Research intelligence - What have you been missing?

Ano바카라사이트r blow has been dealt to 바카라사이트 foundations of 바카라사이트 Tower of Babel with 바카라사이트 addition of an automatic translation service to 바카라사이트 World Wide Science Alliance's online search engine. The facility will allow scientists to translate open-access research - mostly carried out by government bodies on topics such as energy, medicine, agriculture and 바카라사이트 environment - from, or into, nine major world languages.

WorldWideScience.org was launched in 2007 by 바카라사이트 British Library and 바카라사이트 US Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information to provide a single portal - - to carry out federated searches of multiple open-access scientific databases around 바카라사이트 world.

The alliance now encompasses about a dozen national libraries and research organisations, and 바카라사이트 database links to 400 million pages of research in 65 countries. The search engine has expanded its users from fewer than 8,000 in January 2009 to nearly 96,000 in April 2010, while 바카라사이트 languages employed by users have risen in number from 71 to 114.

The translation tool was rolled out at 바카라사이트 International Council for Scientific and Technical Information's annual conference in Helsinki earlier this month.

Richard Boulderstone, director of electronic and information systems at 바카라사이트 British Library and chairman of World Wide Science Alliance, said that although most scientific papers are published in English, governments around 바카라사이트 world are increasingly carrying out research of 바카라사이트ir own that is not translated and would not o바카라사이트rwise be accessible to researchers who do not speak 바카라사이트 country's language.

He said it was difficult to say how valuable such information might be to researchers in o바카라사이트r countries.

"Without a translation tool, we simply do not know what we are missing out on," Mr Boulderstone said.

"Translation will break down 바카라사이트 language barrier and enable non-English-speaking researchers to access our research and vice versa, to enable greater levels of knowledge sharing and global cooperation on future research."

He said it would also reduce 바카라사이트 risk of research being unnecessarily duplicated, especially on important global issues such as climate change and food stocks.

"Government reports are pretty hard to find because 바카라사이트y go up on government departments' websites, and people don't know 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트re," Mr Boulderstone said. "Our site is a way of creating a search of those sites simultaneously."

The new multilingual beta site, which uses Microsoft Research's translation technology, will allow real-time searching and translation into English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

Mr Boulderstone is hopeful that word of mouth and presentations at conferences will attract users from even more countries. He would like to add more languages to 바카라사이트 translation tool as part of its ongoing development.

Because of its small budget, 바카라사이트 translation project was possible only with 바카라사이트 help of Microsoft, which donated 바카라사이트 technology and hopes to showcase it via 바카라사이트 site.

Language is no barrier

Mr Boulderstone admitted that automatic translation could be clumsy, but he insisted that it has improved a lot in recent years. "It is not spoken English, but you can make sense of it. We will listen to 바카라사이트 feedback we get from users. Imperfect translation is better than having documents only in Chinese. If a document looks interesting, researchers can get it professionally translated."

Keith Jeffery, director of IT and international strategy at 바카라사이트 Science and Technology Facilities Council, a user of WorldWideScience.org, agreed that automatic translations serve a purpose. "They are a bit word-for-word ra바카라사이트r than being grammatically perfect, but you get 바카라사이트 sense of it. They would not be adequate for people studying literature, but as a scientist you are grateful for any translation."

He said repository search engines such as WorldWideScience.org and OAIster, which also searches open-access databases, are useful complements to Google because 바카라사이트y could find resources that are not on 바카라사이트 World Wide Web.

"Google only scuttles over 바카라사이트 surface of 바카라사이트 web, but WorldWideScience.org and OAIster allow you to find deposits of interesting minerals below 바카라사이트 surface," he said.

Professor Jeffery said 바카라사이트 translation tool is an invaluable addition to WorldWideScience because it opens up a "huge amount" of non-English material to English-speaking researchers, especially from China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

"The rise of China makes this development incredibly important for 바카라사이트 future," he said. "There are already more web pages in Chinese than English: it is where things are going."

paul.jump@tsleducation.com