When audio files have been uploaded with timing files for a chapter, could you make it available when “Anyone with link can comment” is selected for Sharing? This would enable Commenters to listen to the translation (up to one full chapter) before they comment.
Hi Todd, thanks for this suggestion. We’ll take a look at how feasible it would be to make that change.
1 Like
Hi Todd, I apologize for the late response, but I’d like to clarify your request, regarding the Commenter role. The Commenter role is used within the Translate workflow of Scripture Forge, as opposed to the Community Checking workflow. For example, Commenter’s cannot see questions and answers. You are probably already aware of this, and that doesn’t prevent us from doing this, but it’s the reason it’s not there currently. Your question makes me wonder what your project situation is, specifically how you’re using Commenter’s. Are you using Commenter’s because you want certain users to be able to read (and listen to) the text without seeing or answering questions? Or something else?
Are there any other specifications about this feature you’d like to communicate? For example, if we gave Commenter’s the same permissions to listen to chapter audio as Community Checker’s, would this be okay by you?
Hey Joseph! I wasn’t aware of these envisioned workflows within SF. The role I have in mind is sometimes called a Stylist, that is, someone(s) who pays attention to naturalness and discourse related issues. You could also think of it as a ‘third party’ look_at and/or listen_to the translation. Another way this functionality could be used is for final review sometime after the text has been consultant checked before a major publication. In either case, it would be particularly helpful to be able to do these tasks via audio and without requiring the use of Paratext, both of which SF enables. Sometimes the most fluent speakers are not literate or not technically proficient.
If I understand your question correctly, yes, giving Commenter’s the same permissions to listen to chapter audio as Community Checker’s should do the job. Thanks for considering this request.
1 Like
Thanks for providing more context. We have in the past talked about adding the ability to make comments in Community Checking, and I am wondering if doing so would also address the issue at hand. If we were to go that route, it would be solving the problem a different way, and I’m wondering that would be more likely to get greenlit, given it’s already somewhat on our radar. I’ll let you know what we figure out!
1 Like
Todd, after speaking with the team, I do think it more likely that we would add commenting capabilities to Community Checking, over adding chapter audio to Translate. The former has been requested a fair number of times over the past few years, so we would see the bigger value gain there; however, it would be somewhat hefty undertaking, and we’re wondering if there is a workaround that would address your needs more quickly.
I know you mentioned not wanting to require the use of Paratext for some of your team, but one way to get both chapter audio and commenting is to make Paratext accounts for your Stylist’s. Any Paratext role (e.g. Observer) gets both of these capabilities, and you would only need Paratext for account creation. Commenting will be available in the “Edit & review” screen, and chapter audio will be available in “Questions & answers.” Is this something you’ve considered, and would this be feasible at all?
Thanks for working with us through this!
Okay, we can work with that approach, but it would be nice if the chapter and verse location would stay the same when switching between work flows. Currently, when I go to Questions & Answers it automatically jumps to the first question. Is that necessary? When we want to view a question in Community Testing, there are buttons to find them. If you want that to be the default behavior, could there be a setting to pause it for a style/general review?
1 Like
You’re right, this is odd behavior. I am going to consider this a bug and work on changing the behavior to remember your last viewed location (if possible, even if there’s no question on that chapter).
1 Like
Hey, Todd, we are pretty close to a release on this change. The next time we release (typically once a week), the software should save your last location when switching between Translate and Community Checking. I’ll follow up again once this happens. Thank you for your patience!
1 Like
Hi Joseph! I stumbled on this thread because I was looking specifically for a way to allow commenting in the Community Checking workflow. The way we envision using SF for our project, we’ll have a small set of people using the tool, all of whom we want to be able to both respond to questions and to leave comments on any verse. This feature would be helpful for us. Thanks!
Love to hear it!
Joseph