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Subject: Call for Participation: OASIS ICOM


To:  OASIS members & interested parties

   A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS Integrated
Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable Collaboration Services (ICOM)
Technical Committee has been proposed by the members of OASIS listed below.
The TC name, statement of purpose, scope, list of deliverables, audience,
and language specified in the proposal will constitute the TC's official
charter. Submissions of technology for consideration by the TC, and the
beginning of technical discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's first
meeting.

   The eligibility requirements for becoming a participant in the TC at the
first meeting (see details below) are:

   (a) you must be an employee of an OASIS member organization or an
individual member of OASIS, and
   (b) you must join the Technical Committee, which members may do by using
the "Join this TC" button on the TC's public page at [a].

   To be considered a voting member at the first meeting, you must:
   (a) join the Technical Committee at least 15/7 days prior to the first
meeting; and
   (b) you must attend the first meeting of the TC, at the time and date
fixed below.

Of course, participants also may join the TC at a later time. OASIS and the
TC welcomes all interested parties.

   Non-OASIS members who wish to participate may contact us about joining
OASIS [b]. In addition, the public may access the information resources
maintained for each TC: a mail list archive, document repository and public
comments facility, which will be linked from the TC's public home page at
[a].

   Please feel free to forward this announcement to any other appropriate
lists. OASIS is an open standards organization; we encourage your
participation.

Regards,

Mary

---------------------------------------------------
Mary P McRae
Director, Technical Committee Administration
OASIS: Advancing open standards for the information society
email: mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org  
web: www.oasis-open.org
phone: 1.603.232.9090

[a] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=icom  
[b] See http://www.oasis-open.org/join/

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
OASIS Integrated Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable Collaboration 
Services (ICOM) TC

1. Normative Information
a. Name
OASIS Integrated Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable Collaboration 
Services (ICOM) Technical Committee

b. Statement of Purpose
Organizations need to integrate their collaboration services with business 
applications in order to enable contextual collaboration within an
end-to-end 
business process, such as customer relationship management, procurement, 
performance, and project management, to improve business efficiencies.
Typically 
these organizations have incrementally deployed a mix of disjoint
collaboration 
tools. As a result, these organizations face technical obstacles and high
costs in 
their quests to integrate these disjoint tools and the data each tool
produces. To 
solve this problem, various collaboration vendors have attempted to unify
their 
platforms in order to build a single collaboration environment which
provides full 
range of collaboration activities. However, these vendor specific platforms
still 
lack a standard model, interface, and protocol to support contextual
collaboration 
within business processes. Without a standard collaboration model that can
provide 
a complete range of collaboration activities, customers, ISVs, and
integrators face 
a difficult challenge to build contextual collaboration environments using
service 
components from multiple vendors.

To remain competitive in the global knowledge communities and market places,
the 
organizations need to enable tomorrow's information workers to collaborate
across 
organizational boundaries with external parties that may be using different 
collaboration platforms. There will be increasing demands not only for the 
interoperability of collaboration service components within each integrated 
collaboration environment but also for interoperability amongst the
integrated 
collaboration environments in the global network communities. Given the
large 
number of components involved in a complete and integrated collaboration 
environment, we need an integrated object model to eliminate impedances and
promote 
seamless and natural transitions between components. A standard integrated
and 
complete collaboration model is essential also for tools developers,
business 
applications developers, and Web 2.0 applications developers to write to the

industry standard model, API, and protocol to interoperate with integrated 
collaboration environments across different communities.

The purpose of the Integrated Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable 
Collaboration Services Technical Committee is to specify the normative
standards 
for collaboration objects, along with their attributes, relationships,
constraints, 
and behavior, in an integrated and interoperable collaboration environment.
ICOM 
specification will include the non-normative guidelines (providing
architectures or 
use-case scenarios) for a new workspace-oriented protocol for shared
workspaces 
that supports a full range of collaboration activities, including unified
messages, 
web conferences, forums, presence, calendars, tasks, wikis, blogs, social
networks, 
etc.

