Abstract: Two important international standards relating to text have emerged. One of these, SGML, describes a framework for descriptive markup. The other, and more recent, deals with a command language interface for full text retrieval. The two standards have been developed in isolation from one another and the command language can handle only the conventional view of text and not the relatively complex structures implicit in descriptive markup. It is shown how a relatively simple syntactic extension to the command language enables it to be applied to SGML databases. Some implementation issues are also discussed.

Abstract: Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is an international standard for markup languages. Descriptive markup is a means whereby the logical structure of a document can be explicitly encoded. Such markup can subsequently be processed to provide an appropriate physical layout of the actual document content. Additionally, the logical structure provides the information necessary for highly context sensitive retrieval. In this paper the authors describe an SGML application which can process encoded documents into a format suitable for storage and retrieval by an appropriately powerful retrieval system.

It is also possible to encode links between documents using SGML. One technique is that suggested by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), a co-operative international venture to promote guidelines for the encoding and interchange of machine-readable texts. This paper also describes how such links can be processed to produce the equivalent structures in a document database.

"Abstract: This paper describes Godot (Generalized Object Depository Oriented to Text), a depository for structured text. The work is heavily influenced by international standards relating to text. The physical storage model, which is built on top of an implementation of the ISO DFR (Document Filing and Retrieval) standard, is described. It is shown how structured SGML documents can be incorporated within the storage model. An overview of the underlying object-oriented implementation is given and the basic access operations described. Examples of structural queries are provided."

Abstract: SGML [C. F. Goldfarb, editor, The Standard Generalized Markup Language (ISO 8879)] is a passive standard. That is, it provides mechanisms through which descriptive markup can be applied to documents, but says nothing about how these documents are to be processed. The SGML standard refers frequently to the "application" but includes no clean mechanism for attaching applications to SGML parsers. The purpose of this paper is to present one such mechanism while maintaining compatibility with the current SGML standard.

Abstract: "The SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) world has concentrated on solving the problems of textual documentation. SGML and other information standards are rather complex to take into wide use. SGML alone is not enough to implement working solutions. There are a large number of methods, models and naming conventions developed for different application areas: microdocuments, components that contain bigger element hierarchy, etc.

"This paper describes a keep-it-simple model as a base for interactive electronic applications. The model keeps the data in life-cycle safe format (SGML), but still gives the end-user any possible view to the data and interaction with it. One design goal of the model was to separate information, functionality and user interface from each other.

"Information is managed in SGML, HyTime (Hypermedia-Time-based Structuring Language, ISO 10744), and DSSSL (Document Style Semantics and Specification Language) formats. The information packages, that travel between client and server (and between applications), are modeled with information standards. Functionality is achieved with engines on client and/or server side. The user interface language is HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and Java applets.

"XML (Extensible Markup Language) brings lightness and data format independence when HTML provides a common user interface description language. Java applets are a modular solution for interface functionality and platform independence. HyTime is the way to link the information chunks together in a standard way. Data is stored in databases that are part of the application or part of the information infrastructure.

"This presentation contains models for putting SGML and other information standards to work for wide range of interactive electronic multimedia applications.

Abstract: "MATHS (Mathematical Access for Technology and Science) is a recently completed project of the European Community which developed a SGML-based computer-oriented approach to teaching mathematics to visually-impaired students. A document-oriented architecture was implemented which permitted the software to be used by sighted, low-vision, and blind students and which supported multiple interactive input methods. SGML was the core component as it permitted the implementation of an application specific to mathematics, supported the input, output and interaction modes defined in the architecture, and enabled implementation with an existing SGML editor in a relatively short period of time. The knowledge gained in the MATHS project is not just of use to specialists in the area of accessibility but is of general applicability to human-computer interaction. In addition to describing the architecture of MATHS and its encoding of mathematics in SGML, this presentation will suggest ways to relate the results of the MATHS project to the general problem of computer application interfaces design."

"MATHS SGML markup was partly visual/presentational and partly semantic/structural, a balance which enabled a single application to provide good visual presentation and all the hooks for software processing. In order to manipulate mathematical expressions, all active objects were available to the software, providing practical lessons to the designers of the forthcoming document object model. Voice and other means of input and of output, critical to the operation of the MATHS environment, are being designed into the next generation of operating systems in order to address problems like repetitive motion syndrome, to make the computer useful to workers in types of work where it is not convenient to rely on a keyboard, and to increase the productivity of all computer users. The recognition that individuals absorb information in many different ways and the desire in interface design to make the presentation of information more flexible highlights the importance in MATHS of the great degree of customization possible in the presentation of math and its multiple modes of operation. Finally, MATHS uses SGML to implement a learning environment which is based on an abstract layer (the DTD) and is extensible (modify or replace the DTD). This extensibility was judged to be critical since mathematics is a field where both notations and pedagogical concepts are constantly evolving. The same approach to extensibility can be used to implement and evolve metaphors used in interface design."

"Abstract: ISO/IEC JTC1 SC2/WG12, known collectively as the Multimedia and Hypermedia Information Coding Experts Group (MHEG), is developing a standard titled Coded Representation of Multimedia and Hypermedia Information. ANSI group XSVI.8M, known collectively as the Music Information Processing Standards (MIPS) committee, is developing a hypermedia document interchange standard titled HyTime/SMDI. HyTime has been officially accepted as an ISO project as well, following a successful new project ballot by ISO/IEC JTC1. The authors describes the history, technical orientation and status of the MHEG and HyTime projects, as well as their relationship to multimedia (e.g. MPEG) and document interchange (e.g. ODA and SGML) standards. The relationship between the standards is also explored, with emphasis on appropriate applications and situations where they can be used together in a complementary fashion."

