Forward: Globalization in Device Independence

Please find attached message that is saying i18n issues on non-pc
devices.

-kaz
--
Device Independence Activity Lead

attached mail follows:

Hello Sir,

I, Mustafa Ali, am currently researching on the methods to serve read-only
multilingual Internet content on small specialized devices, which cannot
practically support the entire range of Unicode forms. In this e-mail, I
have discussed why research in the area is imperative, followed by how I
need the DI Group's help with the research.

The W3 Device Independence group is working on a framework for relaying
Internet content to a variety of devices; however, there is little research
underway on how to implement multilingual content on these devices. This is
of special concern for people who do not communicate in languages that are
not usually supported by consumer devices. Desktops nowadays support almost
the complete range of Unicode forms, but such an approach on small,
specialized devices is impractical. It is also a hassle for the average
consumer (who would like to "use" the device more than "hack" with its
technologies) to install and maintain Unicode forms. Many devices may not
even support the ability to install the required Unicode forms.

With my research, I hope to propose a framework for the transmission of
Unicode Internet content on all devices, includes those that have partial or
no Unicode support at all. The concept is to use an algorithm that would
determine the optimal way to convert Unicode data to another format (such as
another encoding format, or images supported by the client device) that
would correctly display the content on the particular device. Naturally, the
"converted format" will not be as efficient as Unicode (whether UCS-4, -2,
or UTF-8), but atleast the users of such devices will not be "handicapped"
with an inability to read such multilingual content.

Such a system will also reduce (and in simple cases, even eliminate) the
need for content-providers to create different content for each specialized
device. The system will also be useful for corporations providing
multilingual data to a large customer base [2, 3].

In context of the DI framework you proposed [1], such an algorithm can
easily be incorporated into the "adaptation process." The algorithm will be
able to (a) determine the specifications and supported technologies of the
client device, using the CC/PP; (b) determinine a format that will
accurately display and optimally transmit the content to the client; (c)
convert the Unicode content into this suitable format, and relay the
presentation to the client.

Due to time constraints and other commitments, I was not able to participate
in the DI-IG. I would appreciate it if you could give me more details,
including white papers and proposals, on Device Independence in general, and
what the Group has in mind concerning Globalization.

I am also interested in participating in future discussions on Device
Independence. Can you give me more information on upcoming plans and
membership?

As a closing, I have worked on Urdu (Arabic extension) multilingual
presentations that do not require Unicode forms for display. I also have a
website (and wapsite) that uses a basic implementation at
http://www.urduword.com .

Thank you for your help,
Mustafa Ali
Project-Director,
UrduWord.com
http://www.urduword.com

-----
[1] Kitagawa, Kazuhiro. 2002. "Techniques for Contents Adaptation." WWW2002:
Hawaii.

[2] Lloyd, Robin, 2002. â€œThree Approaches to Multilingual Content
Management.â€ KM World (March 2002): S21

[3] Parr, Barry, and McManus, Maureen, 2001. â€œWeb-Site Globalization: The
Next Imperative for the Internet 2.0 Era.â€ Internet. Available from
http://www.conveysoftware.com/en/downloads/IDC_Globalization_report.pdf;
Accessed on April 29, 2002