25/5/2010 10:55:07 AM jonathanstray: hey kitty 10:55:12 AM jonathanstray: can we talk in about 30 minutes? 10:55:17 AM Kitty: Hi ^^ 10:55:21 AM Kitty: No problem 11:36:58 AM jonathanstray: Hi kitty 11:37:52 AM Kitty: ^^ 11:37:54 AM Kitty: I am here 11:38:10 AM jonathanstray: great. can you chat for a bit now? 11:38:19 AM Kitty: yeah 11:39:45 AM jonathanstray: Ok great. So I am writing this article, and wanted to get some basic quotes from you 11:40:05 AM Kitty: No problem ：） 11:40:49 AM jonathanstray: First, what is the history of yeeyan? 11:41:15 AM Kitty: History...since 2006? 11:41:38 AM jonathanstray: When did it start? 11:43:21 AM Kitty: Started from 2006 11:43:37 AM Kitty: It was a blog at the very beginning. 11:44:12 AM Kitty: 3 creators started the blog to publish their own translations, mainly in IT tech, business and culture. 11:44:52 AM Kitty: The blog was welcomed by Chinese readers, and more and more readers wanted to join in the translation. 11:45:16 AM jonathanstray: So it wasn't started as a community translation project? 11:45:20 AM jonathanstray: originally 11:46:22 AM Kitty: originally no. But it soon evolved into one. 11:48:25 AM jonathanstray: and who were the three creators? 11:48:47 AM Kitty: Lei Zhang, Kai Zhao, Jiamin Zhao 11:49:04 AM jonathanstray: What were they doing before Yeeyan? 11:51:02 AM Kitty: They are IT engineers. 11:51:05 AM Kitty: all of them. 11:51:29 AM jonathanstray: Did they have full time jobs when they started? 11:52:42 AM Kitty: Yes. Yeeyan had been their part time project for about more than a year 11:53:05 AM Kitty: until Haozhi Chen, current CEO& Chairman suggested to them that they can start a company. 11:53:50 AM jonathanstray: When did they start the company? 11:54:30 AM Kitty: in 2007 11:54:37 AM jonathanstray: Ok great 11:54:57 AM jonathanstray: So now some basic stats 11:55:21 AM jonathanstray: How many registered users do you have? How many visit each day? How many create translations? 11:55:46 AM Kitty: we have 150 000 registered users 11:56:00 AM Kitty: 50~100 translations per day 11:56:16 AM Kitty: the data is lower at weekend. usually we have around 100 11:56:33 AM jonathanstray: around 100 on weekend days? 11:57:04 AM Kitty: around 70 11:57:08 AM Kitty: on weekends. 11:57:33 AM Kitty: but the lowest is 50 11:57:39 AM Kitty: appeared in March 11:58:44 AM jonathanstray: So do people mostly do translations at work? 11:58:52 AM Kitty: 23000~25000 visits per day 11:59:17 AM Kitty: hahaha ,probably it is interesting, isn't it? 11:59:26 AM jonathanstray: yes 11:59:40 AM jonathanstray: is that 23000 visitors or page views? 11:59:43 AM Kitty: but we suppose we have more than 50% student users 12:00:19 PM Kitty: may be students would like to have fun on weekends. and They have more free time on work days 12:00:26 PM jonathanstray: ah right 12:00:27 PM Kitty: 23000 visits 12:00:57 PM jonathanstray: ok great 12:01:10 PM jonathanstray: do you keep translated articles up forever? 12:01:48 PM Kitty: users have rights to delete them 12:02:35 PM Kitty: we don't own most of the copyrights of translations on site, namely, users can decide what to do with them. 12:02:51 PM Kitty: If they like, we do always keep their translations. 12:03:04 PM jonathanstray: how many translated articles do you have up now? 12:05:40 PM Kitty: around 60 000 12:07:13 PM jonathanstray: When we talked last time, you explained that there are basically two actions a user can do: submit an article for translation, or translate an article that has been submitted. Still true? 12:08:04 PM Kitty: Yes. but in June we will add a new action of "original writing" 12:08:49 PM Kitty: so there will be basically 3 kinds of actions. yet we still focus on translation. 12:10:26 PM Kitty: add "original" so that users can express their own ideas upon a translation. We do not encourage users to write like diary 12:10:53 PM jonathanstray: so the "original" writing is expected to be commentary on translated articles? 12:12:01 PM Kitty: yes. we do have in-depth translations worth discussing. 12:12:29 PM Kitty: and users even translate books. they want to have a chance to discuss. 12:12:42 PM jonathanstray: wow, how many books do you have translated? and what books? 12:13:16 PM Kitty: estimate to be 20+ 12:13:21 PM Kitty: as far as we know. 12:13:39 PM Kitty: most users translate books as a way to practice. 