Citing technical and personnel changes at GALA, i18n SIG leader Manuela Noske announced the end of the SIG series, with the goal of more i18n content in the future.
Earlier today, the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), a global, nonprofit trade association for the translation and localization industry, held its final internationalization (i18n) special interest group (SIG) meeting. The meeting was led by Judith Yaaqoubi, who facilitated discussion on design localization. Running since early 2019, the hour-long meetings have been held on webinar on a monthly basis.
“Thanks to all who attended — we could have used another hour to address all the questions the audience had and gather input from the various stakeholders,” said Manuela Noske, content and communications manager for GALA, and co-host of the event with fellow co-host Cornelia Sittel, director of Commerce Cloud Localization at Salesforce. Noske went on, “Cornelia and I had envisioned leading this discussion group for roughly two years and while we are not at the two year mark quite yet (we are one quarter short!), technical and personnel changes at GALA are necessitating this change.”
As an organization, GALA supports its member companies and the globalization sector by creating communities, championing standards, sharing knowledge, and advancing technology. The i18n SIG was created to bring together professionals who work among the software engineering and localization industries, including those who develop software, services, as well as web and mobile apps, and who are interested in the requirements and mechanics of getting their products ready for global use.
The meetings began as part of the group’s main objectives: to exchange information and insights into i18n practices within different organizations, share particulars on how to design an i18n strategy and evangelize it within an organization, and establish a set of best practices to serve as guidelines for the industry.
Although the meetings will cease for now, Noske assures members of the group that GALA will still plan events around i18n. “Instead of putting i18n aside for good,” she said, “GALA is planning to host an i18n topic at the Client SIG on a quarterly basis. So please don’t turn away from GALA, but keep your eyes peeled for announcements about Client SIG topics and join those meetings if you can.”
