Re: [ubl-csc] Fwd: DocBook TC position on Kavi

[Anne Hendry <anne.hendry@sun.com>]

Well, this saves me a lot of typing!  -A

jon.bosak@sun.com wrote:

>This is just one of a large number of messages on this subject
>sent recently on the OASIS chairs list, but I thought the UBL
>chairs, editors, and secretaries would find this one particularly
>interesting.
>
>Individual follow-ups directly to Karl and off this list, please.
>
>Jon
>
>==================================================================
>
>Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 12:55:28 -0500
>From: Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>
>To: Karl Best <karl.best@oasis-open.org>, chairs@lists.oasis-open.org
>Cc: docbook-tc@lists.oasis-open.org, patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org
>Subject: [chairs] DocBook TC position on Kavi
>
>[I appreciate that this message comes a few days after the publication
>of a set of requirements for a document repository. Nevertheless, the
>DocBook TC felt that it would be useful and appropriate to report the
>position that we have been developing for a month or so.]
>
>The DocBook Technical Committee would like to express its continued
>frustration with the document management part of the Kavi system
>implemented at OASIS. We find the system to be technically inadequate
>at best and flatly broken at worst. Beyond the technical issues, we
>are concerned that it is an awkward, difficult to use system and
>consequently we fear that it may be driving users away from OASIS.
>This is not only bad for our committee, it is bad for the consortium
>as a whole.
>
>It is our unanimous opinion that the Kavi system as currently
>implemented has critical flaws, and that it is imperative that they be
>corrected. We are aware that some of these issues have been brought to
>your attention before by individuals, but we would like to reiterate
>them here as part of our committee position.
>
>We draw your attention to the following technical issues.
>
>1. The document repository is simply broken. Although chairs and
>   secretaries can organize documents into a hierarchy, this hierarchy
>   is not exposed to the general public. This frustrates any attempt
>   that the committee might make to organize the documents for the
>   public.
>
>2. The Kavi system forces documents to have automatically generated
>   URIs that are meaningless and difficult to remember. Even if we
>   were able to accept the URIs generated, it is impossible to predict
>   the URI that will be assigned to a document when it is placed in
>   the repository. This makes it impossible for the committee to
>   decide offline, for example at a face-to-face meeting, where and
>   how documents will be published.
>
>3. Another consequence of the fact that URIs are generated by the
>   system rather than assigned by the committee with responsibility
>   for the material is that it is impossible to publish specifications
>   that contain internal cross references. An HTML version of a
>   specification, for example, cannot contain a link to the PDF
>   version.
>
>4. This also makes it impossible to publish a web of documents. A
>   large document could not be broken into chapters, for example, with
>   navigational links between the chapters.
>
>5. It follows further that the DocBook Committee *cannot* publish the
>   DocBook DTD on the OASIS site. DocBook is a modular DTD and the
>   URIs of the modules must be predictable. In fact, as a general
>   rule, it would seem that no Technical Committee can publish any
>   schema, stylesheet, or other work product of any reasonable
>   complexity on the OASIS site other than as a zip package or
>   something similar for the user to download and install locally.
>
>6. The OASIS email system is unable to deal with properly formatted
>   MIME messages. It simply discards their contents and forwards a blank
>   message to the list. This is causing considerable frustration and wasted
>   effort. We observe also that several individuals have approached the
>   committee to express frustration with the mailing list software.
>   This situation is inhibiting communications within OASIS TCs thereby
>   slowing down work by its members.
>
>7. The design of the OASIS web server is insufficient for the needs of
>   the DocBook Technical Committee. Before the migration to Kavi, the
>   DocBook TC maintained an area of web space on the server containing
>   almost 4,000 individual pages. No member of the public can be
>   expected to navigate a web space of that size without some
>   navigation system for the pages that are in the space, but the Kavi
>   design offers no mechanism for such an information architecture.
>
>In addition to solving these technical issues, we feel that OASIS
>should give serious consideration to the overall design of the site.
>
>We are concerned that the current design frustrates users ability to
>quickly and conveniently find the information that they need. (Try,
>for example, to find XML Catalogs Committee Specification or the
>minutes of the second UBL meeting)
>
>This frustration, we fear, will make them less likely to return to the
>OASIS site thereby diminishing the organizations important role in the
>industry. Several TC members have already noticed this effect on
>themselves or others in their organizations.
>
>We recognize that technical committees have many different needs. Kavi
>provides facilities for electronic balloting, membership maintenance,
>and meeting scheduling that are valuable. But it is demonstrably
>inadequate in some very key ways: in the presentation of committee
>work products, in the publication of schemas and other ancillary
>materials, in the design and organization of technical committee web
>sites, and in its inability to provide reasonable looking public URIs.
>
>We close with the simple observation that these issues, both the
>technical and non-technical, are driving committees to establish
>entirely independent web sites in order to better serve their user
>communities. It would seem clear that OASIS must re-prioritize some
>staff duties and ensure that immediate, dramatic action is taken if it
>wishes to reverse this trend.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Norman Walsh,
>For the DocBook Technical Committee[1]
>
>[1] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-tc/200402/msg00012.html
>
>
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>
>  
>