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SGML UK Meetings

This page contains a brief description of forthcoming and recent meetings. In the case of forthcoming meetings you will be able to access a registration form from this page. In the case of past meetings, some copies of presentation slides are available for viewing - see meeting programmes below for details.

For further details of meetings, please contact Kirsten Wheatley or Francis Cave.

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Forthcoming meetings

Tuesday 20 October 1998

SGML, XML and Databases

The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre,
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Russell Square, London

To be held jointly with the British Computer Society's Electronic and Multimedia Publishing Specialist Group

The meeting is currently expected to start at 10:00 a.m. and finish at 5:00 p.m. Admission will be by registration in advance only. Meeting registration fees are £25.00 for SGML UK and BCS EMPSG Members, £50.00 for Non-Members, including lunch and refreshments.

From one perspective, SGML can be regarded quite simply as a standard and logically structured format for electronic documents. As such there has always been a role for database technology in the management and delivery of SGML documents, just as with any other form of electronic documents. Databases can provide secure, controlled and indexed access to SGML documents as well as helping the management specific features of SGML such as hyperlink and document configuration.

However, there is another dimension to SGML as a data representation which has not always been exploited fully by SGML users. The arrival of XML, with the host of vertical applications it has spawned, has focussed attention once more on SGML/XML as the mechanism for creating, managing and exchanging structured information, rather than merely a representation for structured documents. From this perspective, the boundaries between SGML/XML and database representations of information become blurred and there is a requirement for software applications which access and manipulate SGML/XML information to span those boundaries seamlessly. Ideally, the users of such applications should be able to gain the benefits derived from both representations, without being aware of the underlying data format.

At this meeting we will be exploring the close relationship between SGML/XML and database technology, both for information production and for information delivery to end-users. We will look at the 'traditional' marriage of SGML and database technology for document management as well as the newer applications that are emerging as XML assumes its position as a key component of distributed information systems.

Presentations from leading industry experts will cover strategies for systems architecture and design, the background to database and Web technology as applied to SGML/XML and case studies from several different application areas.

The meeting programme is expected to include:

  1. Overview of SGML/XML and Databases
    • Databases in the information production lifecycle
    • Databases for information delivery
    • Databases for information discovery
    • Overview of technology
    • Overview of product categories
  2. Using Databases in the SGML/XML production lifecycle
    • Advantages of using a database in the production lifecycle
    • Features of SGML/XML databases
    • What type of database technology to use (relational, OO, Hybrid)
    • The role of workflow
  3. Information delivery using SGML, XML and databases
    • Configuring information from databases
    • Indexing and searching
    • Issues for information delivery: graphics, cross references, etc
    • Linking to external databases from SGML/XML documents
  4. XML and database technology for information access on the Web
    • The potential for combining XML and databases for web delivery
    • Indexing, searching, and metadata
    • XML initiatives: DOM, XML Data, etc
    • XML and distributed object technology (CORBA, DCOM, etc)
  5. Case Study from Technical Publications Scenario
    • Managing the production of technical publications
    • High tech Manufacturing Industry (e.g. Automotive, Aerospace,...)
  6. Leveraging the investment in SGML/XML through database management systems
    • Managing links and cross references
    • Managing language variants
    • Document configuration
  7. Case Study from Commercial Publishing
    • Include management of production lifecycle
    • Publishing on CD and over the Web

A Technology Showcase for database tools that support SGML or XML will be available for viewing during the buffet lunch.

To register for the meeting, please contact Kirsten Wheatley - address details below - or complete the online registration form on this site.

For more detailed information on the programme please contact:

John Chelsom
CSW Informatics Ltd
Oxford Centre For Innovation, Mill Street, Oxford, OX2 0JX, UK.
Tel: +44/0 1865 794 789
Fax: +44/0 1865 205 008
Email: john@csw.co.uk

Potential exhibitors at the Technology Showcase should contact:

Kirsten Wheatley
Database Publishing Systems Ltd
608 Delta Business Park, Great Western Way, Swindon SN5 7XF. UK.
Tel: +44/0 1793 512 515
Fax: +44/0 1793 512 516
Email: kirsten.wheatley@dpsl.co.uk

Recent meetings

Tuesday 31 March 1998

Putting on the Style! - DSSSL, CSS, XSL, ...

Wiltshire Hotel, Swindon

SGML allows documents to be created in a neutral format that can be presented in many different ways. But how can those publishing electronic documents control the way their data is presented?

Until recently control of SGML document presentation was restricted to simple solutions, such as the Formatted Output Specification Instance (FOSI), that were designed for use with particular types of applications. Now there are three new general-purpose languages for controlling the presentation of SGML coded data:

During its first meeting of 1998, the speakers endeavoured to explain the differences between these three new approaches to controlling document presentation. The presentations summarised the capabilities of the three languages and presented the experiences of users. There was also a presentation on Spice, a recently-proposed alternative to XSL for presentation of both XML and HTML documents.

Programme:

The meeting also included a technology showcase and a bookstore run by ISUG.

Thursday 23 October 1997

The Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Wiltshire Hotel, Swindon

Programme:

The meeting also included a technology showcase and a bookstore run by ISUG.

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