OASIS Members Form TC to Develop Human Markup Language

[Carol Geyer <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Members Form Technical Committee to Develop Human Markup Language

Boston, MA, USA; 21 August 2001 -- OASIS, the XML interoperability
consortium, today announced its members have formed the OASIS
HumanMarkup Technical Committee (TC) to develop and promote a
specification for conveying human characteristics through XML. The Human
Markup Language (HumanML) will embed contextual human characteristics
(cultural, social, kinesic, psychological and intentional features)
within information. Applications include artificial intelligence,
virtual reality, conflict resolution, psychotherapy, art, workflow,
advertising, cultural dialogue, agent systems, diplomacy and business
negotiation.

"HumanML offers the potential to reduce misinterpretation and allows
people to express themselves more deeply," explained Ranjeeth Kumar
Thunga, chair of the OASIS HumanMarkup TC. "Employing the same
infrastructure and technology used in business-to-business transactions,
HumanML lets us define and elucidate the various subtle, complex human
processes involved in communication. Using HumanML, we can substantially
reduce interpersonal and intersocietal conflicts associated with the
inadequate conveyance of human traits and expression."

Other efforts within the scope of the OASIS HumanMarkup TC will include
messaging, style, alternate schemas, constraint mechanisms, object
models, and repository systems, which address overall concerns of
representing and amalgamating human information within data.

"HumanML is an exciting example of the breadth of technical work being
undertaken by OASIS members. Unlike standards bodies that dictate
direction through a central authority, OASIS offers an open technical
agenda that is set by our members themselves," commented Karl Best,
director of technical operations for OASIS. "HumanML extends the use of
XML into totally new arenas and offers the potential to affect the way
we communicate with one another."

Participation in the OASIS HumanMarkup TC is open to all employees of
OASIS member companies and all OASIS individual members. Information on
joining OASIS can be found on http://www.oasis-open.org/join. OASIS will
host an open mail list, humanmarkup-comment@lists.oasis-open.org, for
public comment on HumanML.

About OASIS
OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org) is the international, not-for-profit
consortium that advances electronic business by promoting open,
collaborative development of interoperability specifications. With the
United Nations, OASIS sponsors ebXML, a global framework for electronic
business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, the
non-commercial portal that delivers information on the use of XML in
industry. The XML.org Registry provides an open community clearinghouse
for distributing and locating XML application schemas, vocabularies and
related documents. OASIS serves as the home for industry groups
interested in developing XML specifications. OASIS technical work
embraces conformance, security, business transactions, repositories and
other interoperability issues.

For more information:
Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.941.284.0403