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Parent issue: RFC Format Specific issue: images, character encoding, archival format
Size (time): 18+ months Importance/Urgency: High/High
Problem Statement: There is significant community feedback that the limitations of plain ASCII impact the quality and reputation of the RFC series. The inability to include images, complex equations, international characters, and support for small screens are just some of the areas of concern and debate among the community.
The goals of this project are
- to document the requirements for RFC from the RFC Editor, author, and reader perspective,
- to make a decision on the appropriate format
- to define appropriate sub-projects for tools changes
RSE Actions:
- establish requirements
- Note: issues and concerns summary garnered (primarily) from the rfc-interest discussions, March - July 2012
- See also: RFC Format Design Team page
RSOC Actions:
- review process by which decision will be reached
- provide input on specific requirements, format decisions
- provide input on any funding requests that come out of a format change
RFC Production Center & Publisher Actions:
- Provide input on editor requirements
- Participate in the RFC Format Design Team
Costs/Benefits
Financial:
- TBD; most visible impact on cost will be for programming time for the necessary tools, as defined by the Design Team and the Tools Team
Project schedules:
- Announcement of direction: May 2013, see http://www.rfc-editor.org/pipermail/rfc-interest/2013-May/005584.html
- RFC Format Design Team formed: July 2013, see RFC Format Design Team wiki space
- Drafts and prototypes expected to complete: August 2014
- SoWs to be developed: Q4 2014
- Coding on tools to start Q4 2014/Q1 2015
- Testing and shift in RFC Editor processes in 2015
Reputation: Not doing anything would result in a very high reputational cost
Estimated completion date: TBD