[xtm-wg] publication strategy for the XTM brand

[Sam Hunting <sam_hunting@yahoo.com>]

This is a brainstorm (I must still be reeling from the Dallas group
hug) rather than a proposal. 

As a disclaimer, I know nothing about marketing in general or branding
in particular. In fact, we have experts on this list who handle those
things. So I assume they will at some point post their more definitive
views on the material covered in this thread. That said--

(1) The XTM AG is building a brand -- the XTM brand. At MacDonald's you
know what you get; from Moet Hennessy you know what you get; from W3C
you know what you get... Etc. (This is why a logo is important. The
logo is a proxy for the brand.)

(2) Brands are bundled characteristics. Among the characteristics I
personally would like for the XTM brand to have are timeliness,
simplicity, reliability, powerful yet reasonably easy implementation,
and service to the web community (experts chime in please).

(3) Our deliverables need to reinforce the qualities we wish our brand
to have (just like MacDonalds) Pragmatically, that means we need to
prevent the 1.0 spec (and, indeed, all our deliverables) from turning
into a "blivet".

     blivet. N. 10 pounds of sh*t in a 5 pound bag.

Blivets, although perhaps timely, lack all of the other characteristics
we wish our brand to have. (Note that this is why meeting our December
deadline is so important -- it establishes a key characteristic of our
brand.)

(4) In all likelihood, there will be good material proposed for the
spec that should NOT go in it, if the spec is to have the desired
characteristics of simplicity (or perceived simplicity, which amounts
to the same thing), or the other characteristics mandated for the spec
by the AG.

(5) This good material needs a home, even if it is not to be published
in the spec.

(6) I propose that in addition to specifications, that the XTM AG also
issue monographs, which would be the home for this sort of good
material. It would be branded by the XTM, and hence have the XTM brand
characteristics and (it is to be hoped) authority, but not be in
themselves specifications. (The distinction would be between Scripture
and Commentary ;-)

(7) That said, I'm not completely confident in drawing a line between
specification and monograph -- except for this: "semantics" (dread
word). The best definition of semantics I've ever heard comes from
Lloyd Harding:

     Semantics. N. That upon which we cannot agree.

Another way of putting this is that matters which are urgent to achieve
XTM ubiquity (our goal) but which the AG cannot take the time or lacks
the resources to evaluate completely -- hence cannot agree on, hence
are relegated to what is "semantic" -- should be published as
monographs, in between the issuance of specs. Perhaps all the titles in
our series of monographs should be prefaced with "How to" -- "How to
represent a Topic Map in EXPRESS", for example.
 
(8) I would like to see a timeline or editorial plan for deliverables.
This would include specifications (do we have a target for Paris?) and
monographs, for which the AG would make a list. (I don't contemplate a
monograph being issued without AG approval.)

(9) Meeting the timeline will reinforce our brand. "XTM delivers!"

(10) The existence of the timeline will automatically create buzz. It
is a story to cover! (It is the next story after DC.)

(11) The publication of monographs and follow-on implementation or
experimentation based on them will create a natural dynamic for
evolving the spec. For example, the EXPRESS monograph in a year or so
might mutate to spec status based on adoption.

Anyhow, just some thoughts from one who was an editor in a past life.

S.

P.S. I suppose, though this may be controversial (even to me it sounds
stupid) that the monographs could even be sponsored. (If they were
print, I envisage a back page with a display advertisement on it.) 

Note that I am envisaging the monographs as an editorial product, even
if they have advertising, just like a journal or a newspaper. The
purchases of the advertising "pays their money and takes their choice"
as to the text of the monograph.

In particular, they would not dictate editorial policies, a competitor
could also buy space in the monograph, and so forth. Tricky, I think,
but doable and their are precedents. The baseline is not to dilute the
power of the brand, so outright corruption is ruled out as being in no
one's best interests ;-)


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<?-- "To imagine a language is to imagine a form of life."
     - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations -->

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