ICOM specification can be used as the basis for defining bindings to various

languages (Java, C#, WSDL, RDF/OWL). ICOM specification can also provide a 
framework to render a suite of new and existing protocols, including WebDav,

CalDav, IMAP, SMTP, XMPP, etc., protocols, to work as if they are parts of a

contiguous protocol. 

This work will be carried out through continued refinement and extension of
the 
following contributions by the initial co-proposers:

Oracle Beehive Object Model (BOM) [1],
Oracle Beehive Release 1.4 Collaboration Service Interface (CSI) Java docs
[2],
DERI Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities (SIOC) [3],
NEPOMUK Semantic Layered Architecture (SLA) [4],
Ecospace Reference Architecture: Basic Collaborative Services (BCS) [8]

Other contributions and changes to the above contributions will be accepted
for 
consideration without any prejudice or restrictions and evaluated based on
the 
technical merit in so far as they conform to this charter. OASIS members
with 
extensive experience and knowledge in these areas are particularly invited
to 
participate.


Scope

The TC will be provided with an input the Beehive Object Model (BOM) [1] as
the 
basis for the data model for the integrated collaboration object model.

The TC will be provided with an input the Beehive Release 1.4 Collaboration
Service 
Interface (CSI) Java docs [2] as the basis for the behavior and operations
on the 
objects of the integrated collaboration object model.

The TC will be provided with inputs SIOC [3] and NEPOMUK [4] as the basis
for 
refining, enriching, and extending the data model for the integrated
collaboration 
object model.

The TC will be provided with an input the Ecospace Reference Architecture
for Basic 
Collaborative Services (BCS) [8] as the basis for refining, enriching, and 
extending the behavior and operations on the objects of the integrated 
collaboration object model, and for binding the integrated collaboration
object 
model to the collaboration services.

The scope of the TC's work is to continue further refinement, extension, and

finalization of the Input Documents to produce as output specifications, in
the 
language neutral UML 2.0 representation, that standardize the classes,
attributes, 
relationships, constraints, and methods of the areas described below:

 1. A data model for the set of objects in the integrated collaboration (IC)

environment. A single IC environment can include 
   a. communication artifacts (such as e-mail, instant message, telephony,
RSS), 
   b. teamwork artifacts (such as project and meeting workspaces, discussion

forums, real-time conferences, presence, activities, subscriptions, wikis,
and 
blogs), 
   c. content artifacts (such as text and multi-media contents, contextual 
connections, taxonomies, folksonomies, tags, recommendations, social
bookmarking, 
saved searches), and 
   d. coordination artifacts (such as address books, calendars, tasks) etc.

 2. Describe the persistent identification of the IC objects to support
permanent 
references to the objects that may migrate amongst interoperable IC
repositories. 

 3. Describe the characteristics of the objects in terms of classes,
interfaces, 
attributes, and relationships to other objects.

 4. Describe the operations on the objects in the integrated collaboration
(IC) 
environment. The operations include methods to create, delete, move, copy,
send, 
post, version, subscribe, etc., on objects.

 5. Describe the service interfaces, including methods and method
signatures, which 
support controller aspects of the IC platform and operations on the IC
objects.

 6. Describe a minimal unified access control model for the IC objects and 
operations.

 7. Describe the extensibility of the objects by application defined object
schema 
and attribute definitions.

 8. Describe the expansiveness of the IC model to span multiple IC platforms
from 
one or more vendors.

 9. Describe the openness of the IC model for interoperability across
multiple IC 
platforms from one or more vendors.

 10. Describe the viability of the IC model to define the interoperability
protocol 
for developing composite collaboration services for shared workspaces.


Upwards Compatibility

There are no formal requirements for upwards compatibility from the input
documents 
to this TC. This is to ensure that the TC has maximum freedom of action in
defining 
the OASIS standard. However it is recognized that there will be early 
implementations in the marketplace based upon these input documents and
careful 
consideration must be applied to any change of feature/function that would
cause 
incompatibilities in the OASIS standard at:

* Source Code level
* Compiled Object Code
* UML 2.0 model definitions

At minimum, known enhancements to the input documents that will cause
compatibility 
issues with early implementations in the marketplace will be provided in the

specification offering migration guidance.