"Abstract: A description is given of the history, technical orientation and status of the MHEG (Multimedia and Hypermedia Information Coding Experts Group) and HyTime projects. Their relationship to multimedia (e.g. MPEG) and document interchange (e.g. ODA and SGML) standards are also discussed. The relationship between the standards is explored, with an emphasis on appropriate applications and situations where they can be used together in a complementary fashion."

Abstract: "This talk will describe the future of information management within the various organizations and agencies that collectively are known as the United States Intelligence Community, including the CIA, NSA, DIA, and the now declassified NRO . The central focus of this talk will address what the US Intelligence Community believes to be the 'information revolution' of the Third Millennium, with an impact similar to that experienced in past millennia in both the agriculture and industrial revolutions. Kept secret as classified information in all fifty previous years since its inception, the Intelligence Community of the US Government recently confirmed that its budget last year totaled $26.6 billion dollars. This talk will provide an explanation of the possible role and impact that the ITMRA (Information Technology Management Reform Act), passed by Congress in August 1996, will have on the future of information management in the Intelligence Community, and how that relates to this industry. It will describe the transition to web-centric, electronic publishing of our nation's intelligence reports, known as 'finished intelligence' into an integrated information space. Describing what the future world of 'Virtual Intelligence' will really look like, this talk will explore the concept of a more 'agile' intelligence enterprise, giving us insight into how the US Intelligence Community plans to achieve its goal of an electronically networked environment for the production and exchange of intelligence, a goal deemed essential to national security in the 21st Century."

Abstract: "This talk will describe how the US National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and other top agencies that collectively are known as the United States Intelligence Community are significantly improving their intelligence gathering and reporting operations through the development and implementation of advanced technology including networking concepts and international information standards such as SGML.

The central focus of this talk will be a description and discussion of Intelink, the classified, world wide 'Intranet' for the Intelligence Community. Intelink, and the Intelink community address one of the world's largest data management problems, involving demanding requirements that are at the extreme of what normal enterprises require.

Intelink is now operational for a broad base of intelligence customers and consumers from the warfighter to the White House. Intelink is currently being used in support of several basic and key functional areas. Perhaps the most significant of these areas is the electronic publishing and distribution of our nation's intelligence reports. This talk will discuss how our "Signals Intelligence" (SIGINT) Reports have gone from the world of reports in only ASCII text to robust multimedia formats with distribution, using SGML, over Intelink. The talk will also address other key functional areas including analytical research, collaboration facilities, and training.

The talk will address several of the unique problems, concerns, challenges and special features that distinguish Intelink from other Intranet applications. These issues include networking; architecture and standards; analyst collaboration issues; and finally encryption and other security considerations that are unique to this special environment.

The talk also will provide specific examples of Intelink SGML applications in several agencies within the US Intelligence Community. These examples will present insights into the issues, problems, and solutions for organizations desiring to take advantage of emerging technology allowing them to realize tangible cost savings as well as to enjoy significantly improved capabilities.

The talk will conclude with an examination of the future for Intelink, including plans for enhanced analyst collaboration, security boundaries/access control, and an improved Graphical User Interface."

Abstract: "SGML has been an ISO standard for ten years now. It was being adopted and implemented even before the final standard was published, and its user community is now very large, with thousands of applications. But is SGML a standard for all times?

SGML has always faced competition from systems that now are largely forgotten. Only three years ago, a distinguished consultant proclaimed that WYSIWYG was dying. Will SGML be able to continue its record of success in the face of HTML (you mean that's not SGML?), PDF, OpenDoc, OLE, and the surprising continued vitality of proprietary systems?

SGML has been a remarkably stable standard in the past decade, but will it remain so in the next? Fashions in computing and data management have changed in the years since the development of SGML was begun. In the past year, GCA's conferences have devoted an increasing amount of time to HyTime and DSSSL, new standards that may offer foreshadowings of changes to SGML itself. Perhaps the next year will bring us the long-awaited revision of the base standard. Will SGML still be SGML?

There may be no one answer for these questions. As users and proponents of SGML, we need to take a hard look at our requirements and define what we need from the standard and its implementers. more significantly, we need to understand what information is and what we expect it to do for us. Only with that understanding can we devise good SGML applications, make the right requests from vendors, make the right links between SGML data and other kinds of information-or design a good replacement for SGML."

Abstract: "In 1995 and early 1996, the ISO standards process that includes SGML and related standards has seen a remarkable coalescence of efforts that should be beneficial to all of us. Most notably, DSSSL and HyTime are developing a shared approach to tree structures and query languages. A consequence of this may be the development of a set of general facilities that can be shared among all SGML-based standards and that, when incorporated into products, will make our documents easier to work with and more powerful in their ability to deliver information."

Abstract: "The Alabama State Legislature has begun an extensive re-engineering effort to improve the process and technologies used to craft and enact legislation and to improve the means through which the public can be directly involved in the legislative process. When this project is completed, the State will have an information system that provides repository based authoring and publishing, client/server legislative operation systems with a 'real-time' Internet interface. SGML is an important component of this complex application.

"In this session we will present an overview of the application and we will discuss in more detail how we used object oriented information engineering analysis and document analysis to develop a robust information model. We will discuss the design challenges we faced integrating SGML with traditional database technologies, mult-tiered client server technologies and the Internet. Most important, we will share valuable lessons learned about designing and building repository based SGML systems."

Abstract: "Authoring DTDs is a difficult task: they typically contain over fifty element declarations and they are often recursive. This complexity implies high costs for DTD design and subsequent document processing. It also means that DTDs may have corresponding problems with quality.

"Exceptions are used in many standard DTDs because they add expressive power for DTD authors. However, there is a tradeoff: although they are useful, they are also a big part of the complexity problem. It is difficult to view the effects of exceptions on DTDs, primarily because of the lack of a formal static model.

