Report of Official Foreign Travel to France May 8-27, 1998
The Department of Energy (DOE) has moved ever more rapidly towards electronic production, management, and dissemination of scientific and technical information. The World-Wide Web (WWW) has become a primary means of information dissemination. Electronic commerce (EC) is becoming the preferred means of procurement. DOE, like other government agencies, depends on and encourages the use of international standards in data communications. Among the most widely adopted standards is the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML, ISO 8879:1986, FIPS 152), which DOE has selected as the basis of its electronic management of documents. Besides the official commitment, which has resulted in several specialized projects, DOE makes heavy use of coding derived from SGML, and its use is likely to increase in the future. Most documents on the WWW are coded in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which is an application of SGML. The World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C), with the backing of major software houses like Microsoft, Adobe, and Netscape, is promoting XML (eXtensible Markup Language), a class of SGML applications, for the future of the WWW and the basis for EC. In support of DOE's use of these standards, I have served since 1985 as Convenor of the international committee responsible for SGML and related standards, ISO/IEC JTC1/WG4 (WG4). During this trip I convened the spring 1998 meeting of WG4 in Paris, France. I also attended a major conference on the use of SGML and XML. At the close of the conference, I chaired a workshop of standards developers looking at ways of improving online searching of electronic documents. Note: Since the end of the meetings in France, JTC1 has raised the level of WG4 to a full Subcommittee; its designator is now ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34. WG4 maintains and continues to enhance several standards. In addition to SGML, which is the basis of HTML and XML, WG4 also works on the Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL), which is the basis for the W3C's XSL (eXtensible Style Language, to be used with XML) and the Hypermedia/Time-based Document Structuring Language (HyTime), which is a major influence on the W3C's XLink (XML Linking Language). WG4 is also involved in work with the ISO's TC184, Industrial Data, on the linking of STEP (the standard for the interchange of product model data) with SGML. In addition to the widespread use of the WWW among DOE's plants and facilities in Oak Ridge and among DOE sites across the nation, there are several SGML-based projects at the Y-12 Plant. My project team in Information Technology Services has developed an SGML-based publications system that has been used for several major reports at the Y-12 Plant and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). SGML is a component of the Weapons Records Archiving and Preservation (WRAP) project at Y-12 and is the format for catalog metadata chosen for weapons records by the Nuclear Weapons Information Group (NWIG). Supporting standards development allows DOE and Y-12 both input into the process and the opportunity to benefit from contact with some of the leading experts in the subject matter. Oak Ridge has been for some years the location to which other DOE sites turn for expertise in SGML and related topics.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, TN
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 4290
- Report Number(s):
- Y/CSD/INF-98-6; ON: DE00004290
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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