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Atkinson continues comeback from long-term injury

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Police officer convicted of coercive behaviour

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The Economics of Hooker Books

By belledejour-uk.blogspot.com
Published On :: Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:43:00 +0000

One of the more persistent criticisms I get these days is that by being public about my really rather normal experience of sex work, I am "silencing" people who label themselves a victims.

I'm not going to rehash the particular arguments regarding Happy Hookers vs. Abused Victims here, in part because Maggie McNeill has already done it. Suffice it to say that people who have read my writing know my experience of sex work, while useful, positive, and not abusive, was not quite the shopping-and-shoe-buying fantasy critics paint it as. But then most people who think that about me have never encountered my writing firsthand and are instead basing their impressions off a half-remembered advert featuring Billie Piper's tits. I understand. It's easy to get confused.

But it did give me a moment of pause: is my writing crowding out other voices in the market? I decided to examine this further.

Since many people purport to tell the story of sex workers for them, I excluded books that were either not written by or not straight biographies of a particular sex worker. I also excluded all that were fiction (such as my own Playing the Game) or deal with post-sex work life (such as Lily Burana's I Love a Man in Uniform).

Anyway, here are the results:


As you can see, my books are outnumbered by hooker memoirs that predate mine (Tracy Quan and Xaviera Hollander in particular). Outspoken strippers also chalk up plenty of contributions to the genre.

But outnumbering all of us by far are the 'misery memoirs' about prostitution. (Don't get angry at me for the sweeping generalisation. That is what the genre actually is called.) There are, to use the technical term, fucking shedloads of these books. You'll notice more than a few bestsellers in that stack as well. These were just the ones I could fit into the graphic; there are dozens upon dozens more. Many if not most of which were published after my books first came out.

It's probably fair to conclude that not only has my writing not stopped others from contributing their experience to the general debate on sex work, but that you're actually more likely to get noticed if you're unhappy with prostitution than generally satisfied with it.

With the swirling vortex of Kristof/trafficking/concern porn making the rounds, in fact, now might just be the right time to do it. If you were of a mind to write a book like that.

I encourage people with real firsthand views on the topic, whatever they are, to write. In fact moreso if you are not white, or not a cis woman, or not from the US or Western Europe. Women who look and sound approximately like me are already pretty well represented in the hallowed halls of sex worker lit. Let's diversify it all over the damn place until the orientalists and anti-migration-disguised-as-anti-trafficking types have to eat every last one of their words.

Just so long as we all understand that there is no such thing as one story of sex work - they are as diverse as the people in it. My story is my story. Your story is your story. None of us speak for all sex workers. And be honest. As Bob Dylan memorably put it “If you live outside the law you must be honest.” So long as we are all on the level, then getting as many true voices out there as possible is no bad thing.

Now back to the critics...

For pity's sake don't come crying to me if you're not as popular as you like. As the objective evidence shows, it categorically is not down to me whether or not people want to read your writing.

As regards writing as a career, it is dangerous to assume I or anyone else is getting "vastly rich" off of writing (as one bitter soul recently accused). Many people seem to think that writing a book, even a bestselling one, is a ticket to financial freedom and nets far beyond what even your common-or-garden escort can potentially make. I hate to break it to the dreamers, but that is not so.

If it was, do you think I'd still be writing? Hell, no. I'd be kicking back with J.K. Rowling and E.L. James in our secret volcano fortress warming my toes on a fire built by our minions entirely out of £50 notes and cackling madly. As opposed to the reality - sitting in my home office in a very average house in one of the poorest areas of the country. I'm not bankrolled by any grant-grabbing NGOs, my personal appearances usually only cover expenses, and nuisance legal threats from people with a lot of time on their hands cost more than all my living expenses combined. I've done better than most by writing and am still a long way off being a millionaire.

As it turns out, I hear the person who made that accusation supposedly comes from family money herself and spends her time as a dilettante poetess. If that's true, well, good luck with that. Whatever works amirite?

Best of luck, former fellow hos. This is not exactly the road less traveled but is no less bumpy for it.


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My response to Rhoda Grant's prostitution consultation

By belledejour-uk.blogspot.com
Published On :: Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:45:00 +0000

As you may know, there is a consultation that closes today for a bill in Scotland that would criminalise the purchase of sex.

The response to the consultation that I have submitted to MSP Rhoda Grant is included below. It's long.

If you would like to make a last-minute submission, please consider the excellent template letters offered by SCOT-PEP. Please be sure to request anonymity if you want to do it privately, or consider signing with a pseudonym. You don't have to be in Scotland to reply.

My response:


First off, I would like to address to comments Trish Godman MSP made at the Conference Against Human Trafficking in October this year that “Belle” does not exist and is not happy. I am Belle de Jour, I do exist, and please thank Ms Godman for being so concerned about my feelings – I am happy.

QUESTIONS Q1: Do you support the general aim of the proposed Bill? Please indicate “yes/no/undecided” and explain the reasons for your response. 

No, I do not support the general aim of the bill.

If the current laws are not working, as you claim, what makes you think new, badly thought out laws would work better? Or is this another 'send a message' law? Passing laws is easy. Passing a law which actually works in the way intended, is enforceable and has no harmful unforeseen consequences is far more difficult.

Such a law as proposed here will not affect whether or not prostitution happens: it will simply affect the conditions under which it takes place to the harm of sex workers. The question is, do you care about those conditions? I do. My priority is access for sex workers to the services they need to preserve or improve their circumstances.

The criminalisation of the purchase of sex in other countries has been shown not to be a successful approach in either helping sex workers or stopping the phenomenon of paying for sex. The extensive evidence for this position is outlined in the replies to the following questions.  

Q2: What do you believe would be the effects of legislating to criminalise the purchase of sex (as outlined above)? Please provide evidence to support your answer.

The effects of criminalising the purchase of sex would be increased danger for the people involved in selling sex and no reduction in demand. It is neither the logical response to sex work nor is it the compassionate one.

It has been reported that at a meeting in London at the House of Commons in November, Rhoda Grant said that harm or attacks that might be suffered by sex workers as the result of this bill was a “price worth paying”. How easy to say when other people are the ones paying the price! This shows me the bill is putting ideology above people’s lives. That the desire to punish sex workers and their clients matters more to her than women’s safety. It is horrifying. [Alex Bryce, ” A Regressive Move Which Would Further Stigmatise and Endanger Sex Workers”. Huffington Post, 28 November 2012]

Legislators who care about lives should focus on the provision of essential support services first and foremost. There is ample evidence to suggest that introducing criminalisation as well as spending valuable time and police resources would be to the detriment of the sex workers this Bill claims to want to protect.

My opposition is based upon the fact that the Swedish model is flawed; on the negative impact of such criminalisation on existing sex workers, particularly in their ability to access health and criminal justice services; the fact such an approach ignores and thus fails to address limitations within the criminal justice system (and other agencies) to effectively address abuses; the negative influence it has on the broader narrative of human trafficking to the detriment of other kinds of trafficking and exploitation.

The law in Sweden criminalising buyers has not been successful. It was brought in based on very little evidence. According to Dr Laura Agustin, an expert on sex work and migration, one of its data sources was a survey of only 14 people - just 7 of whom were sex workers.

Statistics show Swedish men are not deterred by the law. Many go to Denmark and Germany where prostitution is legal. The demand has not dried up. The number of men in Sweden who have paid for sex is actually rising. The laws have proved unpopular. A recent newspaper survey found 63% of the population favoured abolishing the sex purchase ban. When the Justice Minister proposed increasing penalties, 88% of Swedes disagreed.

There are health and safety concerns about prohibition. Condom distribution and HIV prevention, “ugly mugs” schemes identifying violent punters, and exiting services show far lower uptake when prostitution is criminalised.

As Purchasing Sexual Services in Sweden and the Netherlands found, the impact of the law on sex workers was to make such work more dangerous; for example, by reducing the time available to sex workers to assess clients. [Purchasing Sexual Services in Sweden and the Netherlands, A Report by a Working Group on the legal regulation of the purchase of sexual services, 2004, p. 20]

Much is made in anti-trafficking discourse of the Swedish model based on the assertion that, by making the purchase of sex an offence, human trafficking declines. But as an example, a 2011 report found that:

[W]hen reviewing the research and reports available, it becomes clear that the Sex Purchase Act cannot be said to have decreased prostitution, trafficking for sexual purposes, or had a deterrent effect on clients to the extent claimed. Nor is it possible to claim that public attitudes towards prostitution have changed significantly in the desired radical feminist direction or that there has been a similar increased support of the ban. We have also found reports of serious adverse effects of the Sex Purchase Act – especially concerning the health and well-being of sex workers – in spite of the fact that the lawmakers stressed that the ban was not to have a detrimental effect on people in prostitution.
[The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success and Documented Effects, Susanne Dodillet and Petra Östergren, Conference paper presented at the International Workshop: Decriminalising Prostitution and Beyond: Practical Experiences and Challenges. The Hague, March 3 and 4, 2011, p.3.]

This year UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, stated unequivocally that decriminalisation is the best strategy for both safety of sex workers and disease control. Swedish statistics in the 2012 UNAIDS progress report show Sweden has no data on whether HIV and safer sex programmes are reaching sex workers, or if sex workers are getting tested. This is a worrying development that could lead to an Aids timebomb. Such things are already happening in countries like Cambodia, where abusive and violent police enforcement of anti-sex work laws has led to decreased use of prophylactics, fewer people coming forward for STI testing, etc.

Close reading of the Swedish publications on the topic make it clear that UNAIDS is correct in their interpretation. For example, the report claims “it is reasonable to assume that the reduction in street prostitution in Sweden is a direct result of criminalisation” and “The overall picture we have obtained is that, while there has been an increase in prostitution in our neighbouring Nordic countries in the last decade, as far as we can see, prostitution has at least not increased in Sweden” (p. 36).

The language reveals that Sweden has no data and is simply pulling numbers out of thin air. As such, we argue that the Swedish model should be more carefully considered, especially in relation to its alleged ‘success’, and its applicability to Scotland. Criminalising sex work makes prostitutes more vulnerable to violence.

The UNAIDS report notes “In Sweden, sex workers who were unable to work indoors were left on the street with the most dangerous clients and little choice but to accept them.” This has also been the case in reports focusing on human rights in countries like Cambodia, where efforts to reduce prostitution have had a significant harmful effect.

By contrast, decriminalisation has been beneficial in terms of welfare of women. In 2003, New Zealand opted to overturn their laws that criminalised prostitution in favour of regulation. The people most visibly affected by the law were streetwalkers in larger cities like Auckland, where in 2003 about 360 girls were estimated by police to be working. Streetwalkers represent about 11% of the total number of prostitutes in the country. ["Big Increase of Sex Workers a Myth: Latest Research". Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences. 2006-09-12] An evaluation of available data shows that the number of sex workers changed very little – and in some places, the numbers of them on the streets actually decreased – compared to before sex work was legal.

