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Cover Pages Archive
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SGML and XML News |
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[November 30, 2000]
XML Key Management Specification (XKMS).
VeriSign, Microsoft, and webMethods have "created the open
XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) with the goal of efficient
integration of digital signatures and encryption -- to simplify the
integration of standard methods for securing Internet transactions
(PKI and digital certificates) with XML applications." The
version 1.0 document XML
Key Management Specification (XKMS) "specifies
protocols for distributing and registering public keys, suitable for
use in conjunction with the proposed standard for XML Signature
developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) and an anticipated companion standard
for XML encryption. The XML Key Management Specification (XKMS)
comprises two parts -- the XML Key Information Service Specification
(X-KISS) and the XML Key Registration Service Specification
(X-KRSS). The X-KISS specification defines a protocol for a Trust
service that resolves public key information contained in XML-SIG
elements. The X-KISS protocol allows a client of such a service to
delegate part or all of the tasks required to process <ds:KeyInfo>
elements. A key objective of the protocol design is to minimize the
complexity of application implementations by allowing them to become
clients and thereby shielded from the complexity and syntax of the
underlying PKI used to establish trust relationships. These may be
based upon a different specification such as X.509/PKIX, SPKI or
PGP. The X-KRSS specification defines a protocol for a web service
that accepts registration of public key information. Once
registered, the public key may be used in conjunction with other web
services including X-KISS. Both protocols are defined in terms of
structures expressed in the XML Schema Language, protocols employing
the Simple Object Application Protocol (SOAP) v1.1 and relationships
among messages defined by the Web services Definition Language v1.0
(WSDL). Other compatible expressions are possible." The public announcement
for XKMS reads, in part: "VeriSign Inc., Microsoft Corp. and
webMethods Inc. have introduced a breakthrough XML-based framework,
the XML key management specification (XKMS), to enable a broad range
of software developers to seamlessly integrate digital signatures
and data encryption into e-commerce applications. To accelerate the
development of applications incorporating these advanced
technologies, the XKMS specification -- jointly designed and
prototyped by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods with industry
support from other technology leaders -- was made publicly available
today and will be submitted to the appropriate Web standards bodies
for consideration as an open Internet standard. In addition, XKMS
will be built into the Microsoft.NET architecture to ensure broad
and rapid adoption of this framework in both B2B and B2C
environments. The new XKMS specification revolutionizes the
development of trusted B2B and B2C applications by introducing an
open framework that enables virtually any developer to easily access
applications from any public key infrastructure products and
services. With the XKMS specification, developers are able to
integrate advanced technologies such as digital signature handling
and encryption into their web-based applications. The XKMS
specification promotes the interoperability of advanced technologies
because it is based on XML, a rapidly growing standard for
application development. Currently, developers choosing to enable
applications to handle digital keys for authentication and digital
signatures are often required to purchase and integrate specialized
toolkits from a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) software vendor
which only interoperate with that vendor's PKI offerings. Functions
such as digital certificate processing, revocation status checking,
and certification path location and validation are all built into
the application via the toolkit. With the new XKMS specification,
those functions are no longer built into the application but instead
reside in servers that can be accessed via easily programmed XML
transactions. The XKMS architecture, along with the recently drafted
XML digital signature standards and the emerging XML encryption
standard, provides a complete framework for ensuring broad
interoperability across applications developed by enterprises, B2B
exchanges and other Internet communities of interest. XKMS is also
compatible with the emerging standards for Web Services Description
Language (WSDL) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)..."
For other description and references, see "XML
Key Management Specification (XKMS)."
[November 30, 2000]
VeriSign's Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP).
Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) is one of four principal
components in the VeriSign
XML Trust Services suite recently announced
in connection with the XML Key Management Specification (XKMS).
Overview: "To enable Internet registrars that sell online
identity services to access central domain name registry data more
efficiently, VeriSign has developed the EPP (Extensible Provisioning
Protocol) to support an XML-based domain name management utility.
EPP enables VeriSign Global Registry Services' accredited registrar
partners to sell domain names, telephone numbers, and other identity
assets via EPP, which permits greater information sharing and
flexibility as new identification technologies gain acceptance...
The Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) is a connection-oriented,
application layer client-server protocol for the provisioning and
management of objects stored in a shared central repository.
Specified in the schema notation of the Extensible Markup Language
(XML), the protocol defines generic object management operations and
an extensible framework that maps protocol operations to objects. A
complete set of protocol specifications was recently published with
the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as Internet-Draft
documents. XML provides a rich set of features that allows
communicating peers to create data tags that have semantic meaning
in the operating environment shared by the peers. While in general
this is a very desirable feature, it introduces an element of
instability for protocol designers. Once a protocol has been
formally specified, adding new tags to extend the protocol means
changes to published specifications. Over time this can lead to a
lack of interoperable implementations and specification confusion.
EPP takes a different approach. The base protocol itself is very
simple, defining a set of object management features that are not
explicitly tied to specific objects. The base protocol is intended
to be stable and unchanging to ease development of interoperable
implementations. EPP operations are mapped to objects using XML
namespaces that provide 'hooks' to loosely coupled object
specifications so that definitions for management of new objects can
be done outside the base protocol. For example, the protocol can be
extended to support provisioning of purchase orders by defining a
new specification that defines how purchase order objects are
managed. EPP provides features for session management, object query,
and object management. Sessions are established between a client and
a server, and once a session is established the client and server
exchange commands and responses. Security services are available at
both the application and transport layers. The EPP protocol suite
currently contains a base protocol specification and mappings for
three different objects: Internet domain names, Internet host names,
and 'contact' identifiers associated with humans and organizations'.
Specifications for other objects may be developed as needs are
identified. EPP is connection oriented, but transport independent. A
specification for transport using the Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP) exists; specifications for transport using other protocols or
applications frameworks may be produced in the future." There
are five published components in the EPP Specification: (1) Base
Specification, (2) Domain
Name Mapping, (3) Host
Mapping, (4) Contact
Mapping, (5) Transport
over TCP. For other references, see "Extensible
Provisioning Protocol (EPP)."
[November 30, 2000]
XMLPay Specification.
VeriSign, Ariba, and other vendors have created the XMLPay
specification "for sending payment requests and responses
through financial networks; [the specification is designed] to help
Internet merchants process a broad range of Web-based payment types,
including credit debit card, purchase card, and Automated
Clearinghouse, or ACH payments, for B2B and B2C e-commerce. The
XMLPay Specification consists of three parts. (1) 'XMLPay: Core' is
the heart of XMLPay. It defines the basic XML datatypes needed to
unify B2C and B2B payment processing applications. (2) 'XMLPay:
Registration' captures automation of payment-related enrollment
functions, such as merchant registration and configuration. (3)
'XMLPay: Reports' specifies mechanisms for automating merchant
transaction reporting functions in the payments back office. The
first of these specifications, XMLPay Core, is available now
[2000-11-30] Teams working on XMLPay are planning to extend the
functionality to registration and reporting. The driving goal is to
provide a public specification for Web payment interoperability,
from merchant service sign-up, to payment execution, to reporting
functions after payments have taken place." From the text of
the specification: "This document, the XMLPay 1.0 Core
Specification, defines an XML syntax for payment transaction
requests, responses, and receipts in a payment processing network.
The typical user of XMLPay is an Internet merchant or merchant
aggregator who wants to dispatch credit card, corporate purchase
card, Automated Clearing House (ACH), or other payment requests to a
financial processing network. Using the data type definitions
specified by XMLPay, a user creates a client payment request and
dispatches it -- using a mechanism left unspecified by XMLPay -- to
an associated XMLPay-compliant server component. Responses are also
formatted in XML and convey the results of the payment requests to
the client. XMLPay includes support for digitally-signed XML
objects. Digital signatures are used both for the purpose of
authenticating requests and responses and as a foundation for a
higher-level digital receipt architecture based on an X.509 Public
Key Infrastructure. XMLPay uses the digital signature format being
specified by the joint IETF/W3C XML Digital Signature Working
Group." Appendix A, "XMLPay Schemas," provides
standard W3C schemas for XMLPay and XMLPay Types; Appendix B,
"XMLPay DTD," presents the Document Type Definition for
XMLPay... XMLPay supports payment processing using the following
payment instruments: (1) Retail credit and debit cards; (2)
Corporate purchase cards: Levels 1, 2 and 3; (3) Internet checks;
(4) ACH. Typical XMLPay operations include: (1) Funds authorization
and capture; (2) Sales and repeat sales; (3) Voiding of
transactions. XMLPay is intended for use in both
Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) payment
processing applications. In a B2C transaction, the Buyer presents a
payment instrument (e.g., credit card number) to a Seller in
order move money from the Buyer to the Seller (or vice-versa in the
case of a credit or refund). Use of XMLPay comes into play when the
Seller needs to forward the Buyer's payment information on to a
Payment Processor. The Seller formats a XMLPayRequest and submits it
either directly to an XMLPay-compliant payment processor or, as
pictured, indirectly via a XMLPay-compliant Payment Gateway.
