Marion L. Elledge of the Graphic Communications Association has published announcements with details concerning GCA's upcoming XML Conferences. The XML Europe Conference and Exhibition (now in its seventeenth year, formerly 'SGML Europe') "is being held in one of the leading technological capitals in the European community, May 21-25, 2001. Last year's record breaking event drew over 1,400 attendees from all over the world. This year's conference and exposition will be held at the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) in Berlin, Germany. The XML Europe conference theme is 'Going Vertical and Beyond: How XML Powers Industry Applications.' XML Europe 2001 is expected to be the largest XML conference and exposition outside the USA, will feature: (1) a lineup of 31 tutorials and 4 Special Interest Day programmes preceding the conference, (20 three days of intensive, XML-related conference tracks and keynotes, and (3) an exhibition area featuring more than 50 of the leading vendors of XML products and services." GCA also announced that Lauren Wood of SoftQuad Software will chair the XML 2001 Conference, 'XML Everywhere', to be held December 9-14, 2001 in Orlando, Florida. "Lauren's involvement with XML has included work with these leading advisory bodies since 1995. She was part of the W3C HTML Working Group and the XML Working Group, and recently chaired the W3C Document Object Model Working Group." Extreme Markup Languages 2001 will be held August 12-17, 2001 at Le Centre Sheraton, Montréal, Québec, Canada. The Graphic Communications Association is a "leading global membership organization that advances the process of information interoperability and dissemination of knowledge in both print and electronic communications. GCA accomplished this by engaging in and supporting the creation and adoption of globally recognized standards for information definition and exchange."

From the XML 2001 announcement: Ms. Wood is director of product technology at SoftQuad Software. SoftQuad is the co-inventor of the XML specification and co-founder of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and OASIS. Lauren's involvement with XML has included work with these leading advisory bodies since 1995. She was part of the W3C HTML Working Group and the XML Working Group, and recently chaired the W3C Document Object Model Working Group. She holds a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Melbourne, Australia. "Given the rapid rise of XML as a universal business content enabler, it is a privilege for me to chair GCA's XML 2001 Conference, the venue where XML was first introduced to the world five years ago," said Ms. Wood. "A lot has changed since then, but this conference remains the central forum for the exchange of XML ideas, strategies, uses and innovations. I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition."

From the XML Europe 2001 announcement: "Vertical Industry Sessions, designed for executives and business leaders, will feature information on how XML is being used across a broad spectrum of vertical industries. Business Implementation Sessions, which will focus on legal and security issues, as well as how organizations use digital asset management. eBusiness Sessions, targeted towards executives and business implementers, will focus on specific eBusiness application areas. Technical Implementation Sessions, which will focus on the technical aspects involved implementing XML in real-world applications. Topics include advanced approaches to solving problems using XML and its family of related standards and disciplines.Topic Map Sessions, which will feature presentations on topic mapping in general, and the new XML Topic Maps specification in particular. Topic Mapping is widely believed to offer one of the keys to realize the Semantic Web. Graphic Sessions, designed for business and technical implementers, will provide an introduction into emerging Web standards and information about their utilization in Industry."