12:15:18 PM Kitty: for example we have a project on site translate immensee, a 19th century novel in German 12:16:06 PM jonathanstray: ah so more than one person works on each book? 12:16:09 PM Kitty: and last year there were two projects working on Avatar movie scripts 12:16:58 PM Kitty: yes. it is tough work. 12:17:44 PM Kitty: but sometimes a user may want to finish a big project all alone. 12:18:00 PM Kitty: We don't disturb them. 12:18:21 PM jonathanstray: how do they keep everyone else from helping if they want to do it alone? 12:18:48 PM Kitty: the owner of the project can accept or reject others 12:19:08 PM jonathanstray: ah ok 12:19:33 PM jonathanstray: so let's talk a bit about yeeyan.com closing down. What happened? 12:19:55 PM Kitty: well, it was suddenly closed 12:20:05 PM Kitty: That was what we experienced. 12:20:13 PM Kitty: and that was all. 12:20:38 PM jonathanstray: Can you say anything about why? (I know we discussed this but I'm asking now for public comment) 12:22:01 PM Kitty: The most obvious reason is that we had too many news on site, and according to government regulation a website need certain certificate to hold such content. So we were actually unqualified. 12:23:27 PM Kitty: We did not receive clear notification of what's wrong. But since we are reopened now, I think what we guessed is right. 12:23:55 PM jonathanstray: What have you changed? 12:25:37 PM Kitty: since we reopened, we filter all contents before publishing and decline political news content. 12:26:21 PM Kitty: in some sense we re-positioned the site towards business, science, IT, life and so on. 12:27:03 PM Kitty: Information can be helpful to readers for a long time 12:27:15 PM Kitty: Information that can be helpful to readers for a long time 12:28:09 PM jonathanstray: interesting -- this issue of how long information is useful is a good one 12:28:30 PM jonathanstray: When you make the choice for filtering, do you look at suggested articles, or translations already completed? 12:30:04 PM Kitty: we read each article. 12:30:50 PM Kitty: have to say that's big work, every day. but on the other hand the process helps us to learn more about users that contents. 12:31:16 PM Kitty: and contents. 12:31:38 PM jonathanstray: interesting. what do you learn about users? 12:32:08 PM jonathanstray: also, do you read articles before or after they are translated? 12:34:14 PM Kitty: after translated, before publishing 12:34:47 PM Kitty: for example, before the filter process, for a long time we don't know what's published on site 12:35:30 PM Kitty: but now since we have to read each one, we can quickly pick up those good and recommend them to readers. 12:36:41 PM Kitty: and we are the first readers, so we comment first, we encourage users first, we proofread first. 12:37:18 PM Kitty: those are all important to build up community phenomenon. 12:37:58 PM jonathanstray: So when you can't publish something, do you tell the user who translated it? 12:38:48 PM Kitty: yes, we explain why we cannot publish. usually users say they understand us. 12:39:15 PM jonathanstray: Right. Let's talk about the community. How long did it take to reach 100,000 users? How did you do it? 12:40:51 PM Kitty: wow, that's in 2008 or 2009 I guess. 12:41:03 PM Kitty: probably in last year. 12:41:18 PM Kitty: I have to say actually yeeyan did not do much to promote. 12:41:41 PM Kitty: users come mostly because word of month. 12:42:16 PM Kitty: even now we do not have "invite your contact to join yeeyan" mechanics. you see. 12:42:31 PM Kitty: oh, word of mouth. 12:43:11 PM jonathanstray: no advertsiting? 12:43:23 PM Kitty: no ... 12:43:53 PM Kitty: I heard in 2008 they tried google adsense, but no one managed it in fact. 12:43:59 PM jonathanstray: are you still growing? how many new users per month? 12:44:59 PM Kitty: per month? around 6000 12:45:46 PM jonathanstray: I notice also that there are no ads on the site. Does Yeeyan make any money? How is it funded? 12:48:35 PM jonathanstray: oh wait... there are ads now 12:48:48 PM Kitty: we do have very few ads 12:49:31 PM Kitty: ads is part of the income, but very small. we also provide translation service for clients. 12:49:45 PM Kitty: some users would like to have such chance to make some money. 12:50:20 PM Kitty: we also cooperate with publishing companies to translate and publish books. 