The Biology Project is an online interactive resource for learning biology, developed at The University of Arizona. As our international audience has increased (we currently host about 300,000 user sessions per month, of which 20-25% originate from outside the US) so has the demand for translated versions of the site. We are currently testing a pilot program to facilitate online collaborative translation of the site in conjunction with our move to dynamic page generation. By separating content from presentation, using a database-driven design, we hope to facilitate the translation effort by allowing volunteer translators to focus on the content without having to deal with presentation issues. The system we will demonstrate, which uses Macromedia's Cold Fusion, allows the translator to work on various sections of the site, and to view the translation as it will appear. Our eventual goal is to enable international collaboration to develop new modules for the Biology Project that can be easily and rapidly translated and deployed to language-specific versions of the site.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

The techniques we have explored for enabling our translation effort touch on many of the same problems facing all web content developers: separating content from presentation (which allows the content to be used in various media, e.g., the web, CD-ROM, and print), customization of content for specific audiences, and the challenges of online collaboration. We know from experience that many Slicers are grappling with the same issues, and we hope to illuminate at least a few possible solutions and approaches.

Ken M. Williams
The Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
The Univeristy of Arizona
LSS 444
PO Box 210106
Tucson AZ 85721-0106
Phone: 520.621.3624
Fax: 520.621.3709
Email: kenw@email.arizona.edu
Website: www.biology.arizona.edu

CO-AUTHORS:
Richard B. Hallick Ph.D.
William J. Grimes Ph.D.
Madeleine LaPointe
Cheryl Ryan
Michael Wagenheim
The Biology Project
The University of Arizona
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Biological Sciences West
P.O. Box 210088
Tucson AZ 85721-0088
Phone: 520.621.3624
Fax: 520.621.3709
Email: hallick@email.arizona.edu
wjg@email.arizona.edu
lapointe@email.arizona.edu
cryan@email.arizona.edu
wagenhei@email.arizona.edu
Website: www.biology.arizona.edu
www.biologia.arizona.edu (Spanish)
projeto-biologico.mcb.arizona.edu (Portugese)