[geolang] OASIS TC Call For Participation: Published Subjects forGeography and Languages

["Karl F. Best" <karl.best@oasis-open.org>]

A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS Published
Subjects for Geography and Languages Technical Committee (GeoLang TC)
has been proposed by the following members of OASIS: Murray Altheim, Sun
Microsystems; Bernard Vatant, Mondeca; and the following individual
members: Lars Marius Garshol, Mary Nishikawa, and Steve Pepper.

The proposal for a new TC meets the requirements of the OASIS TC Process
(see http://oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml), and is appended to
this message. The proposal, which includes a statement of purpose, list
of deliverables, and proposed schedule, will constitute the TC's
charter. The TC Process allows these items to be clarified (revised) by
the TC members; such clarifications (revisions), as well as submissions
of technology for consideration by the TC and the beginning of technical
discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's first meeting.

To become a member of this new TC you must 1) be an employee of an OASIS
member organization or an Individual member of OASIS; 2) notify the TC
chair, Lars Marius Garshol (larsga@ontopia.net), of your intent to
participate at least 15 days prior to the first meeting; and 3)
participate in the first meeting on 14 March 2002. You should also
subscribe to the TC's discussion list. Note that membership in OASIS TCs
is by individual, and not by organization. You must be eligible for
participation at the time you time you notify the chair.

The private mail list geolang@lists.oasis-open.org is for committee
discussions. TC members as well as any other interested OASIS members
should subscribe to the list by going to the mail list web page at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to
geolang-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as the
body of the message. (Note that subscribing to the mail list does not
make you a member of the TC; to become a member you must contact the TC
chair as described in the preceeding paragraph.)

A public comment list geolang-comment@lists.oasis-open.org will be
available for the public to make comments on the work of this TC; the
public may subscribe to this list by going to the mail list web page at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to
geolang-comment-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe"
as the body of the message.

The archives of both of these mail lists are visible to the public at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/

</karl>
=================================================================
Karl F. Best
OASIS - Director, Technical Operations
978.667.5115 x206
karl.best@oasis-open.org  http://www.oasis-open.org


Name of the TC

The name of the technical committee is OASIS TC "Published Subjects for
Geography and Languages", usually abbreviated as the GeoLang TC.

Statement of purpose

This Technical Committee will define sets of published subjects for
language, country, and region subjects, in accordance with the
guidelines for published subjects to be laid down by the Published
Subjects TC.

Languages, countries, and regions are subjects that occur frequently
across a wide range of topic maps. In order to promote maximum
reusability, interchangeability and mergeability, standardised sets of
published subjects are required to cover these domains.

Two such PSI sets (for country and language) were published as part of
the XML Topic Map 1.0 Specification. The task of this TC will be to
update and extend those PSI sets using existing code sets defined by
recognised standards bodies such as the ISO and the UN.

The TC will not produce mappings between these PSI sets, except to the
extent that such mappings are already defined in the code sources. In
general, any assertions made about the subjects published by this TC,
including names and mappings, will be restricted to those made in the
code sources.

Proposed list of deliverables and projected dates

* Published subjects for languages (based on ISO 639)
* Published subjects for countries (based on ISO 3166)
* Published subjects for countries, regions, and geographic areas (based
on USMARC)
* Published subjects for regions (based on ISO 3166)
* Published subjects for languages (based on USMARC)
* Published subjects for regions (based on the UNSD Standard Country or
Area Codes)

* Initial drafts of all deliverables: 14 March 2002
* Final version of ISO 639 languages and ISO 3166 countries: May 2002
* Final version of remaining deliverables: August 2002

These deliverables depend on work to be done by the PubSubj TC, and
their completion may be affected by delays (if any) in the work of this
TC.

The TC will not produce mappings between these PSI sets, but leave this
for third parties to do. The assertions made about these subjects will
be restricted to those made in the code sources.

Language in which the TC will conduct business: English. Speakers of
other languages are encouraged to participate.

Date, time, and place of first meeting

Thursday March 14 - 1800-2000, Seattle, The Westin Seattle Hotel.

Proposed meeting schedule for the first year

* Thursday, Mar. 14, 2002, Seattle (in conjunction with the IDEAlliance
conference "Knowledge Technologies 2002", Mar. 11-13 2002, The Westin
Seattle hotel).
* Thursday, Apr. 18, 2002, conference call.
* Friday, May 24, 2002, Barcelona (in conjunction with the IDEAlliance
conference "XML Europe 2002", May 19-24 2002, Princess Sofia
Intercontinental hotel).
* Further dates for 2002 to be announced

Names and email addresses of proposing members

Murray Altheim, Sun Microsystems, <murray.altheim@sun.com>
Lars Marius Garshol, OASIS individual member, <larsga@ontopia.net>
Mary Nishikawa, OASIS individual member,
<nisikawa@fuchinobe.oilfield.slb.com>
Steve Pepper, OASIS individual member, <pepper@ontopia.net>
Bernard Vatant, Mondeca, <bernard.vatant@mondeca.com>

Name of chair

Lars Marius Garshol, OASIS individual member, <larsga@ontopia.net>

Name of meeting sponsors (for both phone and face-to-face meetings)

Ontopia and other participants in conjunction with OASIS.