"This presentation describes a static model that gives a complete and precise view of DTDs with exceptions. The model provides a foundation for new kinds of applications for processing SGML. A software tool has been developed to implement the model and to demonstrate its potential. Some specific projects are outlined, where continued development of the model and tool will have a significant impact on the success of SGML and related web publishing standards. One proposed project is the development of an automated SGML to XML converter."

Abstract: The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is a meta-language system for document representation that was adopted as an ISO standard in 1986. In SGML, element declarations define the logical components (elements) of documents; a content model is the part of an element declaration that defines the content of the elements. SGML defines and prohibits "ambiguous content models" but does not show a method for detecting them. Model groups, the only required components of content models, are expressions similar to regular expressions. This paper defines ambiguous model groups and gives an algorithm for detecting them. When the optional components of element declarations are not considered, the algorithm detects ambiguous content models as defined by the standard. The algorithm is based on a construction of indexed nondeterministic finite automata (NFAs) in which each arc is bound to a particular occurrence of an element symbol in a model group.

Abstract: "Publishing to the Web introduces a new set of challenges, especially when added to the requirement to produce traditional documents using the same data, at little extra cost or manpower. To the casual observer, the problem seems one of converting data from its presentation format into HTML. However, the problem is much more complex. Although converting your data into HTML is one part of the solution, issues such as modularization of your data, establishing links for traversing through the information, search aids, and adding additional data that might not be found in your traditional (paper) publications (such as navigation aids) must all be considered. This presentation explains how, through the use of SGML and document management technology, publishers can create highly automated processes for using the same data to produce paper documents, a Web Product, and possibly other electronic deliveries."

Abstract: "Business demands are forcing more producers and publishers of information to customize documents for their end users based upon the selection of product choices, options, or configurations. This demand presents new challenges for creating, managing, and distributing our data. Occasionally the differences are at a high enough level to permit complete modularization of information. But, more often the differences are at a finer level. For example, a removal procedure may be completely rewritten for different product configurations. But more often, configuration differences may result in an extra step, or may reference a different part number within the same procedure.

The problem is more than a simple modeling problem because it affects all areas of a complete editorial and production process. To start with, the ability to edit a procedure with multiple effectivities simultaneously affects how the information model is created. It is typically not satisfactory to create different instantiations of a large information fragment (e.g., procedure) for each configuration when only one step within that editable fragment may be different for different configurations.

From a data management point of view, the goal is to save information as a Minimum Revisable Unit. This is the unit at which a piece of information has meaning regardless of the context in which it is used. As such, this often dictates that different effectivities be contained within the same storage unit.

From a delivery point of view, be it on paper, CD, or the Web, a final representation of the information must be rendered to fit the user's requirements (i.e., effectivities must be resolved for the user). This requires a tool to resolve effectivites. Based upon the chosen approach, resolution might be accomplished through a parser or through some type of data transformation which selects the appropriate information based upon attribute combinations.

This paper discusses two approaches for specifying the applicability of information using SGML. The first is use of elements combined with attributes to indicate the effectivity of the element's content. The second approach is use of SGML Marked Sections to provide a wrapper for information which can be included or ignored based upon the use. The benefits and drawbacks of both approaches will be highlighted."

Abstract: "Since its inception, proponents of SGML have heralded 'data reuse' as a key benefit of using SGML. But prior to the widespread use of document management systems, this statement was more visionary than reality. The reason being that many still used file mechanisms for storing data. Information was maintained as a whole logical unit, for example, 'document,' 'manual,' 'chapter,' or 'section'. As a result, information reuse was minimal. Now, with the introduction of document management systems which support storing information at a much finer granular level, document creators and users are able to use SGML as a mechanism for defining the storage units for their data. Now, data can be stored as 'tasks,' 'procedures,' 'warnings,' 'citations,' 'abstracts,' etc. At these levels, information can be written in a manner which will fit more than one context, and may be shared between different publications and different delivery media (e.g., paper, WWW, CDROM, etc.). This presentation will give the attendees an appreciation for the issues associated with reusing information within the scope of a document management system. It will also enable them to explore the use of SGML modeling constructs to achieve their desired results."

The presentation addresses the question of finding an appropriate "level of granularity" optimally supporting information re-use, while avoiding the introduction of too much complexity for the computing system and its users. The author discusses modular DTDs, content-oriented fragments or smallest sharable units called a "minimum revisable unit" (MRU).

Abstract: "Huge collections of linked documents can now be efficiently stored. However, full online access and electronic publishing through reuse of document parts require sophistication and precision in queries. Such a query facility is only possible through the inclusion of appropriate semantic information. Manually adding such information to multi gigabyte document sources is daunting for technical writers. Our approach aims at making this task feasible by exploiting a conceptual schema of the enterprise. The result is an integrated schema-one that covers the traditional information system of the enterprise as well as the information that exists solely in the world of documents."

"This Finding Aids project is testing the use of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) as a navigation tool for finding aids online, and it is trying to come up with a standard document type definition that would enable widespread use of this approach. SGML is being touted as the potential standard that may emerge from the several possibilities available for encoding texts. Even The Economist recently reviewed the various humanities encoding projects underway, and speculated in positive terms about the future of SGML. But if Weissman's predictions are any where near the mark, SGML will serve only as a stopgap in the evolution of smart tools that will transform research. The fact is that no one knows for sure; and until it all sorts out, we need to learn as much as we can from the best tools available." [extract]

Abstract: "SGML (and XML) documents consist of a grammar-constrained tree of typed, attributed nodes with ordered children. This structure can be used to represent almost any kind of information.

"We are using SGML to represent software engineering metainformation, specifically language-independent, formal class library interface descriptions. Standard SGML document transformation tools can then be used to translate the interface description into support code or into human-readable documentation. We use DSSSL to generate the documentation and Perl in conjunction with SGMLSPL to generate code.

