Covering the Period from June 2006 through May 2007
L2: Character Sets and Internationalization
June 15, 2007
L2 is the US TAG for character sets (JTC1/SC2) and a member of INCITS/CT22. The main activities are the development of ISO/IEC 10646 (Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS)) and ISO/IEC 14651 (International string ordering and comparison), which are both essential for the development of well-globalized, internationally usable systems and applications. It is worth mentioning that globalized systems are necessary for both the international and the domestic market (e.g. global companies, minority language requirements in the US).
The number of L2 members is presently 10 RLG did not renew their membership and Google joined. The continued interest in L2 and stability of the membership is a testimony to the relevance of ISO/IEC 10646 and ISO/IEC 14651, which are implemented in an increasing number of products. L2 meets 4 times per year.
L2 works very closely with the Unicode® Consortium. All technical meetings are co-located with the Unicode Technical Committee meetings, which is economical since most of the members of L2 are also members of the Unicode Consortium and the subject matters overlap widely.
The work on ISO/IEC 10646 continues on schedule. Amendment 3 progressed through the PDAM and FPDAM stages, Amendment 4 was initiated and progressed through the PDAM stage, and Amendment 5 was initiated. Each amendment adds characters in the repertoire, either covering writing systems not yet supported, or completing the coverage of already supported writing systems.
The work on ISO/IEC 14651 is also on schedule. A new revision progressed through the CD, FCD and FDIS stages.
The US is contributing substantially to these projects, as the editor for 10646 is Michel Suignard from Microsoft in Redmond, who is also the IR of L2.
None.
With the dissolution of JTC 1/SC 22/WG 20, SC 22 is no longer in a position to develop and maintain the standards and technical reports related to Internationalization and those are migrated to other SCs. Currently under discussion is ISO/IEC TR 14652:2004, Information technology -- Specification method for cultural conventions, with a likely transfer to JTC 1/SC 35. ISO/IEC TR 14652:2004 is a Type 1 TR, as “the required support [could not] be obtained for the publication of an International Standard, despite repeated effort; indeed, L2 strongly believes that the approach taken by 14652 to the problem of cultural conventions is far from adequate. L2's concern is that at the occasion of this transfer, work on this TR could resume, and it could become an International Standard without addressing the objections raised in the past. L2 notes that while INCITS/V2 has US TAG responsibility for SC 35 and some of its WGs, there is no US TAG for SC 35/WG 5 (Cultural, Linguistic and User Requirements), the likely WG in which such work could happen.
|
#205 |
August 8-11, 2006 |
Seattle (Adobe) |
|
#206 |
November 7-10, 2006 |
San Jose (Adobe) |
|
#207 |
February 6-9, 2007 |
Mountain View (Unicode) |
|
#208 |
May 14-18, 2007 |
Mountain View (Google) |
|
#209 |
August 6-10, 2007 |
Redmond (Microsoft) |
|
#210 |
October 17-19, 2007 |
San Jose (IUC) |
|
#211 |
February 5-8, 2008 |
Cupertino (Apple) |
|
#212 |
May 13-16, 2008 |
San Jose (Adobe) |
Liaison Representatives to L2:
|
 |
Committee |
Representative |
|
FCC |
Federal Communications Commission |
D. Draper-Campbell |
|
NISO (Z39) |
National Information Standards Organization |
S. McCallum |
|
TC46/SC4/WG1 |
 |
R. Barry |
|
J4 |
COBOL |
A. Bennett |
|
SC22/WG4 |
COBOL |
A. Bennett |
 Liaison Representatives from L2:
|
 |
Committee |
Representative |
|
JTC1/SC2 |
Character Sets and Information Coding |
M. Suignard |
|
JTC1/SC2/WG2 |
Universal Coded Character Set |
M. Suignard |
Membership: L2 presently has 10 members: Adobe Systems; Apple, Inc.; Google Inc; Hewlett-Packard Company; IBM Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Inc.; Unicode Inc; Yahoo!.
Changes since last year: RLG did not renew their membership; Google joined.
The membership is stable, due in part to the members continued success in justifying participation to their companies. The economy continues to have a significant dampening effect on standards participation.
|
Position |
Name |
Organization |
Training Date |
|
Chair |
Eric Muller |
Adobe |
3/08/06 |
|
Vice Chair |
Lisa Moore |
IBM |
7/17/00 |
|
International Representative |
Michel Suignard |
Microsoft |
7/15/03 |
|
Vocabulary |
Open |
 |
 |
Market relevance of standards area: The market relevance for this area of standardization (character sets and internationalization) continues to be great. Most major software companies make a significant portion of their profits from outside of the US with globalized software, and the Universal Character plays a big role in this.
Emerging markets (e.g., SE Asia, India, Africa) continue to recognize the importance of communication world-wide. As these markets move towards greater technical capabilities, the standards, expertise and world-wide reach in L2 is becoming even more relevant.
None; L2 does not collect or disburse funds.
Regards
Eric Muller, L2 chair