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Unicode Implementation - How much further to go?
Date: November 21, 2002 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Ed Cherlin (WebforHumans.com)
Apple and Microsoft have been adding support for more Unicode scripts at a very deliberate pace, while Linux developers took longer to get started. Now Linux development is speeding up, and is likely to pass Apple and Windows in multilingual support in 2003. My presentation will review the status of the 30+ writing systems covered by Unicode 3.2 on each platform, the issues remaining for proper support of the rest, and what is being done to address those issues. The biggest problem is that the TrueType and Open Type font models do not properly handle the requirements for combining characters in Indic and Indic-derived scripts of Asia. The solutions being developed for Linux will become available for BSD and can be adapted for Cocoa as well.
Ed Cherlin has been a Peace Corps volunteer, market researcher, software developer, magazine editor, and technical writer. He has recently taken over maintenance of the Linux Unicode HOWTO from Bruno Haible, and is promoting development of literacy software for the Simputer, a handheld computer developed in India for use by poor people in multiple languages.
Spoken Language Technologies in Human-Computer Interaction:
Mac OS X 10.2 as a Case in Point
Date: October 17, 2002
Speaker: Matthias Neeracher, Ph.D (Apple Computer, Inc.)
Although speech technologies have evolved much over the past decade, and received much press attention over the last few years, there are not yet many compelling demonstrations of how to integrate them into the user interface to personal computing. At Apple we have been developing our understanding of what it takes to make speech useful in human-computer interaction. This presentation will describe the features in the recently-released "Jaguar" (Mac OS X 10.2), and discuss the motivations behind some of the design decisions. We will describe the underlying engines (Speech Synthesis, Speech Recognition, Latent Semantic Analysis), and then the OS features that use these engines. These include Speakable Items, AppleScript, Chess, and adaptive filtering of junk mail.
Matthias Neeracher received his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1998 and for the past four years has worked for Apple's Spoken Language Technologies Group as the engineer in charge of the Speech Synthesis, Speech Recognition, and Latent Semantic Analysis engines in the Mac OS. Outside of his Apple work, Matthias is known for his open source work as the original maintainer of the Mac OS port of Perl and as the author of the GUSI POSIX emulation library for traditional Mac OS.
Global Content with Dynamic Contextual Linking
Date: September 19, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Marc Bookman (Sentius Corp.)
Sentius CEO Marc Bookman discusses dynamic contextual linking (DCL) and how it applies to the globalization of multilingual content. Marc will demonstrate how major international corporations such as Asahi Shimbun and Reuters Health are using dynamic contextual linking to instantly localize their web content. Several other applications of DCL will be presented. This talk will be of special interest to web architects who have to deal with globalization issues.
Marc Bookman founded Sentius in 1993 after spending seven years developing the electronic publishing business for Sony Corp. in both the US and Japan. He is an advisor to several Silicon Valley start-ups, a guest lecturer at the Stanford Business School, a regular speaker at industry conferences, and a published author.
Internationalization Features of .NET and C#
Date: August 21, 2003, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Bill Hall (MLM Associates, Inc.)
The .NET platform is Microsoft's new computing platform designed to simplify development in the distributed environment of the Internet. Unlike many past initiatives of this type, .NET arrives with a rich set of classes and a programming paradigm designed to facilitate development with the global user in mind. In this presentation, an overview of the internationalization support in .NET is provided along with several client and web demonstrations developed using C# as the programming language. Emphasis will be on the vital role that Unicode plays in .NET along with a discussion of the members of the Globalization namespace including language and regional information, calendars, common formats (dates, times, numbers, currencies, percentages, substitution parameters), textual analysis, collation, and separation of code and user interface data in both client and web applications.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Software Engineers, Engineering Managers, Internationalization and Localization Engineers and Managers, and anyone who wants to get an overview of .NET internationalization.
LEVEL OF SESSION: Intermediate
Since 2000, Bill Hall has worked as a Globalization Consultant for Convey Software, Inc. and Internationalization Director at SimulTrans, L. L. C. His main duties included the analysis and repair of client and web software for customers who are interested in creating a worldwide presence. He has also been involved in creating and delivering training material on internationalization of various platforms including Win32 and embedded systems, Windows .NET, and on languages such as C++, CSharp, and Java.
Bill had been a software and systems developer having held positions in the industry that included OEM porting early versions of Windows to diverse hardware at AT&T Information Systems, as well as taking complex software programs through internationalization and localization cycles and developing graphics software for network management systems at Novell.
