Re: [xtm-wg] The Future of TopicMaps.Org

[Murray Altheim <altheim@eng.sun.com>]

"Mason, James David (MXM)" wrote:
> 
> I believe several of Murray's points are worthy of replies.
> 
> One of my greatest worries is that multiple development (as opposed to
> support or marketing) groups lead to divergent results.
> 
> There has been some good thinking from a variety of parties on models
> associated with Topic Maps. Some of these have clearly been intended to
> apply to all Topic Map varieties. Some may not have been so intended but did
> not make their scopes clear. The good thinking deserves to be preserved in
> some form. Any model that claims to include ISO/IEC13250 can be done only in
> SC34, and I have reminded several of the parties engaged in modelmaking of
> this. If some group were to undertake a model anywhere other than SC34-be it
> in TM.org, OASIS, or the W3C-that group would run the risk of diverging from
> the model efforts already beginning in SC34, and SC34 would certainly
> disavow any such efforts as having nothing to do with Topic Maps.

Perhaps then a division of the work makes the most sense. Things that 
have to do with Topic Maps in general could remain in SC34, whilst things
having more to do with the XML serialization in XTM could proceed in a
separate place, such as OASIS.

As is probably not any secret by now, most of my interest is in getting
XTM off the ground in the Web community, and I've devoted most of my
topic map-related efforts to this. There's plenty of work to be done
in both arenas, with a gradual fleshing out of both ISO 13250 and XTM
by a number of specifications, both models, syntax and implementations
of topic maps (such as required for i18n and other features). As you say,
there does need to be a coordinated marketing effort as well, which was
began under TopicMaps.Org and could continue somewhere like OASIS.

I'm certainly (I hope that much was clear) trying to suggest that any
XTM efforts impinge on what is properly the 'territory' of SC34, a 
territory which to me is fairly clear. I think we all have the general
success of topic maps in mind, and I hope we can all work together 
toward that end.

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim                            <mailto:altheim&#x40;eng.sun.com>
XML Technology Center
Sun Microsystems, Inc., MS MPK17-102, 1601 Willow Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025

      In the evening
      The rice leaves in the garden
      Rustle in the autumn wind
      That blows through my reed hut.  -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu

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