New OASIS Standard: XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) v1.2.   OASIS has announced the approval of the XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) specification v1.2 as an OASIS Standard. It was produced by the OASIS XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF) TC. The purpose of the XLIFF vocabulary is to store localizable data and carry it from one step of the localization process to the other, while allowing interoperability between tools. XLIFF is tool-neutral and supports the entire localization process.

OGC Approves Sensor Web Observations and Measurements Encoding Standard.   The Open Geospatial Consortium announced the approval of the Observations and Measurements Encoding V1.0 specification as a final OpenGIS Implementation Standard. The standard defines an abstract model and an XML schema encoding for observations and measurements as part of a framework required for use by other OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards and for support of OGC compliant systems dealing in technical measurements in science and engineering.

Public Draft for HTML 5: A Vocabulary and Associated APIs for HTML and XHTML.   W3C announced a First Public Working Draft of "HTML 5: A Vocabulary and Associated APIs for HTML and XHTML" as a major revision of the World Wide Web's core language. HTML 5 is intended to replace HTML4, XHTML 1.x, and DOM2 HTML. New features are introduced for Web application authors; new elements are introduced based on prevailing authoring practices; processing models and clear conformance criteria are defined for user agents to improve interoperability.

W3C Publishes SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language Semantic Web Standard.   SPARQL (recursive acronym for "SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language") has been released as a standard by W3C. The three-part specification was produced by the RDF Data Access Working Group as part of the W3C Semantic Web Activity. SPARQL defines a standardized query language for RDF enabling 'joining' of decentralized collections of RDF data. SPARQL queries hide the details of data management to lower costs and increase robustness of Web data integration.

OASIS Members Propose Charter for WS-BPEL Extension for People (BPEL4People) TC.   OASIS member companies have submitted a charter proposal for a WS-BPEL Extension for People (BPEL4People) Technical Committee. Companies sponsoring the proposal include Active Endpoints, Adobe, BEA, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Software AG, and Sun Microsystems. Building upon the June 2007 two-part industry BPEL4People specification, this TC would define extensions to WS-BPEL 2.0 to enable human interactions, along with a model enabling the definition of human tasks.

W3C Forms Emergency Information Interoperability Framework Incubator Group.   W3C announced the formation of the Emergency Information Interoperability Framework Incubator Group, chartered through 01-December-2008 to review and analyze the current state-of-the-art in vocabularies used in emergency management functions and to investigate the path forward via an emergency management systems information interoperability framework. Initiating Members include National ICT Australia, Google, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, and IBM.

OASIS Members Propose New TC for Testing and Monitoring Internet Exchanges.   OASIS issued a charter for a new Testing and Monitoring Internet Exchanges TC. The proposed TaMIE TC will define an event-centric test case scripting markup and execution model for systems that use Internet-based messages or events in collaborations between partners, or between components, where collaboration is achieved via choreographed exchanges of discrete units of data. Deliverables include requirements, specification, examples, and an implementation.

W3C Web Services Policy 1.5 Primer and Guidelines for Policy Assertion Authors.   W3C has published WS-Policy "Primer" and "Guidelines for Policy Assertion Authors" documents supporting the recently approved Web Services Policy 1.5 Recommendations (Framework, Attachment). WS-Policy defines a general policy framework for expressing Web service capabilities and requirements, including a policy data model, processing model (for combining/comparing Web service capabilities), and XML Information Set representation for the policy data model.

SNIA Demonstrates Extensible Access Method (XAM) Interoperability.   SNIA announced successful interoperability demonstrations of the Extensible Access Method (XAM) specification. XAM addresses management of reference information, viz., fixed content, as distinct from transactional content. XAM defines an XML-based XSet Canonical Format to support interoperability. XAM features globally unique names for objects, metadata as a first class object, pluggable storage architecture, and a standard XAM storage provider interface.

XForms 1.0 Third Edition Published as a W3C Recommendation.   W3C has published "XForms 1.0 (Third Edition)" as a W3C Recommendation based upon positive feedback from W3C Members, software developers, and other interested parties. XForms is an XML application representing the next generation of forms for the Web. It splits traditional XHTML forms into three parts: XForms model, instance data, and user interface. The separation of presentation from content enhances reuse, strong typing, accessibility, and usability.

Muradora GUI for Fedora Repository Uses SAML and XACML for Federated Identity.   The DRAMA team at Macquarie University has released Muradora V1.0, described as a turnkey GUI for the Fedora Repository supporting federated identity and flexible access control. Key Muradora modules include Shibboleth (SAML) authentication for federated identity/single-sign-on, a Fedora authorization framework based on XACML, an extended XACML engine using DB XML for policy enforcement, and web service interfaces for XACML requests and responses.

