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Integration of CT translation performance data ("Speed per hour", etc.) with Proz.com/TM-Town/BaccS?
Yeah, this would all be possibly very interesting, once a Mac version would be available. And the developer has already indicated that no resources are available.
That's the beauty of Java. The world's number one programming language.
Michael Beijer
Anyway, I just wanted to add something to my post.
I was just throwing around ideas, but I think the main part of the idea revolves around making better use of the interesting performance data in CT. It doesn't really matter, where it would be used/shown later, just that we get a better way to make use of it.
Currently, the information pretty much disappears once you're finished with your job. It would be cool if there was a way to at least export the performance data from each job out of the project. Maybe into some form of local files/reports, but this is why I thought of Proproz.com/TM-Town, and BaccS, because they all offer APIs of some form, and we would need a good place to store and view the data.
Another option would be a custom CafeTran user website/profile, or even our freshdesk profile (although I am not enntirely concinced it's that great). Kind of like what Kilgray have with their LanguageTerminal.com, but then better of course ;-)
The translation performance data (Project duration, Session duration, Speed in this session, Speed per minute, and Speed per hour) that CafeTran produces are great to measure your project progress over time and they are really a cool way to spur your own performance and set goals to achieve. I like the idea of speeding but only when you race with yourself to improve your own scores. I am not sure if making the data public and sharing them with others would be desirable. Those data might be overused by some clients who can adjust their own rates to your 'speedy' performance.
As a way of integration with other tools such as BaccS and/or access from TM-Town, they would need to be sent to an online server via API (e.g. private fields in WIWO (What I Am Working On) ProZ.com service). Then, they could be reached both by BaccS and TM-Town user's profile from there. Here again, I would like to stress the importance of default privacy for such data.
This might be also overused by the users themselves who wish to stand out in public, no matter the risk of lowering their own rates. On the other hand, speed is not equal to quality so clients with good reputation would not take it as a major factor.
Given the reasoning above, I think it is a very good idea to collect the data for statistical analysis, share between tools and services but still keeping them in translator's own private scope.
Thanks for starting this thread, and let's see what others have in mind about it.
Michael Beijer
A lot of damage has a ready been caused by the fact that agencies now use fuzzy discount rates to screw translators, especially those translators who are new and might not understand what is being done yet.
By the way, BaccS is a desktop program (even though it started off as cloud-based), so it would probably be very easy to share my CT performance data with BaccS entirely without making use of the internet. Probably all that would be needed would be for CT to export its performance data as an XML/TXT file, to a location on the user's computer, and for BaccS to know where to look.
I'm also sure that Henry/Kevin (who has already replied to me about this via email) from Proz.com would see the value of having such data available to the translator from some kind of newly developed tab in their Proz profiles, but kept private.
Hello. I will be short, cause feel that not everyone glad to see me here.
Fully support Igor - this info must be confident.
BaccS already has functionality to track speed. Edit time is entered manually into each job. Planned to import it automatically from memoQ, but this info is closed. If CT stores this info in any file which can be read from .NET, than it not even necessary to export this data. On the base of history, the program predicts speed for future jobs. Then, it can build such reports to see personal performance for any period of time and specialization:
tre
To keep it short: no Mac version, no BaccS for me (and Mac/Windows version does not necessarily mean Java).
But it is a great idea to export or collect the performance data on a private base (also e.g. to track – and to have a proof, not just a feeling – if the projects of a specific client are rather time-consuming or not).
> cause feel that not everyone glad to see me here.
Your feelings may misguide you. In spite of the fact that you are a .NET guy :), CafeTran community is a friendly place - sometimes with fiery but fruitful discussions going on here.
> If CT stores this info in any file which can be read from .NET, than it not even necessary to export this data.
CT creates these data dynamically for each project. There is an option to save it to HTML file but it is not for sharing between tools. To make the sharing truly cross-platform/service, I think connecting by WIWO APIs (in optional private fields) would be the best option so that other tools and services could access the information.
Since setting the subject/field and client info is optional, the personal performance data are shown per project. However, they might be also linked to the field (or client) category as shown in BaccS image if the translator provides such additional info in the WIWO field.
Michael Beijer
OK, here's an idea.
It would be interesting to look into integrating the data collected by CT when translating, such as Project duration, Session duration, Speed in this session, Speed per minute, and Speed per hour, with our TM-Town or Proz.com profiles, either publicly, or privately. Especially now that BaccS has joined the Proz.com Plus package, I envision all manner of cool integrations, where we can keep track of our performance over time, and create reports with stuff like: how much I make, on average, in each month, year, etc., what my highest/lowest hourly rate was, and what types of Subjects/Clients this involved, etc.
The data collected by CT I mentioned above, plus stuff like Subject and Client fields, could really produce some interesting data.
It could be linked to Proz.com, TM-Town, or even the desktop version of BaccS (or other, Mac project management software) via APIs.
What do you think Igor? I'll also mention this post to Eugene of BaccS, and Kevin from TM-Town.
Michael