Last post for this blog ..

The OmegaWiki project aims to provide information about all words of all languages with a user interface in all languages. It achieves this by using relational database technology extending the wiki paradigm. This project attracted attention from organizations that made the development of relational database technology from inside the MediaWiki software possible.

OmegaWiki originated from the 171 Wiktionary projects of the Wikimedia Foundation. Originally the project was called "Ultimate Wiktionary" it was renamed to "WiktionaryZ" and now it will be known as OmegaWiki to prevent confusion with its Wiktionary sister projects.

The OmegaWiki project will include specialist terminology and will have an ontological component that will allow for the inclusion of specialist thesauri. Due to the experimental nature and to some of the requirements make that the Wikimedia Foundation is not in a position to host the OmegaWiki project.

To allow for the further development and hosting of the OmegaWiki project, the Stichting Open Progress, a foundation based under Dutch law, will assume the responsibility for the project. The "WiktionaryZ commission" will continue to take care of the day-to-day issues for the OmegaWiki project and, it will be renamed to "OmegaWiki commission"

The content of OmegaWiki will continue to be licensed under a combined GFDL and CC-by license. This is to enable what the project has defined as success: "success is when someone finds an application for our data that we did not think of".

The Wikimedia Foundation and Stichting Open Progress will continue to work together to achieve their shared objective; to bring information to all people of this planet. For more information:
We hope and expect that the Wikimedia Foundation and Stichting Open Progress will be able to work together to achieve their shared objective; to bring information to all people of this planet.

For the Stichting Open Progress and the OmegaWiki committee,
Gerard Meijssen

Ahead of the curve

WiktionaryZ is very much a project in its infancy. Many parts that are necessary to fulfil its promise are lacking. Nothing new here, WiktionaryZ is still pre alpha software. One of the great things of Open Source is that when a project has sufficient attraction people come along willing to collaborate.

WiktionaryZ and the Kamusi project have many similarities as well as differences. The most striking differences are the scope; Kamusi is about the Swahili language and its maturity. Kamusi has been going strong for quite some time. As Kamusi is so much ahead of the curve from where WiktionaryZ is, it is really interesting to look at its strengths.

I was reminded about Kamusi because of its recent newsletter; it offers a rich mix of facts about culture, updates of the project. Merchandise is offered with the Swahili clock being imho the most spectacular item on offer. All this to fund a project that runs as much on passion as it does on money.

Here too is a project that is life while continuously being developed. A project that depends on its community, it currently honours the people who contributed the most content with statistics and like WiktionaryZ it has supporters who are part of what makes Kamusi a reality.

I have met Martin Benjamin, the Kamusi editor at Wikimania 2006 in Boston. It was too short a pleasure. We have talked since using Google talk on several occasions and ast Kamusi is ahead of the curve I have been privileged to learn much from the Kamusi experience.

My hope is that at some stage we will have the maturity of Kamusi. It is likely that we will have this maturity first for some languages and slowly but surely for others as well.. WiktionaryZ is very much a journey, enjoy the ride :)

Thanks,
GerardM