2004-10-29

Document Description and Processing Languages (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34)

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is seeking interested parties to participate in the Canadian subcommittee of the Joint ISO/IEC Technical Committee on "Document Description and Processing Languages" (JTC 1/SC 34). Representation is required from the following membership categories: consumers, industry, regulators, and manufacturers.

The scope of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34:
to produce standards for languages and resources for the description and processing of compound and hypermedia documents, including:

    * Standard Generalized Markup Language and support facilities
    * Document processing architecture and formatting for documents represented in SGML
    * Final-form document architecture and Standard Page Description Language
    * Font architecture, interchange format, and services
    * Glyph architecture and registration procedures
    * Hypermedia document structuring language and application resources
    * Content architectures and content notations for document architectures defined or supported by "Document Description and Processing Languages" standards

JTC 1/SC 34 Working Groups (WG):
Working Group (WG) 1 - Information Description is responsible for information description languages, principally the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and auxiliary standards relating to SGML subsets, APIs, testing and registration.

WG 1 projects include:

    * SGML (ISO/IEC 8879)
    * SDIF (ISO/IEC 9069)
    * Registration Procedures for SGML Public Identifiers (ISO/IEC 9070)
    * Technical Reports 9573
    * Conformance Testing for SGML Systems (ISO/IEC 13673)
    * APIs for document processing
    * Document Schema Definition Languages - DSDL - (ISO/IEC 19757)

Working Group (WG) 2 – Information Presentation is responsible for producing standards for languages and resources for the description and processing of compounds and hypermedia documents, including:

    * Document processing architecture and formatting for logical documents
    * Multilingual font information interchange and related services
    * Final-form document architecture and page information interchange
    * APIs for the above document processing.

WG 2 projects include:

    * DSSSL (ISO/IEC 10179)
    * DSSSL library (ISO/IEC TR 19758)
    * Fonts (ISO/IEC 9541)
    * Font Registration (ISO/IEC 10036)
    * SPDL (ISO/IEC 10180)
    * Font Services (ISO/IEC TR 15413)

Working Group (WG) 3 – Information Association is responsible for producing standard architectures for information management and interchange based on ISO 8879, Standard Generalized Markup Language and related standards, including, but not limited to:

    * Information linking and addressing
    * Time-based information management
    * Representation of knowledge structures, indexes, etc.
    * Management of behavioral components in interactive documents

WG 3 projects include:

    * HyTime (ISO/IEC 10744)
    * Topic Maps (ISO/IEC 13250)
    * ISMID -- Interchange Standard for Modifiable Interactive Documents (ISO/IEC 13240)
    * HTML (ISO/IEC 15445)
    * SMDL (ISO/IEC 10743)

Benefits of Participation

    * Membership in the Canadian committee
    * Mailings of draft standards for your information and comment
    * Participation in sub-committees
    * Ability to submit their own initiatives through the Standards Council of Canada
    * Attendance of selected events and committee meetings

What is Expected?

    * Possess the technical knowledge and or experience related to the subject matter.
    * Active participation, commitment and a willingness to undertake committee work and prepare required reports and meeting documents in an electronic environment.
    * Ability and willingness to meet and respect deadlines and follow SCC procedures, directives and committee terms of reference.
    * Ability to travel and attend meetings internationally may be required (typically 1-3 times per year)
    * Represent stakeholder groups and views. Consult with their constituency and bring their concerns to the table.

Individuals are invited to submit their Curriculum Vitae (CV) along with a statement outlining their interest and ability to contribute to the work of the JTC 1/SC 34 and/or its Working Groups by January 6, 2005.

Any questions should be directed to Roz Waddell, Program Officer, JTC 1 by telephone at 613-238-3222 ext. 451 or by email at [email protected].