W3C Internationalization Working Group

Guidelines, Education and Outreach (GEO) Task Force

Proposed Outreach Activities

Developed by Suzanne Topping

Purpose

The W3C Internationalization Working Group Workshop held February 1, 2002 identified Outreach and Education as a target area for inclusion in the group’s re-chartering proposal. This document acts as a starting point for developing Outreach initiatives in the form of promotion.

Public Relations and Promotion

I would like to propose the following activities as potential starting points for outreach activities. This proposal would of course be revised, expanded, and refined as the GEO Task Force undertakes it’s work.

Press

I rarely see coverage of W3C events or activities in the press and would therefore propose making publicity one of the Outreach focus areas.  This section describes some of the press opportunities I would take advantage of if given the go-ahead to proceed.

MultiLingual Computing and Technology Magazine

Given the readership of MultiLingual Computing and Technology, I would like to see a periodic update in the magazine about W3C I18N WG activities. These articles might appear on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.

Other Publications

Periodic (perhaps quarterly) press releases related to W3C I18N WG activities would be sent to periodicals with a potentially interested readership. (The goal being to prompt editors to write articles.) Examples of potential magazines to include are listed below.


Application Development Trends

Ariba

Baseline

Boardwatch

Business Integrator Journal

Certification

CFO

CIO

CIO Insight

Communications Convergence

Communications Solutions

Component Developer

CRN

Document Processing Technology

eAI Journal

EBN

Entrepreneur                     

eWeek

Information Week

Intelligent Enterprise

Interactive Week

Internet Week

IT Contractor

Managing Automation

MSDN Magazine

NetEconomy

Network Computing

Network Magazine

Optimize

Red Herring           

SD Times

Smart Partner

Software Development

Technology Investor

UPSIDE

VAR Business


Online Venues

Press releases and announcements regarding group activities could also be sent to a variety of online publications, email lists, etc. Some online venues could include (this is a representative list which needs to be expanded, particularly to include venues not specifically focused on software globalization issues):


Application Development Trends

EbXML-Dev discussion list

Global Reach Express

I18N_Prog discussion list

I18NdotNet discussion list

IBM developerWorks (http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/)

LanguageTech Net News

NELOCSIG discussion list

mozilla-i18n@mozilla.org

mozilla-l10n@mozilla.org

UN/CEFACT

www.globalization.com

www.i18n.com

www.localizationworks.com

Additional venues to be added…


Education

Educational initiatives need to be explored. Some initial ideas are to offer W3C-sponsered classes/seminars at industry forums, perhaps describing what the WG is and does, providing and overview of the character model, or presenting Techniques, Guidelines, and Checklists that the GEO Task Force creates.

This section to be expanded and developed.

Outreach and Collaboration

Connections should be made with appropriate globalization industry organizations such as the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA), the Professional Association for Localization (PAL), Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), TILP, OASIS, etc. Also, promotional efforts should be aimed at increased interaction with standards organizations such as ebXML (include others) etc.

This section to be expanded and developed.