"Unlike other systems designed to do similar things (i.e., CORBA's IDL) the SGML metadocument approach is extensible, and extra-language constraints such as protocols and design patterns can be represented. Furthermore, the transformation can be annotated to specialize the transformation for a particular target programming language.

"We have used this system to formally document the interface to a 3D graphics class library and automatically generate multiple language interfaces to it. Our METADOC DTD and transformation system is formed from a set of reusable DTD/DSSSL/Perl components which we have used to build other document types, and we will discuss our strategy in this regard."

[Conclusion:] "We have presented a prototype implementation of a system for expressing software object metainformation in SGML. We have used this metainformation to automatically generate code to build scripting interfaces and generic access to objects. This approach has much more flexibility than the CORBA IDL approach, and can be tuned to produce better interfaces in specific target languages from generic object descriptions. SGML can also combine formal and informal documentation in a clean way, and can itself be a target language. The essential feature of the SGML approach is its extensibility, unlike the fixed and restrictive format of the CORBA IDL. This flexibility arises because there is an additional layer of metainformation, the SGML DTDs and the transformations on them. Unlike CORBA IDL, a good SGML system permits small incremental change without making it impossible to recover the necessary information needed by an application. As stated above, we intend to extend these ideas and the lessons we have learned to METADTDs that can support multiple components. Benefits of such an approach include better documentation and reuse of document designs. Namespaces can also be added to current SGML systems without internal modification of existing SGML tools."

Abstract: "JSP (Jackson Structured Programming) and JSD (Jackson System Design) are software development methodologies from the late Seventies and early Eighties. Both concentrate heavily on the concept of data models. This talk explores the relationship between JSP/JSD and SGML and considers whether SGML's superiority as a data modelling language might make SGML useful as a general purpose Software Development tool. It also examines how some of the ideas of JSP/JSD can be usefully applied to more traditional SGML processing applications.

Many of the philosophical ideas underpinning JSP/JSD are remarkably similar to those found in SGML. I.e., Concepts such as content models, exclusions, validation, LINK, tree transformation are all present albeit in disguise. JSP even grapples with CONCUR!

As well as striking similarities between SGML and JSP/JSD, there are fundamental differences. JSP/JSD provides a modelling paradigm but does not provide any software to support implementation. In other words, JSP/JSD have a modelling language like SGML's DTD but no parsing/validating capabilities. Moreover, JSP/JSD has no direct support for recursive data structures.

The net result of these differences is that SGML can be shown to be a more powerful modelling system than JSP/JSD. The intriguing thing about this is that it implies that SGML may have a role in fields where these methodologies has been used to good effect. These range from library booking systems to process control applications.

SGML continues to evolve from a document markup language to a general purpose modelling tool. Related standards such as HyTime and DSSSL expand the scope of SGML based applications above and beyond 'documents' and 'publishing'.

Comparing SGML with JSP/JSD - philosophically similar, software engineering methodologies - may give us some clues as to where SGML is headed. It may also point to the sort of SGML CASE tools we are likely to see in the future."

Abstract: "The main purpose of the Ricci Institute (Paris and Taipei) is to publish an encyclopaedia of Chinese language and culture in the main Western languages, including of course French. After issuing a first dictionary of the Chinese language in 1976, the Ricci Institute soon realized that the continuation of its work leading up to the publication of a second encyclopaedia Le Grand Ricci (the Complete Ricci) would not be possible without the use of powerful computer tools.

"Unfortunately, the computer structures developed in the early days of the project proved difficult to use. Based on techniques borrowed from compilation theory, the Computing Institute at Lausanne University developed a translator to convert the content of the dictionary into SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).

"Many existing types of software are incapable of mastering the problems associated with the main systems of script. A work like Le Grand Ricci obviously cannot be fitted into the straight-jacket of standardized norms (such as BIG5, UNICODE, etc.). These norms are only capable of handling current characters, whereas the dictionary is encyclopaedic."

"The Grand Dictionnaire Ricci (Complete Ricci Dictionary) of the Chinese language was begun in 1950 by a group of Jesuit sinologists, mostly of French origin. For twenty years, they assembled, selected and studied around 11,000 characters and 180,000 expressions. This thesaurus, which fills 40 volumes typewritten in two copies, led to the publication of the Petit Ricci: dictionnaire français de la langue chinoise which contains translations into a rich, clear and precise French of some 6,000 Chinese characters and 50,000 expressions. Over 18,000 copies of this work have been sold to date, not counting the versions published in other Western languages."

Abstract: "Systems and general text entities can easily be managed and manipulated by an SGML author or technical writer. Some of these entities require standardization within a corporation so that they can be shared, but not modified by a random user. Others must be customized for a particular document or group. A description of tools and methods used to accomplish this task as well as a description of actual user environments where it is implemented will be outlined. Special features used in document translation will also be discussed."

Abstract: "The semiconductors industry of today faces a highly competitive market. It is not enough anymore to develop high quality products in less time than others. How to get information about a product to the customer is one of the key factors for success in today's business environment. Some of the most crucial factors influencing the effective dissemination of information are: (1) Online access to ensure up-to-date information; (2) Convenient access and query mechanisms to find relevant chunks of information in documents; (3) Distribution in a platform and vendor independent standard data format

"The Pinnacles Component Information Standard (PCIS), developed by the semiconductor industry, is being used as a means of distributing rich and computer-understandable information. The approach presented in this paper targets these areas by deploying the advantages of publishing via the Internet combined with the new powerful Java programming language and support for ISO standard 10179, DSSSL (Document Style Semantics and Specification Language)."