12:50:39 PM jonathanstray: so, is there a marketplace on your site where people can post jobs for translation work? 12:51:24 PM Kitty: "Chinese site" is also a service. Readwriteweb authorize us to build a Chinese version of RWW 12:52:10 PM Kitty: no, there are no such market place. business is done background. we have another platform to manage business. community is community. 12:52:31 PM jonathanstray: Is there another web site for this business? 12:53:18 PM Kitty: not open website. it is a platform for limited users, those who want to join in. 12:53:35 PM jonathanstray: How do users know it exists? 12:54:05 PM Kitty: when we have clients, we contact users. 12:55:05 PM Kitty: it is very easy to judge who is qualified, since all users have published something on site. we know their level and field. 12:55:49 PM Kitty: if there is project that many users may be interested in, we publish the news on site. such as book translation. 12:56:27 PM Kitty: it is a pride if one has his/her own book published in China. So we disclose such "interesting work" 12:56:45 PM jonathanstray: And the translators are paid, and you take a percentage? 12:56:53 PM Kitty: Yes. 12:57:05 PM Kitty: we need to cover the sales cost. 12:57:14 PM jonathanstray: Do you still do the translations of ReadWriteWeb China? Or other big sites? 12:57:46 PM Kitty: rwwchina.com 12:58:17 PM jonathanstray: You used to do The Guardian, Time Magazine, New York Times, correct? Do you still do any of these? 12:59:27 PM Kitty: the users pick up whatever they like to translate. We do not have official cooperation with these media now. 12:59:35 PM jonathanstray: But you did before? 12:59:51 PM Kitty: yes, especially Guardian. 1:00:15 PM jonathanstray: You still have an official agreement with ReadWriteWeb? Do you translate every RWW article? 1:01:36 PM Kitty: yes, we have official contract with RWW. 1:01:44 PM jonathanstray: Every article? 1:01:52 PM Kitty: yes 1:01:55 PM jonathanstray: They pay you? 1:02:44 PM Kitty: we have ad income split agreement 1:02:53 PM Kitty: that's common model for websites 1:03:01 PM jonathanstray: Right. Who does the RWW translations? 1:03:20 PM Kitty: whoever wants 1:03:44 PM Kitty: the best thing is that users are glad they can translate "right" 1:03:56 PM Kitty: without worrying about copyright issue. 1:04:29 PM Kitty: we do hope get more authorization from CP. We do not want users to be worried. 1:04:37 PM jonathanstray: CP? 1:04:44 PM Kitty: copyright holder 1:04:47 PM jonathanstray: Ah 1:04:55 PM Kitty: content provider 1:05:15 PM jonathanstray: So, users in the yeeyan community translate RWW articles (all of them!) for free, then you and RWW split the ad revenue from RWWchina.com? 1:06:28 PM Kitty: not accurate. we cannot provide intime translation only by free users. 1:06:43 PM Kitty: for the RWW project, we have editor on it. 1:07:04 PM Kitty: and we pay a user to be specially on this project. 1:07:28 PM Kitty: but all other users can translate their own version of RWW, so long as they want to. 1:07:33 PM jonathanstray: ah, ok 1:08:09 PM jonathanstray: So your sources of revenue are 1) ads on yeeyan 2) translation work for clients 3) ad split on rwwchina.com. Any others? 1:09:40 PM Kitty: I think that's all for now. 1:09:51 PM Kitty: but the RWW for us is more like a model 1:10:12 PM Kitty: we are in discussion with other sites to expand this model. 1:11:11 PM Kitty: have a chinese version site, open to 0.4 billion readers, plus we can provide content distribution, and we would like to split all income with CPs. 1:11:32 PM Kitty: that's what we want to do in business. 1:11:43 PM jonathanstray: Ah, I see. 1:11:50 PM jonathanstray: Can you say which other sites you are in discussion with? 1:12:41 PM Kitty: well, if we get it done I will tell you 1:12:45 PM jonathanstray: Fair enough. 1:13:01 PM jonathanstray: A few more business questions. How many staff does Yeeyan have? 1:13:22 PM Kitty: 11 1:13:36 PM jonathanstray: Do you make enough revenue now to pay everyone? 1:15:00 PM Kitty: we are reaching break even point. this is not easy, since the team was restructure last oct. 1:15:17 PM Kitty: so up to now we have gone through only half a year. 1:16:11 PM Kitty: but we will probably have enough revenue in two months. 1:16:16 PM jonathanstray: That's good to hear. 1:16:21 PM Kitty: 1:16:23 PM jonathanstray: 1:16:39 PM jonathanstray: So now I'd like to talk about translation quality. How do you make sure that the translations are good? 1:17:09 PM Kitty: translation is a strange kind of task that relies on one's level. 