Re: Neutral language in W3C specifications

> On 22 Jul 2020, at 13:23 , Léonie Watson <lwatson@tetralogical.com> wrote:
> 
> Everyone,
> 
> Would welcome guidance on this.
> 
> I suggested that the Publication (Pub) Rules might look for gender specific pronouns, and this can be done, but I'm not sure what the best editorial advice for editors should be.
> 
> The use of pronouns doesn't come up often in specifications, though it does sometimes when there are use cases or user stories that illustrate the reason for a particular feature.
> 
> The guidance could suggest using they/them as the standard pronouns, or that editors should make sure there is an even balance of they/them, he/him, she/her etc., or something else?

+1 to they/them/their everywhere
instead of he/him/his or she/her.

Coralie

> 
> Léonie.
> -------- Forwarded Message --------Subject: Re: Neutral language in W3C specifications
> Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2020 15:03:01 +0400From: Denis Ah-Kang <denis@w3.org>To: lwatson@tetralogical.com, Spec-prod <spec-prod@w3.org>, chairs@w3.orgHi Leonie,
> Thank you for your feedback. Sure, we can also add these
> pronouns to the list of terms to detect.
> Do you have a preference or suggestion as to what our guidance
> to the editors should be in those cases?
> 
> Denis
> 
> 
> On 7/22/20 1:21 PM, Léonie Watson wrote:
>> Denis, this is a really positive step, thank you to you and the team.
>> One suggestion - is it possible for PubRules to check for gender specific pronouns (he/she, him/her etc.) too?
>> They are rare in specifications, but do sometimes feature as part of use cases or examples.
>> Léonie.
>> On 22/07/2020 09:40, Denis Ah-Kang wrote:
>>> Dear editors and chairs,
>>> 
>>> In order to offer the best environment possible to its
>>> community, W3C is supporting the push for a more inclusive and
>>> neutral language, especially in our specifications.
>>> 
>>> In the upcoming weeks, pubrules [1] will show a warning if
>>> terms like "master", "slave", "grandfather", "sanity" or
>>> "dummy" are detected in a specification and this will also
>>> be reflected in the Manual of style [2] with a list of
>>> alternatives.
>>> Note, since it may take time for the editors to change the
>>> branch name "master" to something else, we will not flag the
>>> URLs containing that word in the first place.
>>> 
>>> Going forward, we will audit all the specification repositories
>>> and open issues if they contain problematic terms.
>>> 
>>> Let me know if you have any comments/suggestions.
>>> 
>>> Denis
>>> W3C Systems team
>>> 
>>> [1] https://www.w3.org/pubrules/
>>> [2] https://w3c.github.io/manual-of-style/

--
Coralie Mercier  -  W3C Marketing & Communications -  https://www.w3.org
mailto:coralie@w3.org +337 810 795 22 https://www.w3.org/People/Coralie/

Received on Wednesday, 22 July 2020 16:21:05 UTC