Re: Neutral language in W3C specifications

> 
> Doesn't lose anything if it becomes:
> 
> "Alex is a developer who uses SVG as part of their job..."
> 
> There are times when the gender of the person in a user story is important, but in the context of W3C I can't think of one that applies to technical standards!
> 

i must admit that for a non-native English speaker the usage of the plural form as a gender-neutral pronoun sounds extremely strange in this case. I know it is coming to the fore but I am worried it would create lots of confusion. (It is certainly a usage that goes against my own English training.)

Ivan



> 
> Léonie.
> 
>> [1] https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-use-cases/
> [2] https://github.com/w3c/idcg/issues/17
> 
>>> 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/
>>>>> 
>>> 
> 
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> Director @TetraLogical
> https://tetralogical.com
> 

Received on Wednesday, 29 July 2020 20:04:26 UTC