[xmlvoc] OASIS TC Call For Participation: Vocabulary for XML Standardsand Technologies

["Karl F. Best" <karl.best@oasis-open.org>]

A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS Vocabulary
for XML Standards and Technologies Technical Committee (XMLvoc TC) has
been proposed by the following members of OASIS: Tony Coates, Reuters
Plc; Patrick Durusau, Society of Biblical Literature; Eric Freese,
Innodata; Holger Rath, empolis GmbH; Carsten Tautz, empolis GmbH;
Bernard Vatant, Mondeca; and the following individual members: Lars
Marius Garshol and Steve Pepper.

The proposal for a new TC meets the requirements of the OASIS TC Process
(see http://oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml), and is appended to
this message. The proposal, which includes a statement of purpose, list
of deliverables, and proposed schedule, will constitute the TC's
charter. The TC Process allows these items to be clarified (revised) by
the TC members; such clarifications (revisions), as well as submissions
of technology for consideration by the TC and the beginning of technical
discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's first meeting.

To become a member of this new TC you must 1) be an employee of an OASIS
member organization or an Individual member of OASIS; 2) notify the TC
chair, Holger Rath (holger.rath@empolis.com), of your intent to
participate at least 15 days prior to the first meeting; and 3)
participate in the first meeting on 14 March 2002. You should also
subscribe to the TC's discussion list. Note that membership in OASIS TCs
is by individual, and not by organization. You must be eligible for
participation at the time you time you notify the chair.

The private mail list xmlvoc@lists.oasis-open.org is for committee
discussions. TC members as well as any other interested OASIS members
should subscribe to the list by going to the mail list web page at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to
xmlvoc-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as the
body of the message. (Note that subscribing to the mail list does not
make you a member of the TC; to become a member you must contact the TC
chair as described in the preceeding paragraph.)

A public comment list xmlvoc-comment@lists.oasis-open.org will be
available for the public to make comments on the work of this TC; the
public may subscribe to this list by going to the mail list web page at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to
xmlvoc-comment-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as
the body of the message.

The archives of both of these mail lists are visible to the public at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/

</karl>
=================================================================
Karl F. Best
OASIS - Director, Technical Operations
978.667.5115 x206
karl.best@oasis-open.org  http://www.oasis-open.org


Name of the TC

The name of the technical committee is: Vocabulary for XML Standards and
Technologies TC, abbreviated as the XMLvoc TC.

Statement of purpose

This Technical Committee will define a vocabulary for the domain of XML
standards and technologies. The vocabulary will provide a reference set
of concept and relationship types that will enable common access layers;
and thus improved findability; for all types of information relating to
XML, related standards, and the XML community. The vocabulary items will
be defined as Published Subjects, following the recommendations of the
OASIS Topic Maps Published Subjects Technical Committee.

The establishment of the vocabulary as a set of Published Subjects will
enable providers of information about XML to create topic maps, which
will become robustly mergeable and interoperational with other
XML-related topic maps. This in turn will open up the possibility of
collaboratively developing overarching indexes that improve
accessibility to all aspects of XML, its related specifications, the
community that uses it, the tools that support it, and those that
provide services and expertise around it. The use of the defined
Published Subjects is by no means restricted to topic maps: for example,
they could be used in RDF to identify appropriate classes and properties
of resources.

In addition to the core vocabulary, the committee will also deliver
recommendations for creating and registering further Published Subjects
for this application domain. Finally, an example topic map will be
delivered that covers the core concepts and shows how to use the
Published Subjects.

The following list provides an indication of the kinds of subjects that
are expected to be included in the vocabulary. The list employs topic
map terminology to distinguish between subjects for concepts,
relationships, and resources:

* Topic classes: Specification, Concept, Organization, Tool, Tool
category, Vendor, Vendor category, Service, Provider, Service  category,
* Association classes and association member roles: Ownership
(Specification/Organization), Part-whole (Specification/Concept),
Belonging (Tool/Tool category; etc.), Service providing
(Service/Provider),
* Occurrence classes: Definition, Description, Q-and-A,  Article, Press
release, Recommendation, Note,

NOTE: Because XML is nowadays used in numerous applications the TC will
restrict the scope of its vocabulary to "core information technology
standards and technologies". XML applications (standards and
technologies) which do not belong to the core set will be considered to
be out of scope. One of the first tasks of the TC will be to define this
core set and limit the scope to a feasible size.

The work of this technical committee will be closely coordinated with
that of the OASIS Topic Maps Published Subjects Technical Committee
(PubSubj TC). The work of the PubSubj TC will determine the formal
characteristics of the Published Subjects to be defined by this proposed
TC.

Proposed list of deliverables and projected dates (subject to change)

* Draft vocabulary for XML standards and technologies (May 2002)
* Core vocabulary with Published Subjects for XML standards and
technologies (Aug 2002)
* Example topic map in XTM format (Dec 2002)
* Recommendations for the definition of further Published Subjects for
XML standards and technologies (Dec 2002)

Language in which the TC will conduct business: English (speakers of
other languages are encouraged to participate).

Date, time and place of the first meeting

Thursday, Mar. 14, 2002; 02:00-05:00 pm, Seattle (The Westin Seattle
hotel).

Proposed meeting schedule for the first year

* Thursday, Mar. 14, 2002, Seattle (in conjunction with the IDEAlliance
conference "Knowledge Technologies 2002" Mar. 11-13 2002, The Westin
Seattle hotel).
* Wednesday, Apr. 17, 2002, conference call.
* Friday, May 24, 2002, Barcelona (in conjunction with the IDEAlliance
conference "XML Europe 2002", May 19-24 2002, Princess Sofia
Inter-Continental hotel).
* Further dates for 2002 to be announced.

Names and email addresses of proposing members

* Anthony Coates, Reuters Plc, tony.coates@reuters.com
* Patrick Durusau, Society of Biblical Literature, pdurusau@emory.edu
* Eric Freese, Innodata, eric@isogen.com
* Lars Marius Garshol, OASIS individual member, larsga@garshol.priv.no
* Steve Pepper, OASIS individual member, pepper@ontopia.net
* H. Holger Rath, empolis GmbH, holger.rath@empolis.com
* Carsten Tautz, empolis GmbH, carsten.tautz@empolis.com
* Bernard Vatant, Mondeca, bernard.vatant@mondeca.com

Name of chair

H. Holger Rath

Name of meeting sponsors (for both phone and face-to-face meetings)

empolis GmbH and other participants in conjunction with OASIS.