Re: Boost Asset Stewardship Review begins 09/03 (Updated)

From: Joaquin M López Muñoz (joaquinlopezmunoz_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-09-06 15:37:49

El 06/09/2024 a las 14:31, John Maddock via Boost escribió:
> Inclusivity
>
> [...]
>
> [...] And of course inclusivity also extends further than gender: to 
> non-native
> English speakers to name but one.

I'm very glad that you raised the issue of participation barriers for 
people with
low (or no) English skills. Being a non-native English speaker myself, 
language
inclusivity (not to be confused with inclusive language) has always 
interested
me. The topic has not been discussed very often here, perhaps, if I may 
venture,
because it does not rank high in the Anglosphere's political debate.

For example, participation in the project from people from East Asian 
countries
is very low in proportion to their usage of C++ and Boost, which I think 
can be
largely attributed to linguistic barriers. Some countries from the area 
(China,
Japan) struggle to increase English proficiency among their citizens, with
limited success. There are brave efforts to bring Boost closer to local 
audiences,
such as boostjp from Akira Takahashi and others:

https://boostjp.github.io/index.html

which provides documentation in Japanese on Boost and some of its libraries,
plus a study group and an online forum oriented to Japanese-speaking
developers. This effort should be recognized, supported and linked from
boost.org, IMHO.

It would be great if we started a conversation on how we can make
Boost more accessible and appealing to developers who are not fluent enough
in the English language to engage in the project in its current form. 
Possibly
by reaching out first to the people running boostjp and similar initiatives.

Joaquin M Lopez Munoz