Question to channel managers and/or moderators. How do you generally go about organizing your channels?
And by that, I mean, how do you generally go about discussing things amongst the team? As a whole?
PMs back and forth seem fine for a one-on-one conversation, but when you want input and discussion from a group, it doesn’t really work well.
The discussion board seems somewhat appropriate. Multiple people can post, you can keep a conversation going, you can refer to previous posts, etc. The only thing is that the boards are all public. But you don’t really want non-team members jumping in randomly (at least I don’t).
It’s sort of hard to keep track of things in the team discussion, since it’s really just a comment system. (Also public though.)
Do you have any work-arounds for this?
I actually really want to use some off-site services. There are tons of project management applications online, and a bunch are free. My only concern would be that you’d have to get everyone involved to register there…and I feel like there will be tons of people who don’t care to do that.
I have never been a Channel Manager, but as a German Mod I like to use a combination of kakaotalk and Google Doc. A lot of the German subbers have kakaotalk so we usually open a chat for each drama and add the people of the team. It’s pretty helpful since you don’t have to wait as long for the answers as you would, if you were using the viki message system. Additionally you can create polls and get the opinion of the others on certain translations (e.g. company names, job positions). In the Google Doc we usually have some sort of ‘basic rules of subbing’ and we add special translations or notes on whether the characters speak formal or informal. If the subbers work according to the Google Doc it means a lot less work for our editors because it guarantees the consistency of translation style.
Kakaotalk (as app and on the computer) and Google Doc are free to use.
Personally, I just use Google Docs & PMs. There’s a chat system in Google Docs that has all of the logs saved. You don’t even need to be logged in.
And PMs are usually for sending out regular team-wide messages & answering individual questions.
For me, that’s the easiest since everyone knows how to use both features.
we normally have a core team using Team Discussion pannel where we exchange information on episodes segmented/subbed, problems, concerns and daily trivia ( oggling main male characters mostly… yes, we are that shallow). I have never had to restore to extra resurces ( although I keep in touch with my subbing mates via facebook, but as a private chat). we have recently created a discussion on how to translate where we are trying to organise our thoughts and come with the conslusions for tight spots. whatsapp works and google documents for making sure everyone has the same lyrics or same translation guidelines ( names, capital letters or not, common quotes and so). as for progress charts, any other charts or extra administrative works like signing somewhere and adding 3 cents to the discussion - I normally run away as fast as I can. with the limited time we all have it is best to stick to the minimum.
If your team members have the time to translate simultaneously, all six parts. Then you can use the chat room in the Subtitle Editor for conversations and Google Docs for general info, such as translated lyrics, transliterations of character/actor names and toponyms. Also, the moderator, usually sends PMs for when translation may begin in said language.
If the team members cannot be in the Subtitle Editor at the same time, definitely PMs and off-site discussions. Google Docs are easy to use. But then again, I guess it’s best to use the application all of you use the most.
I just utilize Google Docs and PMs myself. Google Docs and OGWhatsApp both have chat systems that store all of the logs. Even logging in is not necessary.
Additionally, PMs typically handle individual questions as well as sending out frequent team-wide communications.
Since everyone is familiar with both aspects, that is the easiest option for me.
