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<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] Universal Acceptance</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Hi All,</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">Following
up on Glenn McKnight's email from last week, I wanted to share a detailed
summary of our presentation, </span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">"UA
and Education VSIG Course in Bengali,"</span><span lang="en-CA"> from
Universal Acceptance Day 2026. If you missed it, the session recording is
available here: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIXbxuIRwIU"><span lang="en-US">UA and Education Recording (youtube.com)</span></a><span lang="en-CA">.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">Here
is a </span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">High-Level Summary</span><span lang="en-CA"> followed by the details of what was covered:</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">High-Level Summary</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">We successfully
localized a 10-module internet governance curriculum (VSIG) into Bengali and
piloted it at the University of Dhaka, achieving a high completion rate (47%).
Crucially, the pilot exposed critical, real-world Universal Acceptance (UA)
failures in systems handling Email Address Internationalization (EAI) and
Bengali script rendering. We developed a 5-Pillar Replication Framework to help
other language communities conduct similar localization and UA readiness
audits. The project is largely volunteer-driven, and the Urdu localization is
currently in progress.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">-----</span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">SESSION OVERVIEW</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">The session
focused on a volunteer-led initiative to localize a 10-module internet
governance curriculum — developed through VSIG (Virtual School of Internet
Governance) — into Bengali and Urdu, with the goal of making foundational
internet governance education accessible to over 300 million Bengali speakers
and hundreds of millions of Urdu speakers.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">-----</span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">BENGALI LOCALIZATION – KEY HIGHLIGHTS
(Presented by Mohibul Mahmud & Zulqar Nayen)</span></p>
<ul type="disc" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in">
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Project
Timeline:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> The
project ran from November 2024 through the UA Day 2026 presentation,
progressing through team formation, translation, iterative review,
evaluator assessment, and a live pilot at the University of Dhaka.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Methodology:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> The team used an
AI-human hybrid workflow: AI generated first drafts at speed; human
reviewers then ensured accuracy, natural flow, and educational clarity. A
three-part terminology strategy was adopted — translate, transliterate, or
retain English — depending on what best served comprehension for Bengali
learners.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">University
of Dhaka Pilot:</span></li>
<ul type="circle" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in">
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">38 students enrolled from
the Department of Management Information Systems.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">18 students (47%)
completed all modules and passed all quizzes.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">For context, typical
MOOCs globally see 5–15% completion rates.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Dr. Rukibul (Head, MIS
Department) provided institutional credibility and himself completed the
course.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">An in-person visit to
Dhaka in October 2025 was identified as a key turning point in
establishing the partnership.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Universal
Acceptance Findings:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> The pilot surfaced real UA and internationalization failures
that were not anticipated:</span></li>
<ul type="circle" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in">
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Email Address
Internationalization (EAI): Automated Moodle emails silently failed to
deliver when encountering internationalized address configurations, with
no error logs generated.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Bengali script rendering:
Conjunct characters (multiple consonants merging into a single visual
form) were stored correctly in the database but stripped at the browser
display layer, altering the meaning of words.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">The team noted that
platforms failing to render Bengali script in a paragraph are almost
certainly going to fail at accepting Bengali-script domain names — making
localization projects a practical UA readiness audit.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Lessons
Learned:</span></li>
<ul type="circle" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in">
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">What
worked well:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> pre-translation
style and terminology discussions; the AI-human workflow; the in-person
Dhaka meeting; student feedback as an unplanned QA resource.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">What to
improve next time:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> establish a comprehensive shared glossary before
translation begins; implement structured version tracking; conduct UI/UX
and Unicode compliance testing before the pilot; formalize student
feedback mechanisms.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Five-Pillar
Replication Framework:</span><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> The team distilled their experience into a
playbook for other language communities:</span></li>
<ol type="1" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">
<li value="1" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt">Terminology
Kit – shared glossary and decision rules before work begins</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt">AI Governance –
structured AI-human hybrid workflow</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt">Script Engineering –
verify Unicode rendering and font fallback for non-Latin scripts early</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt">Academic Anchor – partner
with a university for institutional credibility and accountability</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt">Expanding Spiral – start
small, pilot, gather data, refine, and repeat</span></li>
</ol>
</ul>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">-----</span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">URDU LOCALIZATION – KEY HIGHLIGHTS
(Presented by Waqar Ahmad)</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">The Urdu team is
currently in progress, slightly behind the Bengali project. Plans include a
pilot in Pakistan in collaboration with the Internet Society's local chapter
and the Virtual University of Pakistan. Future language expansions being
explored include Hindi, Swahili, and Arabic.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">-----</span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">FUNDING & SUSTAINABILITY</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">The project was
almost entirely volunteer-driven. Total funding received was approximately
$2,000 across both the Bengali and Urdu efforts — a nominal stipend distributed
to contributors on the ground. The team noted that internet governance
education does not fit neatly within any single government ministry's mandate
in most developing countries, making grassroots coordination the only viable
path for now.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"><span lang="en-CA">-----</span><span style="font-weight:bold" lang="en-US">CLOSING REFLECTIONS</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Speakers shared
what they were most proud of:</p>
<ul type="disc" style="direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in">
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Zulqar Nayen: proving that
a small volunteer team with no meaningful budget can localize a
university-level curriculum using AI tools and deploy it at a top
institution within a year — and documenting the process so others can
replicate it.</span></li>
<li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Mohibul Mahmud: the team's
follow-through on a commitment made early in the project, and the hope
that even a small pilot in Dhaka could inspire others to engage with
internet governance in their own language.</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Best regards,</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt" lang="en-US"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">Mohibul Mahmud</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:"Segoe UI";font-size:12pt">ISOC Ontario
Chapter</p>
</div>
</div>
</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 4:46 PM Glenn McKnight via Chapter-delegates <<a href="mailto:chapter-delegates@elists.isoc.org">chapter-delegates@elists.isoc.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi All </div><div>Last week in accord with the ICANN and UNESCO Universal Acceptance efforts a group of us completed a 1/2 day of information sessions on aspects of Universal Acceptance. If you are passionate about Universal Acceptance please watch the following recordings. Curious who is passionate about UA and how we can learn from each other </div><div><div><br></div><div>Recordings</div><div>Joe Catapano: ICANN</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/i-aeica4dHw?si=B3U8F-QkAVruf0NW" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/i-aeica4dHw?si=B3U8F-QkAVruf0NW</a> </div><div><br></div><div>Louis Houle Canadian Indigenous Languae</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/fgEhmKBCa-w?si=eMK1TRAZByJ8OS0q" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/fgEhmKBCa-w?si=eMK1TRAZByJ8OS0q</a></div><div><br></div><div>Bridge Chase, Endangered Languages</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/baGudr8jN8k?si=v3874n7Gl0ZkXmlM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/baGudr8jN8k?si=v3874n7Gl0ZkXmlM</a></div><div><br></div><div>UA and Education VSIG Course in Bengali</div></div><div><div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/FIXbxuIRwIU" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/FIXbxuIRwIU</a></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Glenn McKnight, MA </div><div>Virtual School of Internet Governance </div><div><a href="http://www.virtualsig.org/" target="_blank">www.virtualsig.org</a> </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr">Internet Society Ontario Chapter</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.isoc-ontario.org" target="_blank">www.isoc-ontario.org</a><br><div><br></div><div><b>Mobile 437-237-4655</b></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div>
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