1:17:22 PM Kitty: a good translator in no way will do too bad. 1:17:39 PM Kitty: most of the time we need not judge each article. 1:17:53 PM Kitty: who translates it decides. 1:18:14 PM Kitty: and we will launch proofreading function next week. 1:18:32 PM Kitty: one user can proofread others' translation. 1:18:56 PM Kitty: it's all user activity. we don't ban articles according to quality. 1:19:20 PM jonathanstray: What happens when a user proofreads an article? Do they correct it? Rate it for quality? How does that work? 1:19:57 PM Kitty: it is like a note after each paragraph. the proofreader cannot change the article. 1:20:11 PM jonathanstray: Ah, ok. And users get to decide which articles they want to proofread? 1:20:56 PM Kitty: yes. we also use level to encourage users to proofread each other. 1:21:42 PM Kitty: a warm hearted user will be easy identify and will receive thanks and respect from other users. 1:21:55 PM jonathanstray: what is "level"? 1:22:07 PM Kitty: like level in games 1:22:15 PM Kitty: here we user different colors. 1:22:52 PM Kitty: black if default, if you are active, your color changes into blue, if you are very active to help others your color is red 1:23:10 PM jonathanstray: So when you proofread it increases your level? 1:23:17 PM Kitty: yes. 1:23:22 PM jonathanstray: What else increases your level? 1:23:33 PM Kitty: how many articles you translate 1:24:29 PM jonathanstray: How often do you find innacurately translated articles? 1:25:09 PM Kitty: many many haha 1:25:28 PM Kitty: there was a discussion over this long time ago 1:25:51 PM Kitty: whether yeeyan should be a place that only "good translators" can publish 1:26:13 PM Kitty: but we insist that the gate should be opened to everyone. 1:26:37 PM Kitty: we take positive effect on society into consideration. 1:27:04 PM Kitty: yeeyan should be a place that primary translators can enter, can learn, can improve themselves. 1:27:28 PM Kitty: that will be beneficial to much more people. 1:27:44 PM Kitty: but as cost, we do lost some very good translators. 1:27:53 PM jonathanstray: So you this not just for the benefit of the readers, but for the translators who learn. 1:28:25 PM Kitty: yes. and many translators come from readers. 1:28:44 PM Kitty: when they read, they hope themselves can publish a translation. 1:29:26 PM Kitty: such translators are usually primary, their translation with many mistakes. but it is cruel if we don't even provide a chance. 1:29:40 PM jonathanstray: How can a reader tell if a translation is good or not? 1:30:06 PM Kitty: whether they can understand 1:30:30 PM Kitty: but sometimes readers cannot tell if the mistake lies in translators' undersstanding. 1:30:36 PM jonathanstray: Right. 1:30:39 PM Kitty: that's why we need proofread mechanics. 1:31:07 PM jonathanstray: Will there be any sort of accuracy score for each user, like their level? 1:31:58 PM Kitty: the proofread function will be launched next week. we need to collect data for several months at least to decide. 1:32:08 PM Kitty: but the point is, 1:32:11 PM Kitty: at yeeyan, 1:32:23 PM Kitty: information is more important than translation quality. 1:32:48 PM Kitty: we are a site to deliver information, not to deliver translation training. 1:33:30 PM Kitty: the proofread is set to guide translators to improve and help readers to get the accurate information. 1:34:11 PM Kitty: we do not want it to be a stiff translation quality control system like translation companies do. 1:34:24 PM jonathanstray: Why? 1:34:44 PM Kitty: it is not easy to improve translation ability. 1:35:06 PM Kitty: a user may need years or special training to be like a professional. 1:35:56 PM Kitty: if users are strictly leveled as good better best, many of them may be disappointed. 1:36:21 PM jonathanstray: Why would that be a problem? 1:37:51 PM Kitty: well, as for primary user and middle level user, we hope they can stick to practicing. if you are showed to everyone that however hard you try, you can hardly take another step, what will you do? 1:38:44 PM Kitty: that's why we set the "level" system according to how many one translates, not how good one translates. 1:38:57 PM Kitty: that also meets the target of "deliver informaiton" 1:39:20 PM Kitty: the more one translate, the more information one shares with others. 1:39:47 PM Kitty: and the more one translates, it is nature that his/her ability will be improved. 1:39:52 PM jonathanstray: Was Wikipedia an inspiration for Yeeyan? 