In Auckland, the estimated number of girls working the streets decreased significantly, from 360 to 106. People working in massage parlours and other establishments expressed a desire to stay in the work because of the financial rewards. [Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. Available online at: http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy-and-consultation/legislation/prostitution-law-review-committee/publications/plrc-report/report-of-the-prostitution-law-review-committee-on-the-operation-of-the-prostitution-reform-act-2003] In 2010, interviews with over 700 sex workers in New Zealand were published. [G Abel, L Fitzgerald, C Healy, (eds). Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers' fight for decriminalisation. Policy Press 2010] The number of interviews represents almost 12% of the estimated 5932 prostitutes in the country, a far higher proportion than in virtually any other qualitative study of sex workers ever conducted.

It concluded that the majority entered and stayed in the sex trade for financial reasons, that they felt the new laws gave them more protection, and that the result was positive changes overall for safety and health. As a result of the legislation they had become more willing (and able) to report crimes to the police - surely a victory for women’s safety.

We have a relevant and recent Scottish example with Aberdeen. From 2001 onward, the city had an established tolerance zone for sex workers around the harbour. That ended with passage of the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act in 2007. In the following months the city centre experienced an influx of streetwalkers and an increase in petty crimes. Quay Services, which operates a drop-in centre for streetwalkers, reported that sex workers became more afraid to seek assistance and the number of women coming to the centre dropped to “just a handful”. [M Horne. “Safety tips texted to prostitutes after tolerance zone ends.” The Scotsman, 08 June 2008.] There was also evidence that displacing sex workers led to more activity in the sex trade, not less – convictions for solicitation tripled. [K Keane, 18 November 2008. “Prostitution 'forced into city'.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7734480.stm]

To give a more specific example – when I lived in Sheffield in the early 2000s I saw firsthand the tragic effects of driving sex work away from well-trafficked, well-watched areas. At one point a de facto ‘tolerance’ area of streetwalkers had existed around the St George’s area of the city. It was fairly central, well lighted with CCTV, and police went through the area regularly. The streetwalkers I saw there (for I lived in a flat nearby) all seemed confident and in control. The interactions I saw with them and punters, and them and police, did not appear strained or overtly dangerous.

This changed when the crackdown came. Bollards went up to prevent kerb crawling. Women were pushed out to less populated, more industrial, less policed areas. It happened at that time I was a student, working in the city’s Medico Legal Centre.

One day I was called down to look at a postmortem. The mortuary was a rectangular room, with parallel stations set up for performing autopsies. That particular morning, there was one case I remember in excruciating detail. A young woman had been stabbed in a frenzied attack out past the dark underpasses of the Wicker, not far from Corporation Street. She died in hospital. The victim was just 25 years old. I had turned 25 the night she died.

[Name Redacted] was picked up by someone unknown, stabbed 19 times, and dumped in a lot. She lived long enough to give a partial description of her attacker, but died in hospital. I remember the dark hair, the pathologist methodically recording the position and appearance of each place the knife entered. I remember the stuffed teddy bear with a little red heart someone brought to the centre for her. Later I heard she had a 7-year-old son. Her killer has never been found.

Such a terrible, violent murder is only one tragedy. Many murders go unsolved every year. But the connection between what happened to [Redacted] and where she was working seemed clear to me. The more I learned, the more the effects of “zero tolerance” policing seemed partly responsible for her untimely death. This would not have happened if she had been on the streets near St George’s, with loads of walk-by traffic and well-lit corners. This crime could only have happened away from prying eyes, where anyone alerted to [Redacted]’s distress would not have been able to save her. Where there were no witnesses.

There is growing evidence that moving prostitutes into the darkened industrial outskirts of cities makes their lives more dangerous. [Redacted] is just one victim of a policy that is more concerned with exploiting prostitution myths and preserving a façade of public order than it is about benefitting women.

Perhaps rather than assuming these women are targeted because they are prostitutes, we should consider that they may be targeted because of message society is sending about their value as humans. Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River killer, murdered 48 women in America in the early 1980s. He later talked about why most of his victims were streetwalkers: "I picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” [EW Hickey. Serial Murderers and Their Victims (5th edition). Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. P. 25.] It wasn’t the commercial sex angle that was attractive to him, but the convenience.

Many such killers are opportunists; they not only target shamed outsiders like prostitutes, but also hitchhikers and people travelling alone. People whose whereabouts are not exactly known at any given time. And yet no one would endorse a law criminalising solo travel under the rubric of “protecting” holidaymakers – that would be ludicrous.  

Q3: Are you aware of any unintended consequences or loopholes caused by the offence? Please provide evidence to support your answer. 

The unintended consequences of such a law would be greater personal risk for the people who sell sex, including both criminal danger, risk of attack, and exposure to sexually transmitted infections as detailed in the evidence for my answers given above. Attacking sex workers or their clients is not successful in changing behaviour. Prohibition in general tends to backfire.

We all know how badly alcohol prohibition in the US went and the frightening criminal implications of the ongoing “War on Drugs”. Instead of addressing the underlying social issues that might have been leading to unwelcome behaviours, it simply gives criminals a far greater hold on the industry than they would have otherwise. It does nothing to solve any actual family or societal problems. The government policy of the last several decades against sex workers has failed. No matter what deterrents are applied it always continues.

Even the Swedish government admits sex work advertising has increased on the internet – in other words, the trade has disappeared from public spaces but it has not gone away at all. What has happened is that sex workers have gone underground. This makes them more vulnerable, not less, to attack and abuse. It makes them more vulnerable to criminal gangs.

It is worth noting that Sweden’s largest trafficking prosecutions have all happened since the criminalisation law came into being – criminalisation makes trafficking worse, not better. If was as a society are serious about protecting women then we should rethink the current approach. The only country in the world that has put safety of women and men in sex work above subjective moral ideals is New Zealand. Their decriminalisation of sex work over ten years ago has been a great success.  

Q4: What are the advantages or disadvantages in using the definitions outlined above?  

“80. I want to ensure that the proposed legislation avoids any potential loopholes where a purchaser could avoid prosecution by means of non-cash payment.” 

“82. I intend to pursue this approach as it would mean that the offence would not be limited to sexual intercourse or oral sex but could potentially include a wider variety of sexual activity.”

So that’ll be everything from marriage to dating websites to flirting made illegal, then. The section relevant to this question makes clear that the intent of the bill is not simply the question of sex work, but policing any gendered or sexual interactions and behaviour with ill-defined parameters that make virtually all human relationships susceptible to prosecution. This is relevant to Q3 as the unintended consequences of such a law are potentially limitless.

Q5: What do you think the appropriate penalty should be for the offence? Please provide reasons for your answer.

I do not believe the consensual sexual activities of adults, monetised or not, should be in any way criminalised or subject to penalty. There are already laws in place to rightly prosecute those who engage in forced labour practices, abuse of children, rape and sexual assault and these should continue to be enforced robustly.

The consultation is low on information about what sex workers’ lives are really like, and seems informed mainly by skewed sources and dodgy assumptions. Since no space in the questions has been allocated to dispute these dangerous stereotypes, I’d like to use this opportunity to provide some data. When researchers allow sex workers to tell their experiences in a way that does not prejudge the outcome, the results reveal things that are well-known to those in the work, but still news to people on the outside.

A 2009 study polling sex workers is an excellent case in point. Beyond Gender: An examination of exploitation in sex work by Suzanne Jenkins of Keele University (2009) revealed the results of detailed interviews with 440 sex workers. Not simply street-based women, either, but women, men, and transgendered sex workers in all areas of the business. Over half were from the UK; the rest were based in western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The results turn almost everything we think we know about sex work on its head. Is paid sex all about clients dominating sex workers? No. Less than 7% of the women interviewed thought that paying for sex gives the client power over the escort. 26.2% thought paying makes clients vulnerable, while the majority, 54.5%, said that 'commercial sexual transactions are relationships of equality'.

People generally think that clients get whatever they want from sex workers, abusing and taking advantage of them. But when asked 'in your escort interactions who normally takes overall control of the encounter?' 78.7% said they always or they usually did. 22.3% said it varies, and only 0.7% said the client decides.

Sex work is often characterised as brutal, with abuse a commonplace and even usual outcome. But when asked if they have ever felt physically threatened, only 25% of women and 18.7% of men said yes. 77% of women said they felt clients treated them respectfully; the same percentage said they respected their clients. When asked "how much longer do you plan to do escort work for?” " I have no plans to stop escort work‟ was joint first choice of answer for women along with "one-five more years" (both receiving 35.3%). Only 3.2% said they planned to stop in less than three months.

In many ways, this reflects a pragmatism and familiar to anyone with a more ‘traditional’ career. Sex workers are often stereotyped as very young and naive, unaware of the dangers of the choices they are making. But the age data do not suggest the field is populated with teenage runaways and naive youngsters: Almost 85% of the women were aged 26 or older, and 19% of them were over 40.

Sex work is frequently assumed to be a choice suitable only for the uneducated. But 35.3 % of the men held degrees, whereas for women, it was 32.9%. More than a third of the total were degree-educated, and over 18% held post-graduate qualifications. Only 6.5% had no formal educational qualifications. When asked what things they like about the work, 2 in 3 respondents in the Keele study reported 'like meeting people'. 75% of women and 50% of men reported 'flexibility of working hours' as an aspect they enjoy. 72% of women cited 'independence'.

Jenkins noted: “an appreciation of flexible working hours and independence were factors that were valuable to women generally, not only mothers. The benefits of greater independence and flexible working hours were not just about the demands of parenting - they were often about time provided for other, non parenting-related pursuits.”  

Q6: How should a new offence provision be enforced? Are there any techniques which might be used or obstacles which might need to be overcome? 

  I do not believe this should become an offence and therefore my opinion on how it should be enforced is irrelevant, except to say: not at all.

We can see that Denmark have recently rejected a similar bill that would have criminalized the purchase of sex and their reasons for doing so are worth considering carefully. The Justice Minister was of the opinion that such a law would be both illegal and unfeasible. Manu Sareen, the Danish gender equality minister, said during last year's election he wanted to ban the sex trade because it exploited women, but last month said he was not sure a ban was the best solution. The government is expected to offer counselling and other support programs to prostitutes. This is a far better use of human and financial resources.

Without engaging in the debate as to whether women (and indeed men and transgender individuals) willingly sell sex or are victims forced by circumstance to undertake this activity due to a lack of other income generating opportunities, there is nothing within this Bill or the accompanying consultation document as to the services and ‘help’ that will be provided to this group.

If the Scotland decides to criminalise the purchase of sex, and thereby seriously undermine the livelihood of sex workers, then they must acknowledge the need to provide alternative employment options and that this will require organisation and funding - both of which have been notably underfunded to date. Spend the money on services and support, not on policing victimless crimes.  

Q7: What is your assessment of the likely financial implications of the proposed Bill to you or your organisation; if possible please provide evidence to support your view? What (if any) other significant financial implications are likely to arise?

As a former sex worker and advocate of sex workers’ interests I know firsthand from friends and family in countries where sex work is illegal what the financial implications of this bill would be to the people involved. Imagine for a moment a downward spiral where someone who turns to sex work as a quick financial fix finds themselves in increased danger. There is also the question of how much money the government are going to waste on endless consultations for a law that will not work.

