The W3C Internationalization Interest Group contains a number of task forces or mailing lists dedicated to assessing and documenting language support for a given set of languages. See the list of groups. See an overview of how task forces work.
This page summarises various roles people can adopt within such a group. One person may play more than one role, play different roles per document, or switch between roles over time. Involvement becomes greater as you read down the page.
All list subscribers and participants receive a single digest email (no more than one a day) whenever there are changes to GitHub issues related to their task force. The issues may originate in the task force itself, or may be raised by other W3C Working Groups in the course of their work, but they are relevant to the region or script covered by the group.
How to get involved
If you want a low level of commitment, get involved as an List subscriber.
If you have the time and inclination to get involved on a more regular basis, consider joining the group as a Participant. Participants follow the GitHub activity closely, look for opportunities to provide feedback and suggestions, and attend teleconferences/meetings where possible.
We are always looking for people to take a more active role in the group by taking on responsibility for producing work as an Editor and/or (Co-)chair.
See the role descriptions below. Group-specific links to the CONTRIBUTING.md file, meeting info, chair/staff contact email, etc. can be found in the lower part of the group's GitHub home page.
List subscriber
List subscribers are subscribed to a mailing list which receives notifications from a GitHub repository. We encourage you participate in GitHub discussions that are of interest to you. In particular, we hope that you will provide us with information about how a relevant language/script works when a question arises.
Participation at this level is likely to include the following:
- Occasional comments for ongoing GitHub discussions.
- In particular, we hope that you will respond to issues that have a Question label; these are asking for information about how a script or language works in order to inform how CSS or other Web technologies can provide suitable support.
- If you are able, scan or point to examples of text that illustrate a feature under discussion.
- Review documents that we create that are related to languages/scripts you know, and send comments via GitHub where needed.
- If you wish, you are welcome to raise new issues on GitHub for language support gaps you'd like to see addressed.
A supporter:
- may occasionally propose content for the group's document deliverables, but if that content is accepted or is provided via a pull request, will be asked to agree to the contributor guidelines, if they haven’t already done so
- does not participate in teleconferences/meetings
- is not listed in the group membership database
To follow the work, simply subscribe to the task force's mailing list.
It is often easiest to agree to the contributing rules at the same time as subscribing to the group, since it only needs to be done once, and then you are covered. To do so, send a brief email to the staff contact for the group saying that you have read and agree to the content of the CONTRIBUTING.md file for that group.
Participant
Participants are expert contributors who support the work of the group in a regular fashion by attending teleconferences, participating in discussions, and providing regular feedback on the work of the group over a sustained period. They may also assist in developing content, and developing tests and analysing results.
Participants provide content for the group's documents, either via pull requests or other means. They also attend teleconferences, and provide regular feedback on the work of the group over a sustained period. They may assist in development of tests and analysis of results.
A participant:
- participates in regular teleconferences/meetings, if these are held.
- agrees to abide by the CONTRIBUTING.md text
- actively follows and contributes to GitHub issues and group discussions
- may contribute content to the group's document deliverables, or help develop tests and analyse results
- may be recognised in the Contributors section near the top of the document if they have made substantive contributions to the development of that document, in terms of quantity, importance, or frequency.
- is listed as a member of the group in the W3C database
To join the group as a participant, contact the chair or staff contact. They will help you join the group and send you a welcome message with useful information.
Editor
Each document the group is producing should have an editor assigned, whose role is to ensure the completion of the document by adding content to it, fixing bugs, and managing the contributions of others. There may also be one or more co-editors per document. Different documents may have different editors.
The group's documents are likely to include, foremost, the gap-analysis document, and the requirements document. However, there may be others.
The editor:
- participates in regular teleconferences/meetings
- contributes content to the group's document deliverables
- actively follows and contributes to GitHub issues and group discussions.
- is recognised in the credits at the top of the document
- is listed as a member of the group in the W3C database
To participate in the group as an editor, contact the chair or staff contact.
(Co-)Chair
The (co-)chair drives the work of the group forward. It is common to have multiple co-chairs.
A (co-)chair:
- schedules and leads regular teleconferences/meetings for the group
- actively follows and contributes to GitHub issues and group discussions
- may or may not contribute content to the group's deliverables
- is recognised in the credits at the top of the document if they also have the role of editor
- is listed as a member of the group in the W3C database
To participate in the group as a chair, contact the chair or staff contact.