Responses have type XMLPayResponse. The Buyer-to-Seller and Payment
Gateway-to-Payment Processor channels are typically left unaffected
by use of XMLPay. For example, XMLPay is typically not used in
direct communications between the buyer and the seller. Instead,
conventional HTML form submission or other Internet communication
methods are typically used. Similarly, because Payment Processors
often differ considerably in the formats they specify for payment
requests, it is often desired to localize XMLPay server logic at the
Payment Gateway, leaving the legacy connections between gateways and
processors unchanged. When used in support of B2B transactions, the
Seller does not typically initiate XMLPay requests. Instead, an
aggregator or trading exchange uses XMLPay to communicate
business-focused purchasing information (such as level 3 corporate
purchase card data) to a payment gateway. In this way, the trading
exchange links payment execution to other XML-based communications
between Buyers and Sellers such as Advance Shipping Notice delivery,
Purchase Order communication, or other B2B communication
functions..." For references, see "XMLPay
Specification."
[November 29, 2000]
Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium Publishes XML
Specification for Drug Development and Regulatory Review Processes.
A recent announcement
from the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC)
describes the completed development of FDA safety domain metadata
models and an XML DTD for clinical data interchange. The XML
DTD and associated
documentation from the CDISC Operational Data Modeling Group
are available for download. The announcement says, in part:
"The Clinical
Data Interchange Standards Consortium has achieved two
significant milestones towards its goal of standard data models to
streamline drug development and regulatory review processes. CDISC
participants have completed metadata models for the 12 safety
domains listed in the FDA Guidance regarding Electronic Submissions
and have produced a revised XML-based data model to support data
acquisition and archive. The Submissions Data Standards team has
been working since early 1999 to define a metadata model that is
designed to: (1) provide regulatory submission reviewers with clear
descriptions of the usage, structure, contents and attributes of all
submitted datasets and variables; (2) allow reviewers to replicate
analyses, tables, graphs and listings with minimal or no
transformations; (3) enable reviewers to easily view and subset the
data used to generate any analysis, table, graph or listing without
complex programming. This team, under the leadership of Wayne Kubick
of Lincoln Technologies, and Dave Christiansen of Genentech,
presented their metadata models to a group of representatives at the
FDA on October 10 and discussed future cooperative efforts with
Agency reviewers. The CDISC Operational Data Modeling (ODM) Working
Group released their Version 1.0 model for data acquisition,
interchange and archive. A small, interdisciplinary team was formed
in September of 1999 to examine two different XML-based data
interchange models (which had been separately put forward by
PHT/Lincoln Technologies and by Phase Forward) -- specifically to
assess the feasibility of developing an integrated, CDISC standard
data and metadata model to support data acquisition. The resulting
CDISC model is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML), which
is gaining wide acceptance as a general data interchange framework,
and has been determined to be an effective approach to clinical data
interchange. The goal of the CDISC XML Document Type Definition
(DTD) Version 1.0 is to make available a first release of the
definition of this CDISC model, in order to support sponsors,
vendors and CROs in the design of systems and processes around a
standard interchange format. 'The release of the CDISC Version 1.0
DTD provides the industry with a foundation of standards that will
support unprecedented improvements in the quality and efficiency of
future data interchange,' said Ken Harter, senior systems analyst,
Amgen Inc. Both CDISC models can be reviewed at http://www.cdisc.org/publications.html.
Comments are requested by January 31, 2001 and should be posted
using the CDISC Web site Discussions option. CDISC is a non-profit
organization with a mission to lead the development of standard,
vendor-neutral, platform-independent data models that improve
process efficiency while supporting the scientific nature of
clinical research in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare
industries." For additional description and references, see "Clinical
Data Interchange Standards Consortium."
[November 29, 2000]
Submissions to the OMG Gene Expression RFP.
Several submissions have now been published in response to the
Object Management Group's Gene
Expression RFP, originally issued in March 2000 (LSR
RFP-7/lifesci/00-03-09). The RFP overview: "Life sciences
research has experienced rapid growth in the number of gene
expression analysis techniques and is faced with explosive growth in
the amount of data produced by these experiments. The creation and
adoption of standardized programmatic interfaces is a crucial step
in support of automated data exchange and interoperability among
different gene expression data systems. This RFP solicits proposals
which define interfaces and services in support of array based gene
expression data collection, management, retrieval, and
analysis." The RFP also requests definition of one or more XMI
compliant Document Type Definitions (DTDs) "intended for use as
self-describing data structures for encapsulation of hybridization,
expression, and cluster data." In response to this RFP,
relevant documents have been submitted by the European
Bioinformatics Institute, Rosetta Inpharmatics, and NetGenics. (1)
The EBI
Initial Submisison regarding the Gene Expression RFP proposes
"a framework for describing information about a DNA-array
experiment and a data format -- Microarray Markup Language (MAML) --
for communicating this information... MAML
is based on the Extensible Markup Language XML. MAML is independent
of the particular experimental platform and provides a framework for
describing experiments done on all types of DNA-arrays, including
spotted and synthesized arrays, as well as oligo-nucleotide and cDNA
arrays, and is independent of the particular image analysis and data
normalization methods. MAML does not impose any particular image
analysis or data normalization method, but instead provides format
to represent microarray data in a flexible way, which allows to
represent data obtained from not only any existing microarray
platforms, but also many of the possible future variants, including
protein arrays. The format allows representation of raw and
processed microarray data. The format is compatible with the
definition of the 'minimum information about a microarray
experiment' (MIAME) proposed by the MGED
group. (2) On behalf of the GEML Community, Rosetta
Inpharmatics has submitted to the Object Management Group (OMG) a
proposed DTD based on the new version of Gene Expression Markup
Language - GEML 2.0. Rosetta
Inpharmatics Initial Submission regarding the Gene Expression RFP
describes work in connection with the GEML DTD: "Rosetta
Inpharmatics and Agilent Technologies have been using the GEML 1.0
format as part of internal pipelines for the past year. Rosetta has
been continuously loading XML files on the order of thirteen
megabytes into the Rosetta Resolver system, an enterprise expression
data analysis product. We recently used internal tools to export the
more than one thousand profiles, assigned annotations, and
supporting patterns that constituted the data for the article,
Functional Discovery via a Compendium of Expression Profiles, that
appeared in the July 7, 2000 issue of Cell. The total size of the
export, when compressed, was a little over a half of gigabyte of
data. That data was then imported by Harvard into their Rosetta
Resolver system. We have not, as of yet, implemented the interfaces
contained in this proposal but given that the size of the compressed
XML files has proven no technical obstacle, we see no technical
problems in implementing the interfaces. Rosetta has developed the
freeware GEML Conductor tools for visualization of GEML formatted
data and for conversion of gene expression data in other formats
into GEML." See the XML
DTD and IDL
file. (3) In the NetGenics
Submission, the UML model is normative. "The UML, which
follows the recently adopted UML Profile for CORBA, permits semantic
specifications that go beyond what is expressible in IDL. Given the
size of typical data sets, a stream-based externalization approach
makes sense. The stream would likely contain XML (e.g.,
Rosetta Inpharmatics' GEML), a popular means of representing gene
expression data..." See the associated XMI
file for details. See also: (1) "Gene
Expression Markup Language (GEML)"; (2) "OMG
Gene Expression RFP"; and (3) "Microarray
Markup Language (MAML)."
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[November 29, 2000]
Conversion Tool for DAML-O, RDF Schema, and UML/XMI.
A posting from Sergey
Melnik and Stefan Decker
(Stanford University) announces the availability of an online tool
for converting between different data representations. The
conversion tool is documented on the Interdataworking
web site. This work-in-progress tool features: "(1) support for
conversion between DAML-O, RDF
Schema, and UML/XMI;
(2) translation between quad and built-in reification,
representation of order using 'RDF Seq' and 'order-by-reification'
mechanisms; (3) support for conversion from Protégé
RDF files to DAML-O restrictions; (4) a new XML serializer for RDF
(trivial RDF/XML syntax) with support for embedded models and
statements." The web site "provides a testbed for the
concept of gateways in the 'interdataworking' technology.
Interdataworking is a novel software structuring technique that
facilitates data exchange between heterogeneous applications. The
testbed supports data conversion from one format into another; the
source data can be specified using a URL or uploaded as a file from
your file system. You can choose a parser for your data. The object
model delivered by the parser is sent through a sequence of
gateways. The list of gateways can be selected, and the order is
important. The result is output using a specified
serializer..." Theoretical background may be found in papers
written by the developers: (1) "A
Layered Approach to Information Modeling and Interoperability on the
Web" (Melnik and Decker), and (2) "Representing
UML in RDF" (Melnik). See related resources in "XML
and 'The Semantic Web'."
[November 28, 2000]
W3C Releases Jigsaw WebDAV Package.