In times of financial austerity, throwing more money at unsuccessful policies is against the public interest and out of step with public opinion. Many opinion polls clearly show people support protecting the safety of sex workers and support decriminalisation. Criminalising consensual sexual activity between adults is expensive and dangerous.  

Q8: Is the proposed Bill likely to have any substantial positive or negative implications for equality? If it is likely to have a substantial negative implication, how might this be minimised or avoided? 

This bill will have a substantial negative implication for equality. What the people who believe in such numbers fail to acknowledge is that the continued attitude towards sex workers of being “damaged” or “fallen” women who must be saved by white knights only serves to exacerbate many of their problems.

Consider, as an analogy, that in the past society used to think of homosexuality as a disease rather than a sexual preference. Reams of supposedly “scientific” evidence were produced in order to “prove” that homosexuals suffered from mental health problems. These issues faced by gay, lesbian, and bisexual people (including stress, depression, and addictive behavior) are now understood to be the result not of their sexual preferences, but of the stigma associated with them and the pervasively negative social messages about them.

The mental health problems associated with outsider status are well known. Social isolation increases the risk of violence, blackmail, and coercion. Stigma and fear of humiliation and prosecution exacerbates any existing mental health issues. The current policy therefore is responsible for many of the mental health issues associated with sex work.

The consultation document cites among its evidence studies conducted by Melissa Farley, whose opinions have been found to be of insufficiently high quality to be admitted as evidence in Canadian court [Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Bedford v Canada, 2010. “Conclusion: Expert Evidence” http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2010/2010onsc4264/2010onsc4264.html#_Toc270411950], who has been the subject of serious ethical allegations to the APA from her colleagues [http://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/complaint-to-apa-re-melissa-farley.pdf], and who makes rape jokes about sex workers on her own website. [http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/WhyIMade.html] Her work is a prime example of the persistent, institutionalised hatred against sex workers and it has no place in any serious discussion of sex work and public policy.

There are some hopeful and encouraging things going on that actually could benefit sex workers and reduce their exposure to harm. In Liverpool, police adopted a policy that recognises violence against sex workers as a hate crime. The result is that they can approach the police and know that violence against them will be taken seriously. This has led to a dramatic increase in prosecutions and a decline in assaults. But it’s a model that has yet to be picked up anywhere else. In Aberdeen, police are working to build links with outreach workers and streetwalkers to identify and assist women who want to transition out of sex work.

To give a personal example, while my own experience of sex work is long in the past, as someone who is “out” as a former sex worker I am subjected to high levels of verbal abuse, harassment, and threats, be they over the internet, through the post, and even in person. This has ranged from written threats posted to my workplace, to harassing phone calls, to being harassed and accused of supporting paedophilia by members of the SSP during a public event, to a PCC complaint I filed against the Guardian in which they defended a comment on the site that stated I “should be dead in a ditch”. The PCC, by the way, sided with the newspaper. Imagine if anyone ever wrote about you on a national newspaper’s website that way. It is unpleasant to say the least.

The help of police in various areas when I report these things has been, shall we say, variable. Some are very helpful, some are not. This has affected things like where I have my post sent and whether to be listed in the phone directory. I have undertaken substantial legal efforts to keep the exact location of my home from being printed in the newspapers.

As a result of the amount of abuse and the threatening flavour of some of it I sadly have had to make the decision not to start a family. This is because I feel the risk of subjecting anyone else to the unfiltered hatred and threats I receive would be unacceptable. I feel lucky to have the strong support of family and friends which I do not take for granted. Even in my privileged position it is a constant struggle to “not let the bastards get me down”. It is easy to see how others without such support would fall into depression from constant abuse encouraged by our society. If you are okay with the fact this happens not only to me but to thousands of others every day, then by all means support this bill and keep the hatred going.

I do not believe however that people with empathy and compassion would want that to continue. There are many people who claim to support women’s rights yet deny the rights of large numbers of women whose lives they don’t approve of. Evidence shows that places where prostitution is tolerated or decriminalised produce better outcomes for the people involved.

Attacking visible signs of prostitution results in more criminality, not less. There is no such thing as “ending demand”. This is documented by research, by statistics. Anyone who supports criminalisation is basically saying to me and people like me, ‘women’s rights are important, except of course for women like you.’ They are endorsing the kind of attitudes that allow a national newspaper to defend the statement that I “should be dead in a ditch”. I reject such a stand as hypocritical and anti-women.

This substantial negative implication can only be avoided by rejecting the bill altogether.

Regards

Dr Brooke Magnanti


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Published On :: Tue, 29 Oct 2024 06:10:00 -0400

Decision creates incentives for more secrecy


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Trying to entice businesses is expensive and ineffective


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Improving Search Console ownership token management

By developers.google.com
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This post discusses an update to Search Console's user and permissions to improve the accuracy and reflect the actual state of unused ownership tokens.


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Configure your shipping and returns directly in Search Console

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This post discusses a new and easier way to add shipping or return information directly in Search Console.


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Introducing recommendations in Google Search Console

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This post announces Search Console recommendations, a new feature that provides websites with optimization opportunities and suggests actions they can take to improve their presence on Google Search.


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Congreso X ANIVERSARIO DE APTIJ – Madrid, 3 y 4 de noviembre de 2017

By www.elgasconjurado.com
Published On :: Mon, 25 Sep 2017 19:20:49 +0000

¡La APTIJ está de cumpleaños y celebra su X Aniversario! Para la ocasión se ha organizado un programa de dos días que incluye una jornada con conferencias y mesas redondas en la sede de la Comisión Europea de Madrid y un taller que estará a cargo de Esther M. Navarro-Hall: Viernes 3 de noviembre 9.00-17.30: Jornada […]


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En Japón tampoco atan los perros con longaniza: la situación de la interpretación judicial nipona

By www.elgasconjurado.com
Published On :: Sun, 03 Feb 2019 21:11:11 +0000

En la entrada de hoy quiero hacerme eco de un artículo de Takahata Sachi que se titula «Las malas condiciones desincentivan a los intérpretes judiciales», publicado en Nippon.com y que versa acerca de la situación de los intérpretes judiciales en Japón. El artículo se puede leer en español, por lo que no hay motivo para tormento […]


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SDL Trados Studio ? Corrupt file: Missing locked content for Oasis.Xliff 12.x.

By blog.cinciala.eu
Published On :: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 09:35:43 +0000

I recently accepted a large proofreading job to be completed in SDL Trados Studio 2014. All seemed to be fine until I tried to open some of the project files. This article describes how to deal with “Corrupt file: Missing … Continue reading →


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De l'importance des rencontres de traducteurs

By trematranslations.jimdoweb.com
Published On :: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 03:07:00 -0600

Il y a une dizaine de jours s'est déroulée la 56e convention de l'American Translators Association, un évènement qui réunit chaque année dans une grande ville des États-Unis des milliers de traducteurs et d'interprètes venus du monde entier se rencontrer et partager des idées. Malgré mon ardent désir d'y participer, j'ai encore manqué ce grand rendez-vous et dû me contenter de l'alléchante vidéo résumant en quelques minutes l'essentiel de la rencontre. « Mais à quoi peut bien servir un tel évènement ? » me direz-vous. C'est loin, ça coûte cher et on n’y croise aucun client : pourquoi diantre faudrait-il se donner la peine de « réseauter » avec ses concurrents ? Et bien, pour de multiples et cruciales raisons que je vous propose de découvrir dans ce billet...

 

5 bonnes raisons de faire connaissance

Avant toute chose, clarifions un point essentiel : les autres traducteurs/interprètes ne sont pas vos concurrents, ils sont vos collègues ! Le marché mondial de la traduction pèse plus de 38 milliards de dollars et présente un taux de croissance de plus de 6 % par an. Les centaines de milliers de personnes qu'il emploie à travers le monde ne sont pas de trop pour répondre à une telle demande et contrairement à ce que pourrait nous faire croire la course effrénée au tarif le plus bas que pratiquent certains prestataires mal renseignés ou mal intentionnés, il est tout à fait possible de vivre confortablement et de pratiquer dignement notre métier. Par conséquent, s'il y a de la place pour tout le monde, pas besoin de jouer des coudes : on se détend et on ÉCHANGE !

 

Quels bénéfices pouvez-vous espérer en vous éloignant de votre bureau pour aller à la rencontre de vos collègues ?

  1. Une meilleure santé mentale
    Cela fait un bien fou de se pomponner (un minimum), de sortir de chez soi et de parler face à face avec des gens qui savent exactement ce que vous faites dans la vie (votre chat Félix a tout de même ses limites !). 
  2. Des réponses à vos questions
    Les difficultés que vous rencontrez ou les questions que vous vous posez ne sont pas nouvelles, vous pouvez donc tirer parti de l'expérience de professionnels ayant déjà trouvé les solutions ou les réponses qui vous échappent.
  3. Des informations utiles et pertinentes
    Les rencontres de traducteurs sont généralement organisées autour de formations ou discussions sur des thèmes qui vous intéressent (qualité, productivité, marketing, relation client, outils informatiques, etc.), donc même si vous n'avez pas le courage de parler à qui que ce soit, vous aurez au moins la satisfaction d'avoir appris quelque chose !
  4. Un carnet d'adresses plus étoffé
    Se rencontrer en personne créée des affinités et permet de se découvrir des intérêts communs ou des savoir-faire complémentaires. C'est donc un excellent moyen de constituer une liste de professionnels que vous pourrez recommander en toute confiance ou avec qui éventuellement faire équipe.
  5. L'envie de recommencer
    Cela peut vous paraître complètement fou si vous êtes très introverti, mais sortir de sa réserve le temps d'une rencontre est une expérience si stimulante qu'on a souvent immédiatement envie de la renouveler. Sans compter que les collègues que vous aurez rencontrés vous donneront sans doute rendez-vous à la prochaine occasion.

Trouver des évènements où se rencontrer

  • En plus de diverses formations en ligne, l'International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI) organise une conférence annuelle dont la dernière édition s'est tenue en septembre dernier à Bordeaux.
  • APROTRAD est une association de traducteurs créée en région centre, mais ouverte à tous, qui propose régulièrement des formations.
  • La convention annuelle de l'American Translators Association (ATA) est la grand-messe mondiale de notre profession. Cette année plus de 1 600 traducteurs et interprètes venus de 52 pays ont assisté à l'évènement organisé à Miami. Pour vous donner une idée des différentes activités et formations proposées, visitez le site de la 56e édition.
  • D'autres groupements de traducteurs organisent des évènements de grande ampleur, notamment l'association britannique ITI (convention organisée tous les deux ans, la prochaine se tiendra en 2017). Pour en savoir plus, pensez à consulter les sites web des principales associations des pays où se parlent vos langues sources.
  • Enfin, pour ceux d'entre vous qui sont diplômés dans le domaine de la traduction, ne négligez pas d'entretenir le précieux réseau formé pendant vos études en participant aux évènements organisés par votre association d'anciens élèves (AAE-ESIT, ISIT Alumni, etc.)

