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Subject: RE: [xtm-wg] IDEAlliance and TopicMaps.org
Responding (briefly) to Patrick's interesting suggestion: I would venture to suggest that TopicMaps.Org could consider KnoW (Knowledge on the Web) as a home. You can visit the website at www.knowweb.org. This organization has just been set up as a legal entity in the UK. The Charter is on the Website for all to see. It explicitly aims NOT to be a standards body, but to be a venue for collaborative reseach and interfacing between intiatives relevant to advancing the sharing and exchange of knowledge using the technologies of the Web. I think the aims and scope are clearly spelled out on the site. Whether or not TopicMaps.Org chooses to make KnoW its host organization, KnoW does have candidate projects in the area of studying the relationships between topic maps and other related technolgies including, but not limited to, RDF. Best regards Daniel -----Original Message----- From: Patrick Durusau [mailto:pdurusau@emory.edu] Sent: 04 April 2001 20:05 To: xtm-wg@yahoogroups.com Cc: pconn@gca.org; eric@isogen.com Subject: Re: [xtm-wg] IDEAlliance and TopicMaps.org Eric and TopicMap.org Friends, I will refrain from commenting on the almost certain origin of this arbitrary decision by IDEAlliance and the childish petulance that urged it. I would find this all quite amusing save for the possible negative impact on the progress of TopicMaps.org as an organization and topicmaps as a technology. I say possible negative impact as the recent posts on the topicmap list reveal that applications are beginning to appear and will no doubt be used by the wider community. My suggestion is that all current members of the authoring group suggest one or more host organizations with a brief statement of why such organizations would make appropriate hosts for our efforts. Perhaps a short statement (1 per member please) of what you see as the pluses or minuses of your suggestion(s). If we self-regulate the suggestions and debate, I suspect we could have a rough consensus before the end of April, 2001. I don't know who has access to our website but certainly we should remove all references to IDEAlliance and what was the phrase, wish them "Good luck, you are going to need it!" Onto more positive matters, suggestions for a new TopicMaps.org host organization: 1. TEI-C.org Pluses: 1. Neutral, not allied with a particular vendor 2. Technically oriented and conversant with SGML/XML 3. Not top heavy or seeking to promote the organization as an end goal Negatives (I am a TEI member and fully support it, these are negatives only from a commercial perspective) 1. Oriented towards strong standards, not strong commercial promotion 2. Less well known than some organizations among commercial vendors 3. As a young organization may not have the depth required for supporting another young organization 2. Oasis Pluses: 1. Neutral, also not allied with vendors but a wider set of vendors are members (than in #1) 2. Technically oriented and conversant with SGML/XML 3. Well known among vendors Negatives (I am not currently an Oasis member but can remedy that error sooner rather than later if needed for our efforts.) 1. Oriented towards strong standards but does not appear (I may be completely incorrect here) to have a strong arm for promoting adoption of a standard, aside from the efforts of individual members. That may be the case with most standards organizations. If we want topicmaps to be widely used then we will have to author the software and topicmaps to demonstrate (widely as possible) their usefulness. (Less debate on theoretical issues and more rubber hitting the road perhaps.) 2. Baggage in its relationship to other standards bodies (may be a positive?) 3. May also lack the administrative support we need but how much will we require? It would be nice to have someone arrange the rooms, etc., but I suspect we may have remaining members who are capable of using the phone to arrange meeting rooms and to collect payments from members for their use. Yes, I took the two of the more obvious ones but I am between conference calls and had the time. >:-) For what it is worth (since I will not be at XML Europe (my daughter's high school graduation conflicts) but planning on making the Montreal meeting) I would be willing to start with the Montreal meeting to assist the Chair by taking responsibility for making room reservations for TopicMap.org meeting before or after the XML conferences. I don't have a slush fund for such arrangements so, assuming the group is agreeable, I will have to ascertain the room cost ahead of time and we will have to self-assess ourselves the cost of the meeting prior to actually attending. For off-conference meetings, I would prefer that we meet where one of our members (the SBL has a very nice meeting room that I could get for an attractive price(!) in Atlanta) could provide minimal meeting facilities. Perhaps a new meeting schedule, now that the specification is in place of face-2-face every 4 months would work, assuming that we see more software and examples (pointing and talking to myself here!) between meetings. Maybe we can realize Murray's dream of an Apache module for topicmaps. Best way I know to promote anything is to make it both useful and ubiquitous. Counts for a lot more than tantrums and secret cabals. Doing the beagle in Covington, GA, while the Lucy's of the world lecture away! Patrick -- Patrick Durusau Director of Research and Development Society of Biblical Literature pdurusau@emory.edu To Post a message, send it to: xtm-wg@eGroups.com To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: xtm-wg-unsubscribe@eGroups.com Your use of Yahoo! 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