The W3C's Jigsaw
development team recently released a downloadable
version of the Jigsaw Web
server platform with a WebDAV package. Jigsaw is a W3C
Open Source Project which provides a sample HTTP 1.1
implementation and a variety of other features on top of an advanced
architecture implemented in Java. The new WebDAV
implementation is "based on Jigsaw 2.1.2, and has been
tested with cadaver, DAVExplorer and WebFolders." WebDAV
(Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is an XML based
protocol which "defines a set of new methods (PROPFIND,
PROPPATCH, MKCOL, COPY, MOVE, LOCK, UNLOCK) and a set of new headers
(DAV, Depth, If, Destination, ...); it supplies a set of extensions
to the HTTP protocol which allows users to collaboratively edit and
manage files on remote web servers." For additional references,
see: (1) the WebDAV
FAQ document; (2) the article
by Tom Bednarz showing how to enable WebDAV (mod_dav) for
the Apache server that ships with Mac OSX (beta); (3) "WEBDAV
(Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World
Wide Web."
[November 27, 2000]
IEEE Workshop on XML-Enabled Wide Area Search in Bioinformatics
(XEWA).
A two-day IEEE Workshop on XML-Enabled Wide Area Search in
Bioinformatics (XEWA) will be held on December 13-14, 2000. The XEWA
workshop is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, Mass
Storage Systems and Technology Technical Committee. Workshop goals
will be to: "(1) Enumerate relevant service types for
bioinformatics; (2) Prioritize services according to those whose
availability would provide the most bang for the buck; (3) Explore
alternative representations for representing the schemata (e.g.,
RDF, XML, XOL), and converge on one or a few preferable options; (4)
Produce several service-oriented schemata that provide the
'connective tissue' needed to access existing sites and services
using a representation neutral format (e.g., ER / OO / UML
diagrams... The goal of the XEWA workshop is to define a format
capable of describing how to interact with a data source. This
format should be simple enough to enter the description by hand,
flexible enough to link in to existing ontologies, and descriptive
enough to be useful to automated tools trying to access the
source." Background and rationale: "There are well over
500 public domain data sources of interest to genomics/proteomics
researchers. Many of these 'data sources' do more than just provide
data, they also provide access to a wide range of services. A good
example of this are sequence homology search engines. Given the
differences in interfaces, syntax and semantics between sites, there
is no practical path for a given researcher or research team to use
more than a few. Data warehouses, federated systems, and the like
help, but only a little. The number of new sources coming online
every year, and the number of changes to existing sources, is simply
overwhelming. This is one of the major problems driving
bioinformatics today. We picture a genomics world in which
scientists, search engines, and soft-bots can browse and execute
(limited) queries against a wide range of sites, with no significant
per-site overhead. Rather than attempting to integrate these sources
(thus allowing complex queries against few sites), we advocate
providing just enough connective tissue to allow semi-intelligent
agents or search engines to execute simplified queries against
hundreds of sites. The connective tissue can take the form of a
collection of loose, service-oriented "schemata" that
provide such systems with the information needed to work their way
through the interface at each site, to get to the underlying
services. A schema might include structured metadata with
domain-specific information, a thesaurus, service descriptions, and
typical web interfaces." For additional information, see the call
for papers and the workshop
program. In addition to the "500+ public domain data
sources", there are well over a dozen XML DTDs and schemas for
bioinformatic and genome mapping disciplines. See for example: (1) Gene
Expression Markup Language (GEML); (2) CellML;
(3) Genome
Annotation Markup Elements (GAME); (4) XML
for Multiple Sequence Alignments (MSAML); (5) Systems
Biology Markup Language (SBML); (6) Bioinformatic
Sequence Markup Language (BSML); (7) BIOpolymer
Markup Language (BIOML); (8) "The
Clone Annotation DTD"; (9) MAML
DTD (microarray format markup language, being developed by a
community of developers in the Array
XML Working Group -- including Berkerley, NCBI, EBI, NCGR,
Stanford -- as part of the MGED
initiative).
[November 27, 2000]
OASIS XML-Based Security Services Technical Committee to Define
Security Framework.
An OASIS Technical Committee for 'XML-Based Security Services' is
being formed with the goal of defining a "framework for sharing
security information and security services on the Internet through
XML documents." The initial members are from Sun Microsystems,
JamCracker, and Netegrity. Projected deliverables include "a
set of XML Schemas and an XML-based request/response protocol for
authentication and authorization services. A draft of the Committee
Specification (Version 0.8) will be based on the Security Services
Markup Language (S2ML) co-authored by Netegrity, Inc. and its
partners. The Committee Specification Version 0.8 will be ready by
December 15, 2000. The final Committee Specification (Version 1.0)
is scheduled for the second quarter 2001. The XML-Based Security
Services TC intends to submit the Committee Specification as an
OASIS standard after sufficient implementation experience has been
gathered..." Subscription to the associated OASIS mailing list
is open to anyone: send subscribe as the body of an email
message to security-services-request@lists.oasis-open.org.
For additional description and references, see (1) "Security
Services Markup Language (S2ML)" and (2) the text of the
announcement.
[November 25, 2000]
DAML-ONT Specification and DAML-ONT Theoretic Semantics Model.
The "DARPA
Agent Mark Up Language (DAML)" is part of a new effort to
"help bring the 'semantic web' into being, focusing on the
eventual creation of a web logic language. DAML is being designed as
an XML-based semantic language that ties the information on a page
to machine-readable semantics (ontology). DAML represents joint work
between DoD, industry and academia in both the US and the European
Community and we hope it will lead to the eventual web standard in
this area." The W3C mailing list 'www-rdf-logic@w3.org' now
hosts a very active discussion on the developing DAML
Ontology Language Specification, released in October 2000.
Several new resources are available from the project web sites. The DAML
Ontology Library provides a summary of submitted ontologies,
sortable by URI, Submission Date, Keyword, Open Directory Category,
Class, Property, Funding Source, and Submitting Organization. A
technical document by Richard Fikes and Deborah L. McGuinness "A
Model Theoretic Semantics for DAML-ONT" outlines a
"model-theoretic semantics for the DAML-ONT language by
providing a set of first-order logic axioms that can be assumed to
hold in any logical theory that is considered to be logically
equivalent translation of a DAML-ONT ontology. The intent is to
provide a precise, succinct, and formal description of the relations
and constants in DAML-ONT (e.g., complementOf,
intersectionOf, Nothing). The axioms provide that description by
placing a set of restrictions on the possible interpretations of
those relations and constants. The axioms are written in ANSI
Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF), which is a proposed ANSI
standard. The document is organized as an augmentation of the DAML-ONT
specification. Each set of axioms and their associated comments
have been added to the specification document immediately following
the portion of the specification for which they provide semantics.
For example, the axioms providing semantics for the property complementOf
immediately follow the XML property element that defines complementOf.
We have maintained the ordering of the definitions from the original
DAML-ONT specification, although that ordering is not optimal for
understanding the axioms. In particular, the following terms are
used in axioms before they are defined in the document: Class,
Property, domain, range, type, List." An "Annotated
DAML Ontology Markup - Walkthrough" supplies an example
DAML Ontology; the example ontology demonstrates each of the
features in DAML-ONT, an initial specification for DAML Ontologies.
Other recently published resources include documents comparing DAML
(or DAML-ONT) to: (1) "Simple
HTML Ontology Extensions (SHOE)" and "Ontology
Interchange Language (OIL)." For additional information,
see (1) the archives
of the W3C discussion list for DAML-ONT
('www-rdf-logic@w3.org'); (2) the DAML
web site; (3) "DARPA
Agent Mark Up Language (DAML)."
[November 25, 2000]
RELAX Core Published as ISO/IEC DIS 22250-1 with Technical Report
in English.
urata Makoto recently
announced that RELAX Core
has been released as an ISO document: ISO/IEC DIS 22250-1.
Text and office systems -- Regular Language Description for XML
(RELAX) -- Part 1: RELAX Core Document Type: DIS (Fast
Track). Voting on the DIS will end on 2001-05-02. An English
translation of the RELAX Core specification (JIS TR) is now
available in PDF
and .DOC
formats. A copy of the DIS is available from ISO for standard ISO
charges. The original TR specification (JIS TR X 0029:2000, Regular
Language Description for XML (RELAX): RELAX Core) available
in English is a 36-page technical report which "specifies
mechanisms for formally specifying the syntax of XML-based
languages. For example, the syntax of XHTML 1.0 can be specified in
RELAX. Compared with DTDs, RELAX provides the following advantages:
(1) Specification in RELAX uses XML instance (i.e., document)
syntax, (2) RELAX provides rich datatypes, and (3) RELAX is
namespace-aware. The RELAX specification consists of two parts,
RELAX Core and RELAX Namespace. This Technical Report specifies
RELAX Core, which may be used to describe markup languages
containing a single XML namespace. Part 2 of this Technical Report
specifies RELAX Namespace, which may be used to describe markup
languages containing more than a single XML namespace, consisting of
more than one RELAX Core document. Given a sequence of elements, a
software module called the RELAX Core processor compares it against
a specification in RELAX Core and reports the result. The RELAX Core
processor can be directly invoked by the user, and can also be
invoked by another software module called the RELAX Namespace
processor. This Technical Report also specifies a subset of RELAX
Core, which is restricted to DTD features plus datatypes. This
subset is very easy to implement, and with the exception of datatype
information, conversion between this subset and XML DTDs results in
no information loss. RELAX Core uses the built-in datatypes of XML
Schema Part 2. Datatypes can be used as conditions on attributes or
used as hedge models. The TR also defines some datatypes specific to
RELAX." Annex A supplies an XML DTD for RELAX Core. Annex B
gives a RELAX Module for RELAX Core. For related XML schema
research, see "XML
Schemas."
