ANTS new domain and contact emails

ANTS Team is very proud to announce that after little more than 6 months of official activity, due to the ever growing requests of Simultaneous Interpretation Services from different Social Movements events all over the globe and online, we have finally bought our own web domain:

https://www.ants-interpretation.org/

The current website will be moved very soon at the new direction, while the new contact emails are already active:

info@ants-interpretation.org : this is the general contact email to get in touch with the ANTS Team to request info about our services, technology, way of working, pricing and so on and to request our services for an upcoming event.

interpreters@ants-interpretation.org : this is the coordination email that we use to organize the interpreters for an event. It is also used by hundreds of Interpreters to contact us for different purposes: updating their database entries, asking for technology to cover for Interpretation in events they work in, ecc.

See you in the next Conference 😉 !

axel
20/12/2024

ANTS booths are the Plexicabins: Wooden-Plexiglass foldable table-top cabins, environmentally friendly and easily transportable

We usually move around with a small van, as we take in great seriousness our ecological footprint. The commercial company in the Interpretation world moves around with big truck full of very expensive equipment, at no reach for small organizations and collectives of the social movement area.

When it comes to the sound proofing of the booths, of course they don’t offer the same characteristics as the full-on soundproofed booths normally used in the Interpretation world, for which you need to move a truck in order to transport them – increasing incredibly not only the ecological footprint, but also the overall costs.

We consider enough to use those Plexicabins – as we call them – more environmentally friendly in comparison to the sound-proofed booths. Of course there’s need to organize the room in a way that the voice of the interpreters doesn’t reach too much the ears of the close-by participants – which are using headphones to receive the Interpretation in the language they choose, by the way.

The Booths1 that we use – the Plexicabins – were designed more than a decade ago by a pioneer collective project that I co-founded in 2009. Their designs are open-source and they were copied and adapted by dozens of other collectives and organizations all over the world.

They are made of a foldable plexiglass structure with a wooden top and are lightweight and environmentally friendly, as we can move them around with ANTS small van together with the rest of the equipment, without the need of a big truck or dedicated set-up team. The plexiglass structure offers a decent soundproofing, while the wooden top ensures cabins stability as it keeps the cabin together.

Come to an ANTS event to see them in action!

If instead you’re interested in building some for your group or organization, don’t hesitate to contact us!

  1. Technical expression from the Interpreting world. It means the physical space where the Interpreters sits. In a commercial Interpretation set-up, the Interpreters are completely isolated from the rest of the room, sometimes even in another room. They are completely cut-off visually from the rest of the participants, thus eliminating their presence from the event itself. We think that the Interpreters are n important part of the event itself, and should be more visible, as we think they are part of the movement. Those big booths, with a door to enter it, completely soundproof, are also very expensive and bulky, thus requiring even more fund to build and therefore hire them, but most importantly, to transport them. A dedicated team of technicians must be called for the set-up in every venue and they must be transported by big trucks, moving the technicians with another vehicle, like a van with many seats. We like to be lightweight and environmentally friendly, so we use another type of booths, “Plexicabins”, see above, on the article itself. By the way, we don’t use the word “booth”, but instead we call them with a friendly “cabins” 🙂 ↩

EVENT @ Red de Municipios por la AgroecologĂ­a event on Food systems and their impact on Climate change: “Del Plato al Planeta: Municipios que transforman”

Hi all! The event “Del Plato al Planeta: Municipios que transforman“, a conference and workshop on Food Systems and their impact on Climate Change.is now over and I’m coming back home, a bit tired cause of the travel by flight, but happy after all :).

It was very satisfying and everything worked out in the perfect shape I was sure of, even if I had to act as the room sound technician – which I wasn’t supposed to be.

I didn’t had the whole Sound Equipment in charge this time (only Interpretation Technology and Interpreters Coordination, as we used the sound equipment already installed in the room hired by the organization) but in the end I had to organize even the microphones for the conference. Most importantly, I manage to improve and fix the FLOOR1 line for the Interpreters, which initially was not working at all, and I also gave a general sound line-out to the video technicians for their recordings.


The video recordings were made by 2 very nice and technical guys from a project called LAPSE, a video production collective based in Barcelona (Cataluña, Spain) that was in charge of video-recording the whole event, with interviews to some of the participants, in order to post-produce the official videos of this very interesting and important event.

For this event, I had to take a flight with all the necessary – but minimum – equipment, so we weren’t able to use the table-top, wooden-plexiglass foldable cabins that we usually set-up in every event. The Interpreters were sitting at the back of the room as to not disturb the rest of the participants with their voice. About 40 people participated to this conference.

Receivers table: ANTS written with the Interpretation receivers 🙂

Usually we move around with a small van, as we consider enough to use those plexicabins – as we call them – more environmentally friendly in comparison to the full-on soundproof booths normally used in the Interpretation world, for which you need to move a truck in order to transport them – increasing incredibly not only the ecological footprint, but also the overall costs.

Anyway, after this technical digression and coming back to the event, I share here some photos: you can click on the “read more” button to see the whole article with the photos!

And soon I will add more photos and some videos the video Technicians from LAPSE will produce!

Many thanks to Maria Aranda Aranda, Gloria Polisena and Laia SanmartĂ­ Vidal, the Interpreters that worked with ANTS for their commitment in participating as volunteers: you were really amazing!

See you all at the next one!

