Re: [huml] HM.DipCom: Dipl. Comm. Subcommittee Mission Statement: draft

[Rex Brooks <rexb@starbourne.com>]

Title: Re: [huml] HM.DipCom: Dipl. Comm. Subcommittee Mission

Hi Ranjeeth, and Everyone,

The Mission Statement is fine, though a little bare bones for an arena where protocol is usually full of pomp and circumstance.

You might want to add intra-national as well as international since communications between our own federal, state and local jurisdictions often leaves a lot purposeful ambiguity open to interpretation for the sake of not specifically delineating those jurisdictions and part of this, as with international communications falls under legal systems that often work by precedent instead of statute or formal agreements.

One of the hurdles you face is the comfort level diplomats and negotiators have with purposeful ambiguities. They will most likely prefer to keep as many of their own perogatives as they can.

I think you better run this by Karl before we bring it to the next meeting.

Under RELATIONSHIPS, my question is: you do mean relationships between those agencies and our TC, don't you? The way it reads now it sounds as if you mean to establish relationships between those agencies.

In any event, I think Karl and crew may not care for that idea or ask that you do so through them or through the eGov TC you joined. The same thing applies to vendors if you sound like you want to do so in some official manner. However, if you say that you wish to foster friendly relationships with our TC to recruit participation, that will probably be more acceptable since it implies that we will be building OASIS membership.

I would change EXPLORATION to CODIFICATION. I would also start with CODIFICATION since it is the most clear and crisp and testable work product and makes it sound very result-oriented. It is a very positive statement of action.

Exploration sounds like you/we  don't know what we need to do yet. But we do. That way you can say:

CODIFICATION:

-Codify existing vocabularies and practices as part of the Human Markup Language Secondary Base Schema/Specification

-Explore new frameworks, based...

-Plan and develop...

The term INTERFACES is another one like STEREOTYPES that has a lot of different meanings in different contexts and I am not clear about what you mean here. Since I have been working on a huge interface specification which has gone from being a vocabulary to an interface to a protocol, I can testify that the industry thinks of interfaces as APIs, which we are not doing yet. After we get some real traction in the commercial sphere by being fundamental to profiling and individually-controlled, extended individual identity preferences and behavior tracking, Sun and IBM, if not Microsoft, will want APIs, but that is at least a year away since our recent experience shows us that we have at least that long to go until we can release the Secondary Base Schema/Specification and it is likely to be longer since we need to get our sample implementations done first.

If, however, you mean a specfic vocabulary to build interfaces with, that would make sense to me in the context of building the Secondary, which is what it sounds like you mean. So maybe an INTERFACES VOCABULARY might better describe what you mean, IF that is what you mean. Then you could say:

INTERFACES VOCABULARIES:

-Build  HumanML Interface Vocabulary for Diplomatic Communications and/or Conflict Resolution as part of the Human Markup Language Secondary Base Schema/Specification

-Research need for interoperability with other XML and RDF -based standards that might...

(When you use the word Interfaces you need to make it clear what you mean, and I just use other terms unless I mean something related to an API, or, as in Haptics, related to a physical interface--where two objects/systems meet or intersect. Same goes for stereotype unless I am using in the strict UML usage.)

It might sound like I have a lot of quibbles, but it really looks fine to me. I think you might want to separate the mission statement from the specifics. If you look at the other two mission statements, they follow a somewhat similar pattern of:

Purpose/MIssion Statement:

Scope:

Goals/Objectives:

Examples/Deliverables:

I think that your Mission Statement brings up a few issues we should take up as part of the agenda for the next meeting:

* Reworking the Mission Statements of the Subcommittees along a common pattern

* Specifically stating that each has a deliverable of a set of derived terms for the Secondary Base Schema and/or new terms for the PBS--target date to be determined--probably April/May

* A recruiting plan to get the new members needed to make this work easier, more valid, more viewpoiints and eyeballs looking at it, etc.

Thanks Ranjeeth,

This brings up a lot of good thinking.

Ciao,

Rex

At 11:35 PM -0500 12/1/02, Ranjeeth Kumar Thunga wrote:

> Here is a
> draft outline for the Diplomatic Communications Subcommittee. 
> Please provide feedback.  I am hoping we establish this
> subcommittee either the next, or the following, TC meeting.  This
> should coincide with the first meeting of the e-Gov Technical
> Committee, of which I have joined as member.  If there is anyone
> with government affiliation who has the resources to formally liaison
> with the e-Gov TC, do be in touch.
> DIPLOMATIC
> COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
> -----
> The purpose of the Diplomatic
> Communications Subcommittee within HumanMarkup is to explore the use
> of markup within Information Technology with the purpose of aiding in
> both the accuracy and success of diplomatic communication and
> international conflict resolution efforts.  This subcommittee
> will be carrying out the following duties:
> RELATIONSHIPS:
> -Establish relationships between
> essential governmental agencies directly involved in the processes of
> diplomatic communications.
> -Establish
> relationships with parties promoting tools, technologies, and
> initiatives which currently and potentially aid in the process of
> conflict resolution.
> EXPLORATION:
> -Explore the codification of preexisting
> and new frameworks, based on XML, for representing within elements and
> attributes the various facets and processes involved in diplomatic
> communications.
> -Plan and
> develop application frameworks which use HumanML-Dipcom
> XML
> INTERFACES:
> -Create an interface layer of diplomatic
> communications codelists with the HumanML Primary Base Schema 1..0, as
> well as subsequent and alternate HumanML schema modules as they
> develop.
> -Research
> interfaces with XML initiatives that might be considered related to
> supplemental to HumanML and HumanML-DipCom.
> Initially,
> the DipCom Subcommittee will meet as an adjunct to the HumanMarkup TC
> meetings, currently held 17:00 GMT on the 3rd Wednesday's of each
> month.  As appropriate, and as the agenda determines, this
> subcommittee will branch off into a separate meeting to discuss
> specific issues specific to the Subcommittee.
>
> -----
> Ranjeeth Kumar Thunga

-- 

Rex Brooks
Starbourne Communications Design
1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA 94702 *510-849-2309
http://www.starbourne.com * rexb@starbourne.com