Introduction

Members of a language team can add words and phrases as entries to a language site in batches to save time. You can work offline to prepare your entries and upload them together at one time.

You must be part of a language team to add new entries. To learn about how language teams work, check out our information on Managing your team's workflow with different roles.

How to prepare and send a batch upload

Before you start

As a team, decide on what information you want to include with your entries.

See the section “Fields in a batch spreadsheet” below for a list of the fields available and their suggested uses. In general, the more information you can provide, the more useful the language site will be in the future. 

Prepare your media files

1. Copy your audio and other media files into one folder on your computer.

2. Give the folder a practical name ONLY use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores, NO SPACES. Suggested folder name: september_2019_media

3. Name your media files using the same format. The only special character should be the period before the file type (e.g. .mp3 or .wav). Suggested filename: 2018_joe_smith_word1.mp3

Example 1:

• "2018_Joe_Smith_ahthenno.mp3"

• "2018-Joe-Smith-ahthenno.mp3"

• "2018 Joe Smith ahthenno.mp3"

Example 2:

• "1_go-danrecording_martha_bill.wav"

• "1.gṑdanrecording~martha&bill.wav"

Create your spreadsheet

The spreadsheet captures the metadata and documentation about your files and is required for the batch uploading. You'll need a spreadsheet application. Open Office is recommended because it handles the Indigenous special characters best. You can download Open Office for free at https://openoffice.apache.org/.

1. Download a template spreadsheet from the Resources section of this page.

   1. If you are using Open Office, click the box next to "Comma" before clicking OK
      
      

      Open

      

       

2. Enter your data into the appropriate columns below the headers. DO NOT alter the column headers in the template. Please note that you can add additional columns, but they must be taken from the list of field options available in the list below. Take great care to avoid typos. Any errors you make in the content of this spreadsheet will be added to your FirstVoices language site or may affect the uploading of entries altogether. See the list of fields below for explanations on each field.

3. When you are finished and ready to save, you must make sure to save your spreadsheet in CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv) file format. Do NOT save as an Excel file (.xlsx) or a regular Comma Separated Values (.csv) these cannot be processed. More information on how to do this can be found here: Save spreadsheets in UTF-8 CSV format
   
   

Double-check all your files and the spreadsheet

It's important to make sure your files, metadata and documentation are correct before you submit them. Take particular care to enter your filenames exactly as they have been named in Step 2. Any typos in filenames will result in that entry being skipped by the upload. Work with your language team to double-check and proofread all entries before sending them in.

Send to the FirstVoices team for processing

1. Format your spreadsheet and media folder as such:

2. Upload your spreadsheet and folder of media files to your custom SharePoint link (email support@fpcc.ca to set this up). It is ok to zip your folder of media files for easier attachment.

• How to zip your media files on a Mac

  1. Locate the folder to zip

  2. Right-click on the folder

  3. Click "Compress"

  4. Find the newly created .zip archive in the same location on your computer

• How to zip your media files on a PC

  1. Locate the folder to zip.

  2. Right-click on the folder

  3. Click "Send to" and then click "Compressed (zipped) folder"

  4. Find the newly created .zip archive in the same location on your computer
     
     

3. Email batch@fpcc.ca with the subject of the email as your spreadsheet name – so for example, if the spreadsheet you uploaded was ktunaxa_august_2_2021_phrases.csv, that should be your email subject – letting us know that you have submitted a new batch to the Sharepoint folder.

Common errors to double check for

There are a few common errors made during batch preparation. Here are some things to double check before sending a batch spreadsheet to the FirstVoices team:

• Are all of the column headings spelt and capitalized correctly? (i.e. LITERAL_TRANSLATION, not LITERALTRANSLATION; CATEGORIES, not categories)

• Does every entry have a definition in the DEFINITION field?

• Do you have .wav or .mp3 after your filenames in the AUDIO_FILENAME column? (i.e. "my-great-sound.mp3", not just "my-great-sound")

• Are all of the categories you reference in your spreadsheet spelt the same on your FirstVoices site, including their capitalization? (i.e. The category "Food" is not accidentally spelt "food" in your spreadsheet)

• Have you already created any custom categories you reference in your spreadsheet?

• Is your full email address in the USERNAME field?

• Have you added information in the AUDIO_SOURCE or IMG_SOURCE or VIDEO_SOURCE columns, as needed?

Fields in a batch spreadsheet

Here is a list of possible fields that can be uploaded to using the Word batch upload process. The "intended use" for each field is just a guide for what the field should be used for. You and your team can make decisions together about how you will use these fields for your language site. We recommend trying to maintain consistency on their use across your language site.

Words and phrases require different fields, so they must be collected in different spreadsheets. Example: ktunaxa_august_2_2021_words.csv for words, ktunaxa_august_2_2021_phrases.csv for phrases.

Fields for Words

Fields for Phrases

Additional fields for Words/Phrases

In addition to this basic information, further details can be added to both words and phrases:

Batch fields for linked media

For media files to be successfully linked to words in the spreadsheet when the batch is processed, you'll also need to add the following columns. Each of the following required columns are for uploading new media and linking it to the word in that row.

Batch fields for related phrases

When uploading a batch of words, you can optionally add additional columns to quickly add simple information for a related phrase. This will create a new phrase entry linked to the word.

Available options for PART_OF_SPEECH

At this time you are not able to create your own 'PART_OF_SPEECH'. You can choose from a fixed number of options and they should be entered in lowercase exactly as they appear in the list below.

Resources

Templates

• Word Batch - Full import template (all possible fields)

• Word Batch - Minimal import template (bare minimum of fields)

• Phrase Batch - Full import template (all possible fields with an example of headings for multiple audio files)

Note: Templates are under version control here if you are familiar with Github: https://github.com/First-Peoples-Cultural-Council/fv-batch-import/tree/master/templates/words

Sample Spreadsheets and Batch Uploads

• Full sample with 'fake' data

• Full sample with fake data AND media files

• Minimal sample with fake data