Cover Pages: XML Daily Newslink: Thursday, 15 January 2009

A Cover Pages Publication http://xml.coverpages.org/
Provided by OASIS and Sponsor Members
Edited by Robin Cover

This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by:
Primeton http://www.primeton.com

Headlines

Oracle Publishes the Beehive Object Model (BOM) for Collaboration
Search Web Services: The OASIS SWS Technical Committee Work
Sharing Functionality on the Web: A Proposed Services Infrastructure for The European Library
Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) V2.0 Core Model Specification
Barcelona Workshop on the Future of Social Networking
DC-2009 Conference on Semantic Interoperability of Linked Data
When You're SMIL-ing, When You're SMIL-ing...
Smart Grid, Broadband Appear in $825 Billion U.S. 'Stimulus' Plan

Oracle Publishes the Beehive Object Model (BOM) for Collaboration
Terry M. Olkin, Eric S. Chan, Rafiul Ahad; Oracle Technical Report

A communication from Eric S. Chan (Oracle) announces the publication of the January 2009 "Beehive Object Model", prepared for contribution to a proposed OASIS Technical Committee. The central goal of the proposed OASIS ICOM TC (Integrated Collaboration Object Model for Interoperable Collaboration Services) is to define a standard collaboration model. The basis for the data model for the integrated collaboration object model, per the TC Scope Statement, is the Oracle Beehive Object Model (BOM). Oracle Beehive is "Oracle's integrated and secure software platform for Enterprise Collaboration. It is a collaborative environment built on a unique model that combines the various communication and coordination services into a comprehensive platform... Beehive provides individuals a personal workspace which surfaces the typical collaboration services, such as messaging, time management, presence, instant messaging, task management, document, voice and web conferencing, mobile, and voicemail. Not only does Beehive provide a personal workspace for individuals to work on their own private efforts, but also Beehive also provides a team workspace for their teams. The newly published "Beehive Object Model" describes the object model for Beehive. The document does not attempt to define the model in terms of an actual programming language. Instead, we describe the model using a concise abstract notation. Once we have specified the abstract model, we will be able to define a programming language binding to the model..." Section 1.0 (Vocabulary) provides a glossary for all the relevant words that we will use throughout the document. Section 2.0 (Object Formalisms) briefly describes the notations used to define the objects and the relations between them. Section 3.0 (Object Models) defines the objects, which include (for example): Entity; Meta-Entity (Entity Schema); Core; Container and Scope; Directory; Access Control; Particpiant; Artifact Management; Metadata Management; Preference; Workspace; Time Management (Calendar, Task, Enumerations, Business Hours, Timezone); Message (Unified Message, Instant Message, Discussion Forum); Conference; User Subscription and Reminder; Workflow.

Search Web Services: The OASIS SWS Technical Committee Work
Ray Denenberg, D-Lib Magazine

The OASIS Search Web Services Technical Committee is developing search and retrieval web services, integrating various approaches under a unifying model, an Abstract Protocol Definition. SRU/CQL and OpenSearch are the two approaches featured by the current work, and we hope that additional protocols will be similarly integrated into this model. The model provides for the development of bindings. Three bindings will be developed by the Committee: SRU 1.2, OpenSearch, and SRU 2.0. These three are so-called "static" bindings; they are human-readable documents. The first two are simply renderings of the respective existing specifications. The SRU 2.0 binding however is a major new version of SRU, and there will also be a new version of the companion query language, CQL 2.0. The model also defines the concept of a "dynamic" binding, a machine-readable description file that a server provides for retrieval by a client that may then dynamically configure itself to access that server. The premise of the dynamic binding concept is that any server -- even one that pre-dated the concept—need only provide a self-description in order to be accessible. A client will be able to access the server simply by reading and interpreting the description and, based on that description, formulating a request (including a query) and interpreting the response. Of course, the premise behind this concept is a standard description language, and that will also be part of the OASIS work. It tries to integrate various aspects and approaches to search and retrieval under a unifying model. No single approach is right for every application but if different approaches can be represented in terms of a common abstract model it becomes easier to understand their differences. The OASIS Abstract Protocol Model is intended to serve as the reference model for the different approaches... SRU and OpenSearch are not the only protocols for search and retrieval; they are the two that the OASIS Committee chose for its focus. We hope that additional protocols will be similarly integrated into this model.

