Many open-source development projects are used and developed all over the world. However, most of them were originally designed for Latin script users and typically have not been internationalized for users of other languages. Non-Latin script users need to provide patches in order to support their local languages and local cultural conventions. This kind of patch approach is called direct localization. This results in poor application portability and interoperability among different products. This is costly to the open-source development community.

The Li18nux Workgroup was created in September 1999. In October 2002, the workgroup was re-structured and renamed to OpenI18N. The objective of this re-structure was to reflect the workgroup's commitment to support open-source internationalization activities. This facilitates collaboration among Free Standards Group workgroups. Internationalization continues to be a challenge for open-source community.

Duration

The lifetime of this workgroup is expected to last through January 31, 2005. The Free Standards Group Board of Directors will be consulted before that date if changes to the structure of the workgroup is required.

Organization Structure

Administrative Staff

OpenI18N administrative staff consists of the regional Co-chairs, a secretary and a Technical Director.

The Co-chairs are responsible for all administrative matters regarding the operation of this workgroup on a regional basis (e.g., communication among this workgroup, meeting arrangements, and official announcements from this workgroup). The regional co-chairs ensure the requirements of the local user and community preferences are considered in the overall OpenI18N objectives.

The secretary is responsible for monitoring and managing the operation and activities for this workgroup.

The Technical Director oversees OpenI18N's technical, code and liaison activities to other open standard organizations; manages all issues related to internationalization, Unicode and localization; works with Free Standard Group to coordinate technical issues; leads technical work on the tiered standard and certification and works with related open-source associations on Unicode support issues.

Subcommittees

The OpenI18N Workgroup consists of subcommittees in the areas of internationalization interests. Each subcommittee defines its mission, deliverables and schedule. The are two types of subcommittees. The core subcommittees are sponsored by the Free Standards Group. The others are funded by other non-profit organizations. Each core subcommittee consists of the following participating members:

• subcommittee technical leader: A leader of a subcommittee is responsible for setting the direction and defining the charter/mission and roadmap for the subcommittee.

• subcommittee project adviser: The subcommittee project adviser is responsible for managing the operation and coordinating the communication of the subcommittee.

The externally funded subcommittees are led by the liaison between OpenI18N and the funding organization.

No person can be the technical leader or project adviser for more than one subcommittee.

Steering Committee

The steering committee of OpenI18N is the decision making body and drive the future direction of this workgroup. It consists of the co-chairs, secretary and technical director of this workgroup, leaders and project advisors of the subcommittees, representatives from corporate members who are committed to active contribution to the OpenI18N activities, and a representative of the Free Standards Group. Selected domain experts also may be invited as a guest members of the Steering committee. The members of Steering committee and its process are specified in the directives of the OpenI18N steering committee.

SC directives defines the decision making process and the voting rights/responsibilities of the OpenI18N steering committee. The current SC members of this workgroup and roles and responsibilities are listed in http://www.openi18n.org/sc/.

Coordination with Other Groups

Groups in Free Standards Group Related to Internationalization

• LSB (Linux Standard Base) - LSB provides a complete set of behavioral protocols to increase compatibility among Linux distributions and enable software applications to run on any compliant Linux system. OpenI18N coordinates architectural issues related to internationalization (such as kernel/console support) with LSB.

• LANANA - LANANA is a central registry of names and numbers within the Linux project to avoid unnecessary conflicts of assigned device names and numbers by applying a uniform and universal standard for them. OpenI18N helps the LANANA Workgroup with keeping the internationalization components registry up-to-date.

• OpenPrint – OpenPrint is focusing on creating a scalable printing architecture and high-level requirements for a standardized printing system. OpenI18N works with OpenPrint to create and ensure an appropriate base for the internationalization needs of printing systems.

Contact with External Organizations

• The Unicode Technical Committee (UTC)

• International and national standards bodies, such as ISO, ISO/IEC JTC1. These standards focus on general standards with relate to internationalization of programming languages or on national profiles of language specifications. The main groups for correspondence are:

1. ISO/IEC JTC/SC2/WG2 (character encoding 10646 - UCS)

2. ISO/IEC JTC/SC22/ (international standardization subcommittee for programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces)

• Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA): LISA OSCAR SIG, OASIS XLIFF TC etc.

• W3C Internationalization Activity Group

Contribution Requirements

This workgroup shall be open to anyone who is interested in contributing to open-source software internationalization. For more details about how to become a member of OpenI18N, please see http://www.freestandards.org/membership/.

The openi18n@openi18n.org mailing lists are used for open technical discussions. Experts who are not associated with OpenI18N Workgroup may be invited by the co-chairs or technical director, either for the duration of the workgroup, or for particular discussions.

Meetings

OpenI18N Workgroup shall strive to have face-to-face meetings on a semi-annually (that's every six months) basis. The regular meetings are mainly held in the San Francisco Bay area in the US, but this workgroup would like to have at least one meeting outside of the United States annually. The steering committee shall meet by phone every month. The subcommittee shall communicate and collaborate their activities by newsgroup, phone or email on a monthly basis. This workgroup encourages ad hoc meetings or BOFs (Birds-of-a-Feather sessions) at Linux or internationalization related events in various countries.