 

3 conseils pour en profiter

Pour vraiment bénéficier de cette expérience, il faut tout de même s'y préparer :

 

Avoir le bon état d'esprit :

Cela semble aller de soi, mais il est bon de rappeler que pour profiter pleinement de ces rencontres il faut avoir envie d'y participer, de s'ouvrir aux autres et de les écouter. Sortez de votre coquille et arborez votre plus beau sourire. N'hésitez pas non plus à prendre l'initiative : il y a de fortes chances que votre interlocuteur soit aussi mal à l'aise que vous !


Cependant, pour recevoir, il faut aussi savoir donner. Lors d'une récente présentation proposée à l'occasion d'une matinale de la SFT (justement !), Sara Freitas nous a rappelé l'importance de cet échange : ne cherchez pas uniquement à remplir votre carnet d'adresses et à résoudre vos problèmes, mais d'abord à rendre service et vous verrez qu'on vous le rendra au centuple. Lorsque j'ai commencé à écrire ce blogue, certaines personnes de mon entourage se sont inquiétées de me voir « perdre mon temps » à faire des recherches et à publier gratuitement des conseils pour des traducteurs qui étaient en fait « mes concurrents » (nous y revoilà !). Trois ans plus tard, je constate qu'elles avaient tort : mon site web professionnel est bien référencé grâce au contenu informatif et aux nombreux lecteurs du blogue, certains clients et partenaires ont fait appel à mes services après m'avoir « rencontré virtuellement » et je ne passe plus inaperçue aux rencontres de traducteurs. Je vous confirme donc que donner est un excellent moyen de recevoir !

 

Être préparé :

Savez-vous qu'il existe un organisme prenant en charge une partie des frais de formation des professionnels libéraux tels que nous ? En 2015, le FIFPL (c'est son nom) offre une prise en charge au coût réel plafonnée à 200 € par jour et à 800 € par personne et par an pour des thèmes prioritaires tels que les langues, l'informatique, le perfectionnement de l'écriture, les compétences dans un domaines de spécialité, etc. Vous pouvez donc espérer vous faire rembourser tout ou partie des frais avancés pour participer à une rencontre de traducteurs.

 

Quoi qu'il en soit, veillez tout de même à réserver à l'avance pour bénéficier des réductions souvent accordées à ceux qui s'inscrivent en premier et des meilleurs tarifs pour le transport et l'hébergement. Prenez connaissance du programme pour vous inscrire aux ateliers qui vous intéressent le plus et, si vous n'en avez pas (ou plus), faites imprimer des cartes de visite à distribuer largement au cours de l'évènement.

 

Il est aussi important de réfléchir aux raisons qui vous poussent à participer en vous fixant des objectifs comme rencontrer certaines personnes, obtenir une réponse à telle ou telle question, etc.

 

Donner suite :

Veni, vidi, vici... et maintenant ? Immédiatement après la rencontre donnez suite à vos prises de contact : envoyez vos coordonnées ou un lien que vous avez mentionné au cours d'une conversation, remerciez vos interlocuteurs pour des échanges particulièrement enrichissants, félicitez les organisateurs, etc. Le but est de maintenir le lien avec vos nouveaux contacts en continuant à échanger des informations, en vous retrouvant sur les réseaux sociaux et en vous donnant rendez-vous à d'autres évènements. Il est aussi intéressant de valoriser cette expérience auprès de vos clients en mentionnant notamment les formations auxquelles vous avez participé sur votre CV, votre site web ou encore votre profil LinkedIn ou Viadeo.

 

Et vous ? participez-vous à des rencontres de traducteurs ? Que vous apportent-elles ? Quels conseils donneriez-vous aux petits nouveaux de la cour de récré ? Tous vos conseils sont les bienvenus, car après tout, ce blogue est aussi un lieu d'échange ! ;-)

 

Pour aller plus loin :

À propos de l'auteur

Professionnelle accréditée en commerce international ayant travaillé plusieurs années comme conseillère pour les PME, Gaëlle Gagné est devenue traductrice indépendante en 2005. À la tête de Trëma Translations, elle traduit de l'anglais vers le français et partage ses connaissances en gestion d'entreprise avec ses collègues traducteurs dans un blog intitulé Mes petites affaires.


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nouveaux traducteurs : 10 conseils pour bien démarrer

By trematranslations.jimdoweb.com
Published On :: Thu, 02 Jun 2016 03:26:00 -0500

 

 

Il y a quelques semaines, j'ai répondu avec plaisir à l'invitation d'une de mes professeurs de l'ÉSIT qui m'avait conviée à un de ses cours afin que je partage mon expérience avec les étudiants de la promotion 2016. La plupart envisagent d'exercer en tant que traducteurs et interprètes indépendants dès leur sortie de l'école et étaient avides de conseils pratiques pour bien démarrer.

Voici les 10 recommandations que je leur ai faites :

 

 

 

1. Préparez votre lancement

Avant de vous lancer tête baissée dans la création d'une entreprise, prenez le temps de réfléchir à ce que représente cet important choix de vie. Être indépendant offre une très grande liberté et, en général, une meilleure rémunération que l'emploi de traducteur salarié (sauf si vous êtes recruté par une organisation internationale, mais c'est un cas à part). Vous bénéficierez également d'une expérience plus variée qui vous permettra de choisir véritablement votre domaine de spécialisation. Toutefois, ces avantages ne doivent pas masquer un certain nombre de contraintes : en tant que créateur et gestionnaire d'une entreprise, vous aurez à réaliser de nombreuses tâches qui ne sont pas directement liées à votre domaine d'étude (prospecter, facturer, établir et maintenir une comptabilité, gérer vos relations clients, etc.). Êtes-vous prêt à y consacrer une part importante de votre temps ? Certains d'entre vous pourraient se sentir isolés en travaillant seuls à la maison. Sans compter que vos revenus seront, au moins dans un premier temps, aléatoires, ce qui peut susciter un stress important en période creuse. Bref, regardez la réalité en face, au besoin en demandant à des traducteurs expérimentés de vous décrire leur quotidien sans fard, afin d'éviter toute désillusion.

 

Une fois convaincu que la vie de freelance est faite pour vous, effectuez une petite étude de marché pour identifier les différents types de clients, les domaines de spécialisation porteurs, les revenus que vous pouvez espérer, etc. Les associations professionnelles sont de précieuses alliées à ce stade pour vous donner l'occasion de rencontrer des collègues en exercice et pour les rapports qu'elles publient régulièrement sur l'état de la profession. En plus du marché, étudiez également l'environnement juridique (formes d'entreprises, obligations légales, aides à la création, etc.) pour être à même de prendre les bonnes décisions au regard de votre situation.

 

Avant même de commencer à démarcher des clients potentiels, soignez votre présentation : rédigez un CV et créez des profils sur les réseaux sociaux professionnels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Viadeo...), car vos prospects ne manqueront pas de vous « googliser » pour savoir à qui ils ont affaire. Dans même, si vous ne disposez pas dans un premier temps d'un site web professionnel, assurez-vous au moins d'avoir une adresse e-mail dédiée (nanou94@yahoo.com ou barbaraetlucas@gmail.com nuisent à votre crédibilité professionnelle) et une signature automatique précisant vos langues de travail et redirigeant vos contacts vers des pages leur permettant de se renseigner sur vous. Enfin, faites imprimer des cartes de visite que vous aurez toujours sur vous, car on ne sait jamais quand on pourrait rencontrer une personne à la recherche d'un traducteur !

 

2. Fixez votre tarif avant de prospecter

Pour éviter d'être prix au dépourvu quand vos efforts de prospection vous placeront enfin en position de négocier avec un client potentiel, réfléchissez dès maintenant au tarif que vous demanderez. L'étude de marché que vous aurez réalisée (voir conseil n° 1) vous aidera dans cette démarche qui doit s'appuyer à la fois sur ce qui se pratique dans la réalité (consultez les tarifs moyens par combinaison de langue présentés dans l'étude tarifaire de la SFT) et vos propres besoins (attention, comme je vous l'ai déjà expliqué votre temps ne sera pas uniquement consacré à la traduction, donc toute heure travaillée n'est pas forcément rémunérée).

 

Quoi qu'il en soit, NE BRADEZ PAS VOS SERVICES EN ESPÉRANT TROUVER DES CLIENTS ! Être un peu plus cher est paradoxalement plus vendeur pour des clients en quête de qualité (les meilleurs). Sans compter que si vous pratiquez des tarifs trop bas, vous passerez tout votre temps à traduire pour gagner peu, sans pouvoir consacrer le temps nécessaire à la recherche de contrats plus rémunérateurs.

 

3. Trouvez des clients

Sachez que si vous avez du mal à trouver des clients, ces derniers ont autant de difficultés à trouver des traducteurs. Acquérir une plus grande visibilité doit donc être votre priorité. Pour cela, ne négligez aucune piste : informez la Terre entière (votre grand-mère, la boulangère, votre banquier, vos copines de yoga, etc.) que vous êtes traducteur. Vous aurez certainement droit aux questions habituelles : « vous traduisez des livres ? Combien de langues parlez-vous ?… » et aux réflexions légèrement apitoyées : « cela doit être dur, non, d'être seul à la maison toute la journée ? », mais en informant patiemment vos auditeurs vous saisirez l'opportunité de vous faire l'ambassadeur de notre beau métier et, surtout, de devenir LE traducteur professionnel du carnet d'adresses de tous ces braves gens prêts à transmettre généreusement (et gratuitement) vos coordonnées dès qu'ils entendront parler d'un besoin de traduction.

 

Le réseautage est un autre élément essentiel de votre stratégie de prospection  : maintenez des liens avec vos anciens collègues et employeurs et tenez-les informés de l'évolution de votre carrière, devenez membre d'une, ou plusieurs, associations professionnelles, notamment de votre association d'anciens élèves, afin de vous appuyer sur leurs réseaux. Contrairement à ce que pensent certains, les autres traducteurs ne sont pas vos concurrents, mais des partenaires potentiels. S'ils vous connaissent, ils pourront éventuellement faire appel à vous pour décrocher un gros contrat ou vous proposer de sous-traiter une partie de leur activité lorsqu'ils seront débordés. Alors, sortez de chez vous et allez à leur rencontre !

 

Méfiez-vous des plateformes de mise en relation, type Upwork (née de la fusion de oDesk et elance), Freelancer, Trouve-moi un freelance, etc. Ces sites proposent de mettre en relation des entreprises avec des travailleurs indépendants, mais lorsque les offres de projet sont affichées, ils fonctionnent en fait comme des enchères inversées organisant une course aux tarifs les plus bas.

 

Enfin, quel que soit votre état de famine, n'acceptez JAMAIS un contrat sans vous renseigner préalablement sur votre client potentiel. Entre les déplorables pratiques de certaines agences et les très nombreuses arnaques aux traducteurs sur Internet, les écueils sont nombreux. ne vous réjouissez pas trop vite, prêt à accepter n'importe quoi pour décrocher un contrat : commencez par rechercher une partie du texte à traduire sur Google (les arnaqueurs ne sont pas créatifs et envoient souvent le même texte des milliers de fois dans l'espoir de duper les traducteurs indépendants) et consultez les avis de vos pairs sur Payment Practices, le Blue Board de ProZ, etc. Je reviendrai sur ce vaste sujet dans un prochain billet, promis !