W3C GRDDL Recommendation Bridges HTML/Microformats and the Semantic Web.   W3C has published "Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL)" and "GRDDL Test Cases" as final Recommendations. GRDDL represents an important link between the Semantic Web and microformats communities. With GRDDL, transformation software can automatically extract information from structured Web pages to make it part of the Semantic Web. Transformations are based upon included markup or indirect reference through profile documents.

Open Virtual Machine Format Specification (OVF) Submitted to DMTF.   Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, VMware, and XenSource have submitted the Open Virtual Machine Format Specification (OVF) to DMTF industry standardization. OVF describes an open, secure, portable, efficient and extensible format for packaging and distribution of collections of virtual machines. OVF uses existing packaging tools to combine one or more virtual machines together with a standards-based XML wrapper to correctly install and run virtual machines.

W3C Publishes Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema Recommendation.   W3C has published the "Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema" specification as a Recommendation, together with a Usage Guide, Implementation Report, and Test Suite. SAWSDL defines how semantic annotation is accomplished using references within WSDL and XML Schema components to semantic models (ontologies). Association of semantic annotations with a Web service can be used for classifying, discovering, matching, composing, and invoking Web services.

VoiceXML Forum Publishes Session Log Annotation Markup Language (SLAML) Spec.   The VoiceXML Forum has published a new specification describing a methodology for collecting, storing, and retrieving runtime data for speech-based services to make data-analysis and service-tuning tools platform-independent. VoiceXML, part of the W3C Speech Interface Framework, supports audio dialogs that feature synthesized speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken/DTMF key input, recording spoken input, telephony, and mixed initiative conversations.

OGC Releases Transducer Markup Language (TML) Implementation Specification.   OGC announced the publication of the "OpenGIS Transducer Markup Language (TML) Implementation Specification" as a Standard. TML defines the conceptual model and XML Schema for describing transducers and supporting real-time streaming of data to and from sensor systems. OGC Sensor Web Enablement standards support Web-connected devices such as flood gauges, air pollution monitors, bridge stress gauges, mobile heart monitors, Webcams, and imaging devices.

W3C Member Submission: Web Services Policy Attachment for Endpoint Reference.   W3C has acknowledged receipt of a Member Submission from Axway, BEA, JBoss, Nokia, Oracle, and Progress Software. The "Web Services Policy Attachment for Endpoint Reference (WS-PAEPR)" specification defines a mechanism to attach policies using the W3C "Web Services Policy 1.5 - Framework" specification to an endpoint reference, as defined by WS-Addressing 1.0. It also discusses the semantics of Policies and Policy References within the EPR Metadata element.

Six Technical Committees Proposed for the OASIS Open CSA Member Section.   OASIS published six Proposed Charter documents for new TCs to be created within the Open Composite Services Architecture (Open CSA) Member Section: SCA-Assembly, SCA-Policy, SCA-Bindings, SCA-J, SCA-BPEL, SCA-C. Service Component Architecture (SCA) models business solutions as compositions of groups of service components, wired together in a configuration that satisfies the business goals. OSOA Collaboration specifications will serve as a basis for TC work.

Major Revision of Massachusetts Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM).   Massachusetts ITD announced a new major release of the Enterprise Technical Reference Model. ETRM Version 4.0 identifies four specification changes in the "Summary of Technology Specifications" table. Newly added specifications include "WS-I Basic Security Profile v1.0" and "Ecma 376: Office Open XML Formats (Open XML)". Specification updates are listed for OpenDocument v1.1 and XPath v2.0. A new Management Domain document covers Web Services and Systems.

BPEL4People Specifications Integrate Human Interactions Into Business Process.   Six technology vendors (Active Endpoints, Adobe, BEA Systems, IBM, Oracle, SAP AG) have announced the publication of "BPEL4People" specifications which define an approach for integrating human interactions such as concrete tasks and workflow using Web Services Business Process Execution Language 2.0. The 'WS-BPEL Extension for People (BPEL4People)' and 'Web Services Human Task (WS-HumanTask)' specifications will be contributed to OASIS for standardization.

OGC Public Review for GeoXACML and OpenGIS Image Geopositioning Service (IGS).   The Open Geospatial Consortium announced a call for public comment on two draft OpenGIS Implementation Specifications: GeoXACML and OpenGIS Image Geopositioning Service (IGS). The GeoXACML policy language defines a geo-specific extension to OASIS standard "Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) Version 2.0." The IGS Draft is an OGC Web Service (OWS) that performs triangulation; it uses the new Image Geopositioning Metadata GML Application Schema.