The system discussed in this paper can be divided into 3 parts: (1) Cappuccino - An SGML parser written in Java; (2) Yade - Yet another DSSSL engine- A prototype implementation of a DSSSL engine based on a Scheme interpreter written in Java (Kawa 0.2, Copyright by Copernican Solutions). The DSSSL engine aims to incorporate the basic concepts of ISO 10179 with special emphasis on DSSSL-Online, the "light" version of DSSSL designed for online use; (3) PSC-EDB - Philips Semiconductors Electronic Databook. An application interface to the DSSSL engine using the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT, the Java windowing interface)."

Abstract: "PCIS DSSSL-O Stylesheet (PDoS). PCIS - The Pinnacles Component Information Standard is an ISO 8879 application designed to meet the markup needs of the semiconductors industry. It was designed under the auspices of the Pinnacles Group, a consortium consisting of major companies in the semiconductors industry. The PCIS tag-set is the de-facto standard in the semiconductors industry. DSSSL-O is a subset of ISO/IEC 10179 (DSSSL), designed the address formatting requirements in the area of online-display (rendering) of SGML/XML data using DSSSL.

PDoS is a first attempt to create a DSSSL stylesheet for the PCIS DTD. This paper discusses a variety of aspects encountered/addressed during the development of this prototype stylesheet, such as modular stylesheet design and user configerable stylesheet architectures. Testing and development of the presented concepts has been done using James Clark's DSSSL engine Jade and the authors Java based DSSSL renderer Yade.

Abstract: "Large information delivery systems of the future will be distributed, object-based systems. These systems will very likely be implemented with client/server architectures where special-purpose servers work together in a loosely coupled environment to deliver information to their clients. This information will include text and also other forms of data such as image, graphic or tabular data. These systems will incorporate and extend the idea of markup to include the content of a variety of object types as well as text objects. This extended marking of objects will function in much the same way that SGML functions today for documents. This marking will provide for data interchange, structuring and output interpretation. Object content marking (tokenization) will add intelligence and programmability to database objects and provide the basis for standardizing object structure and database technology. The idea of open systems will be extended to databases and the objects they contain. Therefore, text objects will be more formal in order to function in future information delivery systems. These text objects will contain structures of instance variables which will enable objects to identify themselves to the system and also provide for ad hoc association in sets and hierarchies."

Abstract: "Transformations allow a developer and user to think of their documents as active parts of a system. In doing so, we can re-orient our documentation systems and other document-related systems to use transformations as the means by which documents are processed or produced.

With the advent of DSSSL as a standard, we now have the means to be able to create systems that not only read both standard documents but also standard transformations. Simple tasks like editing can be re-oriented as a transformation process. Thus, transformation takes 'center stage' as the 'conductor' of the processes necessary to produce your documents.

This talk will introduce the concept of transformation as the basis of an application and cover the infrastructure necessary to produce such systems using SGML, HyTime, and DSSSL."

Abstract: "This presentation will introduce the concept of Web Application Frameworks for standards technology like SGML, XML, and DSSSL within web environments. It will outline their relationship of these standards to web-oriented languages like Java. The talk will focus on examples of solving problems and delivering solutions through frameworks in a web environment. The idea of 'resources' will be introduced and several standard resources will be identified that should be available on both the client (browser) and server (web server) through these examples. The presentation will introduce several design patterns for how these standards in conjunction with programming language and implementation standards can be used to deliver complex document applications to arbitrary web clients.

"In addition, this presentation will introduce several of the application programming interface standards initiatives that have taken place within the industry recently. From the examples presented within the talk, a vision of standard Web Application Framework will be developed outlining what further development in both standards and technology needs to happen to realize such frameworks."

"Abstract: The paper presents an SGML-MUCH (S-M) system, the I/O subsystem of a collaborative authoring and reuse system called MUCH (Many Using and Creating Hypermedia), for text and hypertext mutual conversion and hypertext interchange. The S-M system can dynamically generate text documents from the MUCH document database by traversing a subgraph of the hypertext database. With various options on traversal, different versions of documents can be generated from the same set of nodes and links in the document database. The documents generated from the MUCH document database include not only document content but also groupware and hypertext information that can be used for hypertext interchange. With this generated document, hypertext for different systems such as Guide and Hyperties can be automatically generated and new features, like alternate outline and automatically derived indices can also be incorporated. The S-M system, which was developed using several public domain development tools, adheres to standards where possible, and generally focuses on 'openness'."

Abstract: "The HTML-Math Working Group recently released another version of its Working Draft of MathML. The full text of this Working Draft is available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-math. This note should serve to point the way to the proposal outlined in the full Working Draft, and will describe a little of the history, current state, and the future of the HTML-Math work."

Abstract: "A method to develop an SGML diff is presented. The extendible approach is based on a change-oriented model for structured documents containing objects of type 'data', 'element', 'attribute', or 'link'. The difference between two documents, A and B, is computed and expressed as a sequence of changes that must be incrementally performed on the objects in A in order to obtain the state B.

"Companies that must handle huge amounts of technical documentation can use SGML to mark up their documents in order to process, interchange, and archive them independently of any particular proprietary format. An author often faces different versions and variants of a document. In case these are two SGML document instances that are similar, but where the relation between them is not clear, he needs a meaningful description of their differences.

"As SGML is used to encode additional information about the structure of a document an SGML diff should reflect the data structure of the documents it compares. It is not enough to get a description of differences between two SGML document instances on the basis of their unstructured textual contents. [...] The aim of this paper is to propose a method to build an SGML diff that computes the difference between two SGML document instances A and B as the sequence of changes that would produce B if incrementally performed on A. The task of developing such an SGML diff is threefold: first, the object types of an SGML document must be determined, and second the possible changes for those objects have to be specified. Finally an algorithm is needed to compute the delta between two documents."