1:40:34 PM Kitty: yes. we respect wikipedia. 1:40:39 PM Kitty: it is a miracle. 1:40:54 PM jonathanstray: All right. A few more questions -- I think you must want lunch now! 1:41:05 PM Kitty: haha, that's OK 1:41:27 PM Kitty: interesting talk. I do need such chance to reconsider yeeyan. 1:41:45 PM jonathanstray: And I think many people outside of China will be very interested in what you do. 1:41:48 PM jonathanstray: So thanks. 1:41:51 PM jonathanstray: Let's talk about copyright. Is it legal to post the translation of a foreign news article? 1:43:32 PM Kitty: and that's why we put very few ads on our site. 1:44:51 PM Kitty: we do not want to use content for business illegally, but how to get authorization is a big problem. that's why we are trying to talk to CPs to have win-win-win business model 1:45:03 PM jonathanstray: sorry, I think I might have missed a message before "and that's why..." I was having internet problems -- did you write something? 1:46:07 PM Kitty: and that's why we put very few ads on our site. we do not want to use content for business illegally, but how to get authorization is a big problem. that's why we are trying to talk to CPs to have win-win-win business model 1:46:31 PM jonathanstray: you didn't write anything before "and that's why..."? 1:47:49 PM Kitty: and that's why we put very few ads on our site. we do not want to use content for business illegally, but how to get authorization is a big problem. that's why we are trying to talk to CPs to have win-win-win business model 1:47:55 PM jonathanstray: All right. 1:48:07 PM jonathanstray: Have you ever been asked to take content down? 1:48:42 PM Kitty: yes. such as twilight 1:48:55 PM jonathanstray: the book? a yeeyan user translated it? 1:49:19 PM Kitty: yes. several users started it, far before Chinese know what the book is. 1:49:45 PM Kitty: and then a publishing company decides to publish the book in China, so we are asked to take it down. 1:50:02 PM jonathanstray: Ah. So when several users work on the same book, how is the work divided? By chapter? By page? 1:50:41 PM Kitty: they decide all by themselves. 1:51:08 PM Kitty: usually by chapter I think, that's convenient for readers. 1:51:20 PM jonathanstray: so each chapter is a separate document on your site? 1:51:45 PM Kitty: yes. and we use project to put all chapters together 1:51:56 PM jonathanstray: Right, I remember you explaining that system 1:52:08 PM jonathanstray: What are some of your favorite things that have been translated on Yeeyan? 1:52:54 PM Kitty: hahaha http://pro.yeeyan.org/love-deserved 1:53:00 PM Kitty: this book is very popular. 1:53:30 PM Kitty: an interesting one. the author is Japanese who published the story on his blog. 1:53:48 PM Kitty: then the user found it and decide to translate. 1:54:04 PM Kitty: the translator has been working on the project for almost a year. 1:54:24 PM jonathanstray: Do Yeeyan users translate many blog posts, or mostly just news? 1:55:37 PM Kitty: I think both. we do want to import blog copyrights. that's much easier to talk to big media. 1:55:56 PM Kitty: that's much easier than to talk to big media. 1:56:15 PM jonathanstray: Do your translations ever get re-posted on the original sites? 1:58:20 PM Kitty: currently not. because we cannot bear the workload to contact each source. and also because translator owns the translation. 1:58:35 PM jonathanstray: What do you mean "owns"? 1:59:13 PM Kitty: they translate and they have the copyright of the translated version, we cannot decide where to post the version. 1:59:36 PM Kitty: it is more like the translator authorize yeeyan to publish their work. 1:59:49 PM jonathanstray: Is this how the law about translation works in China? 2:01:13 PM Kitty: I guess that's the law everywhere. some CP claim they own the translated version, like readers' digest, so RD owns the version. If the source does not claim, then translator owns the version. but if we pay to buy the version, then we own it. 2:01:27 PM Kitty: that's fair business, isn't it? 2:01:39 PM jonathanstray: Do you ever pay to buy the translation? 2:03:25 PM Kitty: we do. we pay more like "encouragement", not for business purpose. we buy some best translations. and translators are glad to have some reward 2:03:49 PM jonathanstray: Ah. So you pay the users. And then what do you do with the translations you buy? 2:04:04 PM Kitty: hahaha, nothing. 2:04:38 PM Kitty: if we have re-distribution authorization, we can sell the translation and split income. 