Proposal for Advanced Document Collaboration Subcommittee

[robert_weir@us.ibm.com]

For discussion on the list. I know that many/most of us are heads-down on 
the ODF 1.2 endgame right now.  But I have heard from a number of 
individuals who are interested in starting work immediately to refine the 
DeltaXML change tracking proposal.  Since they are willing to join the TC, 
and this is a priority area for them, I think it would be a good idea to 
create a SC where this work could be advanced at its own pace, 
independently of our work on ODF 1.2.

Also, in order to avoid a proliferation of subcommittees, I've written the 
scope broadly enough to encompass some adjacent areas within the "advanced 
collaboration" sphere, especially areas that I know are of interest to one 
or more members of the TC.

I am willing to chair the SC, but I also would be more than happy to yield 
to a suitable alternative volunteer.

-Rob

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Name
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Advanced Document Collaboration Subcommittee (slug = office-collab)


Statement of Purpose
--------------------

Many ODF documents do not involve collaboration.  They are created by a 
single user, edited by a single user, and then perhaps presented or shared 
with multiple users, or maybe even just converted to PDF for distribution.

However, collaboration-based document scenarios are also common, including 
review and comment and change tracking as well as emerging work in 
real-time collaborative editing, in-context document collaboration, 
persistence of structured document fragments, and so on.

In order to bring together technical experts in these areas, and for them 
to evaluate trends, investigate opportunities and draft enhancements to 
ODF in these areas, we are proposing a dedicated subcommittee for this 
topic.

The initial priority for the Subcommittee will be change tracking. 
Reliable and user friendly revision management is critical for 
professional document workflows in corporate and public sector 
environments, and as such an important feature of Open Document Format. 
The SC is asked to prepare a draft specification of a markup vocabulary 
that can accurately describe any incremental change to the content and 
structure of documents - typically made in multiple editing sessions by 
different authors.


List of Deliverables
--------------------

1. A draft specification for change tracking, including Relax NG schema's 
(target Jan 31th, 2011)

2. A description on how to apply change tracking markup to the various 
versions of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) as a host format.

3. A set of test documents that will allow implementers to validate their 
implementations.

4. A document that describes in detail how the existing change tracking 
mechanism in ODF can be converted to the new markup.

5. Other proposals, draft specifications and in-scope work related to the 
subcommittee's Purpose.


Chair
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TBD