[November 24, 2000]
W3C's Amaya 4.1 Browser/Editor Supports Advanced Features.
W3C has announced the release of Amaya
version 4.1, supporting HTML 4.0, XHTML 1.0, HTTP 1.1, MathML 2.0,
and many CSS 2 features; it also provides RDF and XPointer/Xlink
support in connection with its collaborative annotation system. Source
code and binaries
are available for download; see also the CVS
database. Description: "Amaya is W3C's own versatile
editor/browser. With the extremely fast moving nature of Web
technology, Amaya plays a central role at the Consortium. Easily
extended to integrate new ideas into its design, Amaya provides
developers with many specialized features including multiple views,
where the internal structural model of the document can be displayed
alongside the browser's view of how it should be presented on the
screen. Amaya has a counterpart called Jigsaw which plays a similar
role on the server side. Amaya is a complete Web browsing and
authoring environment and comes equipped with a WYSIWYG style of
interface, similar to that of the more popular commercial browsers.
Amaya maintains a consistent internal document model adhering to the
Document Type Definition (DTD), meaning that it handles the
relationships between various document components: paragraphs,
headings, lists and so on, as laid down in the relevant W3C
Recommendation." Amaya offers advanced transport protocols
support (e.g., content negotiation and 'keep alive'
connections per libwww and HTTP/1.1), CSS stylesheet
editing/publishing, WYSIWYG interface editing and rendering of
mathematical expressions (MathML), and advanced graphics support (e.g.,
PNG, Scalable Vector Graphics). Amaya 4.X also "includes a
collaborative annotation application based on Resource Description
Framework (RDF), XLink, and XPointer. From the technical point of
view, annotations are usually seen as metadata, as they give
additional information about an existing piece of data. In this
project, we use a special RDF annotation schema for describing
annotations. Annotations can be stored locally or in one or more
annotation servers. When a document is browsed, Amaya queries each
of these servers, requesting the annotations related to that
document. Amaya uses XPointer
to describe where an annotation should be attached to a document.
With this technique, it is possible to annotate any Web document
independently, without needing to edit that document. Finally Amaya
presents annotations with pencil annotation icons and attaches XLink
attributes to these icons. If the user single-clicks on an
annotation icon, the text that was annotated is highlighted. If the
user double-clicks on this icon, the annotation text and other
metadata are presented in a separate window..." For
documentation on the RDF/XPointer implementation, see: (1) "Annotations
in Amaya"; (2) "Annotation
Server HOWTO" ['how to set up and use an W3C-Perllib
Annotations server']; (3) the special RDF annotation
schema.
[November 22, 2000]
XEXPR - A Scripting Language for XML.
W3C has acknowledged
a submission from eBusiness Technologies, Inc. for XEXPR
- A Scripting Language for XML. Reference: W3C Note 21
November 2000, by Gavin Thomas Nicol
(Chief Scientist, eBusiness Technologies, Inc.). Document abstract:
"In many applications of XML, there is a requirement for using
XML in conjunction with a scripting language. Many times, this
results in a scripting language such as JavaScript being bound
within the XML content (like the <script> tag). XEXPR is a
scripting language that uses XML as its primary syntax, making it
easily embeddable in an XML document. In addition, XEXPR takes a
functional approach, and hence maps well onto the syntax of
XML." An associated specification XTND
- XML Transition Network Definition (published as a
separate NOTE) provides a generic DTD which uses XEXPR. Description:
"In XML-based standards there often arises the need for two
components: (1) A component for describing, declaratively, a set of
states, and transitions between them: for example, when describing
business processes, protocols, or decision trees. (2) A component
allowing logic to be embedded into the XML. This submission is made
up of two parts: XTND and XEXPR. XTND is a generic DTD that can be
used for describing transition networks, and their interaction with
the outside world. XEXPR is a scripting language that uses XML
syntax, and hence is designed to be embedded in XML. XTND uses
XEXPR. eBT is submitting these two specifications to the W3C in the
hope that they will be incorporated into future specifications that
need such functionality." The XTND part of the specification
(XML Transition Network Definition), published as W3C Note
21-November-2000, provides formal constructs for encoding states and
transitions in events in processes. Description: "In many
systems, transition networks are used to describe a set of states
and the transitions that are possible between them. Common examples
are such things as ATM control flows, editorial review processes,
and definitions of protocol states. Typically, each of these
transition networks has its own specific data format, and it's own
specific editing tool. Given the rapid transition to pervasive
networking, and to application integration and interchange, a
standard format for transition networks is desirable. This document
defines such an interchange format, defined in XML: the interchange
language for the Internet... Loosely speaking, a transition network
is a set of states and the transitions between them. They are good
at capturing the notion of process. For example: (1) Control
processes such as those in a digitally controlled heating system.
(2) Processes controlling manufacture or design. (3) Workflow
processes such as those found in product data management software.
They are also useful in modeling the behavior of systems and can be
used in object-oriented analysis to create formal models of object
interaction and larger system behavior. Transition networks are
closely related to finite state machines (FSM), and to data flow
diagrams(DFD), but they are augmented with the following
capabilities: (1) Transition networks are not limited to
"accepting or rejecting their input". Transition networks
may execute actions or fire off events during transitions. (2)
Transition networks can interact with other objects, thereby
affecting change in the transition network (or in other networks).
(3) Transitions in transition networks can be controlled by guard
conditions that prohibit or allow the transition to be followed. (4)
These guard conditions can be dependent on any predicate involving
objects from within the environment of the transition network. As
such, transition networks can be used to describe far more complex
interactions or processes than either FSMs or DFDs allow." The W3C
staff comment says in part: "It is common to combine the
declarative potential of XML with imperative scripting languages
such as ECMAScript. The submission defines a new scripting language
(XEXPR) which is itself expressed directly in XML. The language
takes a functional approach and avoids the need for further parsing
machinery as would be needed for a syntax featuring infix operators.
The submission demonstrates the use of XML for defining a functional
scripting language and for representing finite state transition
networks. This may prove to be of interest to future W3C work on
dialogs for human-computer interaction, and more generally as a
component for a Web application framework. Current W3C work on voice
browsers is taking a different approach, using a form filling
metaphor for representing dialogs, with a focus on easy authoring
for voice applications. This work is drawing upon rich experience
with earlier markup languages for voice interaction, and it is
unclear whether the more abstract approach presented in the
submission is relevant. W3C's work on forms is using XML Schema as
the basis for the modelling data, with the addition of dynamic
integrity constraints that act over multiple fields. For example,
the total value of an order can be defined in terms of a computation
over the values of other fields such as unit prices, quantities,
discounts, and tax and shipping costs. Such computations can be
conveniently represented as expressions that evaluate to typed
values. The focus is on a simple side-effect free representation of
constraints, based upon the type system defined by XML Schema and
the use of XPath for addressing form data. The XML scripting
language proposed in the submission could be of interest to the
XForms working group, but may prove to be too complicated, for the
restricted requirements for forms. XForms is expected to have to
interoperate with popular scripting languages such as ECMAScript.
This avoids the need for the constraint language to evolve into a
general purpose scripting language."
[November 22, 2000]
empolis K42 Knowledge Server.
Jasmin Franz (STEP
Electronic Publishing Solutions GmbH) recently posted an announcement
for the release of an evaluation
version of its 'K42 knowledge server'. Excerpts: "empolis,
a world class provider of knowledge management solutions, proudly
announces the beta release of empolis K42, its cutting edge
knowledge server that is fully compliant with the ISO standard Topic
Maps (see www.topicmaps.com).
The free evaluation is available at www.empolis.co.uk.
