RE: Language selection icon competition

I have some concerns about this, as follows:

There is no doubt that such a thing is needed, and in fact I have been suggesting the need for it for many  years now at the W3C, and before that at Xerox.  A couple of years ago we actually decided that it would be good to run a competition ourselves, but I never had the bandwidth to make it happen.  I was certainly hoping that we would address this gap in one of our MultilingualWeb workshops.

However, I worry about so quickly dismissing world icons as irrelevant, whereas the advice of one of the foremost experts on this topic, John Yunker, would contradict that.  

My main worry, however, is that we are not dealing with a standardisation body here – and as far as I can tell, the choice of the winning design will be made by just 15 people behind closed doors.  It seems to me that there needs to be wider buy-in to the design if it is really going to become widespread, no?  On the other hand, I don't know how the ubiquitous RSS icons etc were developed.

RI

============
Richard Ishida
Internationalization Lead
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)

http://www.w3.org/International/
http://rishida.net/




> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-multilingualweb-request@w3.org [mailto:public-multilingualweb-
> request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Richard Ishida
> Sent: 29 June 2010 17:31
> To: public-multilingualweb@w3.org
> Subject: Language selection icon competition
> 
> The following crossed my path recently.  I'm posting here for discussion.
> 
> [[
> I wanted to tell you about one of our projects: A language icon
> (http://www.languageicon.org/)
> 
> Please check the competition brief for this icon to understand more about it:
> http://www.adesignaward.com/competitions/custom/Language-Icon-Graphic-
> Design-Competition.html
> 
> I think the language icon is crucial component of the multi-lingual web.
> 
> Please kindly send me your suggestions and thoughts,
> 
> Kindest Regards,
> 
> Onur Mustak Cobanli
> ]]
> 
> RI
> 
> 
> 
> ============
> Richard Ishida
> Internationalization Lead
> W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
> 
> http://www.w3.org/International/
> http://rishida.net/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2963 - Release Date: 06/28/10
> 19:35:00

Received on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 17:20:01 UTC