Well, this is not exactly a technical article. This post describes the end of a quest, and the beginning of a new journey: my first step towards Open Data, a world of fairy, strange people willing to change the world.
My first contact with that world happened two years ago when I started learning Luxembourgish. Quickly, I discovered the lack of online content, community support, and learning tools. Then I decided to use my superpowers to build an application called LOD to Anki. This software aims to export the words from LOD.lu into Anki flash cards. Please follow the links to learn more about them.
Unfortunately, scraping the LOD's content proved to be an inefficient strategy. The HTML structure of the old website was cumbersome, making web crawling complex and slow. How would I keep my dataset updated? How would I ensure the performance of my tool? There was only one answer to those questions. I decided to ask for the data directly.
To my surprise, the Zenter fir d'Lëtzebuerger Sprooch (ZLS) answered back. They shared the link to LOD's dataset, exposed on the Luxembourgish Open Data Platform, and I marveled!
With the dataset in hand, I rapidly developed my project. It was easy to integrate into the software, giving me time to focus on the Anki deck development instead. Thanks to that, all the important words listed by Schwätzt Dir Lëtzebuergesch books series are now documented and shared on GitHub, for anyone to use and learn.
That innocent interaction with ZLS and their dataset helped me make a small but positive impact on society. A few people expressed their gratitude for the software. Moreover, the LOD.lu's audio content was size reduced, with unnoticed quality loss, because I shared László's suggestion on audio compression with ZLS, potentially reducing their network traffic.
Indeed, the planet is round, rotating, and revolving. Two years later, I seized the opportunity to join the fairy people. I am now working for the Luxembourg National Data Service (LNDS). I will be one of the many human beings working behind the curtain, integrating and providing solutions to support research and innovation through data.
I would like to express my appreciation to all the people at Pictet Technologies. These four years of learning and growth were undoubtedly decisive in my career success.
See you | Bis geschwënn | Até mais | À bientôt
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