Knowledge management is recognised as a crucial part of utilising
information assets, whether it is for corporate or commercial
publishers. empolis K42 Knowledge Server provides a real time,
persistent and scalable solution to approaching knowledge
management. Written in Java, in order to aid cross-platform support,
it has an extensive API allowing it to be customised and extended to
better meet customer's individual requirements. Utilising the latest
standards including XML, XLink, Topic Maps, and XTM, empolis K42
provides access to knowledge through its Knowledge Author and
Knowledge Navigator components - both of which run within a web
browser. The Gartner Group said of Topic Maps: 'the paradigm is
powerful, flexible and extensible, topic maps will become a
mainstream technology by 2003.' empolis employees are actively
involved in the Topic Maps and XTM standard developments. empolis
K42 provides a new paradigm for organising, maintaining and
navigating information. The information models it stores are
independent of the physical domain in which that information
resides. These models can provide the routes to information, such as
a set of web resources on a server and do not have to be contained
within that information. As a result they can be used to deploy
information sets in different environments with different
requirements, and can also be personalised by individual users and
user communities... Some of the highlights of empolis K42 Knowledge
Server: (1) empolis K42 provides a Knowledge Author component to
enable the creation and maintenance of the knowledge data. It allows
the knowledge server to be updated in real time. (2) Knowledge
Navigator provides a delivery solution that can be rapidly
implemented to enable companies to deliver the knowledge data in
their own corporate style through the use of XML and XSL. (3)
empolis K42 is written in Java in order to aid cross-platform
support and has a comprehensive API to expose the functionality it
provides and to enable customisation and integration of the
software. (4) empolis K42 has already been tested to persist and
provide access to over a million topics and is designed to scale to
tens of millions. empolis K42, as a beta version, utilises and
supports the Topic Map standard. But empolis K42 is a knowledge
server that will enable portals, corporates and communities to
capture, manage and deliver valuable knowledge assets. As such,
empolis K42 will support not only Topic Maps but will include other
such effective standards that help capture and express
knowledge." For reference, see "(XML)
Topic Maps."
[November 22, 2000]
XSLTDoc for Browsing XSLT Stylesheets.
Jeni Tennison
recently announced the (alpha) availability of a tool designed to
help people browse their stylesheets. The tool itself is an XSLT
application. "For beginners, it gives a description of what
each instruction is doing in theory (it doesn't trace the actual
running of the stylesheet), including a summary of any XPaths. For
people writing complex stylesheets, it provides summary views. The
XSLTDoc application gives you: (1) links to the called template from
any xsl:call-template
instruction; (2) links to the definitions of the
variables/parameters wherever they're used; (3) a sortable summary
tables giving template matches and modes. It's all import/include
aware, and tells you when a particular named template, variable
declaration and so on are overridden in importing stylesheets.
Getting linking done with matching/moded templates is a goal, but
it's pretty tricky especially as there may be several
templates that match in a particular case, and it's really
impossible to know which will do so without having a specific source
XML instance. The tool is available for download
from the utilities
page on Jeni Tennison's web site. Just "download the .ZIP
archive, unzip it into a working directory, and load xslt-doc.xsl;
you will be prompted for a stylesheet to load; enter its file name
relative to the XSLTDoc directory." Note also Jeni's
XSLT Pages with tutorials.
[November 22, 2000]
IBM alphaWorks Releases XSLbyDemo Tool for XSLT Rules Generation.
A new tool from IBM's alphaWorks XML Application Development team
is XSLbyDemo.
XSLbyDemo is a technology "for generating XSLT rules on the
basis of editing operations conducted under the WYSIWYG mode of Page
Designer, which is a full-fledged HTML authoring tool provided with
IBM WebSphere Studio. The remarkable feature of XSLbyDemo is that
users can create an XSLT stylesheet automatically solely on the
basis of the knowledge of HTML editing. The remarkable feature of
XSLbyDemo is that users can create an XSLT stylesheet automatically
solely on the basis of the knowledge of HTML editing. The users do
not have to know anything about the syntax/programming of XSLT, and
need not be aware the rule generation process, which happens behind
the HTML authoring in the WYSIWYG mode. The users are thus allowed
to concentrate on the styling of the HTML document, relying on the
Page Designer's full capabilities for HTML and CSS authoring.
XSLbyDemo finally produces an XSLT stylesheet that transforms a
given HTML document to a desired document obtained as the results of
the WYSIWYG authoring. XSLbyDemo runs under Windows NT 4.0 with
Service Pack 4, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows 2000." For
related tools, see "XSL/XSLT
Software Support."
[November 22, 2000]
IBM's XML and Web Services Development Environment.
New from IBM alphaWorks labs: XML and Web Services DE. "The IBM
XML and Web Services Development Environment is the first
development environment that creates open, platform-neutral Web
services for deployment across heterogeneous systems. This tool
allows HTML, Java, SQL and XML developers to quickly extend existing
e-business applications so that they can deliver business
informational Web services. Database developers can also use SQL as
a programming language to quickly build data-aware Web services. Web
developers can create Web services with minimal knowledge of Java,
XML or SOAP. It turns the power of XML and Java technology into
competitive e-business advantage. It provides all of the tooling
needed to create Web services... (1) Discover - Browse the UDDI
Business Registry to locate existing Web services for integration.
The Web becomes an extension of the development environment. (2)
Create/Transform - Use powerful XML editing functions to quickly
develop new Web services. Complete transformation (edit and mapping)
tools are also provided so that developers can create Web services
from existing XML, Java, or SQL applications. (3) Build - Wrap
existing bean components as SOAP-accessible services and describe
them in the Web services description language (WSDL). Generate SOAP
proxies to Web services described in WSDL. Generate bean skeletons
from WSDL. Minimal knowledge of SOAP or WSDL is required. (4) Deploy
- Deploy the Web service on the developer's machine or to a remote,
production-level server for testing right away. After testing,
publish the Web service immediately to the application server
(WebSphere Application Server or Apache Tomcat). (5) Test - Test
applications as they run locally or remotely, and get instant
feedback. (6) Publish - In addition to creating and deploying Web
services, the development environment can also publish them to the
UDDI Business Registry. This advertises your Web services so that
other businesses can access them." See (1) "Universal
Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)"; (2) "Simple
Object Access Protocol (SOAP)"; (3) "Web
Services Description Language (WSDL)."
-
[November 21, 2000]
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Specification Becomes W3C
Candidate Recommendation.
W3C has announced
the promotion of the XSL specification to the status of a W3C
Candidate Recommendation: Extensible
Stylesheet Language (XSL) Version 1.0. Reference: W3C
Candidate Recommendation 21-November-2000, edited by Sharon
Adler (IBM), Anders Berglund
(IBM), Jeff Caruso
(Pageflex), Stephen Deach
(Adobe), Paul Grosso
(ArborText), Eduardo
Gutentag (Sun), Alex Milowski
(Lexica), Scott Parnell
(Xerox), Jeremy
Richman (BroadVision), Steve
Zilles (Adobe). Document abstract: "XSL is a language for
expressing stylesheets. It consists of two parts: (1) a language for
transforming XML documents, and (2) an XML vocabulary for specifying
formatting semantics. An XSL stylesheet specifies the presentation
of a class of XML documents by describing how an instance of the
class is transformed into an XML document that uses the formatting
vocabulary." Description: "XSL is a language for
expressing stylesheets. Given a class of arbitrarily structured XML
documents or data files, designers use an XSL stylesheet to express
their intentions about how that structured content should be
presented; that is, how the source content should be styled, laid
out, and paginated onto some presentation medium, such as a window
in a Web browser or a hand-held device, or a set of physical pages
in a catalog, report, pamphlet, or book... An XSL stylesheet
processor accepts a document or data in XML and an XSL stylesheet
and produces the presentation of that XML source content that was
intended by the designer of that stylesheet. There are two aspects
of this presentation process: first, constructing a result tree from
the XML source tree and second, interpreting the result tree to
produce formatted results suitable for presentation on a display, on
paper, in speech, or onto other media. The first aspect is called
tree transformation and the second is called formatting. The process
of formatting is performed by the formatter. This formatter may
simply be a rendering engine inside a browser. Tree transformation
allows the structure of the result tree to be significantly
different from the structure of the source tree. For example, one
could add a table-of-contents as a filtered selection of an original
source document, or one could rearrange source data into a sorted
tabular presentation. In constructing the result tree, the tree
transformation process also adds the information necessary to format
that result tree. Formatting is enabled by including formatting
semantics in the result tree. Formatting semantics are expressed in
terms of a catalog of classes of formatting objects. The nodes of
the result tree are formatting objects. The classes of formatting
objects denote typographic abstractions such as page, paragraph,
table, and so forth. Finer control over the presentation of these
abstractions is provided by a set of formatting properties, such as
those controlling indents, word- and letter-spacing, and widow,
orphan, and hyphenation control. In XSL, the classes of formatting
objects and formatting properties provide the vocabulary for
expressing presentation intent. The XSL processing model is intended
to be conceptual only. An implementation is not mandated to provide
these as separate processes. Furthermore, implementations are free
to process the source document in any way that produces the same
result as if it were processed using the conceptual XSL processing
model." The new CR has been produced by the XSL Working Group
as part of the W3C Style
Activity. The Candidate Recommendation review period ends on
February 28, 2001; meantime, comments may be sent to the publicly
archived XSL mailing list.