 

4. donnez-vous du temps

Tous les traducteurs qui sont passés par là avant vous vous le diront : se constituer une clientèle prend environ un an. Patience est donc le maître-mot, mais prévoir une petite somme pour survivre en attendant ne fait pas de mal ! Ne vous découragez pas. Vos efforts finiront par payer, probablement au moment où vous vous y attendrez le moins. Un de mes tout premiers clients directs m'a été adressé par une amie française installée à Londres qui avait été sollicitée à la sortie de l'école par une maman, directrice marketing d'une PME, pour traduire le site web de sa société (avis aux clients potentiels : cette histoire aurait pu mal tourner si mon amie n'avait pas une « vraie » traductrice dans son carnet d'adresses !)

 

5. Commencez par les agences

Pour décrocher plus rapidement vos premiers contrats, frappez aux portes des agences de traduction. Ces intermédiaires ont le mérite de vous faciliter la recherche de clients, ce qui a un coût bien sûr (vos prestations seront généralement moins bien rémunérées que si vous facturiez directement un client), mais offre une expérience très formatrice. En effet, les agences sont en mesure de vous fournir des missions variées et, à condition de bien les choisir, contribueront à accroître votre rigueur par la révision attentive de votre travail.

 

Pour identifier les meilleures, fiez-vous une fois encore à vos collègues (certains forums comme ProZ ou le Translator's Cafe compilent les commentaires de traducteurs) et exercez votre bon sens pour ne pas faire les frais de pratiques douteuses. Par exemple, considérez que vous n'avez pas à subir de pressions pour baisser votre tarif : puisque vous ne l'avez pas fixé au hasard, il doit donc simplement être accepté ou refusé. Méfiez-vous également des fausses promesses de type « facturez moins cher maintenant pour travailler plus à l'avenir » et n'acceptez jamais d'être payé à condition que le client final ait lui-même réglé sa facture (c'est tout simplement illégal). Dans le même esprit, plutôt que d'effectuer à titre gracieux moult tests de traduction, proposez des extraits de votre travail présentant la source en regard de la cible (après tout, on ne demande pas une consultation d'essai à un médecin ou un test de créativité à un graphiste !). Enfin, même si la question peut être débattue, je trouve les rabais pour « fuzzy matches » abusifs, car rien ne garantit la qualité des segments enregistrés dans la mémoire de traduction que vous devrez utiliser et dont vous aurez, de toute façon, à adapter le contenu.

 

Pour résumer, votre relation avec une agence est une entente commerciale entre deux entreprises, les termes de votre collaboration sont donc librement négociables. Même si certaines abusent de leur position dominante pour faire pression sur des professionnels DONT ELLES ONT BESOIN POUR EXISTER, vous n'êtes pas tenu de tout accepter sous prétexte de décrocher un contrat.

 

6. Faites preuve de professionnalisme

Il ressort du point précédent que vous devez absolument vous considérer comme un professionnel et vous présenter en tant que tel. Dans cet objectif, rédigez des conditions générales de vente qui serviront de base à vos négociations commerciales et établiront dès le départ les modalités de paiement et les obligations de chacune des parties.

 

Par ailleurs, mettez un point d'honneur à respecter scrupuleusement les délais et les consignes. Au moindre doute, faites des recherches et si vous ne parvenez pas à trouver vous-même la réponse, posez des questions à votre donneur d'ordre. Personne ne lit un document plus attentivement qu'un traducteur, vous êtes donc un atout précieux pour l'auteur et un filet de sécurité avant la publication de son texte. Signalez respectueusement toute coquille ou maladresse, en étant conscient d'offrir de la valeur ajoutée tout en contribuant à asseoir votre réputation professionnelle. En outre, relisez toujours attentivement votre travail, même s'il doit être révisé par un tiers.

 

7. faites-vous recommander dès vos premiers clients

Lorsque vous renvoyez votre traduction, ou peu de temps après, sollicitez l'avis de vos clients sur votre prestation. Leurs témoignages constituent un outil précieux pour améliorer la qualité de votre travail et convaincre d'autres agences ou clients directs de vous faire confiance. Même si peu de traducteurs parviennent à s'y astreindre dans les faits, vous devriez prospecter continuellement pour maintenir un niveau d'activité régulier. En effet, un important donneur d'ordre peut à tout moment renoncer à un projet ou faire appel à un autre prestataire, mieux vaut donc répartir le risque de perte financière en maintenant un portefeuille de clients (sans compter que travailler pour un seul donneur d'ordre peut être considéré par l'URSSAF comme une forme de salariat déguisé, lourd de conséquences). Afin d'augmenter vos chances de recueillir ces précieux avis, privilégiez une approche directe en simplifiant au maximum la tâche des personnes sollicitées. Vous pouvez par exemple envoyer une demande de recommandation via LinkedIn ou créer un questionnaire rapide à l'aide d'applications de sondage gratuites comme Survey Monkey.

 

Les périodes creuses sont propices au développement de votre activité : profitez-en pour vous former dans vos domaines de spécialité, acquérir de nouvelles connaissances ou aller à la rencontre de traducteurs. Si vous avez recours à la formation, sachez qu'il est possible de vous faire rembourser tout ou partie des frais engagés par le Fonds interprofessionnel de la formation des professions libérales (FIFPL) (code NAF : 7430 ZS).

 

8. Ne vous spécialisez pas immédiatement (mais ne tardez pas trop non plus)

Les traducteurs ne sont pas omnipotents et sont même bien meilleurs lorsqu'ils se concentrent sur un certains types de textes. En réduisant le nombre de sujets que vous accepterez de traiter, vous limiterez certes la taille du marché ciblé, mais aurez accès à des contrats plus rémunérateurs, confiés uniquement à des professionnels expérimentés. Pour être viable, une spécialisation doit rester relativement vaste pour faire face à d'éventuels retournements de situation économique dans un secteur d'activité (traduction juridique, technique, financière, marketing, etc.), mais peut aussi être très étroite pour vous positionner sur un marché de niche (vous devenez alors LE traducteur spécialisé dans la culture d'orchidées ou les techniques de soin bucco-dentaire). Pour guider votre choix, interrogez-vous sur ce qui vous plaît et ce que vous traduisez le mieux. Une fois que vous aurez opté pour un domaine, vous pourrez alors consacrer du temps à parfaire vos connaissances et votre savoir-faire, afin de produire des traductions de qualité qui passeront pour avoir été rédigées par un professionnel du domaine.

 

9. Une fois spécialisé, adressez-vous directement aux clients

Maintenant que vous avez cerné le marché à développer (le domaine d'activité dans lequel vous vous êtes spécialisé), vous êtes prêt à vous adresser aux entreprises qui pourraient avoir besoin d'un traducteur qualifié. En contournant les agences, vous gagnez un accès direct aux donneurs d'ordre et augmentez généralement vos perspectives de rémunération.

 

Sachez toutefois que cette approche a aussi son lot d'exigences : les clients directs sont souvent moins informés de la nature du travail des traducteurs et ont besoin d'être « éduqués » en ce sens pour la mise en place d'une collaboration fructueuse. Expliquez succinctement votre démarche en indiquant qu’il vous faudra être au fait des spécificités de leur entreprise et de leur stratégie, précisez les délais à prendre en compte, demandez à ce qu'on vous transmette les coordonnées d'une personne-ressource à qui vous pourrez éventuellement vous adresser pour clarifier certains points et insistez sur la nécessité d'une relecture par un tiers (en interne ou en externe, organisée par vous).

 

Vous devrez sans doute consacrer plus de temps à la « gestion client », mais cet investissement se révélera vite judicieux pour la mise en place d'une relation de confiance dans la durée. De plus en plus d'entreprises préfèrent avoir affaire à des traducteurs indépendants qui connaissent leurs spécificités et leurs enjeux, plutôt qu'à des agences qui se révèlent souvent incapables de leur fournir des prestations de qualité constante. Pour les fidéliser, soyez prêts à en faire un peu plus (les rencontrer en personne, faire de la veille sur leurs marchés dans votre langue cible, être disponible dans les temps forts de leur activité, etc.) et à gagner en visibilité (identité visuelle, présence sur le web, participation à des salons, etc.) pour mieux vous intégrer dans leurs équipes.

 

10. ne restez pas seul face à vos interrogations

Au fil de votre parcours d'entrepreneur, vous vous sentirez parfois seul et démuni face à certaines questions. Dans ces moments de doute, n'hésitez pas à vous appuyer sur des réseaux (d'entrepreneurs, d'anciens élèves, de traducteurs, etc.) qui rassemblent des professionnels ayant rencontré les mêmes difficultés avant vous et à même de comprendre votre situation. La vie de freelance, n'est pas un désert solitaire : c'est même une excellente opportunité de partage pour qui sait s'ouvrir aux autres. Alors, n'hésitez pas, rejoignez une ou plusieurs associations professionnelles et, lorsque vous serez à votre tour lancé, rendez aux suivants tout ce dont vous aurez su si bien profiter...

 

Bon vent !

 

> POUR ALLER PLUS LOIN

À propos de l'auteur

Professionnelle accréditée en commerce international ayant travaillé plusieurs années comme conseillère pour les PME, Gaëlle Gagné est devenue traductrice indépendante en 2005. À la tête de Trëma Translations, elle traduit de l'anglais vers le français et partage ses connaissances en gestion d'entreprise avec ses collègues traducteurs dans un blog intitulé Mes petites affaires.

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8 conseils de traductrice pour survivre au confinement

By trematranslations.jimdoweb.com
Published On :: Wed, 25 Mar 2020 11:22:00 -0500

 

 

 

 

 

Comme nous tous, vous êtes confiné à la maison pour donner une chance aux hôpitaux du pays d’affronter la menace du COVID-19, mais contrairement aux traducteurs qui besognent chaque jour devant leur ordinateur, vous n’avez pas l’habitude de travailler seul chez vous…

 

Pas de panique ! Pour vous aider à affronter ces moments difficiles, voire à tirer parti de la crise, je me propose de vous livrer quelques astuces de pro.

1. Garder le rythme

Pour mieux supporter l’isolement social, il faut s’imposer un rythme de travail. Cette période de confinement à durée indéterminée, que nous imposent des circonstances exceptionnelles, nous prive d’une part de contrôle, ce qui généralement est source d’angoisse. Afin d’éviter de ruminer devant le décompte morbide des contaminations ou de compter les jours de bagne, reprenez la main en vous imposant des horaires et un rythme régulier : lever à heure fixe, liste d’objectifs et de tâches à exécuter, pause déjeuner, etc.

 

Dans le même esprit, sachez vous déconnecter de votre travail en fin de journée. Pour préserver votre santé mentale et physique, il faut clairement définir le temps consacré à chacune de vos activités et vous y tenir pour qu’aucune n’empiète trop sur les autres. Plutôt que la perfection, visez l’équilibre : soyez indulgent avec vous-même !

