Re: [office] Any interest in a "Design of ODF" Committee Note?

[Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>]

Rob,

+1!

Question though:

Are we documenting the design/architecture that got us to this point or 
is this a document to establish the design/architecture going forward?

The reason I ask is that I have seen some comments and may have made 
some comments about making ODF more "modular," which could imply a 
different set of principles that those we have followed to this point.

I am deliberately being vague about "modular" because it is premature to 
start discussing details when we are trying to decide on drafting a 
design/architecture document.

I think your idea is a very good one, even though it will take quite 
some effort and discussion to put into place.

Hope you are having a great day!

Patrick

On 5/19/2011 10:06 AM, robert_weir@us.ibm.com wrote:
> I've read some lamenting on the Doc Collab subcommittee list that we don't
> have an overall design or architecture document for ODF, something that
> explains the agreed on design constraints, approaches, etc.  The standard
> itself describes the "what", but we don't have a doc that explains the
> "why".
>
> Of course, that doesn't mean that we don't have a design or architecture.
> It just means it was never written down, never codified.  We have a lot of
> shared principles that have guided how ODF was put together.
>
> Although this lack of formality has worked in the past, it is not very
> optimal for those who are approaching ODF for the first time, especially
> for new TC members.  Since I'd like to see the TC continue to grow and
> thrive and attract new members, this lack of a design document is
> non-optimal.
>
> So, I'm wondering if it would be worth putting together a Committee Note,
> something like "ODF: Design Principles", or "The Design of ODF", or
> (borrowing from Stroustrup) "The Design and Evolution of ODF"?   As you
> may know, a Committee Note is a new kind of work product that OASIS
> enabled last year, for non-normative reports/whitepapers, etc.  A
> Committee Note goes through the normal review and approval process, but do
> not have the effect of a standard.
>
> If there is some interest in this, I'd recommend that we start on the
> wiki, drafting an outline, and then having members volunteer for sections
> of interest.  I think a document like this would be of moderate length,
> maybe 20-30 pages, in 6  or 7 sections.
>
> As a side effect, the effort put into producing this Committee Note would
> help us clarify for ourselves these principles, and this would make the
> work on ODF-Next a little easier.
>
>
> -Rob
>
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-- 
Patrick Durusau
patrick@durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)

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