Test Suite

The definition of Test Suites will be deferred to a different standards
effort, 
which may be done in another TC after the bindings of ICOM to concrete
languages 
and protocols are defined by separate TCs.


Out of Scope

The following is a non-exhaustive list. It is provided only for the sake of 
clarity. 

The TC will not define a mapping of the functions and elements described in
the 
specifications to any programming language, to any particular middleware,
nor to 
specific network transports.

The following items are specifically out of scope of the work of the TC:

 1. Details of specific bindings to a programming language or
representation. These 
are handled through separate TCs.

 2. Details of specific bindings to the over-the-wire protocols and
networks. These 
are handled through separate TCs.

 3. Details of specific transformations and compatibility with existing
standards 
such as WebDav, CalDav, IMAP, SMTP, XMPP, LDAP, etc. These are handled
through 
separate TCs.

 4. Details of specific applications of the access control models, including
RBAC, 
DAC, MAC, and label security. These are handled through separate TCs.  


d. Deliverables

The TC has the following deliverable:

An Integrated Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable Collaboration
Services 
(ICOM) Specification and associated UML 2.0 model. The TC will also produce
the 
non-normative matter (which may include models, architectures, and
guidelines) for 
the interoperability protocols to facilitate composite collaboration
services for 
shared workspaces. A Committee Specification is scheduled for completion
within 
18 months of the first TC meeting.


Exit Criteria

The TC shall define concrete exit criteria that include at least two
independent 
offerings that implement and are compliant with all normative portions of 
specifications and demonstrate interoperability and portability as
appropriate. 
Note that these are minimums and that the TC is free to set more stringent 
criteria.


Maintenance

Once the TC has completed work on a deliverable and it has become an OASIS 
standard, the TC will enter "maintenance mode" for the deliverable.

The purpose of maintenance mode is to provide minor revisions to previously 
adopted deliverables to clarify ambiguities, inconsistencies and obvious
errors. 
Maintenance mode is not intended to enhance a deliverable or extend its 
functionality.

The TC will collect issues raised against the deliverables and periodically 
process those issues. Issues that request or require new or enhanced
functionality 
shall be marked as enhancement requests and set aside.  Issues that result
in the 
clarification or correction of the deliverables shall be processed.  The TC
shall 
maintain a list of these adopted clarifications and shall periodically
create a 
new minor revision of the deliverables including these updates.

Periodically, but at least once a year, the TC shall produce and vote upon a
new 
minor revision of the deliverables.


e. IPR Mode

The TC will operate under the RF on Limited Terms mode under the OASIS IPR
Policy.


f. Anticipated audience:

The anticipated audience for this work includes:
 * Vendors offering products designed to support applications using the IC
platform
 * Vendors offering applications that mashup IC objects from one or more IC 
repositories and services in the Internet
 * Other specification authors that need the IC object model as a reference
model
 * Software architects and programmers, who design, write, integrate, and
deploy 
applications using the IC object model
 * End users implementing solutions that require interoperable, mashup
solutions 
using continuity of references to IC objects that may migrate amongst IC 
environments, potentially across sites or enterprises for business, social,
or 
technical reasons.


g. Language

The TC shall conduct its proceedings in English.


2. Non-normative information regarding the startup of the TC


a. Related and similar work

The ICOM specifications are intended to encompass and improve on a range of
models 
which are part of existing standards and technologies. The existing
standards and 
technologies were developed independently and have created the impedances
between 
the component solutions. New solutions based on ICOM specifications will
offer 
seamless transitions between different functional components and enable the 
applications that mashup model of different component areas from different 
interoperable IC providers.

Other existing standards and technologies such as WebDav, CalDav, JSR 170
JCA, 
IMAP, SMTP, XMPP, etc., can also have relationships to ICOM. The ICOM
anticipates 
interoperability with new or existing applications built on existing
protocols and 
standards by providing mappings and transformations to the existing
standards.

