News From Graphic Communications Association
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Issued September 5, 1997
Press inquiries: Contact Don Thieme
dthieme@gca.org
+1 703-519-8190
(Alexandria, VA) — Representatives from the Web and XML communities convened on August 21, 1997 in Montreal at the XML Developers Day, conducted by the Graphic Communications Association (GCA). The one-day workshop provided developers of new Web technologies a forum to share their XML-related product development plans and technical philosophies with other developers and users.
Extensible Markup Language (XML), developed by a working group of the World Wide Web Consortium, is a new language for advanced Web applications. XML provides a standardized text format specially designed for transmitting structured data to Web applications. The new language addresses the needs of Web publishers who encounter limitations in the ability of HTML to express structured data. XML is viewed as a significant advancement toward providing both electronic commerce and commercial publishing capabilities on the Web.
Jon Bosak, SunSoft’s Online Information Technology Architect and chairman of the World Wide Web Consortium committee responsible for XML, served as chairperson for the event.
“This workshop was designed to provide the technical interaction which is a critical ingredient for developers implementing the tools which will make XML a reality on the Web,” says Marion Elledge, vice president, Information Technologies, GCA.
The need for an XML workshop grew out of the surge of new technology development designed to support the delivery of structured data using XML on the Web. Developers from companies such as Sun, CommerceNet, Novell, Toshiba, Fujitsu, ArborText, Grif, Poet, Chrystal, and BitStream were represented, along with a host of applications developers. XML implementation projects and XML product prototypes were included in the intense 10 hour program.
GCA sponsored the public introduction of XML in Boston last November. GCA also sponsored in San Diego this March the first conference dedicated to XML. Sponsoring the XML Developers Workshop is in line with GCA’s mission to foster the development of this new information delivery language for the Web.
According to Norman Scharpf, president, GCA “XML is on an extraordinarily fast track. Just as we have done with SGML, by hosting XML working group meetings, and through sponsoring activities such as XML tutorials, conferences and developers workshops, GCA smoothes the road for the XML standard wherever possible. We are also committed to providing the publishing and Web communities with the information they need to keep up with this fast moving target. We believe we will see announcements and demonstrations for the first generation of XML tools at our upcoming SGML/XML 97 Conference in December. We invite the Web community to come to the conference and get a first-hand look at the Web language of the future.”
GCA, the organization which, in 1982, held the first conference on SGML, conducts annual conferences and training programs on SGML and XML around the world. The thirty-year old nonprofit industry association, with over 300 corporate/organizational memberships, is headquartered in Alexandria, VA.
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Revision date: September 5, 1997