[I18nrp] proposed charter for an Internationalization Directorate

[Peter Saint-Andre <[e-mail]>]

As we have discussed on this list and at IETF 102, to date
internationalization (i18n) reviews at the IETF have been dependent upon
the occasional attention and uncoordinated involvement of particular
individuals. We have identified several problems with the status quo: we
don't reliably identify documents needing review, we often identify
issues only late in the standardization process, we have a small and
static set of reviewers, the reviewers have not been organized to
function as a team, and we are not training new reviewers or educating
specification authors in a systematic fashion. In addition, we have not
succeeded in fixing smaller problems with existing i18n technologies (an
activity that can be seen as a particular kind of review or as bordering
on a study group or expert team).

By my reading, we have broad agreement that an Internationalization
Directorate, if properly scoped and managed, could help to improve the
i18n aspects of IETF specifications. Therefore I have written the
following draft charter, and I would like to request feedback from folks
on this list.

Thanks!

Peter

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Internationalization Directorate (i18ndir)

The Internationalization Directorate is a specialized advisory group
that assists the Area Directors of the Applications and Real-Time Area
with regard to internationalization, in accordance with RFC 2418.

In support of a global Internet, the IETF has long worked on
internationalization of the Internet through various technologies,
including but not limited to text encodings (RFC 20, RFC 3629, RFC
5198), character sets (RFC 2277), language tags (RFC 5646), URIs (RFC
3986), domain names (RFC 5890), email addresses (RFC 6530) and headers
(RFC 5335), HTTP headers (RFC 7231, RFC 8187), and usernames and
passwords (RFC 8265). Because the appropriate use of these technologies
in any particular Internet protocol is not always clear-cut,
specifications developed within the IETF often need to be reviewed by
individuals with competence in internationalization. Another sort of
review is required for adjustments to the underlying technologies
themselves, for instance handling issues with internationalized domain
names that arise because of updates to the Unicode standard.

The directorate consists of experienced members of the IETF and the
broader technical and language communities who have competence in
internationalization. The directorate reviews selected Internet-Drafts
with respect to common internationalization issues, provides guidance to
specification authors and working groups that re-use or ought to re-use
the aforementioned IETF technologies, works together on solutions to
narrowly scoped problems that arise with those technologies (while
deferring larger initiatives to separate working groups, if needed), and
advises Area Directors and other IETF stakeholders with regard to
internationalization. The directorate itself is responsible for
organizing its work processes, documenting recommended solutions to
common internationalization issues, and maintaining an effective team
through appropriate recruiting and training initiatives. However,
liaison activities with other standards development organizations (such
as the Unicode Consortium) are not directly in scope for the
directorate. In short, the internationalization directorate acts as a
consultative group of experts offering expertise and guidelines with
respect to internationalization within the IETF.

The directorate can be contacted by sending e-mail to [TBD] and the list
archives are available at [TBD].

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