The ICOM TC is related to the standards and technologies developed by the
OASIS 
Extensible Resource Identifier (XRI) TC. XRI technology enables the
persistent 
identification of ICOM objects (including enterprises, people, groups, and 
artifacts) across enterprises, sites, repositories, and applications.

The ICOM TC is related to the standards and technologies developed by the
OASIS 
WS-BPEL Extension for People (BPEL4People) TC. ICOM technology can extend
the 
human tasks, activities, contexts, attachments, and interactions aspects of
the 
Business Process Execution Language. 

The ICOM TC is related to the OASIS Content Management Interoperability
Services 
(CMIS) TC. ICOM TC can use CMIS as one of the language or protocol bindings.

Liaisons will be established with other OASIS Technical Committees as
determined 
appropriate by the members of the Technical Committee as work proceeds.

W3C will monitor the OASIS ICOM working group and determine future steps
based on 
the results.


b. Proposed date, time, and location of first TC meeting

Date: March 3, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM EDT
Duration: 2 hours
Mode: Teleconference
Sponsor: Oracle


c. On-going schedule

Weekly 60 Minute teleconferences sponsored by Oracle or other member of the
TC.
Time TBD by the TC.

It is anticipated that the committee will meet face-to-face once every
quarter 
at a date and venue to be decided by the TC, but with a commitment to hold 
meetings in different regions of the world so as to share the effort of
travel.


d. Supporters:

The following eligible individuals are in support of this proposal:

Rafiul Ahad, Oracle, rafiul.ahad@oracle.com
Eric S. Chan, Oracle, eric-s.chan@oracle.com
Martin Chapman, Oracle, martin.chapman@oracle.com
Stefan Decker, DERI, Stefan.decker@deri.org
Siegfried Handschuh, DERI, Siegfried.handschuh@deri.org
Jeff Mischkinsky, Oracle, jeff.mischkinsky@oracle.com
Sven Ruby, DERI, sven.ruby@deri.org


e. Convener:

Martin Chapman, Oracle, martin.chapman@oracle.com


f. Name of Member Section to which this TC is Affiliated

This TC is standalone and not Affiliated with existing Member Sections.


g. Anticipated contributions

Beehive Object Model (BOM) Version 1.0, January 12, 2009, Created for 
OASIS ICOM TC, will be a contribution from Oracle Corporation (see [1]), 
along with Beehive Release 1.4 Collaboration Service Interface (CSI) 
Java docs (see [2]).

DERI Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities (SIOC) (see [3]) and
NEPOMUK 
Semantic Layered Architecture (SLA) (see [4]) will be contributions from
DERI.

ECOSPACE Composite Collaborative Services (CoCoS) (see [5]), ECOSPACE 
Distributed Document Context (D2C) (see [6]), ECOSPACE Extended SIOC (see
[7]), 
and ECOSPACE Reference Architecture Basic Collaborative Services (BCS) (see
[8]) 
will be contributions from ECOSPACE.


h. Draft FAQ Document

Intentionally left empty.


i. Proposed working title

Integrated Collaboration Object Model (ICOM) for Interoperable Collaboration

Services Specification


References

[1] Beehive Object Model (BOM), Editors: Terry M. Olkin, Eric S. Chan,
Rafiul Ahad, 
Oracle Corporation, January 12, 2009. 
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/beehive/pdf/beehiveobjectmodel_ico
m.pdf

[2] Collaboration Service Interface (CSI) Java docs, Beehive Release 1.4. 
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/beehive/icom/beehivecsi.html.

[3] http://sioc-project.org/

[4] http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/

[5]
http://www.ami-communities.eu/wiki/ECOSPACE_Newsletter_No_4#Composite_Collab
orative_Services_.28CoCoS.29

[6]
http://www.ami-communities.eu/wiki/ECOSPACE_Newsletter_No_6#Distributed_Docu
ment_Context_.28D2C.29

[7]
http://www.ami-communities.eu/wiki/ECOSPACE_Newsletter_No_6#Towards_Shared_W
orkspace_Interoperability

[8] Ecospace Reference Architecture: Basic Collaborative Services, Version
1.0, 
Edited by ECOSPACE consortium, September 2008





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