LTI Korea and KTLIT begin “Wikipedia Project” collaboration

Wikipedia Project LogoIt’s been a little slow around here, but here’s why:

LTI Korea and KTLIT begin “Wikipedia Project” collaboration.

After a meeting last week at the office of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) in Samseong-dong, LTI Korea and  the Korean Translated Literature website (KTLIT) have agreed to a six-month project, the “Korean Literature Wikipedia Project” which aims to dramatically increase the amount of information about Korean authors and literature available on the world-wide-web.

The eventual goal of the project is to put all of the author information LTI Korea has online as Wikipedia pages, using information provided by LTI Korea’s website and magazine (LIST), as well as other sources to ensure the Wikipedia requirement of at least three distinct and credible sources for each Wikipedia pages is met. In total, this should eventually mean that nearly 200 authors will be represented across 15 languages. At completion, this should add up to nearly 600 individual Wiki pages. The first part of the project, however, will focus on six languages: English, French, German, Polish, Japanese and Chinese. LTI Korea already has interns at work on the French and German pages, while KTLIT is creating the English and Polish pages. The Polish pages are being created with the help of Marzena Stefanska (Co-founder of publishing firm Kwiaty Orientu – “Flowers of the Orient).

In the words of www.ktlit.com manager Charles Montgomery this project is important because, “One of the great initial research tools for English speakers, The Wikipedia, lacks information about Korea literature. Compared to the pages on Japanese literature, for example, Korean literature is almost nonexistent. It has been almost silly. Lee Dong-ha had two sentences, Lee Mun-yol a paragraph, Park Wan-so and Shin Kyung-sook did not even have pages before the project began.”

The project will not only create author pages, but also pages for Korean literary awards, translators, representative books and stories, and Montgomery says, “the idea is to create an ecosphere – a reader may start by being interested in one story or author, but the web of Wikipedia links will make it possible for that reader to learn about Korean modern literature in its entirety.”

The Wikipedia Project began three years ago, and always included informal cooperation between LTI Korea and KTLIT, but now the project will go forward on a formal basis. Previous to this agreement, some 50 pages have been created, including pages for such internationally famous authors as Han Kang (Vegetarian), Cho Se-hui (The Dwarf), Park Wan-so (Who Ate up all the Shinga), and Park Min-gyu (Spongecake). The Wikipedia Project is currently searching for interns skilled in Japanese and Chinese, who will be responsible for putting up Wikipedia pages in those languages.

For more information:
Charles Montgomery: www.ktlit.com