About the Internationalization (I18N) Activity

Mission

The mission of the W3C Internationalization Activity is to ensure that W3C's formats and protocols are usable worldwide in all languages and in all writing systems.

Groups

The Internationalization Activity Statement explains concepts relating to internationalization, as well as the current situation and the role within the W3C of the Internationalization Activity.

The work of the Internationalization Activity is done by two Working Groups and an Interest Group:

1. The Internationalization Core Working Group enables universal access to the World Wide Web by reviewing specifications produced by other W3C Working Groups and producing its own specifications . It proposes and coordinates the adoption by the W3C of techniques, conventions, technologies, and designs that enable and enhance the use of W3C technology and the Web worldwide, with and between the various different languages, scripts, regions, and cultures. It also provides guidelines, education, and outreach to get the internationalization aspects of W3C technology better understood and more widely and consistently used. [Home page][Charter]

2. The ITS (Internationalized Tag Set) Working Group has developed a set of elements and attributes that can be used with new DTDs/Schemas to support the internationalization and localization of documents. It will also provide best practice techniques for developers of DTDs/Schemas that show how to enable internationalization of their documents. [Home page] [Charter]

3. There is also an Internationalization Interest Group . Anyone can participate in the Interest Group by joining the mailing list. [Charter] [Archive]

We encourage you to participate in these groups.

Useful links:

• Core WG participants (member only)
• ITS WG participants (member only)
• Liaisons (search the page for 'i18n')

Participation

The Internationalization Activity welcomes the participation of individuals and organizations around the world to help improve the appropriateness of the Web for multiple cultures, scripts and languages.

Ways to participate:

• Join a Working Group:

  • Core
  • ITS (Internationalized Tag Set)
• Join the Interest Group: follow and contribute to the discussions at www-international@w3.org (archive). This is a public list supporting the activity of the Internationalization Working Groups. To subscribe, send a mail to www-international-request@w3.org with subscribe as the subject.

Other ways to contribute:

• Join the discussions on the www-international mailing list.
• Follow the discussions on the public-i18n-core mailing list.
• Review articles prior to publication and send comments.
• Review W3C specifications for internationalization issues, and send comments to the Working Group.
• Provide information about language or script usage in response to our feedback requests.
• Write articles and plan and discuss content for forthcoming articles.
• Volunteer to help us maintain topic and techniques indexes to the information on the site.
• Review best practices for content authors, implementers, or specification developers.
• Get your web i18n blogs aggregated at Planet i18n
• Translate some of the Internationalization Activity's articles.

Benefits of participation:

Participation can benefit the participant and his or her organization in the following ways.

• Significantly develop your understanding of how W3C technologies are used in a global Web and bring that knowledge back to your organization.
• Review the state of the art in a range of Web technologies and develop understanding of key internationalization issues by reviewing specifications.
• Raise your profile and that of your organization by developing best practices, and education and outreach materials.
• Contribute your and your organization's ideas and needs for the development of new specifications.
• Discuss and explore ideas alongside other leaders in the field.
• Gain exposure to internationalization issues in a wide range of technologies.
• Lay claim to contributing directly to making the World Wide Web more worldwide.

The groups need people with a wide range of skills, from technical authoring to specialised knowledge of particular technologies.

Contacts

• Addison Phillips (addison @ amazon com), I18n Core Working Group Chair
• Richard Ishida (ishida @ w3. org), Activity Lead, Staff Contact for Core Working Group
• Yves Savourel (ysavourel @ translate. com), ITS Working Group Chair
• Felix Sasaki (fsasaki @ w3. org), ITS Working Group Staff Contact
• Martin Dürst (duerst @ it.aoyama.ac.jp), Interest Group Chair
• Liaisons (member only)