Abstract: "RAFHS produce the Aircrew Manuals and Flight Reference Cards required by the aircrew of all three United Kingdom services - Army, Navy and Airforce. Members of RAFHS team are specialists in the aircraft types flown by the Forces. They are not computer professionals and therefore the system acquired had to be intuitive, modern and have excellent user interface. RAFHS produced Camera Ready Copy (CRC) using a commerical DTP application. Information was received from a variety of sources including paper and proprietary word processing format. Graphics were always provided on paper and needed to be scanned-in by the authors and saved electronically. Any changes to graphics had to be returned to the originators for amendment and the whole process started again. Management of all these documents was a manual paper based system, as was the audit trail for revisions.

We learned these lessons on the way: (1) Assemble a small in-house team who are aware of your business processes and are forward thinking; (2) Educate all concerned because a little background goes a long way; (3) Know the principles of SGML; (4) Plan for change; (5) What do you require from your system and therefore your hardware and software; (6) Work closely with the consultants to ensure they understand your requirements; (7) Insist on a thorough, comprehensive document review; (8) Plan for change; (9) Understand your document structures and graphics requirements; (10) Graphics Packages; (11) Decide on the type of DTD - modular or document based; (12) Plan for change; (13) Mark-up examples of your product; (14) Plan for change; (15) Test the DTD against examples of your documentation; (16) Don't forget the small details, like attributes; (17) Plan for change; (18) Expect to rework, again and again; (19) Sort out the problems of publication; (20) The styles (FOSI? DSSL? System specific output?)

The RAFHS installed system provides them with an integrated solution providing SGML author/editing, document management, revision tracking to provide future proofed data, an airworthiness audit trail, and finally output formatting and pagination by a composition engine."

Abstract: "RAFHS produce the Aircraft Manuals and Flight Reference Cards required by the aircrew of all three United Kingdom services -- Army, Navy, and Airforce. Members of the RAFHS team are specialists in the aircraft types flown by the Forces. They are not computer professionals and therefore the system acquired had to be intuitive, modern, and have an excellent user interface. The RAFHS system provides an integrated solution including SGML author/editing, document management, revision tracking to provide future-proofed data, an airworthiness audit trail, and finally output formatting and pagination by a composition engine."

"RAFHS (ROYAL AIR FORCE HANDLING SQUADRON) produce the AM (Aircrew Manuals) and FRC (Flight Reference Cards) required by the aircrew of all three United Kingdom services -- Army, Navy and Air Force. Members of RAFHS are specialists in the aircraft types and roles flown by the forces. The mix is approximately 50/50 serving officers and retired officers. The retired officers, in general, are over 55 and only just computer literate having moved in 1989, reluctantly, from a cut and paste editorial system. A system that owed its genesis to advanced technological change much earlier in the century; essentially coloured pencils, scissors and glue.

"AM are substantial documents covering the handling of the aircraft under normal and abnormal flight conditions, the description of the aircraft structure and systems and their operation under normal and failure modes and the limitations that apply to all phases of flight. Extensive use is made of A3 and A4 illustrations in both black and white and colour. FRC are, for most modern aircraft, large documents in A5 format and can be as large as 160 sheets. The contents are checks and drills to be carried out by the crew during the period they occupy the flight deck or cockpit and include normal and emergency procedures.

"Moving to SGML provides considerable benefits, many well documented which need not be rehearsed again here, others less well known like the focusing, within our organisation, of the authors' energies. To achieve these benefits cost effectively and efficiently many lessons can be drawn from our, initially quite naive, but ultimately very successful change to the standard. [...] We now have the basis of a system which will protect our information in the long term.

Abstract: The paper discusses TEDI, a prototype object-oriented terminology editor, which was developed within the research department PaVE at GMD IPSI during the last three years. PaVE stands for Publication and Visualization Environment and its primary task is to develop concepts, models, and innovative tools for the preparation and presentation of hypermedia documents. Applications are hypermedia reference works and an Individualized Electronic Newspaper. TEDI is the central component of the Editor's Workbench within this publication development environment and is an object-oriented tool for building a consistent terminology base that allows for the extraction of print as well as hypermedia publications. TEDI supports import and export of SGML files.

"Abstract: With the increasing use of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) for the exchange of technical documentation usually comes along a semantic structuring of such documents. This leads to new ways to support authors in the creation of new versions. Starting with a short analysis of the problems that arise in the development of extensive technical documentation, this article investigates the central problem, how to preserve consistency. A model for documentation is presented which extends essential concepts of SGML for non-hierarchical structures. Two semantic classes of access structures are identified, namely procedures, cycles, and the concept of a road net is introduced. To model consistency, four possible relations are described-identity, translation, comes-before, explains-and their relation to the access structure. After the definition of the terms correctness and consistency, an example shows how inconsistencies can be checked and corrected, either automatically or interactively by the author."

Abstract: "Electronic Technical Manuals (ETMs) vary from simple raster 'page turners' to complete IETMs. For each type, an overview of major aspects will be presented. SGML-based ETMs and SGML-based IETMs (Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals) will be compared and contrasted, highlighting fundamental differences in function, architecture, and applicability. An ETM display engine and sample ETM document will be used with an IETM display engine for the demonstration. As part of the presentation the information structuring capabilities of the MIL-PRF-87269 IETM DTD (Document Type Definition) will be covered."

Abstract: "The largest commercial application of SGML being fed to the Web was released this summer by RIAG, Inc. CHECKPOINT (tm) is a paid-access site offering gigabytes of tax-related law, regulations, cases and analytical material to professionals in the accounting and corporate finance markets. The frequency of update, depth and breadth of coverage, and sophisticated functionality of this system have challenged even the most powerful Web-based tools and systems. RIAG also had to reengineer internal SGML editorial systems to take advantage of some of these unique capabilities."