In previous lives, Bill has been a military aviator, commercial civilian pilot and flight instructor, an associate editor of Mathematical Reviews, and a university professor of mathematics. He has published 65 papers on mathematics, teaching, computer programming, and internationalization including several recent ones on .NET. He talks frequently at international meetings including Unicode. The publication list can be found at http://www.mlmassociates.cc/newpubs.htm.
He has five university degrees including a Ph. D. in areas such as electrical engineering, computer science, and mathematics from both American and English Universities.
International Support in OS X
Date: July 18, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Lee Collins (Apple Computer, Inc.)
Lee will give an overview of internationalization on OS X. Topics will include a brief overview of OS X, the major programming environments, Cocoa, Carbon, and Java, Unicode, the localization model, multi-lingual text display and editing, fonts, keyboards, input methods, and languages supported. The presentation will include slides and demos.
Lee Collins is Manager, International Toolbox Group, at Apple. He has been working in the area of software internationalization since before it had a name. He started at Xerox in the early 80s and has been at Apple off and on since 1988, with side trips to Taligent and Ariba. He is one of the co-founders of Unicode.
Introducing www.i18n.com, a New Resource for the Global
Software Community
Date: June 20, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speakers: Barry Caplan (www.i18n.com)
Creating global software from a single-market product is very difficult for most companies. Many inter-related tasks are involved, ranging from requirements definition, distribution channels, project management, and of course internationalization and localization engineering.
i18n.com (pronounced "eye-eighteen-enn") is the leading independent site covering the Global Software community.
i18n.com is designed to provide you with "News | Tools | Process for Global Software". Our coverage lets you know about the products and services in a supportive environment.
If you are actively involved in the creation of Global Software products, or just learning what that means, then i18n.com is your leading resource for success!
Barry Caplan is the publisher of i18n.com. He has over 10 years management and practical experience in all phases of software internationalization and localization. His insight into how difficult it is to prepare software for global markets, and his experience navigating the fragments of available help have led him to create i18n.com. Solid information, community, and tools are available for the company that is preparing global software for the first time or for the hundredth time.
For more information about i18n.com, please visit http://www.i18n.com/about.shtml.
High Tech Reality Check - Are our SV Lives due for an Upgrade?
Date: May 16, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speakers: Tom Mahon (Thomas Mahon Associates)
Rev. Heng Sure (Berkeley Buddhist Monastery)
IMUG, in a departure from our normal multilingual focus, will offer members an engaging program this month aimed at stimulating creative thought by pondering such questions as
Tom Mahon and Rev. Heng Sure have held numerous workshops and retreats for tech professionals to explore the idea of living humanely with the fruits of our ingenuity, and they have been very well received. We urge you to join us for this special event. For additional information, visit: www.reconnecting.com.
Mr. Mahon has been writing about technology for over 25 years, as publicist, journalist, novelist, and dramatist. He is the author of two published books about Silicon Valley. Since the early '90s, Mahon has spoken and written widely on the subject of being human in a high-tech culture. His work has appeared in Electronic Engineering Times, Business 2.0, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. His ideas have also been covered by the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, CNN, C|NET and Business Week.
Rev. Heng Sure, a Buddhist monk, is the Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and a member of the United Religions Initiative. In the late '70s, he made an 800-mile pilgrimage to spread peace in his heart and the world around him--every three steps one bow to the ground. It lasted 2 years and 9 months, beginning in Los Angeles and ending in Ukiah. He has had a long-term interest in multilingual computing issues.
Globalizing Enterprise Content - The Next Step
Date: April 18, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Jorden Woods (Globalsight Corp.)
Join Jorden Woods, CTO and Co-founder of GlobalSight, in a discussion about the benefits of standardizing on a Web-based software application that provides a single environment for accessing, translating and managing all multilingual content. For the first time ever, there is a solution to manage the localization of all enterprise content, including Web, software, database, and print documents. GlobalSight offers the ability to access, leverage and translate content in popular software and document formats including Word, FrameMaker and QuarkXPress.
Find out how GlobalSight enables users to:
Jorden Woods is recognized as a leading authority on Web globalization issues. He regularly speaks at leading Internet conferences such as Internet World, IDC Internet Executive Forum, Red Herring conferences and the IQPC Global Web Localization and Ecommerce Globalization conferences. Jorden also teaches the Global Ecommerce Management program at San Jose State University.
