Update 2004-06-16: On June 16, 2004 the IESG officially announced the formation of the IETF Atom WG: "IETF Forms New Atom Publishing Format and Protocol (atompub) Working Group." See general references in the topic document "Atom Publishing Format and Protocol."

Update 2004-06-14: On June 14, 2004 Scott Hollenbeck (IETF Applications Area Director; IETF Applications Area Advisor for AtomPub) reported: "Last week the IESG approved the charter for a proposed AtomPub working group. A formal announcement should happen any day now. In the meantime, the charter that the IESG reviewed and approved is included below..." See the text of the posting under the subject/title "Approved IETF AtomPub Charter."

[May 05, 2004] The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) has announced the proposal for a new IETF Atom Publishing Format and Protocol Working Group within the IETF Applications Area.

An informational document about the proposed ATOMPUB Working Group describes the motivation for the WG, the essential features of Atom, the group's proposed focus, and technical background to the Atom Publishing Format.

Atom currently "defines a feed format for representing and a protocol for editing Web resources such as Weblogs, online journals, Wikis, and similar content. The feed format enables syndication, that is, provision of a channel of information by representing multiple resources in a single document. The editing protocol enables agents to interact with resources by nominating a way of using existing Web standards in a pattern." The proposed IETF Working Group would "use experience gained with RSS (variably used as a name by itself and as an acronym for 'RDF Site Summary', 'Rich Site Summary', or 'Really Simple Syndication') as the basis for a standards-track document specifying the model, syntax, and feed format. The feed format and HTTP will be used as the basis of work on a standards-track document specifying the editing protocol. The goal for the working group is to produce a single feed format and a single editing protocol. The working group's primary focus will be on delivering an interoperable format and corresponding protocol; it is expected that all but the most basic, generic metadata and functions will be accommodated through extensions, rather than in the core documents."

Interoperability is a key concern for the design initiative; in order to ensure interoperability the WG will unambiguously identify required elements in formats, clearly nominate conformance levels for different types of software, and provide clear extensibility mechanisms and constraints upon them.

Public comment on the proposed Atom Publishing Format and Protocol Working Group may be sent to the IESG mailing list by May 12, 2004.

From the IESG Announcement

Atom defines a feed format for representing and a protocol for editing Web resources such as Weblogs, online journals, Wikis, and similar content. The feed format enables syndication; that is, provision of a channel of information by representing multiple resources in a single document. The editing protocol enables agents to interact with resources by nominating a way of using existing Web standards in a pattern.

Atom consists of:

• A conceptual model of a resource
• A concrete syntax for this model
• A syndication and archiving format (the Atom feed format) using this syntax
• An editing protocol using this syntax

The format must be able to represent:

• a resource that is a Weblog entry or article (e.g., it has an author, date, identifier, and content)
• a feed or channel of entries, with or without enclosed content
• a complete archive of all entries in a feed
• existing well-formed XML (especially XHTML) content
• additional information in an user-extensible manner

The editing protocol must enable:

• creating, editing, and deleting feed entries
• multiple authors for a feed
• multiple subjects or categories in a feed
• user authentication
• adding, editing, and deleting users
• setting and getting user preferences
• creating, getting and setting related resources such as comments, templates, etc.

The working group will use experience gained with RSS (variably used as a name by itself and as an acronym for "RDF Site Summary", "Rich Site Summary", or "Really Simple Syndication") as the basis for a standards-track document specifying the model, syntax, and feed format. The feed format and HTTP will be used as the basis of work on a standards-track document specifying the editing protocol. The goal for the working group is to produce a single feed format and a single editing protocol; the working group will only consider additional formats or additional protocols if those charter changes are approved by the IESG.

The working group will also take steps to ensure interoperability, by:

• unambiguously identifying required elements in formats
• clearly nominating conformance levels for different types of software
• providing clear extensibility mechanisms and constraints upon them

The Atom protocol will be designed to provide security services for updating and accessing dynamic online resources. The working group will consider current known issues with requirements for remote access, along with the fact that many such resources are constrained by providers who provide the resource owners with little configuration control.

The working group's primary focus will be on delivering an interoperable format and corresponding protocol; it is expected that all but the most basic, generic metadata and functions will be accommodated through extensions, rather than in the core documents.

Extension development is not included in this charter. The working group will consider the need to either close or to modify the charter and document extensions once the core document set has been approved by the IESG.

Additional Details: From the Atom Project Draft Charter

Key participants in the proposed IETF Atom WG are named in the draft IETF Charter available on the Atom Wiki, last modified on 2004-04-12 or later.

Chair(s):

• Sam Ruby - rubys@intertwingly.net
• Tim Bray - tbray@textuality.com

Applications Area Director(s):

• Ted Hardie - hardie@qualcomm.com
• Scott Hollenbeck - sah@428cobrajet.net

IETF Applications Area Advisor:

• Scott Hollenbeck - sah@428cobrajet.net