"The main Architect of this system, Kevin Moran, VP of Product Technology at RIAG, Inc., will describe and demonstrate the capabilities of CHECKPOINT (tm) as well as the intense development project requirements needed to deploy CHECKPOINT. Dale Waldt, VP of Product Systems will describe the reengineering efforts of the SGML-based publishing systems that were needed to support the CHECKPOINT system data feeds."

Abstract: "SPDL was published in 1995 as a language to describe the final form of a document. The document processing model of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC18 WG8 described SPDL as the final stage of three steps; creation/edit (SGML), format (DSSSL), and presentation (SPDL). SPDL had two editors, one from Xerox and the other from Adobe. Having two editors might have had some impact on the publication schedule of SPDL.

The architecture of SPDL has influence of both Xerox Interpress and Adobe PostScript. Unlike PostScript, SPDL has a document structure using elements such as Picture and Pageset. This hierarchical structure defines the scope of various settings such as dictionaries, dictionary stack, and various imaging parameters. Under SPDL, Picture is a unit for imaging and can contain other Pictures. Because of the document structure, SPDL knows when to image one page by keying on the highest level of Picture. Therefore, SPDL does not require an operator, showpage, of PostScript to notify the imaging device to perform rendering on the imaging medium. SGML is used by the clear text encoding of the document structure.

PDL in one of the subordinate element (Token Sequence) under Picture describes the images and graphics to be rendered. This PDL is a stack oriented languages very similar to PostScript. In fact, many PDL operators of SPDL in clear text format are taken from PostScript.

SPDL uses ISO/IEC 9541 for font handling and glyph referencing. One way to reference glyphs in the mapping between integers and glyphs within SPDL is to use the registration numbers assigned by AFII. One of the format is afiixxxx where xxxx is the AFII registration number.

In addition to the clear text encoding, SPDL has binary encoding using ASN.1 for the document structure and the own encoding for PDL section. Except the positions of comments in the document structure, SPDL clear text encoding and binary encoding can map to each other easily.

One possible application of SPDL is to incorporate Picture element as an imaging portion in such a application as HTML. Using Picture, graphs can be sent as PDL programs rather than images. The start tag of Picture contains an attribute to identify the content to be ISO/IEC 10180 SPDL.

The C source code to translate SPDL document to PostScript for printing is available at ftp://ftp.ornl.gov/pub/sgml/wg8/spdl/software and http://www.ornl.gov/sgml/wg8/spdl/software/."

Abstract: "PSL is a new presentation specification language for structured documents. It is the first such language that is fully configurable, and it is also extensible. PSL is able to support a very general form of out-of-order layout without having to provide a general system of tree transformations. PSL also makes an explicit distinction between the specified layout of the elements of a documentand the actual layout that results from the formatting process. PSL's syntax and semantics are simple and general. This paper describes the syntax and semantics of PSL using a simple text document as a running example, and compares PSL to a number of other presentation specification languages."

Abstract: "On the basis of the tree automaton theory, this paper demonstrates DTD transformation. Controlled by patterns and contextual conditions, operators transform not only XML documents, but also DTDs. It is guaranteed that transformation of XML documents permitted by the input DTD creates XML documents permitted by the output DTD. Furthermore, the output DTD is minimally sufficient. Patterns are conditions on (possibly non-immediate) subordinate nodes, and contextual conditions are conditions on non-subordinate nodes (e.g., superior nodes, ancestor nodes, sibling nodes, and subordinates of sibling nodes)."

"This presentation shows transformations of DTDs and XML documents. [...] Such DTD transformation is highly important for at least two reasons. First, it helps DTD evolution; by writing an update program with operators, we can update not only instances, but also DTDs. Second, transformation from a DTD to another DTD becomes much easier; we can examine DTDs created by transformation operators. This work is based on the theory of tree automatons. A DTD is first translated to a tree automaton. This tree automaton is then repeatedly transformed. Finally, this tree automaton is translated back to a DTD. Patterns and contextual conditions of operators are also captured as tree automatons."

"[Conclusion and future work:] We have presented an example of DTD transformation. Although this example uses a single source DTD, the underlying framework can easily handle multiple source DTDs. Implementation on top of an automaton construction toolkit called 'Grail' is in progress. A declarative query language for document database systems is also in progress."

Abstract: [With irregular representation of symbols] "On the basis of the tree-regular language theory, we study document transformation and schema transformation. A document is represented by a tree t, and a schema is represented by a tree-regular language L. Document transformation is defined as a composition of a marking function m/sub C//sup P/ and a linear tree homomorphism h, where P is a pattern and C is a contextual condition. Pattern P is a tree-regular language, and contextual condition C is a pointed tree representation. Marking function m/sub C//sup P/ marks a node if the subtree rooted by this node matches P and the envelope (the rest of the tree) satisfies C. Linear tree homomorphism h then rewrites the tree, for example, by deleting or renaming marked nodes. Schema transformation is defined by naturally extending document transformation; that is, the result of transforming a schema L, denoted h(m/sub C//sup P/(L)), is {h(m/sub C//sup P/(t))[]t in L}. Given a tree automaton that accepts L, we can effectively construct a tree automaton that accepts h(m/sub C//sup P/(L)). This observation provides a theoretical basis for document transformation engines and document database systems."

Abstract: This paper describes a formatting model of structured documents. In this model, a document is formatted by a hierarchy of co-interacting formatters. Each formatter creates layout subtrees, by pouring logical streams into layout streams. This formatting model was originally proposed in Interscript. We extend it for tnt, and clearly illustrate the formatting algorithm. Finally, we propose some new techniques for incremental formatting, reduced formatting, and parallel formatting.

