ACSP Suggestion 2022.10: Multilingual PDP, NRPM, and announcements
Suggestion
Author: Kathleen Hunter
Submitted On: 08 April 2022
Description: Multilingual PDP, NRPM, and announcements - Drive participation and inclusion
Value to Community: ARIN has had issues with participation for quite a few years. We are currently looking for new innovative ways to get the community involved. ARIN, while an English-speaking organization first, still services areas in North America including Canada with large French-speaking regions, and the Caribbean Islands which speak Spanish and French. While the language of most businesses is English and ARIN services the English-speaking Caribbean islands, we still have companies with employees where English is not their first language. Studies have shown customers that can read documents and websites in their own language (first language) are more likely to share that information with others where English is not their first language. We have, sometimes, heated discussions over words like ‘shall’ and ‘must’ during our in-person meetings. Exact verbiage is important when discussing policy. The current option for anyone reaching out to ARIN is to speak English, read all announcements in English, and to discuss everything in English. While I understand the need to use English first for the majority of what we do, our outreach efforts should at least include French and Spanish. While it would be great to have everything ARIN does in all three languages, an excellent start would be to get the PDP, NRPM, and announcements in all three languages. These three items drive the most discussion within the community. Google translate should not be their only option as this is commonly wrong. Close enough in the case of NRPM and PDP may not be good enough when trying to discuss topics within the region. ARIN has strived for inclusion and higher participation; this would be a great step in that direction
Timeframe: Not specified
Status: Closed Updated: 27 March 2023
Tracking Information
ARIN Comment
27 March 2023
Thank you for your suggestion, numbered 2022.10 upon confirmed receipt, requesting that ARIN make the Policy Development Process (PDP), Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM), and announcements available in French and Spanish to encourage participation from non-English speaking community members.
This topic was included in the 2022 Prioritization Survey and the subject of a Community Consultation in early 2023. The feedback received during the consultation and survey did not identify a strong need for document translation at this time. ARIN does recognize that there are non-native English-speaking members in our community, and we will continue to monitor feedback on this topic.
Thank you for your participation in the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process. This suggestion is now closed.
13 April 2022
Thank you for your suggestion, numbered 2022.10 upon confirmed receipt, requesting that ARIN make the Policy Development Process (PDP), Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM), and announcements available in French and Spanish to encourage participation from non-English speaking community members.
In the past, ARIN has provided translations of documents, but abandoned the practice because they were not utilized and there were significant costs involved in production of the documents. We will conduct a consultation to measure the interest in offering specified content in French and Spanish during the 4th quarter of this year. Prior to the consultation, we will investigate the costs associated with offering content in those two languages. This information will be provided as part of the consultation so the members can decide if there is sufficient value of providing content translation in light of cost and impact on the delivery of other high-value content development projects that are currently in our pipeline.
Your suggestion will remain open while we conduct this assessment and consultation.
Regards,
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)