Internationalization Working Group Teleconference - July 24, 2025

Hi,

https://www.w3.org/2025/07/24-i18n-minutes.html

As an experiment, here is the meeting summary generated by Zoom (with some of my personal modifications):

Quick recap

The team evaluated Zoom's AI transcription tool's performance and discussed potential improvements to its functionality, including pronunciation capabilities and post-meeting transcript enhancements. We reviewed documentation processes and addressed challenges in international shipping and delivery, particularly focusing on address format specifications and delivery instructions for various countries. The team also discussed converting QA documents into HTML format and addressed pull requests for multilingual web addresses, while considering improvements to IRC minutes and real-time transcription processes.

Next steps

xfq to enable and experiment with AI-powered meeting transcription for the next meeting.
xfq to create an issue in the Intl repository regarding the get_text_info API and the need for additional guidance.
Addison to write an email to Intl requesting reviews of their internationalization-related specifications.
xfq to revise the address formats article, convert it to HTML, and prepare it for wide review.
xfq to merge the pull request with editorial fixes for the multilingual web addresses article.
Summary

AI Transcription Tool Performance Review

The team discussed an AI transcription tool's performance, noting that it correctly identified separate speaker interventions and showed improvement in post-meeting transcripts despite real-time inaccuracies. They explored the possibility of fine-tuning the model's pronunciation capabilities, particularly for names like "Fuchow," and discussed an API for getting text information. The team agreed to experiment with the tool's functionality for the week ahead, with plans to test both the minutes summarization and post-meeting transcript improvements.

Text Direction API Clarifications

Addison explained that the text direction API mirrors an ICU feature from CLDR, which estimates language direction based on language tags. He noted that while the API is useful for initial layout settings, it should not be relied upon for individual strings without metadata, as it may make incorrect assumptions. Addison also clarified that spec authors should not replicate this API everywhere, as language information is only an estimate, and the direction should be determined through the get text info API.

Documentation Review Process Discussion

Addison and the team discussed the review process for documentation, particularly focusing on MDN pages and Intl documentation. Addison agreed to write an email to request reviews for MDN pages, while Fuqiao proposed creating an issue in the relevant repository to address concerns about address format specifications. Addison praised Fuqiao's draft article on address formats, comparing it favorably to Richard's previous work, and encouraged further development and review of the piece.

International Shipping Address Challenges

Addison and the team discussed challenges in international shipping and delivery, particularly focusing on "last mile" issues. They highlighted problems with vague or incomplete addresses, including examples from Colombia, Japan, and California, as well as the difficulty of delivering packages in non-English speaking countries like China. The discussion also touched on delivery instructions for large buildings and the importance of having both ASCII and non-ASCII versions of addresses, along with phone numbers, to ensure accurate delivery.

HTML QA Document Conversion Discussion

The team discussed converting a QA document about address formats and personal names into HTML format, with Addison suggesting it would be a wide review afterwards. They also addressed a pull request for an article about multilingual web addresses, which mainly involved typo corrections and URL updates. Richard raised a point about including links in IRC minutes, suggesting that transcriptions should be modified in IRC before creating summaries, and Bert mentioned a previous project attempting real-time IRC translation that was abandoned due to training time constraints.

Received on Friday, 25 July 2025 04:33:02 UTC