2:04:49 PM Kitty: so currently we are working hard on copyright. 2:04:53 PM jonathanstray: Right. 2:05:25 PM Kitty: we see opportunity in China, and we hope to share the good with both CPs and translators. 2:05:30 PM jonathanstray: You mentioned Readers Digest (RD). What is your relationship with them? 2:06:27 PM Kitty: official cooperation. it is a little bit complex. a CP in China bought their copyright, and re-authorize to us since they have not enough translation resources. 2:06:42 PM jonathanstray: All right. 2:06:46 PM jonathanstray: Two final questions 2:06:56 PM Kitty: no hurry 2:07:09 PM jonathanstray: Yes, but I have other stories to work on today 2:07:15 PM jonathanstray: What is the vision of Yeeyan? 2:07:20 PM Kitty: ah, quite busy 2:08:03 PM jonathanstray: What I mean is, why does your staff work so hard on it? What part of this project excites them? 2:08:27 PM Kitty: on it? you mean on yeeyan? 2:08:48 PM jonathanstray: yes, on Yeeyan 2:09:20 PM Kitty: en, generally speaking, we believe it is meaningful, and also because we realize the business opportunity. 2:10:00 PM Kitty: it is not too difficult just to make money. but difficult to make money in a way you can benefit almost everyone. 2:10:11 PM Kitty: yet yeeyan is such a kind of business. 2:10:41 PM Kitty: our users get friends, chance to learn, or even fame and money, 2:11:28 PM Kitty: our partner have access to 0.4billion readers who is before shut away because of language, 2:11:45 PM Kitty: and we as a team work together and grow. 2:12:13 PM jonathanstray: Do you believe it helps the Chinese people to have access to more translated foreign news? 2:13:08 PM Kitty: of course. and not just news, to all kinds of information actually. 2:13:18 PM Kitty: we have users who translate jokes 2:14:08 PM Kitty: but jokes have their own meaning. that's humanity. so even foreign jokes help Chinese to understand people and life outside China. 2:14:57 PM jonathanstray: What does "Yeeyan" mean? 2:15:15 PM Kitty: in Chinese we are “译言” 2:15:27 PM Kitty: 译is translate, 言 is language 2:15:57 PM Kitty: it is said long age when the 3 creators want to start a site, they found "yiyan"was registered, 2:16:06 PM Kitty: so they change the spelling into yeeyan. 2:16:46 PM jonathanstray: Ah, I'm glad I asked! 2:16:59 PM jonathanstray: Last question: what do you hope happens to Yeeyan in the future? 2:17:54 PM Kitty: in two ways, the priority is the community. we hope to double or even triple users within the year. 2:18:29 PM Kitty: when the community is larger, it is more interesting and every user have more chance to learn from each other. 2:18:50 PM Kitty: to realize the target, we need to continue to improve the product. 2:19:57 PM Kitty: the second is business. We must go on as a strong company, otherwise yeeyan will no longer exist. the key to business, we believe lies the a win-win-win model based on copyright. 2:20:13 PM jonathanstray: Who are the three "wins"? 2:22:50 PM Kitty: for yeeyan, for CP, for translator. the current problem is, CPs cannot access China market because of the language and high cost/ low efficiency of transitional translation service; translator worries about copyright risk. Yet yeeyan has full experience in both internet and transitional media channel business. 2:23:36 PM Kitty: so if we get authorization of translation, presenting or even distribution, we can bring profit to CP and reward to translators. 2:23:51 PM jonathanstray: what is the "transitional media channel business"? 2:24:06 PM Kitty: like book, magazine, newspaper and so on. 2:24:13 PM jonathanstray: you mean "traditional"? 2:24:24 PM Kitty: ah yes 2:24:36 PM jonathanstray: Yeeyan publishes paper books and magazines too? 2:25:16 PM Kitty: we do not publish directly, but we have magazine and book and newspaper partners. 2:25:29 PM jonathanstray: So you can arrange for paper publication of translations? 2:26:30 PM Kitty: yes. If I remember it right, we have helped published more than 20+books in recent half year. 2:26:44 PM jonathanstray: Can you tell me the names of some of your traditional media partners? 2:29:10 PM Kitty: 普知 （they publish RD content as magazine）， surface，men's health (trends) 2:29:48 PM jonathanstray: what is (trends)? 2:31:50 PM Kitty: Trends is the biggest highend magazine group in China. 2:32:04 PM jonathanstray: and they publish "surface" an "men's health"? 2:32:05 PM Kitty: Men's Health is one of their magazines. 