Continue reading

ANTS confirmed for Entretantos and Red de Municipios por la AgroecologĂ­a event about Food Systems and their impact on the Climate, Barcelona, 12 December 2024

We are happy to announce a confirmed event with Entretantos and Red de Municipios por la AgroecologĂ­a in Barcelona, about the Food Systems and their impact on Climate, happening the 12th December 2024 in CC Cotxeres Sants.

We’ll be providing Simultaneous Interpretation between Catalan and Castellano, with the necessary technology as well as coordinating the Interpreters, for 1 room with about 40 people.

Thanks to Entretantos and Red de Municipios por la AgroecologĂ­a !

ANTS confirmed for Arche Noah online webinar on Seeds Patents, 19 December 2024

We are very happy to announce that we’ve been confirmed for another webinar with Arche Noah about Seeds Patents, happening on December 19th 2024. Duration of the webinar will be 2 hours.

We’ll be providing Simultaneous Interpretation from and into FR, EN and DE.

The event is organized by Arche Noah, an organization based in Austria working on cultivated biodiversity and the topic to be discussed will be the Impact of Seeds Patents on Farmers. It is not a public webinar, but has the target group of people working in farmers’ movements and NGOs working on patents/GMOs/agriculture policy in Europe.

” Patents on plants and seeds have always been controversial, linked to the advent of biotechnology and its increased use in agriculture. In contrast to plant breeders’ rights, plant patents cannot be confined to a single variety as a rule of thumb, and thus cover multiple varieties. 

….

The webinar will start by taking stock of existing patents in agriculture, examining what types of patents are granted (“patentability”) and the prerogatives that are attached to them (“scope of protection”). “


Update 20 December 2024

The Interpreters selected for this online event were:

FR-EN Booth: Marcella Segre and Sedef Atam

DE-EN Booth: Sophia Erben and Interpreter 4

Thanks to all the interpreters for their solidarity participation !

ANTS confirmed for WEAll online workshop, 12th and 26th November 2024

We are very happy to announce that we’ve bee confirmed to coordinate Simultanoues Interpretation for 2 online workshops happening on November 12th and 26th.

The workshops are organized by WEAll and will be about the Future Generations and Governance of the Commons Economic initiatives, respectively.

We’ll be having PTbr <> EN in the main room as well as in one breakout room.

It’s the first time we collaborate with WEAll after sometime we’ve been in contact with each other, so I can say that we’re very exited about it!

ANTS confirmed for Online Workshop on EU Seed Marketing Reform, 17-18 October 2024, with ArcheNoah, Let’s Liberate Diversity, The Geneva Academy

We announce that we have been confirmed for Interpreters Coordination for the “Online Workshop on EU Seed Marketing Reform”, organized by the Austria based Arche-Noa, the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, with the support of EC-LLD, happening online the 17th and 18th of October 2024.

The aim of this activity is to support the involvement of small organizations and grassroots movements in the policy-making process regarding seed policy and legislation. This workshop aims at building their capacity and awareness on the ongoing process of seed marketing reform, which will have a great impact on biodiversity and seed exchange in Europe and beyond.

The workshop will last 4 hours both on the 17th and the 18th, and we will be providing Simultaneous Interpretation Coordination for 2 Booths, FR and DE, with an English Pivot.

ANTS @ SĂšme ta Resistance, Antibes (France), 3-5 October 2024

Our participation it’s been recently confirmed, so we’re very honored and happy to participate in this amazing conference !

The International Farmer Seeds Gathering “Sow your Resistance” is organized by the French
Farmer Seed Network
, SOL Alternatives AgroĂ©cologiques et Solidaires, the Maralpine Community Seed Bank and Let’s Liberate Diversity.

The event will be composed of workshops and plenary sessions in Antibes (France).

These sessions will address the technical, environmental, social, political, and legal aspects of farmer seeds.

The week will culminate in a festive day dedicated to raising public awareness about the vital connection between agriculture and our food systems, underscoring the importance of cultivated biodiversity.

You can find more information on the event here.

Specifically, we will be in charge of coordinating the Team of 16 Interpreters leading up and during the event, and of setting up the Interpreting Technology:

5 languages (FR-EN-IT-ES-AR) 4 booths in the Plenary Room at Espaces du Fort Carré

2 languages (FR-EN) 1 booth in 1 Workshop room in Espace du Fort Carré

3 languages (FR-EN-ES) 2 booths in 1 Room in CREPS

2 languages (FR-EN) 1 booth in 1 Workshop room in CREPS

3 languages (FR-EN-ES) 2 booths in 2 Rooms in Campus Vert d’Azur, the Amphiteater and Workshop 1.

You can have a look here below at the Call for Interpreters

We thanks a lot the organizers of this amazing gathering!

Can’t wait to be there !


Few photos from the conference:

ANTS @ Anti Mega-Bassines, Melle (Poitou, France), 16-21 July 2024

We announce that we have been confirmed for the gathering in Poitou, the International Water Village for the defense of Water and Soils, that will be the preparation of massive days of actions the 19th and 20th July 2024.

So we will do our part by setting up the Interpreting Technologies during the camp that will be held in Melle, Poitou (France) for the mobilization against the Mega-Bassines to be held from 16th to 21st of July 2024.

We will be setting up the Plenary Space, with 4 cabins and 5 languages (FR-DE-ES-IT-EN) for the many thousand of people expected !

Can’t wait to be there !