Sharing Functionality on the Web: A Proposed Services Infrastructure for The European Library
Theo van Veen, Georg Petz, Christian Sadilek (et al.), D-Lib Magazine

A great deal of wonderful functionality is available on the web, but it's often hidden in websites. When users become aware of such functionality, they might want to have it applied to their own data or to data obtained from other web sites. Examples of such functionality are online translation of search results, annotation services, feature extraction, query expansion based on external thesauri, and much more. We have developed a data model for describing functionality on the web. These service descriptions can be exchanged between users and service integrators like the European Library. In this article, we discuss these service descriptions and demonstrate them by means of a demonstrator portal... The service description provides data to allow users to search for, find and select a service, and to allow applications (like portals) to select and invoke a service and use the output in an appropriate way. The service description model is not intended to describe the service as it is but to have a single extendible model for describing a service from different points of view: the point of view of the service provider, the service integrator, the user and perhaps others as well. As a result there may be different service descriptions for the same service, but they follow the same model and can be exchanged between different parties.. There are various existing models for service descriptions, such as WSDL 2.0, WADL, the IESR model and many more. WSDL 2.0 and WADL describe more or less syntactically how to invoke a service, but not when a service should be invoked and what to do with the output... Rather than extending one of these models, we found it more convenient to simply introduce a new model suited specifically for our purpose. This avoids confusion and dependencies. However, the TELplus service descriptions may contain links to other service descriptions, e.g., a WSDL file. This allows advanced portals to provide more functionality based on some additional description. In some cases, services may provide their own description, like the "explain response" in SRU. Or a portal might use the explain response in addition to the TELplus service description. We also did not want to be restricted by existing services registries: In our view, one should be able to find and obtain a service description via existing search engines (like Google) or any search and retrieve protocol (like SRU), whether or not they are contained in an "official" registry, a database, or in a simple web page or on an arbitrary server... Our development of the data model for service descriptions went hand in hand with the development of a portal to demonstrate the functionality. It turned out that the number of websites that have functionality that can be used in the way being proposed here is limited, and the diversity of services requires an extensive data model. We expect, however, that there will be a trend towards services with a simple API that easily fits in our model. We also found that, despite the complexity of services, the idea of how to use these services began to converge to a less complex concept. There is no need to fully integrate the services with the portal. Being able to get some basic data before deciding to link to the service can work well in most cases...

Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) V2.0 Core Model Specification
Susanne Guth and Renato Iannella (eds), ODRL Initiative Working Draft

Members of the ODRL Initiative announced the release of the first ODRL Version 2.0 Draft Specification, based on the feedback from recent ODRL Working Group Meeting in Poznan, Poland. The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Initiative is an international effort aimed at developing and promoting an open standard for rights expressions. ODRL is intended to provide flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent and innovative use of digital content in publishing, distributing and consuming of digital media across all sectors and communities. The ODRL rights expression language (REL) has benefited from a robust underlying information model that has captured its semantics and provided extensibility paths for various communities. ODRL Version 2.0 is a major update for ODRL and will supersede Version 1.1. The ODRL Core Model is designed to be independent from implementation mechanisms and is focused on the optimal model and semantics to represent rights-based information. The following documents are planned for ODRL Version 2.0: (1) ODRL V2.0 Requirements. The Requirements document represents requirements for the language that have been gathered since ODRL Version 1.1 has been released; (2) ODRL V2.0 Core Model; (3) ODRL V2.0 Core Profile, which will specify the terms (vocabulary) used by the Core Model for basic rights expression needs, previously called the 'data dictionary'; (4) ODRL V2.0 Core Model, XML Encoding. The XML Encoding document will specify the serialisation of the Core Model in XML, including the normative XML Schema for the new Model and examples. (5) ODRL V2.0 Core Model, RDF/XML Encoding. The RDF/XML Encoding document will specify the serialisation of the Core Model in RDF/XML. The new model is based on additional semantics and requirements gathered from the DRM community, the latest research on security, access control, obligation management as well as the past experiences in implementations and research of ODRL. The requirements for Version 2.0 are documented in "ODRL V2.0 Requirements" and will be directly referenced in this document to ensure that they have been adequately addressed, where applicable. The model will be formally specified using UML notation.

See also: earlier references for ODRL

Barcelona Workshop on the Future of Social Networking
Staff, W3C Announcement

W3C announced the beginning of a 2-day "Workshop on the Future of Social Networking" organized to explore the landscape of social networking technologies. Participants submitted seventy-two (72) position papers on a wide range of topics regarding the growth and future of social networking, including, but not limited to, the mobile context. The meeting is hosted in Barcelona, Spain by Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, and by ReadyPeople. Social networks are increasingly going to appeal to people who are on the go. Whether using the mobile Web or handset applications, many "made-for-mobile" communities have a web presence available on PC; conversely on-line communities must offer their participants mobile access when the participant is without their PC and when social media is captured on the mobile device. The high level goal of this workshop is to bring together the world experts on social networking design, management and operation in a neutral and objective environment where the social networking history to date can be examined and discussed, the risks and opportunities analyzed and the state of affairs accurately portrayed. Based on the facts and a consensus-based industry landscape, plans for the future can be made by the industry participants. Within the W3C workshop, the issues facing social networking growth can be documented and, in this workshop in particular, will take into account social networking on mobile devices/platforms with and without PC/broadband Internet services.

