<contact:ascii< and <contact:i15d> Elements

["Hollenbeck, Scott" <shollenbeck@verisign.com>]

I'm sending this note to the list to summarize the discussion we had at yesterday's meeting regarding the comment I received from Eric Brunner-Williams about the contact mapping's <contact:ascii> and <contact:i15d> elements.

In a private email message Eric asked me if "internationalized" is more appropriately described as "localized" in this context and why we need both forms at all.  At yesterday's meeting I suggested this is more of a localization issue and that yes, we need both forms, and there was no disagreement as far as I could tell.  I suggested schema changes to simplify the element structure and to better support localization needs.

Here are current schema slices:

<element name="ascii" type="contact:postalType"/>
<element name="i15d" type="contact:postalType"
 minOccurs="0"/>

<complexType name="postalType">
  <sequence>
    <element name="name" type="contact:postalLineType"/>
    <element name="org" type="contact:postalLineType"
     minOccurs="0"/>
    <element name="addr" type="contact:addrType"/>
  </sequence>
</complexType>

I suggested getting rid of the <contact:ascii> and <contact:i15d> elements, and instead using something like this (note that 'minOccurs="1"' is default behavior and doesn't need to be explicitly specified):

<element name="postalInfo" type="contact:postalType"
 maxOccurs="2"/>

Text would be changed to note that data intended for use in a global environment MUST be represented at least once in ASCII (preferably in the first occurrence); a second localized form is OPTIONAL.  In a closed environment where data is not intended for global use, local policy MAY define acceptable single instance forms.

-Scott-