New OASIS Discussion List: docstandards-interop-discuss

["Mary McRae" <mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org>]

     OASIS members have requested that we open a new discussion list, regarding a possible new OASIS Document Standards
Interoperability TC. The proposal conforms to our rules and is set forth below. Standards always are improved by broad
participation. OASIS encourages open discussions about possible new TCs, by offering a dedicated e-mail list for 90
days, upon member request. The address of this list will be:

docstandards-interop-discuss@lists.oasis-open.org

Anyone, including OASIS members and non-members, may subscribe to this list in order to discuss the merits and
possibility of the proposed project.  The list is now open, and can be joined by sending a message to:

docstandards-interop-discuss-subscribe@lists.oasis-open.org. [1]

The discussion list is governed by Section 2.1 of the OASIS TC Process [2], and may last up to 90 days.  Typically,
participants in the list will determine whether there is sufficient interest to form an OASIS TC, and then collaborate
on a draft TC charter for submission. Only subscribers to the list will have the ability to post to it. If you do not
wish to subscribe, but would like to monitor the discussion, archives of the list will be visible at [3].

Please feel free to forward this announcement to any other appropriate lists. OASIS is an open standards organization,
and welcomes your feedback. We look forward to assisting parties interested in joining the community of implementers,
technologists, academics and end-users contributing to open standardization for e-business and information exchange.


Mary P McRae
Manager of TC Administration, OASIS
web: www.oasis-open.org 
 

[1] Additional assistance is available, if needed, from the contacts listed at
http://www.oasis-open.org/who/contactus.php
[2] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.php#2.1
[3] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/

====
DISCUSSION LIST PROPOSAL

list name: 
docstandards-interop-discuss

preliminary statement of scope: 
One of the benefits that XML touted from early in its inception was that of platform independence. This independence
greatly helped in its widespread adoption, yet brought with it the unintended consequence of a proliferation of
standardized XML grammars. Document standards such as DITA (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/dita), DocBook
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/docbook), and ODF (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office) all address a
similar need to mark up documentation in a platform-independent format. 

Increasingly, organizations need to collaborate and share content with other organizations. As a result, XML
interoperability between these standards is critical. These standards, however, have not been designed with
cross-standard interoperability in mind. The Doc Standards Interoperability TC is intended to address the development
and documentation of scenarios for cross-standard content sharing; a specification for 
an interoperability framework, including mappings from participating standard formats to the framework; and requirements
on participating standards to improve interoperability. 

names, affiliations, and email addresses: 
Michael Priestley, IBM - mpriestl@ca.ibm.com 
Jim Earley, Flatirons - jim.earley@flatironssolutions.com 
Scott Hudson, Flatirons - scott.hudson@flatironssolutions.com 
Don Harbison, IBM - donald_harbison@us.ibm.com 

discussion list leader: 
Michael Priestley, IBM