The following exit criteria for the CR (preceding advancement to PR)
are proposed: "(1) Sufficient reports of implementation
experience have been gathered to demonstrate that XSL processors
based on the specification are implementable and have compatible
behavior. (2) An implementation report shows that there is at least
one implementation for each basic formatting object and property.
(3) Providing formal responses to all comments received." The
specification is available also in PDF,
XML,
HTML,
and .ZIP
archive formats. For related references, see (1) the W3C
XSL specification work and (2) "Extensible
Stylesheet Language (XSL/XSLT)."
[November 20, 2000]
W3C's Natural Language Semantics Markup Language for the Speech
Interface Framework.
The W3C has issued a new working draft specification which
describes markup for representing natural language semantics: Natural
Language Semantics Markup Language for the Speech Interface
Framework. Reference: W3C Working Draft 20-November-2000,
by Deborah A. Dahl (Unisys). Document abstract: "The W3C Voice
Browser working group aims to develop specifications to enable
access to the Web using spoken interaction. This document is part of
a set of specifications for voice browsers, and provides details of
an XML markup language for describing the meanings of individual
natural language utterances. It is expected to be automatically
generated by semantic interpreters for use by components that act on
the user's utterances, such as dialog managers." In this
proposal, the NL semantics representation "uses the data models
of the W3C
XForms draft specification to represent application-specific
semantics. While XForms syntax may change in future revisions of the
specification, it is not expected to change in ways that affect the
NL Semantics Markup Language significantly." The authors of the
WD are members of the W3C Voice Browser Working Group. The
specification has been produced as part of the W3C
Voice Browser Activity, and forms part of the proposals for the
W3C Speech Interface Framework. The specification includes a set of
draft elements and attributes and [later will include] a draft DTD.
Markup uses a root element <result> (with attributes grammar,
x-model, and xmlns) which includes one or more <interpretation>
elements. Multiple interpretations result from ambiguities in the
input or in the semantic interpretation. The <interpretation>
element has attributes confidence, grammar, x-model,
and xmlns. The <interpretation> element
includes an <input> element which contains the input
being analyzed, optionally a <model> element
defining the XForms data model and an <instance>
element containing the instantiation of the data model for this
utterance. Description: "The general purpose of the NL
Semantics Markup is to represent information automatically extracted
from a user's utterances by a semantic interpretation component,
where utterance is to be taken in the general sense of a meaningful
user input in any modality supported by the platform. Referring to
the sample Voice Browser architecture in Introduction and Overview
of the W3C Speech Interface Framework, a specific architecture can
take advantage of this representation by using it to convey content
among various system components that generate and make use of the
markup. Components that generate NL Semantics Markup: (1) ASR, (2)
Natural language understanding, (3) Other input media interpreters [e.g.
DTMF, pointing, keyboard], (4) Reusable dialog component, (5)
Multimedia integration component. Components that use NL Semantics
Markup: (1) Dialog manager, and (2) Multimedia integration
component. A platform may also choose to use this general format as
the basis of a general semantic result that is carried along and
filled out during each stage of processing. In addition, future
systems may also potentially make use of this markup to convey
abstract semantic content to be rendered into natural language by a
natural language generation component..." Comments on the
working draft may be sent to the publicly
archived W3C mail list 'www-voice@w3.org'.
See also the related grammar specification: Speech
Recognition Grammar Specification for the W3C Speech Interface
Framework.
[November 17, 2000]
Rule Markup Language (RuleML).
The RuleML Initiative represents a collaborative research effort
by an international team of participants seeking to develop a shared
Rule Markup Language (RuleML). The project is consciously related to
other standards work, including Mathematical Markup Language
(MathML), DARPA
Agent Markup Language (DAML), Predictive
Model Markup Language (PMML), Attribute Grammars in XML (AG-markup),
and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). From the
web site description: "The participants of the RuleML
Initiative constitute an open network of individuals and groups from
both industry and academia. We are not commencing from zero but have
done some work related to rule markup or have actually proposed some
specific tag set for rules. Our main goal is to provide a basis for
an integrated rule-markup approach that will be beneficial to all
involved and to the rule community at large. This shall be achieved
by having all participants collaborate in establishing translations
between existing tag sets and in converging on a shared rule-markup
vocabulary. This RuleML kernel language can serve as a specification
for immediate rule interchange and can be gradually extended -
possibly together with related initiatives - towards a proposal that
could be submitted to the W3C. Rules can be stated (1) in natural
language, (2) in some formal notation, or (3) in a combination of
both. Being in the third, 'semiformal' category, the RuleML
Initiative is working towards an XML-based markup language that
permits Web-based rule storage, interchange, retrieval, and
firing/application. Rules in (and for) the Web have become a
mainstream topic since inference rules were marked up for E-Commerce
and were identified as a Design Issue of the Semantic Web, and since
transformation rules were put to practice for document generation
from a central XML repository (as used here). Rules have also
continued to play an important role in Intelligent Agents and AI
shells for knowledge-based systems, which need a Web interchange
format, too. The Rule Markup Initiative has taken initial steps
towards defining a shared Rule Markup Language (RuleML), permitting
both forward (bottom-up) and backward (top-down) rules in XML for
deduction, rewriting, and further inferential-transformational
tasks. The initiative started during PRICAI 2000, as described in
the Original RuleML Slide, and was launched in the Internet on
2000-11-10. A complementary effort coordinates the development of
Java rule engines. A Rule Markup Workshop is planned in conjunction
with the third International Conference on Electronic Commmerce,
ICEC2001, in Vienna, Austria, in October 2001." For background
and references, see (1) the RuleML
web site and "Rule
Markup Language (RuleML)." See similarly Relational-Functional
Markup Language (RFML) and Business
Rules Markup Language (BRML).
[November 17, 2000]
Ontopia Topic Map Navigator Publicly Available.
A communiqué
from Sylvia Schwab
announces the public availability of Ontopia's Topic Map Navigator
(limited edition): "Ontopia is pleased to announce that you can
now download a free version of the Topic Map Navigator directly from
the Ontopia
website. The Navigator allows you to browse your topic maps in a
convenient web interface with no need for programming or
configuration. Ontopia will be adding support for the XTM (XML Topic
Map) DTD as soon as its been finalized; in the meantime an XML DTD
(Document Type Definition) defined by Ontopia is required. If your
topic map is valid against the following DTD (http://www.ontopia.net/ontopia/tmdtds.html)
you can load it into the navigator and start browsing it right away.
The free version of the Navigator is restricted to only accept topic
maps smaller than 5 kilotao in size. This means that the topic map
can have no more than 5000 topics, associations and occurrences. The
Navigator will expire on 15 April 2001 and is intended for
non-commercial use. Shortly before the expiry date, you will be able
to upgrade to a trial of our 1.0 version of the software... The
Ontopia Navigator is a navigational interface for topic maps built
using the Ontopia Engine. It is written as a collection of Java
Server Pages (JSPs) that use the Ontopia Engine to load a topic map
and produce a navigational web interface to it. This means that the
Navigator can be deployed on any web server that supports JSP. It
includes a high-level API which enables any Java developer or
web-developer with JSP skills to quickly create fully-functional,
customised web applications. The resulting interface consists of
simple HTML web pages using frames and some very simple JavaScript
for the implementation of the default occurrence types extension.
This means that the Navigator works with any web browser that
supports frames. The Navigator package also includes a reference
implementation to provide a starting point for developing new
visualisations." [Note: 'kilotao' in the announcement is a
suspected Ontopian neologism, derived from "kilo" (1024) +
"TAO = 'topic, association, occurrence'," as in "The
TAO of Topic Maps,", by Steve Pepper.] For other TM
information, see (1) "The
Ontopia Topic Map Engine: A Technical Introduction" -- a
brief introduction to the Ontopia Topic Map Engine and Navigator for
technically oriented readers, by Lars Marius Garshol; (2) online
demonstrations of the Navigator; (3) the XTM
(XML Topic Maps) Document Web site; (4) "(XML)
Topic Maps."
[November 17, 2000]
IDOOX Releases XDB: XML Database.
Miloslav Nic announced
the pre-release publication of XDB:
XML Database. "XDB is an XML document repository providing
structured storage of XML data, at present using an RDBMS
(Relational Database Management System) mapping over PostgreSQL. As
the first step, our plan is to develop a lightweight XML persistent
storage engine on top of a relational database backend to come up
with a UI and API in short time and replace it by our native XML
storage system in the second step to satisfy complex XML processing
requirements. XDB intention is to offer a fast, reliable and
scalable XML database framework with powerful querying techniques
according to W3C standards (XPath, XML Query) and standard XML
processing APIs (SAX, DOM)... the main purpose of XDB is to provide
native storage of XML data. RDBMS is not the target, but just
temporal method which will be replaced by dedicated storage within
couple of months. Principal features: (1) Ability to store and
process large collections of XML documents; (2) Stores any
well-formed document; (3) Provides SAX interface; (4) RDBMS mapping
of XML documents; (5) Access via XPath based query language; (6)
Independence on database system." See also the associated white
paper. For related tools, see "XML
and Databases."
