[A12n-Collab] FW: Open Workshop on Multilingual Extensions to Current Latin Keyboards

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This item, which just went out on the Unicode lists, may be of interest 
(apologies to those of you who already received it). It would be great if 
anyone with an interest in African language input and standards could 
participate and report back on relevant points.

The specific page on the CEN site about the workshop is 
http://www.cen.eu/cenorm/sectors/sectors/isss/activity/ws+meek.asp 



-----Original Message-----


Dear All,

An open workshop to produce a document on considerations and possible guidance 
on how to expand the existing keyboard layouts to support multilingualism will 
be kicked-off on 25 January 2008 at CEN, the European standards organization. 
The urgency of such support stems from the practical and legal requirements 
that result from the free movement of people and goods within the European 
Union, but the findings will in no way be limited to the EU with its many 
official, regional and minority languages. The participation is also free to 
any interested party anywhere in the world, although the workshop will be 
organized under the auspices of CEN.

The workshop that has been fostered by CEN/ISSS CDFG (the Cultural Diversity 
Focus Group of the CEN Information Society Standardization System, a Unicode 
Liaison member) has a highly pragmatic approach: The users of the existing 
keyboards should be able to continue their current way of operation with the 
extended layouts, and the new functionality should be intuitively recognizable 
to the extent possible. Thus, the workshop has no intention to define any 
specific, let alone a Pan-European keyboard layout. Liaison is sought with 
e.g., ISO/IEC JTC1/SC35 to minimize the risk of further divergence between 
actual implementations and formal standards (ISO/IEC 9995 series).

Information on this workshop (WS/MEEK), including the draft business plan and 
how to participate (with or without physical presence) is available via the CEN 
main page at http://www.cen.eu.

If interested, please join!

Sincerely,  

Erkki I. Kolehmainen
Tilkankatu 12 A 3, FI-00300 Helsinki, Finland
Puh. (09) 4368 2643, 0400 825 943; Tel. +358 9 4368 2643, +358 400 825 943

P.S. I apologise for those of you who will receive multiple copies of this 
announcement, since I'll distribute it to the Unicde, Unicore, CLDR, and 
CLDR-Users lists.