Work Package 2: Standardization Process

Task 2.1: Requirements and Use Cases

The goal of this task is to assemble requirements and use cases for MLW-LT metadata, including those gathered in collaboration with task 6.1, and input them into the W3C standardization process.

Prior to the formation of the WG on 7th Mar 2012, the requirements and use case capture process was conducted via: extraction of unfulfilled ITS 1.0 requirements, teleconferences, face-to-face meetings 18-19 Jan (Berlin) and 20-21 Feb (Frankfurt). This was then continued under the auspices of the WG via a breakout session at the MultilingualWeb workshop 13-14 March (Luxembourg) and the MultilingualWeb workshop(Dublin), on 12-13 March. A requirements document was released on 24 May 2012 for additional public consultation. The document identifies terminology and concepts, use case actors, specific use cases and outline requirements and information models for a number of data categories. These provided the basis for the development of the specification in task 2.2.

In year two, no further work on the requirements is envisaged. The group will continue an implementation driven approach to finalize the metadata standard and will document use cases and best practices in a separate document, to be published by W3C.

Task 2.2: Draft Development

The goal of this task is to develop a stable draft document defining MLW-LT metadata.

The process is conducted entirely under the auspices of the MLW-LT WG, through WG teleconferences and face-to-face meetings listed above. Specific consultations were performed with the W3C HTML WG and the XLIFF 2.0 technical committee, by WG members attending teleconferences and face to face meetings.

Five draft versions of the specification were released between 26 June and 6 December 2012. A last call draft, asking for final comments from the general public, was released on the 6th Dec 2012.

The specification is presented as version 2.0 of the Internationalization Tag Set specification (originally published 3 Apr 2007). It continues support for ITS 1.0, but extends it through support of new metadata items (ITS data categories) and coverage of both XML and HTML content.

In year two the completion of the W3C specification will be completed under task T2.4. Task T2.2 will continue with efforts to define best practice documents on the use of ITS2.0.

Task 2.3. Test Suite

The test suite services two purposes. First, the W3C standardization process requires that each feature or assertion of a specification has been tested with at least two implementations to produce the same ouput for a given input file. Second, it helps to explain the definitions of the specification with real examples. This fosters the adoption of the technology.

• for each ITS 2.0 data category a set of input files that encompass all features involved, both for XML and HTML content (example).
• expected output files (example).
• a test suite master file listing input and output in a machine readable manner.
• An auto-generated test suite dashboard for comparing expected and actual implementer's output and for giving an overview of the current state of testing.

The test suite consists of input files that must produce output files in a format that can be automatically checked for correctness. The test suite has undergone a process of collaborative development, checking and verification by the WG and initial tests against implementations from all committed implementing organisations have been assembled by mid Dec 2012. To aid developers complete the conformance testing of their implementations, an instructional video on using the test suite has been developed, presented via a webinar and published.

For Y2, this task will be completed by all committed implementers verifying their feature tests against the test suit by the end of January 2013. The test suite will also be used as a reference for recording data category use in applications, due to be showcased by mid-March 2013 at the MLW workshop in Rome. A public self-service test-suite will also be made available for general public testing beyond the WG.

Task 2.4. Finalization of MLW-LT (LT-Web) Metadata Standard

The goal of this task is to publish the final MLW-LT metadata standard. The publication of the final draft as a W3C Recommendation (a W3C standard) follows the period of successful testing and will be aligned with the finalization of implementations. This will commence with the closure of the public last call on 10 January 2013 and is due to complete December 2013.