabitants. Food will be provided to all the volunteers, if the budget allows, through vouchers for the WSF food stalls.

The WSF will be held within the city-limits of Porto Alegre, reshaping some of its streets, squares, docks and parks, turning into reality some of the alternatives we are proposing for another world. The WSF will be declared a brand-free area : Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and other proprietary brands usually omnipresent in international gatherings will be barred from the WSF venues. By developing “self-organized” activities in Porto Alegre during the months of preparatory work leading to the WSF, proposals from various social movements and organizations will be collected to create events. At least 200 rooms of various sizes capable of holding 50 to 1,000 people will be built around some 20 barrios (town areas). At least half of these rooms will be equipped with translation facilities. You can start volunteering for the WSF either through Babels or Nomad depending on your availabilities, wishes and area of expertise.

We are proposing to you to participate in one of the most daring experiences ever since the creation of the first Social Forum. Your help is essential, before the WSF or during the WSF.

More information on the WSF : Official website www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
This internal Babels-Nomad call aims at reinforcing the call soon to be issued by the WSF Organization Committee.

This call for volunteers is not only to offer a translation service for the WSF, it is also to support the development of open and democratic communication practices and techniques on a global level.

Babels

We are calling for volunteer interpreters (simultaneous translation), be they professional or non-professional. The WSF used to be in 4 languages : English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The WSF5 will include more languages : African, Amerindian, and Asian languages, as well as other European languages. All the events will probably be accessible in at least 2 of the main languages, with the other languages taking turns in the different conference rooms.

We are calling for volunteer translators (written translation). The WSF5 process will be starting very soon with international discussions on the themes for the program and global participatory work on building events for the WSF itself. Obviously, this process will need to be facilitated by translators. This work will be done solely through email, whenever you have the time. For instance, the letter explaining the program methodology has already been translated in 14 languages : Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Quechua, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Telugu and Thai.

Please register at www.babels.org/registration
 Click fsm-wsf 2005 (interpreters) and/or transtrad (translators). If you are already registered, please update your file.

We are calling for volunteer contacts and coordinators. In order to mobilize everywhere in the world (especially in the Buenos Aires (Argentina)-Montevideo (Uruguay)-Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) area, as well as throughout the Americas), in order to help hundreds of volunteers work during the WSF, we need help to forward this call, to get in touch with more volunteers, and to help non-professionals to cope with interpreting techniques.

Contacts, coordinators and/or more information : fsm-argentina@babels.org – Brazil : fsm-sul@babels.org + fsm-norte@babels.org – fsm-colombia@babels.org – fsm-peru@babels.org – fsm-uruguay@babels.org – fsm-usa@babels.org - fsm-africa@babels.org – fsm-asia@babels.org – fsm-europa@babels.org

If no contact yet exists in your area, do not hesitate to email poa2005@babels.org

Nomad

Within the WSF framework, Nomad proposes alternative techniques to equip conference rooms for simultaneous translation. There are two main components in the Nomad projects : voice transmission in conference rooms, and digitalization of the voice signals. Nomad wishes to develop various solutions to cope with the different conference situations, but also to teach how the technology works to enable people to use it in other situations. Everything will be developed in the “open-software spirit” : collaborative work and shared knowledge. Nomad seeks to develop and promote techniques in all walks of life. It is an effort to consolidate scattered knowledge and put it in the public domain.

We are calling for volunteers during the WSF. We will need help to prepare the rooms for translation, to manage the different systems during the event, to help with the archiving and indexing of the conferences in all the languages and to manage computer data. (We are looking mainly for people from the Porto Alegre area or people who will be attending the WSF)

We are calling for volunteers before the WSF : to share experiences and different existing technical solutions and to help build the different systems.
 FM radio transmitters
 Audio equipment (mixing tables, cabling…)
 Magnetic loops (electro-magnetic transmission with “copper circles”)
 Software and computers (C language under Linux / Interface development with GUI / All experience in digitalized sound processing)

Register and interact : http://www.apo33.org/open-nomad
Contact  : Send an empty mail to nomad-poa2005-subscribe@apo33.org and ask questions or send information to nomad-poa2005@apo33.org
More information  : http://nomad.apo33.org