ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 N466

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34/WG3

Information Technology --
Document Description and Processing Languages
-- Information Association

TITLE:

Recommendations of December 2003 Meeting of WG3

SOURCE:

SC34/WG3

PROJECT:

All WG3 projects

PROJECT EDITOR:

All WG3 editors

STATUS:

Recommendations of WG3 meeting in Philadelphia

ACTION:

 

DATE:

11 December 2003

DISTRIBUTION:

SC34 and Liaisons

REFER TO:

SC34 N442

REPLY TO:


Recommendations of December 2003 Meeting of WG3

1. Conformance issues in the restatement of ISO 13250

Each Part of the new version of ISO 13250 should contain a conformance clause describing requirements for conformance to that specific Part. In the case of Part 1, however, the conformance clause should cover conformance to the standard as a whole, which should be couched in terms of conformance to individual parts. Part 3 will have two levels of conformance: for applications that read and write XTM documents, respectively.

2. ISO 13250-1: Topic Maps -- Overview and Basic Concepts

WG3 accepts N446 as the first Working Draft of Part 1 and confirms the need for a Part 1 to ISO 13250 that provides an overview of the standard as a whole, a description of how the various parts fit together, and a conformance clause for ISO 13250 as a whole. Part 1 should also include an informative annex that provides an introduction to the basic concepts of Topic Maps.

WG3 instructs the Editors to produce a new Working Draft for consideration at the next meeting.

3. ISO 13250-2: Topic Maps -- Data Model

WG3 instructs the Editors of Part 2 to incorporate the decisions taken at the Philadelphia meeting into the next draft of Part 2. The Editors are further instructed to respond to National Body comments received through the CD ballot in N443 and to produce a final draft of Part 2 for consideration for either DIS or FDIS ballot at the next meeting.

4. ISO 13250-3: Topic Maps -- XML Syntax

WG3 instructs the Editors to prepare a new draft of Part 3 incorporating decisions taken at the Philadelphia meeting and submit it to the secretariat for immediate CD ballot.

5. ISO 13250-4: Topic Maps -- Canonical XML Syntax

WG3 accepts N454 as the second Working Draft of Part 4. The Editor is instructed to prepare a new draft based on decisions taken at the Philadelphia meeting and submit it to the secretariat for immediate CD ballot.

In addition, WG3 calls for implementations of the Canonical Syntax in order to test the specification. The goal is to have at least two such implementations available in time for the next meeting.

6. HyTime Syntax (HyTM)

Based on feedback from National Bodies that there is no user community for the HyTime-based Topic Maps syntax (HyTM), WG3 resolves to omit this part from the restatement of ISO 13250.

7. Reference Model

WG3 accepts N447 as draft Use Cases for the Reference Model and instructs the Editors to prepare a new version of this document, based on feedback received during the meeting and on the WG mail list, and to submit the new version for consideration at the Amsterdam meeting. The use cases (and the requirements that underly them) should take as their starting point the intent of the Reference Model as described in N278, which is to "define a reference model for topic maps, which can be used to define the relationships to other knowledge representations." Based on this, WG3 requests a detailed explanation of how the Reference Model might be used to enable the integration of RDF and Topic Maps data.

There exists a lack of concensus in WG3 concerning the requirement for a Reference Model and its role in the restatement of ISO 13250. It is hoped that the next version of the Requirements and Use Cases document will enable this issue to be resolved at the next meeting.

The editors of the Reference Model are directed to submit a revision of the Requirements and Use Cases for consideration at the next meeting. National Bodies and other interested parties are invited to submit use cases to the editors of the Reference Model and/or to the WG3 directly, for discussion at that meeting.

The convenor of WG3 is directed to place the issue of the role of the Reference Model in the restatement of ISO 13250 on the agenda for that meeting and to schedule sufficient time for discussion and decision making by the committee on this issue.

8. ISO 18048 Topic Maps -- Query Language

WG3 accepts N448 as version 1.2 of the User Requirements for TMQL and N449 as draft Use Cases for TMQL. The Editors are instructed to prepare new versions of each for consideration at the next meeting, based on decisions taken at the Philadelphia meeting.

In order to satisfy ISO requirements for progress on this project, the Editors are instructed to prepare a Working Draft of TMQL as soon as possible.

The Editors are furthermore instructed to prepare a document containing solutions to the query examples in Section 5 of N449, together with any others that may be required to demonstrate the characteristic capabilities of the solutions proposed, based on all three proposals that have been put forward (tolog, AstMa, and TMPath). On the basis of that document, the editors are instructed to lead a discussion on the TMQL mail list on the pros and cons of each approach, with a view to choosing one of them as the basis for subsequent drafts of TMQL.

9. ISO 19756 Topic Maps -- Constraint Language

WG3 accepts N405 as User Requirements for TMCL and N408 as a first Working Draft of TMCL.

WG3 appoints Graham Moore and Mary Nishikawa as Editors of TMCL and instructs them to prepare a new Working Draft based on discussions at the Philadelphia meeting for consideration at the next meeting.

10. Topic Maps Remote Access (and Update) Protocol

WG3 thanks Graham Moore for his presentation describing the need for a protocol in support of the exchange of topic map fragments in a distributed environment. Members of WG3 are requested to forward user requirements for such a protocol to him and Ann Wrightson, who will prepare a requirements document for consideration at the next meeting.

11. Next WG3 meeting

The next WG3 meeting will be held in April 2004 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in conjunction with IDEAlliance's XML Europe 2004 conference.