RFC3066 bis: intro

[Addison Phillips [wM]]

Hi Peter,

I'm just catching up after a long trip back from the East coast.

That text looks pretty darned good. I haven't had a chance to compare it to the original yet to see exactly what changed, but it does seem to read well. I will note that the intro section in the I-D is an exact copy from the existing RFC3066...

I agree with Mark's comment on the use of the word "metadata". Perhaps the phrase would read better as:

"One means of indicating the language used in information content is to label the content with a symbolic identifier for the given language."

That is, the language tag *is* metadata about the content.

Best Regards,

Addison

Addison P. Phillips
Director, Globalization Architecture
webMethods | Delivering Global Business Visibility
http://www.webMethods.com
Chair, W3C Internationalization (I18N) Working Group
Chair, W3C-I18N-WG, Web Services Task Force
http://www.w3.org/International

Internationalization is an architecture. 
It is not a feature.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no 
> [mailto:ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no]On Behalf Of Peter Constable
> Sent: 2003年12月5日 16:54
> To: ietf-languages at alvestrand.no
> Subject: RFC3066 bis: intro
> 
> 
> I'm finally getting around to catching up on this. Sorry for being slow.
> 
> Some suggested revisions for section 1:
> 
> ---------
> Human beings on our planet have, past and present, used a number of
> languages. There are many reasons why one would want to identify the
> language used when presenting or processing information.
> 
> In some contexts, information may be available in more than one
> language, or resources (such as dictionaries) may be available to assist
> in the understanding of different languages, and it may be necessary to
> retrieve the information or resources according to linguistic
> preferences specified by a user. 
> 
> Also, many types of information processing require knowledge of the
> language in which information is expressed in order for that process to
> be performed on the information; for example spell-checking,
> computer-synthesized speech, conversion to Braille, or high-quality
> print renderings. The language variety of information content and of
> processing resources may need to be identified so that the appropriate
> processing and resources can be applied to the given content.
> 
> One means of indicating the language used in information content is by
> metadata labeling using a symbolic identifier for the given language.
> These identifies can also be used for labeling processing resources, and
> can by used in requesting information or resources to specify linguistic
> preferences or requirements.
> 
> These identifiers can also be used to indicate additional attributes of
> content that are closely related to the language. In particular, it is
> often necessary to indicate specific information about the dialect,
> writing system, or orthography used in a document or resource, as these
> attributes may be important for the user to obtain information in a form
> that they can understand, or important in selecting appropriate
> processing resources for the given content. Such information may be
> useful to specialists or may be important in understanding the structure
> of the information and ways in which it should be processed.
> 
> This document specifies...
> ---------
> 
> 
> Peter
>  
> Peter Constable
> Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technologies
> Microsoft Windows Division
> 
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