Jorden possesses an in-depth understanding of global markets, cultures and languages, having lived and worked for more than eight years in Asia and Europe. Before forming GlobalSight, Jorden was director of information technology at ERM Hong Kong, a multinational consulting firm. Jorden has over 15 years of technology experience in advanced computer modeling and Web globalization.
Jorden holds a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a master's degree in physics from University of Washington. Beyond his native English, Jorden's language expertise includes Chinese, Korean, Japanese and French. An avid cycling enthusiast, he has made cross-country bike journeys across the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, UK and France.
From I18N to GMS: a Quick Tour of the Evolution toward Globalization Management Technologies
Date: March 21, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Shang-Che Cheng (Uniscape, Inc.)
Globalization is the internationalization and localization of Web sites, software, and content so that companies can operate across multiple languages and cultural boundaries. Global 1000 companies have developed and maintained a presence in many countries long before the Net became a medium for doing business. But managing Web sites, software, and content online is a new challenge for Global 1000 companies who are aggressively deploying e-business applications. Current enterprise infrastructure and business processes are not equipped to efficiently handle the challenges of delivering and updating online content on a global basis.
The demand for greater efficiency, cost savings, and a common approach to the management of global content is compelling companies to seek new enterprise-scale software for the deployment of content in all markets. Companies are turning to globalization management systems as the next key layer of e-business infrastructure. Some of the topics discussed will include:
Shang-Che Cheng is CTO and co-founder at Uniscape, Inc. Prior to founding Uniscape, Cheng was a Sr. Development Manager for Oracle's Tools Division. He was one of the charter members of Oracle's Applications Division and wrote 60% of the application foundation code. Cheng participated in internationalized Oracle 5, 6 and 7 Database Server, Tools and Applications for sale to the world markets. At Uniscape, he has assisted more than 100 companies by cost-effectively internationalizing their software and automating the business processes required to localize content worldwide.
An Introduction to XML Internationalization and Localization
Date: February 21, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speaker: Ultan Ó Broin (Oracle Corporation)
The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) offers powerful features for the development and deployment of global applications. These features are designed to ensure that XML content is not only fully internationalized, but also easily localized and maintained.
In this presentation, Ultan Ó Broin will outline the key internationalization features of XML, covering global character representation using Unicode, the presentation and rendering of multilingual content, and how language content is identified. Then it will cover the requirements for XML localization, localization tools, best globalization coding practices, and an introduction to the emerging XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF — see http://www.oasis-open.org/).
Ultan Ó Broin is globalization analyst with Oracle Corporation's Applications Technology Group, based in Redwood Shores. He has worked in the localization and internationalization space for 12 years, first with Microsoft and then Oracle Corporation.
A widely published i18n and l10n author, he also runs non-profit websites, and suffers from a shopping problem and what Elizabeth Bowen (1900-1973) called the "Celtic Twilight" (described as an addiction to melancholia and an excessive use of words).
Let The Beatles, Gloria Estefan and The Gipsy Kings Show You
How To Design Your International Products
Date: January 17, 2002, 7-9 p.m.
Speakers: John White (1-for-All Marketing)
You've been designing software products, Web pages and interfaces for years, and you've listened to popular music for years. Did it ever occur to you how much overlap there is between these pursuits? You ask, "How will my product be most useful in a foreign market?" Musicians ask, "How will my songs sound best to foreign listeners?"
If you're an IMUG regular, you've seen and heard just about every technique for creating international software and Web pages. But long before our industry discovered them, internationalization and localization were commonplace in popular music, in songs you've heard all your life. This presentation will assist you in your never-ending quest to convince your co-workers of the importance and relative simplicity of creating international products.
If you're new to IMUG and to creating international products, this presentation will help you begin to understand what all those engineers and project managers mean by terms like "externalized resources" and "locale-specific DLL".
In any event, you're guaranteed an entertaining, right-brain look at our trade, and maybe--just maybe--a way of explaining to your family what it is you do for a living...
John White of 1-for-All Marketing ( www.1-for-all.com ) helps companies like HNC Software, Qualcomm, Remedy Corporation and Skydesk market worldwide versions of their products through internationalization, localization, translation, and many other techniques that end in -ation. He has conducted presentations and training on international products in many ways and to many audiences since the late 13th century, helping Marco Polo localize Asian pasta for the Venice market, for instance. The idea for this latest presentation came to him while he was reading a book by George Martin, the Beatles' producer.
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