RE: [xliff] Proposed XLIFF Charter

["Friedman, Eric" <eric@ConveySoftware.com>]

Peter and group,

Thanks for the speedy reply.  My comments below:

> 2. "vocabularies" -- I'm not sure that this is the best word 
> to capture
> (what I assume to be) your intent.  A vocabulary is simply a list of
> words, with accompanying definitions.  It says nothing about 
> the syntax
> of a language in which those words are used,  but syntax should
> definitely be part of the charter.
> 
> Obviously you meant more than vocabulary allows, which is why I think
> another word would be better.  Your parenthetical "formats, schemas"
> is a good start.  I would lean toward "schemas" because that 
> has specific
> meaning in the world of XML.
> 
> Mtg: vocabularies refers to XML vocabularies (XML tag set) 
> and we shall
> rename this 'XML vocabularies'. 


This is a reasonable compromise:  I suggest dropping the parenthetical (i.e.
formats, schemas), however, as it sounds like we're uncertain about what
we're doing.  If all of these things are roughly synonymous, let's just pick
one and use it without fear. :-)

> 
> 3. What distinction are you trying to express with "mark up 
> or capture"?
> It's not clear to me.
> 
> Mtg: 'capture' would usually refer to parsing and 'mark up' 
> would refer to
> authoring. As per Gerard's proposal.

OK, that makes sense, but then OR needs to be an AND, since these are never
mutually exclusive activities.  Also, it seems to me that the usual
complement to "marking up a document" is "processing a document," not
"capturing a document."  Suggest replacing "capture" with "process."

> 5. "aspects of the i18n process."  Someone reading the charter must be
> able to discover what problems we propose to solve.  More needs to be
> said here.
> 
> Mtg: This refers to mark-up (such as localisation directive). 
> We have taken
> the view to be consise in the charter and have a detailed 
> white paper which
> will more fully explain all issues.

I agree with desire to be concise, but would like to see specificity too.
Are there high-level goals that can be enumerated and looked at as
alternatives to "aspects of the i18n process?"


> 
> 6. What do you mean, exactly, by "comprehensively support 
> common software
> and content data formats" ?  This can mean a lot of things, including
> the extraction into content+skeleton and back again, which I doubt is
> intended.
> 
> Mtg: Can you explain this in more detail. We are not sure 
> what you mean.

Sure.  You say that support must be "comprehensive."  This suggests that
XLIFF will attempt to *completely* describe very specific properties of
particular content types.  This is a tall order, especially because those
content types evolve independently of one another and of XLIFF.  That's what
I understand from this part of the charter.  Is that what you intend?  


> 
> 7. What's the thinking behind "company culture" ?  I have never seen
> a technical specification that mentioned this as an objective.  What
> does it mean in the context of this charter?
> 
> Mtg: The objective is to deal with workflows and processes as 
> defined by
> propietary requirements. We have agreed to change this to 'workflow
> domains'.

Suggest "workflow requirements" as alternate phrasing -- "workflow domains"
is slighly awkward to my ear.

> 
> 8. Why did you decide to drop "format that will allow any software
> provider to produce a single interchange format that can be delivered
> to and understood by any localization service provider" ?  
> This is a big
> reduction in scope -- what's the thinking behind it?
> 
> Mtg: We are not reducing scope as we addressing content as an 
> issue aswell
> as software.

I'm not asking about the "software provider" vs. "content provider" issue,
which I agree you've addressed.  Rather, my question is: why did you decide
to drop the goal that XLIFF will allow any content producer to interoperate
with any service provider?

Eric

> 
> Ammeded charter is below. 
> 
> Charter
> The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define specifications 
> for extensible
> localization interchange XML vocabularies (i.e. formats, 
> schemas)  that will
> provide the ability to mark up or capture localizable data 
> and interoperate
> with different processes or phases without loss of information. The
> vocabularies will be tool-independent, and support aspects of the
> internationalization process and the entire localization process. The
> vocabularies will comprehensively support common software and 
> content data
> formats. The specifications will provide an extensibility 
> mechanism to allow
> the development of tools compatible with an implementer's own 
> proprietary
> data formats and workflow domains.
> 
> 
> Eric
> 
> 
> On Thu, 9 May 2002, Peter Reynolds wrote:
> 
> > Proposed XLIFF charter. It was agreed to propose this at 
> the face to face
> > meeting by Tony, John Corrigan, Mat, Yves, Christian, John 
> Reid, Gerard,
> > Peter. Miroslav Driml was present as an observer and also 
> agreed. There
> were
> > no abstentions or objections.
> > This is proposed to replace the current charter.
> > Charter
> > The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define specifications for
> extensible
> > localization interchange vocabularies (i.e. formats, 
> schemas)  that will
> > provide the ability to mark up or capture localizable data and
> interoperate
> > with different processes or phases without loss of information. The
> > vocabularies will be tool-independent, standardized, and 
> support aspects
> of
> > the internationalization process and the entire 
> localization process. The
> > vocabularies will comprehensively support common software 
> and content data
> > formats. The specifications will provide an extensibility 
> mechanism to
> allow
> > the development of tools compatible with an implementer's 
> own proprietary
> > data formats and company culture.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Peter Reynolds, Software Development Manager, Berlitz GlobalNET
> > 3, West Pier Business Campus, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland
> > Tel: +353-1-202-1280
> > Fax: +353-1- 202-1299
> > Web Site: http//www.berlitzglobalnet.com
> > "Don't just translate it, BerlitzIT" http//www.berlitzIT.com
> >
> >
> >
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