Subject: [iucg] Time has come for IDNA2010

From: jean-michel bernier de portzamparc <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 12:38:36 +0100

Dear Colleagues,

Eric Brunner-Williams' last mail and the lack of appropriate reaction show,
as Patrick Suger wrote it, that the time of consensus is over and that the
time of competition has resumed.

However, the fundamental work is not completed as shows the lack of
consensus we experiment on a simple two letter issue between designers,
users, and manufacturers (while French and Latin language majuscules issue,
cf. pending I_D, has not even been discussed). This means that he most
important architectural options are still left open with three possible
(centralised, decentralised, distributed) , overall interoperable but not
compatible Internet usage architectures and several published testing
projects. This is why, being its IUCG designated facilitator, I hope that we
can pursue our work in a coopetitive sprit within the IDNA2010 framework.

This is also an attempt to a new kind of deliverable: a multiconsensual
better usage documentation (BUD). We will try to KISS and diversified as
much as possible.
Portzamparc

------------

http://iucg.org/wiki/BUD-IDNA2010

The WG/IDNABIS work being conducted on IDNA2008 (i.e. the new standard for
Internationalized Domain Names) is now completed. As committed, the IUCG
plans to publish an "IDNA2010 Best Usage Document" in order to explain to
users how to best take advantage from the IDNA proposition and extensions.

The WG text has been reviewed by the IETF/LC. Now, it has to be accepted by
the IESG and should have then been deployed via several projects in the
coming months. However, competition between these projects has already
started.

The [email-masked] moderated mailing list created to that end has
therefore been activated.

We know that this matter is rather sensible. Therefore, the list is
tyrannically moderated by its facilitator. Only technically worthy, and
polite, contributions will be accepted.

The target is not to publish an RFC that would standardize or recommend a
practice. It is rather to document the different options that users may have
and how they may use them. This will be the first time that such a
multiconsensual document will be worked on at IUCG.

We, therefore, expect the form of this work to also be experimental.

The background is the following:

    * in a network architecture, multilingualization belongs to the
presentation layer.
    * the Internet has no documented presentation layer.
    * yet the IDNA2008 proposition, even if not perfect, makes a lot of
sense and builds on the IDNA2003 operational experience of half a billion
users.
    * hence, the Internet presentation layer is underlying the IDNA2008
proposition.

Therefore, the target is:

    1. to uncover and document the Internet presentation layer.
    2. to document IDNA within that presentation layer.
    3. to explore the new possibilities offered by the presentation layer to
IDNA and the Internet.

This will be carried out in relation with the parallel work and testing
being conducted on the Interplus usage architecture and ML-DNS pile. The
only, but very strict, constraint that is imposed on this work is the full
respect, down to the code, of the current Internet and a total transparence
and neutrality to its end to end processes and services. The target is to
use the Internet better.

Multilinguistics is understood as the cybernetics of linguistic diversity.
Multilingualization is understood as the multilinguistic function that is
able to technically support an equal and neutral empowerment of every
language and script. Neutrality is taken as being transparent to the
technological, operational, and contextual, partial or complete, changes on
the end to end path.

Universalization is essentially independence from languages and scripts.

Globalization is the internationalization of the media, localization of the
ends, and langtagization of the content.

Internationalization is the reduction of the linguistic bias down to the
minimum that is permitted by the underlying language.

Along the international usages, contributions will be accepted in the main
languages, as soon as a moderator or a sergeant at arms has been designated
for that respective language and, initially, in English and French.

The convener and initial facilitator of this list is Jean-Michel Bernier de
Portzamparc.

To subscribe : http://idna2010.org/mailman/listinfo/workon_idna2010.org.

IUCG Secretariat