2:32:20 PM Kitty: Surface does not belong to them. 2:32:25 PM jonathanstray: Ok. 2:33:14 PM jonathanstray: So I am trying to figure out the best English meaning of 译言. I think it might be "translation", the noun, as in "Do you want to read my translation?" 2:33:50 PM Kitty: wow, that's not easy. 2:34:08 PM Kitty: in chinese it is not full a noun. 2:34:22 PM Kitty: “译” is more like translte 2:34:35 PM Kitty: "译言" is translate the information 2:34:40 PM Kitty: something like this. 2:34:47 PM jonathanstray: All right. 2:35:05 PM jonathanstray: So last thing: what is your official title at Yeeyan? 2:35:31 PM Kitty: vice general manager 2:35:54 PM Kitty: haozhi is general manager&chairman 2:36:00 PM Kitty: or you may call him CEO 2:36:42 PM jonathanstray: All right. And I'll be using this chat for quotes. I'd also like to make the unedited transcript available as additional material to the story. Are you all right with that? 2:37:41 PM Kitty: I think that's OK. yet you have to revise my spelling mistakes LOL 2:37:55 PM jonathanstray: I'm sure no one will mind. 2:37:56 PM jonathanstray: 2:38:04 PM Kitty: ……………………………… 2:38:06 PM jonathanstray: Thanks very much, kitty. 2:38:08 PM Kitty: 囧rz 2:38:18 PM jonathanstray: I don't know what that character means! 2:38:24 PM Kitty: that's OK nice to talk. 2:38:50 PM Kitty: oh, don't trouble about the meaning, look at the face and you will know. 2:39:10 PM Kitty: the expression LOL 2:39:54 PM jonathanstray: You'll have to explain 囧 to me some day. Thanks, see you later. 2:40:54 PM Kitty: yeah see you ------- 10/6/2010 5:36:55 PM Kitty: Hi, can I take up a minute? 5:36:59 PM Kitty: Busy now? 5:37:00 PM Jonathan Stray: sure 5:37:18 PM Kitty: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/business/global/08wages.html?hp 5:37:23 PM Kitty: Thanks so much! 5:37:25 PM Kitty: this article 5:37:41 PM Kitty: our users are arguing fiercely now. 5:37:56 PM Jonathan Stray: where? 5:38:00 PM Kitty: They cannot agree on a sentence. 5:38:02 PM Kitty: Economists say many of the same forces that were at work in 2007 and 2008 — when China’s economy was overheating — have returned and even intensified this year. 5:39:19 PM Kitty: What does this sentence mean in this article？ The workers returned factory or returned home? or "forces" do not refer to "labor workers" at all? 5:39:38 PM Jonathan Stray: forces does not refer to workers here 5:39:49 PM Kitty: Oh? really? 5:40:02 PM Jonathan Stray: it's talking about economic pressures 5:40:20 PM Jonathan Stray: "reasons", or "effects" 5:40:30 PM Jonathan Stray: "causes" might be a good translation 5:40:46 PM Kitty: Ah...I see...so "at work" here means "is functioning"? 5:40:52 PM Jonathan Stray: yes 5:41:22 PM Kitty: hahaha. I will tell them. Best solution is to ask a native~~ 5:41:40 PM Kitty: Thank you! 5:41:49 PM Jonathan Stray: glad to help 5:41:54 PM Kitty: Ah, we launched some new features. 5:42:37 PM Kitty: http://article.yeeyan.org/view/49269/108063 5:42:43 PM Kitty: Such as this 5:43:45 PM Jonathan Stray: comments on the translation? 5:43:51 PM Jonathan Stray: or are they comments on the article? 5:44:07 PM Kitty: there are there buttons on top. on the very left is "bookmark", on the right are "left-right view" and "up-down view" 5:44:15 PM Kitty: comments on translation. 5:44:34 PM Jonathan Stray: what are left-right view and up-down view? 5:45:01 PM Kitty: press it and you can see 5:45:19 PM Kitty: two different ways to show the original and the translation. 5:46:25 PM Jonathan Stray: i'm not sure where these buttons are 5:46:38 PM Jonathan Stray: ah, top of the article 5:46:49 PM Kitty: on top of the picture 5:47:05 PM Kitty: three gray buttons. 5:47:10 PM Jonathan Stray: I see them 5:47:12 PM Kitty: Press the right most one. 5:48:18 PM Jonathan Stray: yeah, very cool 5:48:24 PM Jonathan Stray: nice 5:48:28 PM Jonathan Stray: should translate the title too 5:50:27 PM Kitty: ah yes 5:50:54 PM Kitty: anyway, we troubled a lot on the proofread function. 5:51:07 PM Kitty: currently it is the best idea we come up with. 5:51:15 PM Jonathan Stray: do the notes come from a proofreader? 5:51:24 PM Kitty: from other users. 5:52:12 PM Kitty: we also launched some encouraging methods, if a user proofread others' translation very often, his/her badge will change clor. 5:52:14 PM Kitty: color. 5:56:47 PM Jonathan Stray: very cool 5:58:12 PM Kitty: still a lot of work to do. visits and translation data are both increasing. I guess users are trying hard to promote their level badge or color. 