Potential new DITA interest area

[Robert D Anderson <robander@us.ibm.com>]

Hello,

We've got a lot of people inside IBM using DITA specializations to mix API
information with other documentation. These specializations have been
released through the DITA Open Toolkit, as a core set of generic API
document types, along with more specialized types specifically for Java.
Nokia recently released an additional set of specializations for C++ based
on the same core set of API modules, and I've gotten a lot of queries about
extending them for other languages.

Is there interest from anybody else on the TC in making these document
types a little more formal? For example, we could start up something like a
"DITA for Programmers" subcommittee that at least works on the core API
Document types, and potentially the extensions into some language specific
modules.  Eventually, I would hope that any approved API modules like this
could be released as independent packages - that is, I would not expect
them to be part of the eventual DITA 1.3 specification itself.

Thanks -

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit