Re: How do we collaborate on our documents?

[Eduardo Gutentag <eduardo.gutentag@eng.sun.com>]

"G. Ken Holman" wrote:
> 
> At 00/08/07 15:14 -0400, David_Marston@lotus.com wrote:
> >I've noticed that our committee pages on the OASIS site are set up to
> >publish working documents, but only at a high level of formality. So far,
> >we have Tony's first cut at the discretionary parts of the specs, but my
> >additions (sent 7/5/2000) are not added in. Is this simply an unfortunate
> >byproduct of the fact that Tony's list was an attachment and mine was
> >embedded in the message body?
> 
> Yes ... if someone would like a document posted to the work area, I am
> currently the bottleneck to do so.
> 
> >Do we need a different way to build these
> >documents collaboratively?
> 
> That would be nice ... but how would we maintain the openness of our
> results as required by procedure?
> 
> >Who will publish the documents in the special
> >section of the Web site?
> 
> Perhaps yes ... perhaps we collaborate out of the public eye and publish
> result on-line, but only for documents ... not for committee discussion, as
> discussion must remain open.
> 
> >In addition to the list of discretionary items, I'm getting ready to send
> >along the start of a list of vague areas in the specs. This, too, will
> >benefit from collaborative assembly of submissions from all list members.
> >We also need to start "talking" about the flags that pertain to individual
> >test cases, possibly to become prescribed comments in the stylesheets. This
> >in turn leads to a discussion of how we express the linkage between a test
> >case and particular passages in the specs.
> 
> I'm anxious to get started on this, as I have little time before my next
> travel obligation.
> 
> >I like the idea that someone could go to the Web site and find a section
> >where they see the latest versions of those and other planning documents.
> 
> This is in keeping with policy ... what is missing is the collaboration
> mechanics.
> 
> >If we need another tool to do the collaborative work of the committee,
> ><plug>Lotus has a wide range of products for collaboration.</plug>
> 
> I am a big fan of the early releases of collaborative tools such as Lotus
> Notes because I was in an environment where this was being used, but have
> not had the opportunity to use this tool for about 4 years and I have not
> needed to assess such web-based tools.
> 
> >Unless I
> >hear of a specific protocol, I'll just send my draft documents to the
> >mailing list.
> 
> I look forward to specific suggestions of what we can use.  I'm sure other
> OASIS committees would be very interested to see how we solve this issue.

I'm not sure how to write this without sounding like a party-pooper, but I
believe that no solution would be acceptable that is not usable on a variety
of platforms, such as Windows/NT, MacOS and Linux/Unix. Is there such a
beast? I honestly don't know. But the alternative would be to engage in
what in a social context would be lableled "discriminatory practices", which,
by the very nature of the OASIS process and membership, we cannot.

Eduardo

> 
> ................ Ken
> 
> --
> G. Ken Holman                    mailto:gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com
> Crane Softwrights Ltd.             http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/m/
> Box 266, Kars, Ontario CANADA K0A-2E0   +1(613)489-0999   (Fax:-0995)
> Web site: XSL/XML/DSSSL/SGML services, training, libraries, products.
> Book: Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath ISBN1-894049-05-5
> Next public instructor-led training:        2000-09-19/20,2000-10-03,
> .2000-10-04,2000-10-05,2000-10-19,2000-11-12,2000-12-03/04,2001-01-27

-- 
Eduardo Gutentag               |         e-mail: eduardo@eng.Sun.COM
XML Technology Center          |         Phone:  (650) 786-5498
Sun Microsystems Inc.          |         fax:    (650) 786-5727