5:58:59 PM Kitty: it is like design some game for them to play with. after all pure translation can be quite boring ^^ 5:59:20 PM Jonathan Stray: I'm teaching this to my students tomorrow actually 5:59:34 PM Jonathan Stray: games can increase participation in your site 5:59:44 PM Jonathan Stray: where can I see these badges 6:01:21 PM Kitty: after the user avartar and ID 6:01:48 PM Kitty: not very good looking since we do not have art people on team for the moment. 6:02:10 PM Kitty: but still users are serious about it. 6:02:10 PM Jonathan Stray: the little yellow and grey badge? 6:02:21 PM Jonathan Stray: after luyue on the page you showed me? 6:02:33 PM Kitty: yes 6:02:48 PM Jonathan Stray: what do these badges mean? what is the translation of the text on them? 6:02:56 PM Kitty: amazing ah?even this little thing can intrigue passion. 6:03:07 PM Jonathan Stray: do you have data on the change in participation ffrom badges? 6:03:11 PM Kitty: the gray one says"level 8" 6:04:27 PM Kitty: but luyue is not active on commenting others, and the color is gray. 6:04:43 PM Kitty: active members get blue and then red color. 6:05:20 PM Kitty: the golden one says "partner member" 6:05:51 PM Kitty: when a partner member publishes an article, they have chance to get paid from yeeyan. 6:06:05 PM Jonathan Stray: ad revenue split? 6:07:18 PM Kitty: theoretically yes...haha 6:07:32 PM Jonathan Stray: that's the "chance"? 6:08:17 PM Kitty: If we build up a copyright- translation- customer cycle, then we are splitting revenue of course. 6:08:30 PM Kitty: but without the cycle, it is more like a cost. 6:09:28 PM Kitty: so we say this is "reward" to partner users. 6:09:49 PM Kitty: not purely payment. 6:10:04 PM Kitty: and the reward is calculated according to PV 6:10:18 PM Jonathan Stray: the "reward" is the badge? 6:10:38 PM Kitty: not only. also include money 6:11:05 PM Kitty: for luyue, if her article have 1000 views, then we give her 3 RMB 6:11:06 PM Kitty: yuan 6:11:15 PM Kitty: it is like this. 6:11:56 PM Kitty: up to now she accumulated 14 RMB yuan within a wekk? 6:11:59 PM Kitty: week 6:12:28 PM Kitty: no big money. but the whole thing sounds interesting to them. 6:12:41 PM Jonathan Stray: so what badges are there and how do you earn them? 6:13:12 PM Kitty: there are two most important badges: level and partner. 6:13:16 PM Kitty: so luyue get both. 6:13:54 PM Kitty: level badge can change color, indicating whether you are active to communicate with others. 6:14:19 PM Kitty: partner is a kind of identity. 6:15:17 PM Kitty: all partner need to be above certain level. and we set partner as some kind of "example" to encourage others. 6:15:58 PM Kitty: then we have weekly badges like most publishing, most commenting and most proofreading. 6:16:31 PM Kitty: http://space.yeeyan.org/u/kitty 6:16:50 PM Kitty: i have a most proofreading this week, the green one ^___^ 6:19:44 PM Jonathan Stray: are the badges automatic or does the yeeyan staff award them? 6:20:20 PM Kitty: the partner badge uses apply-agree process. 6:20:29 PM Kitty: all others are automatic. 6:20:50 PM Kitty: we have to control reward cost 6:22:44 PM Jonathan Stray: as in they ask you? 6:24:42 PM Kitty: ask me? 6:25:10 PM Kitty: >"< did not catch up 6:26:03 PM Jonathan Stray: the people who want to become partners ask yeeyan to be partnrs? 6:27:48 PM Kitty: yes, we set an apply page 6:28:00 PM Kitty: they need to reach level 4 to apply. 6:29:47 PM Jonathan Stray: how do they advance levels? 6:32:16 PM Kitty: translate more 6:33:04 PM Kitty: as I explained, we are not a serious translation company. we believe the more one practices, the better the skill is. 6:33:22 PM Kitty: so translate more, and attractive more readers, that 's all. 6:33:28 PM Kitty: easy index. 6:33:47 PM Jonathan Stray: is there a formula for when you get a badge? do the users know when they are close 6:35:24 PM Kitty: not yet. the formula is in the system. en...excellent if we show a process bar. 6:35:35 PM Kitty: I will ask tech guys to add one. 6:35:51 PM Jonathan Stray: so: level, partner, most comments, most proofreading 6:35:55 PM Jonathan Stray: any other badges? 6:37:00 PM Kitty: let me see... a special badge of mentor. 6:37:08 PM Kitty: only three persons are given this. 7:18:19 PM Jonathan Stray: so has implementing the badges made people translate more? -----