[November 16, 2000]
MATE Project Uses XML Tools for Spoken Language Dialogue Corpora.
Numerous encoding initiatives now employ XML in the annotation of
spoken language dialogue corpora. One such XML-based project is MATE
(Telematics Project LE4-8370; Multilevel Annotation, Tools
Engineering), which "aims to facilitate re-use of language
resources by addressing the problems of creating, acquiring, and
maintaining language corpora. The problems are addressed along two
lines: (1) through the development of a standard for annotating
resources; (2) through the provision of tools which will make the
processes of knowledge acquisition and extraction more efficient.
Specifically, MATE treats spoken dialogue corpora at multiple
levels, focusing on prosody, (morpho-) syntax, co-reference,
dialogue acts, and communicative difficulties, as well as
inter-level interaction. The results of the project will be of
particular benefit to developers of spoken language dialogue systems
but will also be directly useful for other applications of language
engineering." The 'MATE Dialogue Annotation Guidelines' provide
"a comprehensive collection of recommendations or guidelines
for representing descriptive annotation of spoken dialogue material.
Descriptive annotation includes any information that encodes
linguistic data with respect to their physical, perceptual, or
functional dimensions. Spoken dialogue material refers to any
collection of spoken dialogue data (human-human, human-system, or
human-human-system), including not only speech files but also
logfiles or scenarios which are related to the spoken dialogues.
Spoken dialogue annotation is the only area considered in this
report, however this does not exclude that the recommendations may
apply to other areas as well. It builds on a common standard
framework in terms of a coding module at the conceptual level and an
underlying representation in XML at the implementational level. For
each level considered by MATE recommendations are provided on how to
encode relevant phenomena, one or more best practice coding modules
are provided and several examples are given. The descriptions given
in this document allow a complete separation from the underlying
machine representation for which MATE uses XML. The separation means
that in principle one could decide to other formats than XML at the
implementational level without affecting the coding module in any
way. In this document recommendations will be made that rely on a
given markup language, XML, that has already found broad support.
This is an important factor as the availability of parsers and other
software enhances the integration of this proposal into existing
environments." Annex C supplies the XML
DTDs. The associated MATE workbench program "provides
support for flexible display and editing of XML annotations, and
complex querying of a set of linked files. The workbench was
designed to support the annotation of XML coded linguistic corpora,
but it could be used to annotate any kind of data, as it is not
dependent on any particular annotation scheme. Rather than being a
general purpose XML-aware editor it is a system for writing
specialised editors tailored to a particular annotation task. A
particular editor is defined using a transformation language, with
suitable display formats and allowable editing operations. The
workbench is written in Java, which means that it is
platform-independent. This paper outlines the design of the
workbench software and compares it with other annotation programs. .
. The major features of the MATE workbench are: (1) An internal
database - using arbitrary XML as an interchange format, extended to
cover multiple hierarchies and arbitrary directed graphs using
hyperlinks or ID/IDREF pointers between elements. This extension
from trees to graphs is required to allow XML to represent more
complex data. (2) A query language which is tailored to this
internal representation. This language returns tuples instead of
single elements (as in the XSLT query language). The architecture
allows us to add new structure to the database by evaluating a
query. (3) A transformation language and processor that goes beyond
XSLT in some respects. (4) A display and editing engine for
displaying to the user and enabling editing actions. The MATE
workbench uses XML as its input/output format, and uses a similar
internal data model. However, the strictly hierarchic nature of XML
is at odds with certain aspects of linguistic (particularly speech)
data. In multi-speaker dialogues, speech may overlap, and different
annotation hierarchies coded on a corpus may overlap, for example
prosody and syntax. One way to indicate this non-hierarchical
structure in XML is by the use of standoff annotation. Linking
between elements is done by means of a distinguished href attribute
of elements, which uses a subset of the XPointer proposal to point
to arbitrary elements in the same or different files. Such
attributes are often called hyperlinks. This extended data model
allows us to represent overlapping or crossing annotations...for
example, such that XML represent a case where a contrastive marking
is on the subject and verb and crosses a <vp>
constituent..." For references, see "Multilevel
Annotation, Tools Engineering (MATE)." Related speech data
annotation projects include, for example: (1) DARPA
Communicator Project and XML Log Standard; (2) Computing
Environment for Linguistic, Literary, and Anthropological Research
(CELLAR); (3) Architecture
and Tools for Linguistic Analysis Systems (ATLAS); (4) TalkBank
and the Codon XML-Based Annotation Framework; (5) ACE
Pilot Format DTDs; (6) Transcriber
- Speech Segmentation and Annotation DTD.
[November 16, 2000]
AuthXML Standard for Web Security.
Securant Technologies
recently "announced
the formation of an open industry working group to facilitate the
creation of the first XML-based standard for Web security, called
AuthXML. This standard will leverage XML, which is platform and
programming language independent, to enable authentication and
authorization functions to be performed across and interoperate with
multi-vendor Web security systems, packaged and custom Web
applications, and network level security systems. AuthXML will allow
integrated Web commerce and a transparent user experience by
providing a standardized approach for presenting and keeping track
of security details as a transaction or session traverses linked Web
sites based on disparate technologies, applications and platforms.
Securant has been working with its key customers and partners for
several months to develop a framework for the AuthXML specification,
and is now opening up its research and design efforts to help foster
and accelerate the adoption of a universal standard. AuthXML is a
vendor-neutral standard that enables integration of Web security,
network security, B2B infrastructures and applications. AuthXML is
named as such because it comprises 2 primary components:
Authentication and Authorization and is designed to ease integration
of transactions between trading partner sites that may be using
different security systems and within a given site that may be
deploying multiple applications that need integrated security.
AuthXML will enable: (1) Faster deployment for customers through
standards based integration, (2) Interoperability between Web
security vendors allowing for secure and simplified integrated
commerce, (3) Simplified user experience through reduced sign-ons
across Web networks, (4) More tightly integrated Web sites and
applications based on non-proprietary integration. AuthXML is
intended to be a completely open standard for Web-based application
security and inter-application integration. The standard defines a
set of XML message formats, XML schemas and interaction models that
web sites can use in order to provide seamless user experience and
business transactions that span multiple parties and security
domains across the Internet. AuthXML is not owned by any one vendor.
Instead, the standards proposal will be submitted to an appropriate
open standards body to ensure that it remains an open industry
standard in which any interested companies and organizations can
participate. The AuthXML 1.0 Specification is currently [2000-11-16]
under development by Securant Technologies and some of its key
partners and customers." For references, see "AuthXML
Standard for Web Security."
[November 16, 2000]
Security Services Markup Language (S2ML).
Netegrity, Inc. has "announced
that it is working with a group of industry leading companies to
define the first standard for enabling secure e-commerce
transactions using XML. The industry's first major collaboration,
called Security Services Markup Language (S2ML), will create a
common language for sharing security information about transactions
and end users between companies engaged in online B2B and B2B2C
transactions. Authors of the S2ML specification are Bowstreet,
Commerce One, Jamcracker, Netegrity, Sun Microsystems, VeriSign, and
webMethods. Reviewers of the specification include Art Technology
Group, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and TIBCO. S2ML is intended
to solve [security] problems by helping to unify access control
methods through an open, standards-based framework for the next
generation of secure e-commerce transactions. The S2ML specification
addresses three main areas of security services: authentication,
authorization, and entitlement/privilege. S2ML defines standard XML
schemas, as well as an XML request/response protocol, for describing
authentication and authorization services through XML documents.
S2ML also will provide specific bindings for various protocols such
as HTTP and SOAP and B2B messaging frameworks such as ebXML. S2ML
will deliver the following benefits: (1) Interoperability: With S2ML
e-marketplaces, service providers, and end user companies of all
sizes will be able to securely exchange information about
authenticated users, Web services, and authorization information
without requiring partners to change their current security
solutions. S2ML will become the common language for different
infrastructures to communicate security data. (2) Open Solution:
S2ML is designed to work with multiple XML document exchange
protocols and frameworks such as SOAP, OAG, MIME, Biztalk, and
ebXML. (3) Single Sign-On Across Partner Sites: S2ML will enable
users to travel across sites with their credentials and entitlements
so that companies and partners in a trusted relationship can deliver
single sign-on across sites, regardless of the security
infrastructures in place. The S2ML effort is an open industry
initiative in which any organization can participate and implement
the specifications. The vendors behind the S2ML initiative plan to
submit the S2ML 0.8 specification to the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and OASIS for consideration within the next 30 days." For
other details, see (1) the S2ML web
site; (2) "Security
Services Markup Language (S2ML)"; and (3) the full text of
the announcement: "Netegrity
And Industry Leaders To Define First XML Standard For Secure
E-Commerce. Art Technology Group, Bowstreet, Commerce One,
Jamcracker, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sun Microsystems, TIBCO
Software Inc., VeriSign, and webMethods join Netegrity to Develop
Security Services Markup Language (S2ML)."