"Abstract: Shell U.K. Exploration and Production have implemented an integrated electronic document management system following a thorough analysis of the document lifecycle process. The system integrates a number of commercially available software products which operate to international standards (e.g. SGML-ISO 8879; CGM-ISO 8632) and have been integrated in such a way that they can be changed out as and when the need arises. The resulting system ensures that information is accurate and up to date. This information is distributed as electronic books to offshore platforms via a CD-ROM, allowing offshore personnel to search for and view documents using a PC. The project faced a number of challenges, some of which were predicted, others had to be addressed as they arose. The learning points include a confirmation of the usefulness of human factors expertise, the value of data and process analysis, the need to adopt and stand by international standards, and the criticality of senior management commitment and support."

Abstract: "Structured documents in XML are capable of managing complex documents with many separate information components. In this article, we describe the role of the XML-LANG specification in supporting this. Examples are supplied explaining how components can be managed and how documents can be processed, with an emphasis on scientific and technical publishing. We conclude that structured documents are sufficiently powerful to allow complex searches simply through the use of their markup."

"XML is the ideal language for the creation and transmission of database entries. The use of entities means it can manage distributed components, it maps well onto objects and it can manage complex relationships through its linking scheme. Most of the software components are already written." [conclusion, online version]

Abstract: "JUMBO (Java Universal Markup Language) is an object-oriented XML browser/editor and transformation tool, written in Java. It has been developed as a development tool to explore the emerging XML-LANG and XML-LINK specifications, and implements most of the current proposals. Its emphasis is on the management of structured documents; specifically, their interpretation as trees. It provides behavior for ELEMENTS by providing Java classes for rendering and transformation. It is particularly aimed at nontextual applications where ELEMENTs (such as those in technical disciplines) require complex processing. JUMBO also implements much of the current XML-LINK spec, including TEI extended pointers and simple aspects of EXTENDED XML-LINKs."

Abstract: "Complex multimedia document handling, including modeling, decomposition, and search across digital documents, is one of the primary services that must be provided by digital library systems. We present a general approach for handling structured documents (e.g., SGML documents) by exploiting object-oriented database technology. For this purpose, we propose a constraint-based object model capable of capturing in a uniform manner all SGML constructs typically used to encode the structural organization of complex documents. We present a general strategy for mapping arbitrary document types (e.g., article, journal, and book DTDs) expressed using standard SGML into our model. Most importantly, we demonstrate that our model is designed to handle the integration of diverse document types into one integrated schema, thus avoiding the generating of numerous redundant class definitions for similar document subtypes. The resulting document management system (DMS) is thus capable of supporting the dynamic addition of new document types, and of uniformly processing queries spanning across multiple document types. We also describe the implementation of our approach on the commercial DBMS system Illustra to demonstrate the ease with which our approach can be realized on current OODB technology, without requiring any special purpose constructs. Our DMS system provides support for integrated querying of both structural as well as content-based predicates across arbitrarily complex document types."

Summary: "I want to discuss what I consider one of the worst mistakes of the software world, embedded markup; which is, regrettably, the heart of such current standards as SGML and HTML [...] There is no one reason this approach is wrong: I believe it is wrong in almost every respect."

The author discusses the limitations of "markup" to encode critical analysis of text in a way that makes the encoded information optimally available to researchers. When encoding content objects, compositional features, and editorial activities within the same text, the results -- experienced during the tagging process and in the final result -- are not always satisfying. Problems of "deep encoding" are compared to similar challenges faced with indexing and retrieval in library science (descriptive cataloging).

Abstract: "Only a few markets around the globe can mandate the universal use of a single language for documentation. Further, it was once the case that the author had some sight of the user of the information. With global markets this luxury has all but vanished. Today authors have little sight of the intended user of the information. It is more than likely the user will work in a different culture, a different language, using different media. Organisations must be cogniscent of these conditions of entry into the market, and in most cases the requirement to provide localised, translated information must be absorbed as part of the cost of entry. Such costs can rapidly exceed the original startup costs for production of the source language version. Today the pressure is on to find ways to reduce startup and ongoing costs and time frames whilst maintaining or improving quality.

"The presentation discusses such initiatives. The key argument presented will be that translation activity and management of information encoded in SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) can provide reductions in cost and timescales whilst offering real opportunity to improve the quality and consistency of the content. The advantages offered by the SGML context when applied against technologies and concepts such as Translation Memory, SGML Element-level management and Controlled Terminology will be presented and discussed. The application of these capabilities will then be presented as part of a Component Based Document Management System providing a concurrent translation processing environment."

"Within the presentation references will be made to ongoing initiatives to implement such systems, providing an analysis of the issues to be addressed, and the savings generated have provided towards the justification for the use of SGML."

Abstract: "Only a few markets around the globe can mandate the universal use of a single language for documentation. Further, it was once the case that the author had some sight of the user of the information. With global markets this luxury has all but vanished. Today authors have little sight of the intended user of the information. It is more than likely the user will work in a different culture, a different language, using different media. Organisations must be cogniscent of these conditions of entry into the market, and in most cases the requirement to provide localised, translated information must be absorbed as part of the cost of entry. Such costs can rapidly exceed the original startup costs for production of the source language version. Today the pressure is on to find ways to reduce startup and ongoing costs and time frames whilst maintaining or improving quality.

"The presentation discusses such initiatives. The key argument presented will be that translation activity and management of information encoded in SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) can provide reductions in cost and timescales whilst offering real opportunity to improve the quality and consistency of the content. The advantages offered by the SGML context when applied against technologies and concepts such as Translation Memory, SGML Element-level management and Controlled Terminology will be presented and discussed. The application of these capabilities will then be presented as part of a Component Based Document Management System providing a concurrent translation processing environment.

"Within the presentation references will be made to ongoing initiatives to implement such systems, providing an analysis of the issues to be addressed, and the savings generated have provided towards the justification for the use of SGML."