DC-2009 Conference on Semantic Interoperability of Linked Data
Staff, DCMI Announcement

The National Library of Korea, the host for DC-2009, has opened a new conference Web site for the DCMI 2009 conference. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open organization, incorporated in Singapore as a public, not-for-profit Company limited by Guarantee, engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. DCMI's activities include work on architecture and modeling, discussions and collaborative work in DCMI Communities and DCMI Task Groups, annual conferences and workshops, standards liaison, and educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of metadata standards and practices. DC-2009 will be held October 12-16, 2009 in Seoul, Korea. DC-2009 will focus on linked data and the enabling of the Semantic Web. Conference participants will explore the conceptual and practical issues in breaking the constraints of data silos and connecting pieces of data, information, and knowledge. Metadata is a key to these processes supporting publishing and interlinking structured data on the Semantic Web. The basic assumption behind the concept of linked data is that the value and usefulness of data increases the more it is interlinked with other data. There is a growing interest in the metadata community in connecting existing and future data contained in silos within and across organizations in a meaningful way that supports extraction and correlation of the data. The linking of data from disparate data silos presents technical and social challenges that will be explored at DC-2009 through full papers, project reports, posters, special sessions and workshops. Beyond the conference theme, papers, reports, and poster submissions are welcome on a wide range of metadata topics, such as: Metadata principles, guidelines, and best practices; Metadata quality, normalization, and mapping; Conceptual models and frameworks—e.g., RDF, DCAM, OAIS; Application profiles; Metadata interoperability across domains, languages, and time; Cross-domain metadata uses—e.g., recordkeeping, preservation, institutional repositories; Domain metadata—e.g., for corporations, cultural memory institutions, education, government, and scientific fields; Bibliographic standards—e.g., RDA, FRBR, subject headings) as Semantic Web vocabularies; Social tagging; Knowledge Organization Systems -- e.g., ontologies, taxonomies, authority files, folksonomies, and thesauri) and Simple Knowledge Organization Systems (SKOS); Ontology design and development...

See also: the DCMI web site

When You're SMIL-ing, When You're SMIL-ing...
Philip Fennell, O'Reilly Technical

"...the whole world smiles with you. SMIL, the acronym for the W3C's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is pronounced 'smile'; I've seen it mentioned, outside of the usual multi-media circles, three times last year and once already this year. When seen out from under its parent specification, SMIL Animation (SMILAnim) was paired with HTML to give us HTML+Time and then more formerly specified as the XHTML+SMIL Profile. In general, SMILAnim has been almost uniquely identified with SVG as a means of providing rich animations and interaction—but uniquely no longer. The Ubiquity SMIL Project, like its sister project Ubiquity XForms, is bring declarative programming to the browser—and without plug-ins. I've long-held the belief that SMILAnim is the missing piece in the client-side declarative programming jig-saw. SMILAnim's extensive capabilities for event and time-based manipulation of XML and CSS attributes does for presentation and interaction what XForms does for data manipulation and business logic. Make no mistake: SMILAnim is a full featured, well thought-out and mature specification that caters for the needs of interaction designers and web developers alike; and where XForms is good for prototyping data driven web applications, SMILAnim provides a way to create and link together presentation behaviours and effects that's both quick and intuitive. You see: it's all about events, and I'm not just talking about your bog-standard click and mouseup/down/over/out User Interface (UI) events, the real trick with SMILAnim is the begin and end events. Any animation has a beginning and an ending, each marked by the begin and end events. You can define animations that listen for these events occurring on other animated elements and thereby construct a chain of actions that can result in complex and rich behaviours. Add to that the ability to use time-based offsets from these events you can start to imagine what might be possible with what appears to be a simple set of animation instructions."

Smart Grid, Broadband Appear in $825 Billion U.S. 'Stimulus' Plan
Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com

"U.S. House Democrats have revealed details of a massive legislative effort they said would inject new life into a flagging U.S. economy, thanks to a combination of $825 billion in tax cuts and new government spending. The sprawling, 258-page draft bill includes $32 billion in electric power upgrades, sometimes known as "smart grid" technology, $6 billion for expanded broadband Internet access, and $20 billion for health care information technology... In terms of wireless and broadband, the legislation would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (part of the Commerce Department) to create a grant program for "nonrecurring" costs of broadband deployment in rural, suburban, and urban areas—meaning, basically, anywhere in the country. NTIA is supposed to prioritize "unserved" and "underserved" areas, two terms that have no actual meaning until the Federal Communications Commission eventually comes up with one. State governments may apply for grants by submitting reports listing which of their areas have unserved wireless voice, underserved "advanced wireless broadband," unserved basic broadband, and underserved "advanced broadband service." NTIA will dole out separate funds for wireless deployment and broadband deployment. "Advanced broadband service" is defined as at least 45 megabits per second downstream and 15 megabits per second upstream; "advanced wireless broadband" is 3 mb/sec downstream and 1 mb/sec upstream... The energy-related sections of what is tentatively called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 include $11 billion for research and development related to the "Smart Grid Investment Program;" $8 billion in loans guarantees for renewable energy generation; $2 billion for loan guarantees to high-capacity battery makers; and $200 million for a grant program for electric vehicles... Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Research: $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to foster energy independence, reduce carbon emissions, and cut utility bills. Funds are awarded on a competitive basis to universities, companies, and national laboratories...


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