 

 

2. ÉVITER DE JONGLER

Quand on travaille de chez soi, il est tentant de consacrer du temps à des tâches domestiques ou personnelles pendant ses heures de bureau. Pour rester productif et garder un rythme de travail régulier (voir conseil précédent), résistez à la tentation de lancer une machine, d’appeler une copine ou de vous épiler les sourcils en journée et reportez ces activités sur un créneau de temps libre.

 

La meilleure façon de s’organiser sans se disperser consiste à diviser son emploi du temps en plages horaires à consacrer à chaque type d’activité (travail, enfants, sport, prendre des nouvelles de proches, etc.). Lorsque vous vous attelez à une tâche, faites-le pleinement : essayez de vous concentrer sur ce que vous êtes en train de faire, sans penser au reste de votre liste.

 

Bien sûr, c’est compliqué de maintenir une barrière étanche, mais si vous avez des difficultés à tout caser, sachez qu’il vaut mieux revoir la durée des plages horaires que de les superposer (et donc de jongler avec les tâches). Le multitasking est un leurre : il est scientifiquement prouvé que l’être humain est plus performant lorsqu’il se concentre sur une seule chose à la fois.

 

 

3. bannir le pyjama (ET LE JOGGING !)

Ce n’est pas parce qu’on travaille de chez soi sans sortir de la journée qu’il faut renoncer à prendre soin de son apparence. Tenue, coiffure et, pourquoi pas, soyons fous, maquillage, sont autant de signaux envoyés à votre cerveau : vous n’êtes pas en vacances et votre activité professionnelle est maintenue malgré les circonstances. Si vous ne me croyez pas, fiez-vous à la sagesse de Karl Lagerfeld :

 

© La voix du Nord (photo AFP)

4. bouger

Le risque n° 1 du travailleur à domicile est le TMS (trouble musculo-squelettique), lié à la sédentarité et aux mauvaises postures. En ces temps difficiles où vous travaillez depuis votre canapé, vous risquez de ressentir des douleurs dans le bas du dos, des raideurs au niveau de la nuque et des épaules, une fatigue oculaire, etc. En plus de tenter, dans la mesure du possible, de vous aménager un coin bureau ergonomique, pensez à faire des pauses pour vous étirer et reposer vos yeux, ainsi qu’à entretenir votre forme physique. 

 

Bouger chaque jour évite de s’ankyloser, maintient la concentration et diminue le stress : c’est donc une activité indispensable en cas de confinement. Si vous ne vous sentez pas capable de courir un marathon sur votre balcon, commencez par vous tenir debout autant que possible (lorsque vous êtes au téléphone par exemple) et essayez le circuit training qui combine étirements, exercices de renforcement musculaire et cardio et peut se pratiquer sans matériel sur le tapis du salon. 

 

© entrainementsportif.fr

5. veiller à son hygiène de vie

Comme le dit l’adage : « un esprit sain, dans un corps sain ». Pour tenir sur la durée, en plus de faire du sport, veillez à bien vous alimenter, boire régulièrement (de l’eau !) et dormir suffisamment. Le confinement est à la fois source de stress et d’oisiveté, le cocktail idéal pour nous pousser à ouvrir le frigo toutes les 5 minutes et à nous gaver d’infos ou de séries jusqu’à pas d’heure. Là encore tout est question de rythme (prendre ses repas et se coucher à heures fixes) et d’organisation (prévoir des menus, utiliser son réveil, bannir l’ordinateur de sa chambre…).

 

 

6. rester CONNECTÉ

Nous avons de la chance d’être confinés chez nous au 21e siècle. Certes, vos collègues ne sont pas à vos côtés pour partager un jambon beurre ou discuter autour de la machine à café, mais vous pouvez les joindre à tout moment par email, par SMS ou en visioconférence. La technologie vous permet également d’organiser des apéros ou des pauses-café entre copains, de continuer de participer à vos cours de yoga, de partager vos idées et vos créations… même mon grand-père de 92 ans utilise Skype depuis sa maison de retraite : le monde est plus que jamais connecté.

 

Internet est notre fenêtre sur le monde : des voisins créent des groupes de soutien et organisent la solidarité sur Facebook, les artistes improvisent des concerts (Jean-Jacques Goldman est sorti de son silence pour l’occasion), les musées se visitent gratuitement, la BNF vous donne accès à des centaines de milliers de livres en support numérique, les professeurs font la classe à la maison, Open Culture, mais aussi Canal +, Netflix et consorts mettent à disposition des banques de films et de séries, l’Opéra et la Philharmonie de Paris proposent des spectacles et des concerts gratuits… Bref, les possibilités sont infinies et donnent le tournis.

 

 

7. gérer le stress et la charge mentale

La résilience est la capacité de l’être humain à surmonter les épreuves douloureuses en puisant en lui les forces nécessaires et en choisissant de se concentrer sur les éléments positifs de sa situation. Certaines personnes ont la chance de posséder naturellement cette forme d’élan vital, qui pousse à accepter ce que l’on ne contrôle pas et à affronter une situation dans le présent plutôt que de ressasser au conditionnel, mais nous pouvons tous cultiver un tel état d’esprit. 

 

Pour accroître votre résilience et, par là même, votre résistance au stress, commencez par être bienveillant, avec les autres comme avec vous-même, accueillez vos émotions, faites preuve de générosité, d’empathie, de gratitude. Il y a toujours des situations pires que la vôtre et tellement de choses à apprécier, même en ce moment : un rayon de soleil printanier, un service rendu, une conversation avec une personne qui compte pour vous… Découvrez ce qui vous fait du bien et pratiquez cette activité régulièrement pour vous détendre et relativiser.

8. faire feu de tout bois

Le confinement n’a pas besoin d’être une tragédie : c’est aussi une formidable occasion de changer ses méthodes de travail, de se former, d’innover… Lorsque l’université de Cambridge a fermé ses portes en 1666 à cause d’une épidémie de peste, Isaac Newton a été contraint de rester chez lui pendant plus d’un an. C’est en se promenant dans son jardin qu’il aurait vu la fameuse pomme tomber d’un arbre qui lui a inspiré l’idée de la gravitation universelle. Il a aussi réalisé de nombreuses expériences dans sa chambre qui seront à l’origine de sa théorie sur la composition chromatique de la lumière. Son confinement lui fut tellement bénéfique que les historiens considèrent cette année comme miraculeuse (annus mirabilis) pour l’avancement des travaux et la créativité du scientifique. Alors, détendez-vous : ne vous appesantissez pas sur ce qui vous freine et vous limite, pour mieux vous concentrer sur les opportunités qu’offre cette période d’introspection.

 

Haut les cœurs ! Nous sortirons un jour de ce confinement forcé pour reprendre le cours normal de nos vies… En attendant, prenez soin de vous, de vos proches et de chacun de nous…

 

Bon courage à tous !

 

 

Pour aller plus loin :

 

L'auteur

Professionnelle accréditée en commerce international ayant travaillé plusieurs années en tant que conseillère auprès de PME, Gaële Gagné est devenue traductrice indépendante en 2005. Aux commandes de Trëma Translations, elle traduit de l'anglais vers le français et partage ses connaissances en marketing et gestion d'entreprise avec ses collègues traducteurs par le biais d'un blog intitulé Mes petites affaires et de formations dispensées via le CI3M.

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Congratulations Dr. Jaliya Ekanayake!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:24:00 +0000

It gives me great personal pleasure to congratulate Jaliya on completing his Ph.D.in Computer Science from Indiana University in late December. His PhD work was on extending the applicability of Map Reduce to a larger class of problems. The software he developed as part of his work is available at http://iterativemapreduce.org/. Jaliya was a student of Prof. Geoffrey Fox.

Jaliya has already started work at Microsoft Research and works on applying map-reduce and other approaches to solve large scale systems problems.

Jaliya is the second person from the original Apache Axis2 team to complete his Ph.D. after Srinath. Jaliya is the original father of Apache Sandesha, the WS-Reliable Messaging implementation for Apache Axis. He, along with the rest of the original Axis2 crew, laid the foundation for a lot of the technology that WSO2 is built on. The remaining original Axis2 team members (and about 20+ others who have been at WSO2 at one point) are now in the pipeline to complete their Ph.D.'s over the next few years!

Congratulations and best wishes Jaliya for a bright future!


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Congratulations Dr. Eran Chintaka!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:33:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Eran Chinthaka on his completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Indiana University on the topic User Inspired Management of Scientific Jobs in Grids and Clouds. His advisor was Prof. Beth Plale.

Eran is of course one of the founding team members of Apache Axis2 in the Lanka Software Foundation. Of the original 6 person core team who created Axis2, he's the 3rd to finish his Ph.D. (joining Srinath (back in WSO2) and Jaliya (in Microsoft Research)) and the other three are getting close to finishing up their PhDs too. Eran worked in WSO2 for a couple of years before leaving for his Ph.D. and I hope that when he finishes his Wall Street stint he'll come back home and join us again :-).

Congratulations Dr. Chinthaka!


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Are you attending WSO2Con 2011?

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:11:00 +0000

WSO2Con 2011 is happening in Sri Lanka at the awesome Waters Edge Conference Center (just outside the capital Colombo) from Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th. Have you signed up yet? If not here are a bunch of reasons to do it NOW!

The Program

The overal agenda is a combination of superb keynotes, talks by users about various solutions / case studies, talks by WSO2 folks about various new and up and coming cool things, couple of superb panels and of course some pre- and post-conference tutorials to help get an overview first and then an indepth understanding of various topics. Here's a circular view of the week:



This year we ran an open call for papers and selected nearly 20 external speakers to present their stories from amongst a large number of submissions. The speakers are coming from more than 10 countries (14 if I remember right) from North America, South America, Europe, Asia (including Sri Lanka, of course) and Australia/NZ. With attendees coming from various other countries too this is a truly global event with one hell of a program.



I would be doing a great dis-service if I didn't highlight our keynote speakers. We have 4 outside keynotes from IBM, eBay, Google and Cognizant. Paul and I are doing keynotes too. These folks who are coming in to give the keynotes are highly accomplished individuals who will undoubtedly have superb stuff to say .. listening to them itself will justify the trip!

The Place



Sri Lanka is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world today. In one small accessible package, Sri Lanka offers everything from awesome beaches to great surf to archeology to history to mountains to hang gliding to hot air ballooning to just plain going native. After having ended a 30-year horrendous war more than 2 years ago, we're now one of the safest places in the world! Interestingly, while most places in the world are increasing their security levels Sri Lanka is massively opening up.

We still of course have ways to go to build up many key infrastructure aspects in the country. In a way the whole country is under construction right now .. but not in the way that you wouldn't have the best time of your life here! Coming now will save you a lot of bucks too .. tourism in Sri Lanka WILL get much more expensive in the next 5 years!

Certainly don't just take my word for it. Instead, how about:
Who am I to argue with places like New York Times and National Geographic telling you to come to Sri Lanka!

The conference hotel we've chosen is Cinnamon Lakeside in Colombo. This is one of the best (5-star, of course) hotels in Colombo and sits next to the Beira Lake in Colombo. In addition to being a great hotel smack in the middle of Colombo, it also houses several superb restaurants. Do not miss Royal Thai.