- [November 14, 2000]
"Free XML Starter Kit. Software AG now offering trial version of the new Tamino
XML Platform."Software AG is
offering its new Tamino XML Platform free of charge for a 90-day
evaluation period. The trial version contains Tamino XML database,
X-Studio (development environment), and X-Bridge (integration tool).
The software features a comprehensive set of functionalities, which
introduce professional-level users to XML applications. For
instance, they can test the products with a sample application from
the real-estate industry included in the Kit. With the XML Starter Kit, testers
see how easy it is to develop applications with the new Tamino XML
Platform and acquire hands-on experience using XML. Everyone's
talking about XML -- but only a very select few have actually
employed XML applications, not to mention developed them. 'With the
XML Starter Kit, Software AG is offering developers, partners and
professional-scale users the chance to install and test all the
components of the first complete XML architecture for electronic
business applications,' explains Andreas Zeitler, Software AG board
member for sales and marketing. Users quickly learn how to install
an XML database. WithTamino X-Studio, the development tool of the
Tamino XML Platform, they can develop their first XML-based
application and link it to a web or application server with ease.
And, with Tamino X-Bridge, the architecture's XML middleware, the
different applications can be integrated seamlessly. The Starter Kit
also includes an in-depth tutorial, comprising two versions. The
full version requires installation of all components, allowing users
to go through every step of the application development process. The
demo version is for less experienced programmers and does not entail
as much installation... XML Starter Kit from Software AG: You will
find that this unique composition of tools, database and
connectivity software will open up the world of XML for you. Find
out how Software AG's native XML database Tamino, the XML
development tool X-Studio and the XML connectivity tool X-Bridge,
can simplify any XML project."
- [November 14, 2000]
SpeechObjects Specification Published as a W3C NOTE. The
W3C has acknowledged
a submission from Nuance Communications, Inc. for a SpeechObjects Specification
Version 1.0. Reference: W3C Note 14-November-2000, edited
by Daniel C. Burnett. Document
abstract: "This document describes SpeechObjects, a core set of
reusable dialog components that are callable through a dialog markup
language such as VoiceXML, to perform specific dialog tasks, for
example, get a date or a credit card number, etc. The major goal of
SpeechObjects is to complement the capabilities of the dialog markup
language and to leverage best practices and reusable component
technology in the development of speech applications."
Description: "SpeechObjects are reusable software components
that encapsulate discrete pieces of conversational dialog.
SpeechObjects are based on an open architecture that can be deployed
on any of the major server and IVR (interactive voice response)
platforms. This paper describes a specification based on Nuance's
Java implementation of SpeechObjects. Simply stated, a SpeechObject
is a reusable software component that implements a dialog flow and
is packaged with the audio prompts and recognition grammars that
support that dialog. An implementation of the foundation set of
SpeechObjects, including source code, is freely available to the
SpeechObjects developer community as part of Nuance's Open Voice Framework
initiative." The specification from Nuance is set against
the backdrop of work conducted in the W3C Voice Browser Working
Group, which "has determined requirements for several
specifications including one for a Reusable Dialog Component
Requirements." According to the W3C staff comment:
"W3C is working to expand access to the Web to allow people to
interact with Web sites via spoken commands, and listening to
prerecorded speech, music and synthetic speech. The W3C Voice Browser Activity
has produced a set of requirements for interactive voice response
applications and is now developing a set of specifications that meet
these requirements... The W3C Voice Browser Working Group plans to
develop specifications for its Speech Interface Framework using
SpeechObjects as a model for work on reusable dialog components.
This work is already underway, following the publication of a requirements draft
for reusable dialog components. A specification meeting these
requirements is under development, with the goal of being used
together with W3C's dialog markup language. It is recommended that
the Nuance Communications SpeechObjects submission is carefully
examined in the context of this work." See further: (1) the W3C Voice Browser Activity and (2) "VoiceXML."
[November 14, 2000]
DOM Level 2 Published As a W3C Recommendation.
W3C has released the Document Object Model
(DOM) Level 2 Core Specification Version 1.0 and its
associated modules as a W3C Recommendation. Core Reference: W3C
Recommendation 13-November-2000, edited by Arnaud Le Hors, Philippe
Le Hégaret, Lauren Wood (WG Chair), Gavin Nicol, Jonathan Robie,
Mike Champion, and Steve Byrne. Four other modules released with the
Core include: (1) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Views
Specification; (2) Document
Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification; (3) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Style
Specification; (4) Document Object Model (DOM) Level
2 Traversal and Range Specification. At the same time, a
working draft has been issued for Document Object Model
(DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification (to ensure backwards
compatibility). Excerpts from the W3C press release:
"Leading the Web to its full potential, the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) today released the Document Object Model Level 2
specification as a W3C Recommendation. The specification reflects
cross-industry agreement on a standard API (Applications Programming
Interface) for manipulating documents and data through a programming
language (such as Java or ECMAScript). A W3C Recommendation
indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web
interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who
favor its adoption by the industry. Created and developed by the W3C
Document Object Model (DOM) Working Group, this specification
extends the platform- and language-neutral interface to access and
update dynamically a document's content, structure, and style first
described by the DOM Level 1
Recommendation. The DOM Level 2 provides a standard set of
objects for representing Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents
and data, including namespace support, a style sheet platform which
adds support for CSS 1 and 2, a standard model of how these objects
may be combined, and a standard interface for accessing and
manipulating them. DOM Level 1 was designed for HTML 4.0 and XML
1.0. With DOM Level 2, authors can take further advantage of the
extensibility of XML. Simply put, anywhere you use XML, you can now
use the DOM to manipulate it. The standard DOM interface makes it
possible to write software (similar to plug-ins) for processing
customized tag-sets in a language- and platform-independent way. A
standard API makes it easier to develop modules that can be re-used
in different applications. DOM Level 2 provides support for XML
namespaces, extending and improving the XML platform. As more sites
move to XML for content delivery, DOM Level 2 emerges as a critical
tool for developing dynamic Web content. The DOM defines a standard
API that allows authors to write programs that work without changes
across tools and browsers from different vendors. But beyond this,
it provides a uniform way to produce programs that work across a
variety of different devices, so all may benefit from dynamically
generated content.. The DOM Level 2 Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) API
makes it possible for a script author to access and manipulate style
information associated with contents, while preserving
accessibility. DOM Level 2 also includes an Events API to provide
interactivity anywhere someone uses XML - in documents, in data, or
in B2B applications..." For related references, see: (1) testimonials for the DOM Level 2
Recommendation, (2) the DOM Activity report,
and (3) "W3C Document Object Model
(DOM)."
[November 13, 2000]
Comprehensive Real Estate Transaction Markup Language (CRTML).
The Alliance for Advanced Real Estate Transaction Technology
(AARTT) recently announced
an initiative "to create open standards for data exchange
within the real estate industry in order to streamline the online
home-buying and selling process. The initiative is called CRTML
(Comprehensive Real Estate Transaction Markup Language). Member
companies include: 9keys, AppraisalHub, Bowstreet, Commission
Advance, Deloitte & Touche, GHR Systems, Homeadvisor
Technologies Inc., Homebid, iLumin, Inciscent, InfoStream, Instanet
Forms, InteliTouch, Interealty, iProperty, MarketLinx, Property
I.D., Supra Products, and VISTAinfo. The mission of AARRT is to
promote and coordinate data interchange standards for the Real
Estate industry, based on XML, that will significantly enhance and
automate all key elements of Real Estate transactions allowing
forging of strong alliances between Real Estate technology providers
to foster end-to-end solutions for the industry, and by doing this,
to facilitate the acceleration of migrating existing industry
participants core business processes towards fully integrated and
streamlined Real Estate transactions. The initial objectives or
AARTT are: (1) to coordinate the development of standards between
the various groups -- RETS, MISMO, LegalXML, etc., (2) to promote
the development of standards in areas of the industry not covered by
existing initiatives, and (3) to develop interoperability standards
between segments of the industry. The results of this effort, in
cooperation with the segment-specific standards bodies, will be what
we call a Comprehensive Real Estate Transaction Markup Language
(CRTML), which adds an interoperability standard so that each of the
segment XML standards can talk with one another without friction. It
is AARTT's goal to incorporate current schemas wherever practical
and participate in an open dialog with all recognized XML workgroups
currently active in the Real Estate sector. At the same time, AARTT
will continue forging efficiently ahead to develop CRTML which will
be designed to augment and fill the gaps in existing schemas while
forming the agreed upon foundation for data-interchange between all
parties in the Alliance. Each Alliance partner company will agree to
incorporate the CRTML standard into its products as soon as possible
after release of the specification. By analyzing the core data
elements that are required by all participants in order to transact
real estate, CRTML will be able to significantly speed up the
process of delivering on the promise of seamless data interchange,
and efficient, end-to-end, single-point of data entry systems."
For references and related initiatives, see "Comprehensive Real E | |