The conference itself is being held at the very very cool Waters Edge Conference Center, about 10km (6 miles) out of Colombo. Its a very large facility and is in fact part of a golf course and is home to all the high-end events in Colombo. We will have buses organized to shuttle you to/from the hotel to the conference location.

The People

One of the best things about going to a conference is of course the opportunity to hang out with like minded people .. some of who will end up becoming your buddies for the rest of your life. At WSO2Con 2011 you will have the opportunity to interact with people from 20 countries, people who are total geeks, people who are world famous and of course the people from WSO2 who create and develop the products you love.

In order to make sure you get maximum time to interact and engage with each other we are also organizing several evening events. Don't plan to leave as the sessions finish!

The Deal

We want you to come from wherever you are in the world. At the same time, we realize its not easy to get travel approval these days with an unknown budget to travel to an exotic destination ("you want to go to a conference where?").

So, in order to make that process easier we're offering a complete, soup-to-nuts package that covers everything:
  • round-trip (economy class) airfare
  • up to 6 nites hotel accommodation at the conference hotel
  • all ground transportation in Sri Lanka
  • all meals within those 6 nights
  • (oh yeah) a full conference pass including both tutorial days
How much? They are priced based on where you're coming from:
  • Anywhere from South Asia: $1,900
  • Anywhere from Europe, Australia or New Zealand: $2,400
  • Anywhere else in the world (America, Africa, rest of Asia, Arctic region, Antarctica etc.): $2,900
If you've ever paid and attended a 5-day event anywhere in the US you know that you easily spend more than $2,900 for that week all told. This is an incredible value .. even your manager will grok it :). AND you get to spend a week in Sri Lanka as a bonus!

We OF COURSE are hoping lots and lots of folks from Sri Lanka will attend! We don't have airfare included rates for that :) .. you just have to register at the regular rates (and we give a special discount to most LK organizations - government, SLASSCOM members, AMCHAM members, IESL members, etc. etc.).

What are you waiting for? REGISTER NOW and reserve your spot :-).


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Congratulations Dr. Chathura Herath!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sun, 21 Aug 2011 11:47:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to congratulations Chathura Herath on completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Indiana University on the topic Programming Abstraction for Resource Aware Stream Processing in Scientific Workflows. Chathura is a student of Prof. Beth Plale.

Chathura was also one of the original members of the Apache Axis2 crew and is now the 4th of the original group of 6 to finish their Ph.D. degrees. He joins Srinath (in WSO2), Jaliya (in Microsoft Research), Eran (heading to Wall Street) to finish off leaving just Ajith (in Wright State) and Deepal (in Georgia Tech) in the pipeline. Chathura is heading towards an academic career. 


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Congratulations Dr. Nabeel Mohamed!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:17:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to post belated congratulations to Dr. Nabeel Mohamed on completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University.

Nabeel was an employee in WSO2 for a short time before he left to pursue Ph.D. work and is the first of many who have worked in WSO2 and gone onto doing Ph.Ds to complete the degree. Nabeel's Ph.D. thesis topic was "Privacy Preserving Access Control for Third-Party Data Management Systems" and his advisor was Prof. Elisa Bertino. The topic is of immense applicability for cloud data protection. Nabeel is staying on in Purdue as a Post-Doctoral Researcher right now.


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Congratulations Dr. Ajith Ranabahu!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:13:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to post belated congratulations to Dr. Ajith Ranbahu on his completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Ajith's Ph.D. topic was Abstraction Driven Application and Data Portability in Cloud Computing and his advisor was Prof. Amith Sheth. You can watch his Ph.D. defense on YouTube ... a sign of the times!

Ajith is of course one of the 6 founding members of the Apache Axis2 team and the 5th to finish his Ph.D.! Now only Deepal (at Georgia Tech) is left to finish and it'll be an amazing record when he completes too :-). Ajith also worked inWSO2 for an year before leaving for grad school where he continued to work on Axis2 and WSO2 Tungsten (now WSO2 App Server) and where he was championing building developer tools (which I used to dismiss ;-)). He initially went to University of Georgia but moved to Dayton when Amith moved to Dayton. Ajith plans to stay on at Dayton for a while and is looking towards a research career.


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WSO2Con 2013 is here!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:49:00 +0000





After months of planning, WSO2Con 2013 is starting today in London. We already ran the tutorials in Sri Lanka last week - today (Tuesday 12th) is tutorials in UK and then the main conference is Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th.

Yes this is a globally distributed conference! We have nearly 500 registrants (which is at least 50% more than we expected) in the two locations and they are connected via 4 high quality video streams so we have 2-way video interaction. The amount of technical details underneath is incredible - we will blog about that later. We even have one speaker doing his presentation from New York as he was unable to travel .. if everything goes off without a hitch that'll be a technological marvel :-).

We have 4 fantastic external keynote speakers:

Eben Upton, Founder & Trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation talking about the hottest little computer in the world. Oh and BTW, if you haven't heard yet, we've been putting together around 40 node R-Pi cluster and that system will be live running WSO2 middleware powering the WSO2Con app. Azeez has been blogging about it.

Brian Behlendorf, Founder of Apache, CollabNet and a long time god of open source (and my friend and also WSO2 Advisor) and currently Senior Advisor for Science and Technology at the World Economic Forum talking about how open source can still save the world.

Pankaj Srivastava, Vice President of the Cisco Industry Solutions Group talking about how they are building next generation cloud and embedded business systems. Guess what stuff they use :-).

 Yefim Natis, VP and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner talking about their view of Platform as a Service. Yefim leads Gartner's analysis on PaaS and has a super clear view of the future.



In addition, Paul and I will be doing keynote talks as well - I will be talking a bit about WSO2, our vision and most importantly how we see the future of enterprise computing. Paul will be talking about how to achieve that vision incrementally via a pragmatic milestone plan.

In addition we have nearly 20 external speakers (selected from over 50 submissions which we got in response to our open call for papers) and another 20 WSO2 speakers covering all aspects of our product platform.

We also have some super cool sponsors for the first time this time. Thank you to our Gold Sponsors Suse and Yenlo and our Silver Sponsors Grid Solut, Wipro and Redpill-Linpro.

The App

Oh yes the conference app .. we have a conference app that lets you do a bunch of stuff including rating talks and chatting to others. This too of course was written our stuff (and PhoneGap) and the back end will run on the Raspberry Pi cluster. Crazy? Yes. But super fun and majorly cool :-). Search for WSO2Con in the Google Play Store or you can use it with a browser here: https://wso2con.com/m/.  You need to have a WSO2 user account to log in - get one at https://wso2.org/user/register. Unfortunately the wonderful people in the Apple App Store haven't yet approved the updated version :-( .. we're keeping our fingers crossed it will happen today at least.

Putting it together

This event, like every previous WSO2Con event and all WSO2 events, is being organized by our internal marketing team. Hasmin (Director of Communications) is the general chair and she lives in Saskatoon, Canada and most of the rest of the team are in Sri Lanka! Harindu is out event God and he doesn't seem to lose hair yet. The "advance team" (of Harindu and Tasha) moved to London about 3 weeks ago and have been operating out of our Portsmouth office putting the final touches together. The rest of the marketing folks operating the UK event started arrived a week ago. There's another team managing the event in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka event is at a rather odd time since it starts at 2:00pm and runs until 10:30pm! We were very keen to have a live, bi-directional telecast in Sri Lanka as that's where we are based and that's where we have our team and a large community of supporters, users, and customers.

Coming back to London, overall we have nearly 50 WSO2 folks flying in from all over the world to London! I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the infinite amount of work done by Maryam and our outsourced travel team lead by Zakir .. its not easy to manage all of this while still running the daily operations of the company.

Thank you to all the wonderful team at WSO2 for putting this together! And thank you to everyone participating (whether in London, Colombo or just watching over the Internet) ... we're doing this for you.

I look forward to a fun week :-).


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Congratulations Dr. Malinda Kaushalye Kapuruge!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 06:47:00 +0000


It gives me great pleasure to post extremely belated (he completed in October last year!) congratulations to Dr. Malinda Kaushalye Kapuruge on his completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Swinburne University in Australia. Kau's thesis topic was "Orchestration as Organization: Using an organisational paradim to achieve adaptable business process modelling and enactment in service compositions" and was supervised by Prof. Jun Han and Dr. Alan Colman. Kau's going to stay on in Swinburne as a Research Scientist for some time.

Kaushalye worked in WSO2 for 2 years from 2006 to 2008 before going to grad school to pursue his Ph.D. work. Congratulations and good luck!

(I'm going to post a few catch up congratulations so I can be up to date :-).)


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Congratulations Dr. Dasarath Weeratunge!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 07:25:00 +0000

It gives me great pleasure to post extremely belated (he completed in December last year!) congratulations to Dr. Dasarath Weeratunge on his completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana (where I got my Ph.D. too). Dasarath's Ph.D. was in compiler optimization (don't have the exact topic) and was co-advised by Suresh Jagannathan and Xiangyu Zhang. Dasarath is now working in Intel Labs.

I advised Dasarath's final year project when he was an undergrad at Univ. of Moratuwa - he worked on what became Apache Kandula, a WS-Atomic Transactions implementation for Apache Axis. Later he also contributed to Apache Axis2 and worked on making Kandula work with Axis2. He joined Purdue in August 2005 IIRC.


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WSO2Con Barcelona 2014 in just one more week!

By sanjiva.weerawarana.org
Published On :: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 03:38:00 +0000


Time flies when you're having fun .. the conference is now just a week away and the advance team is flying in today. If you've ever been to one of our conferences you know what an awesome event it is - Barcelona is going to notch it up again with a really cool Internet of Things platform for attendees (built with our own products of course - plus soldering irons and acid baths).

Hope to see you there!



Learn more about industry trends, being a Connected Business, the WSO2 story, and much more through our esteemed panel of keynote speakers at WSO2Con EU 2014.
Alan Clark
Director of Industry Initiatives, Emerging Standards and Open Source
SUSE
Chairman of the Board
OpenStack®
Serves as the chairman of the board at OpenStack. Alan has developed a reputation in fostering the creation, growth, awareness, and adoption of open source and open standards across the technology sector. He will explore the evolution of open source cloud platforms in enabling the Connected Business.
James Governor
Principal Analyst and Co-Founder
RedMonk
Leads coverage in the enterprise applications space, assisting with application development, integration middleware, and systems management issues. He also has served as an industry expert for television and radio segments with media such as the BBC. James will examine how open source middleware contributes to the Connected Business.
Luca Martini
Distinguished Engineer
Cisco
Leads the Cisco virtualization strategy in two major areas: mobility and home broadband access. He has been involved in the Internet engineering task force (IETF) for the past 15 years, contributing to many IETF standards. Luca will discuss the role of intelligent orchestration and how it is more than simply a Web services engine.
Paul Fremantle
Co-Founder & CTO
WSO2
Paul co-founded WSO2 in 2005 in order to reinvent the way enterprise middleware is developed, sold, delivered, and supported through an open source model. In his current role as CTO, he spearheads WSO2's overall product strategy.
Sanjiva Weerawarana Ph. D
Founder, Chairman & CEO
WSO2
Sanjiva has been involved with open source for many years and is an active member of the Apache Software Foundation. He was the original creator of Apache SOAP and has been part of Apache Axis, Apache Axis2 and most Apache Web services projects. He founded WSO2 after having spent nearly 8 years in IBM Research, where he was one of the founders of the Web services platform. During that time, he co-authored many Web services specifications including WSDL, BPEL4WS, WS-Addressing, WS-RF and WS-Eventing.
Learn how WSO2 can help you build a Connected Business
 Contact Us


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¿Te cuesta conciliar en verano?

By traduccionjuridica.es
Published On :: Thu, 18 Jul 2024 09:55:12 +0000

Si a ti también te cuesta conciliar trabajo y familia en verano, lee esta entrada. Te damos algunas pistas para no morir en el intento. Menudo timo eso de la conciliación. ???? Con pronunciar la palabreja parece que ya está todo resuelto. ¡Pues no! Solo...

La entrada ¿Te cuesta conciliar en verano? aparece primero en Traducción Jurídica.


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Próximas convocatorias de nuestros cursos en línea

By traduccionjuridica.es
Published On :: Wed, 21 Aug 2024 10:54:38 +0000

Si quieres darle un impulso a tu negocio en el mes de septiembre no te pierdas todas estas propuestas de formación en línea para traductores que te traemos. Sigue leyendo. Se nota que estáis volviendo ya de vacaciones. Estamos recibiendo muchas reservas para los cursos...

La entrada Próximas convocatorias de nuestros cursos en línea aparece primero en Traducción Jurídica.


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Consigue una traducción oficial gratis de tu certificado

By www.traduccion-jurada-oficial.com
Published On :: Tue, 03 Jan 2017 11:16:27 +0000

Antes de encargar una traducción jurada, comprueba si puedes obtener una traducción oficial gratis. El presupuesto puede ser mucho más económico de lo que te esperas, si solicitas certificados plurilingües o internacionales para determinados...

The post Consigue una traducción oficial gratis de tu certificado appeared first on El Blog del Traductor Jurado.


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CONVOCATORIA DEL EXAMEN DE TRADUCTOR JURADO 2017

By www.traduccion-jurada-oficial.com
Published On :: Mon, 13 Mar 2017 13:08:12 +0000

El Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores convoca el examen de traductor jurado de 2017 en el BOE 61 de 13 de marzo de 2017. La espera se ha acabado. Sin embargo, la convocatoria de intérpretes jurados de...

The post CONVOCATORIA DEL EXAMEN DE TRADUCTOR JURADO 2017 appeared first on El Blog del Traductor Jurado.


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El brexit para los traductores jurados: ¿Qué consecuencias tiene?

By www.traduccion-jurada-oficial.com
Published On :: Tue, 25 Apr 2017 11:57:41 +0000

La posible y cada vez más anunciada salida de Reino Unido de la Unión Europea, el llamado brexit, tiene consecuencias en todos los ámbitos. Para algunos es una catástrofe. Para otros, la liberación. Independientemente...

The post El brexit para los traductores jurados: ¿Qué consecuencias tiene? appeared first on El Blog del Traductor Jurado.


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How to translate de una parte and de otra parte into English (contract translation tip 9)

By legalspaintrans.com
Published On :: Fri, 06 Dec 2019 16:12:16 +0000

How should you translate into English the terms de una parte and de otra parte that you find at the start of Spanish contracts?   What’s the job of de una parte and de otra parte in a Spanish contract? If you’ve read a couple of Spanish contracts, this seems obvious. But there is a […]


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Pour un « Front économique » vraiment libéral !

By www.lepoint.fr
Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0100

TRIBUNE. Des experts saluent la creation de ce collectif pro-business, tout en exprimant le souhait qu'il s'attaque egalement au dirigisme de l'Etat.


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La présidente du Conseil national des barreaux répond aux critiques

By www.lepoint.fr
Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 12:17:00 +0100

INTERVIEW. << J'aurais souhaite une contribution plus prospective et moins desobligeante a l'egard des barreaux de province >>, reagit M e Julie Couturier au rapport du P r Jamin.


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El contenido es el rey: cómo escribir un libro

By blog.lengua-e.com
Published On :: Mon, 02 Sep 2024 14:01:26 +0000

¿Te gustaría escribir un libro? ¿Alguna vez lo has intentado? Sé que escribir un libro puede parecer un reto formidable. Muchas personas se preguntan si […]

Origen


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Las connotaciones

By blog.lengua-e.com
Published On :: Tue, 10 Sep 2024 10:20:58 +0000

Para utilizar el vocabulario de manera adecuada, has de saber que las palabras no solamente son portadoras de significado. A menudo se cargan de connotaciones. […]

Origen


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Information Consolidation in Large Bodies of Information

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-03-18T16:21:18+01:00

Due to information technologies the problem we are facing today is not a lack of information but too much information. This phenomenon becomes very clear when we consider two figures that are often quoted: Knowledge is doubling in many fields (biology, medicine, computer science, ...) within some 6 years; yet information is doubling every 8 months! This implies that the same piece of information/knowledge is published a large number of times with small variations.

Just look at an arbitrary news item. If considered of some general interest reports of it will appear in all major newspapers, journals, electronic media, etc. This is also the problem with information portals that tie together a number of large databases.

It is our contention that we need methods to reduce the huge set of information concerning a particular topic to a number of pieces of information (let us call each such piece an "essay" in what follows) that present a good cross-section of potential points of view. We will explain why one essay is usually not enough, yet the problem of reducing a huge amount of contributions to a digestible number of essays is formidable, indeed is science fiction at the moment. We will argue in this paper that it is one of the important tasks of computer sciences to start tackling this problem, and we will show that in some special cases partial solutions are possible.


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Developing a Mobile Collaborative Tool for Business Continuity Management

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-07-08T12:29:58+02:00

We describe the design of a mobile collaborative tool that helps teams managing critical computing infrastructures in organizations, a task that is usually designated Business Continuity Management. The design process started with a requirements definition phase based on interviews with professional teams. The elicited requirements highlight four main concerns: collaboration support, knowledge management, team performance, and situation awareness. Based on these concerns, we developed a data model and tool supporting the collaborative update of Situation Matrixes. The matrixes aim to provide an integrated view of the operational and contextual conditions that frame critical events and inform the operators' responses to events. The paper provides results from our preliminary experiments with Situation Matrixes.


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On the Construction of Efficiently Navigable Tag Clouds Using Knowledge from Structured Web Content

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-07-08T12:31:45+02:00

In this paper we present an approach to improving navigability of a hierarchically structured Web content. The approach is based on an integration of a tagging module and adoption of tag clouds as a navigational aid for such content. The main idea of this approach is to apply tagging for the purpose of a better highlighting of cross-references between information items across the hierarchy. Although in principle tag clouds have the potential to support efficient navigation in tagging systems, recent research identified a number of limitations. In particular, applying tag clouds within pragmatic limits of a typical user interface leads to poor navigational performance as tag clouds are vulnerable to a so-called pagination effect. In this paper, a solution to the pagination problem is discussed, implemented as a part of an Austrian online encyclopedia called Austria-Forum, and analyzed. In addition, a simulation-based evaluation of the new algorithm has been conducted. The first evaluation results are quite promising, as the efficient navigational properties are restored.


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An Aspect-Oriented Framework for Weaving Domain-Specific Concerns into Component-Based Systems

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-05-06T16:03:36+02:00

Software components are used in various application domains, and many component models and frameworks have been proposed to fulfill domain-specific requirements. The general trend followed by these approaches is to provide ad-hoc models and tools for capturing these requirements and for implementing their support within dedicated runtime platforms, limited to features of the targeted domain. The challenge is then to propose more flexible solutions, where components reuse is domain agnostic. In this article, we present a framework supporting compositional construction and development of applications that must meet various extra-functional/domain-specific requirements. The key points of our contribution are: i) We target development of component-oriented applications where extra-functional requirements are expressed as annotations on the units of composition in the application architecture. ii) These annotations are implemented as open and extensible component-based containers, achieving full separation of functional and extra-functional concerns. iii) Finally, the full machinery is implemented using the Aspect-Oriented Programming paradigm. We validate our approach with two case studies: the first is related to real-time and embedded applications, while the


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Context-Aware Composition and Adaptation based on Model Transformation

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-05-06T16:03:43+02:00

Using pre-existing software components (COTS) to develop software systems requires the composition and adaptation of the component interfaces to solve mismatch problems. These mismatches may appear at different interoperability levels (signature, behavioural, quality of service and semantic). In this article, we define an approach which supports composition and adaptation of software components based on model transformation by taking into account the four levels. Signature and behavioural levels are addressed by means of transition systems. Context-awareness and semanticbased techniques are used to tackle quality of service and semantic, respectively, but also both consider the signature level. We have implemented and validated our proposal for the design and application of realistic and complex systems. Here, we illustrate the need to support the variability of the adaptation process in a context-aware pervasive system through a real-world case study, where software components are implemented using Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). We apply our model transformation process to extract transition systems (CA-STS specifications) from WF components. These CA-STSs are used to tackle the composition and adaptation. Then, we generate a CASTS adaptor specification, which is transformed into its corresponding WF adaptor component with the purpose of interacting with all the WF components of the system, thereby avoiding mismatch problems.


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An Approach for Feature Modeling of Context-Aware Software Product Line

By www.jucs.org
Published On :: 2011-05-06T16:03:50+02:00

Feature modeling is an approach to represent commonalities and variabilities among products of a product line. Context-aware applications use context information to provide relevant services and information for their users. One of the challenges to build a context-aware product line is to develop mechanisms to incorporate context information and adaptation knowledge in a feature model. This paper presents UbiFEX, an approach to support feature analysis for context-aware software product lines, which incorporates a modeling notation and a mechanism to verify the consistency of product configuration regarding context variations. Moreover, an experimental study was performed as a preliminary evaluation, and a prototype was developed to enable the application of the proposed approach.


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Tensions à l'Université Lyon-3 : la classe politique condamne les attaques contre Yaël Braun-Pivet

By fr.euronews.com
Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 10:43:53 +0100

Tensions à l'Université Lyon-3 : la classe politique condamne les attaques contre Yaël Braun-Pivet


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Trump confie l'immigration à Tom Homan, le "tsar des frontières"

By fr.euronews.com
Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 09:41:25 +0100

Trump confie l'immigration à Tom Homan, le "tsar des frontières"


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Trump va nommer les "faucons" Rubio et Waltz à la tête de la politique étrangère (rapports)

By fr.euronews.com
Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 12:43:13 +0100

Trump va nommer les "faucons" Rubio et Waltz à la tête de la politique étrangère (rapports)


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Donald Trump confie à Elon Musk et Vivek Ramaswamy "l'efficacité gouvernementale"

By fr.euronews.com
Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:54:23 +0100

Donald Trump confie à Elon Musk et Vivek Ramaswamy "l'efficacité gouvernementale"


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