XML Community of Practice
Meeting Notes
April 20, 2005
Booz Allen Hamilton hosted this meeting.
Ken Sall provided an update on his proposal to use a subset of the W3C’s SKOS elements in .gov thesauri and to use XSLT to automatically generate search links for definitions available via various sources on the Web. Ken said Mike Daconta spoke with Eric Miller of the W3C about the maturity of SKOS and, based upon their conversation, Mike may wish to incorporate the entire SKOS schema in the FEA DRM, rather than just a subset.
Someone asked whether SKOS provides for degrees of relation, as Princeton WordNet does. http://wordnet.princeton.edu/ Ken noted that SKOS provides for unambiguous referencing via URIs. He also said the W3C considers SKOS to be complementary to OWL and he reiterated that the issue will be whether to use the entire SKOS schema in the FEA DRM or just a subset.
KC Morris asked whether SKOS provides for naming conventions.
Ken’s presentation is available in several formats at http://xml.gov/presentations.asp#20050420
Joe Brophy introduced ObjectBuilders’ presentation by noting they are assembling applications entirely in XML, which enables solutions to operate without connection to a network. Rich Ashenwald observed that content/document management applications are expensive to build and suggested the cost can be dramatically reduced by using Application XML in a manufacturing approach to assembling solutions. ObjectBuilders has assembled such an application for permit case management by the Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Agency. It leverages FileNet’s workflow features and can be used with a thin, rich, or full client.
Robbie Iqbal demonstrated the application, explaining that it uses a browser plug-in to provide a rich user interface running on Java. He said the player component can be anything the customer wants to use, that different versions of the player can be used interchangeably, or the UI can be generated in HTML via the server. In any event, he said Application XML makes operating in disconnected mode very easy, and he cited processing E-mail off-line as being analogous. Robbie mentioned ObjectBuilders’ Live Modeler, and Rich added that database constraints can be imported into the Modeler.
Owen Ambur asked if the modeler includes tools to assist users in mapping elements across two or more databases. He also noted that what ObjectBuilders is doing with Application XML sounds similar to what Micosoft is doing with XAML and the Mozilla community is doing with XUL, and that those initiatives will be discussed soon at the XTech conference in Europe. http://www.xtech-conference.org/2005/confnews/0414.asp
ObjectBuilders’ presentation is available at http://xml.gov/presentations/objectbuilders/caseman.htm
Blake Dournaee of Sarvega briefed the group on XML attacks and threat prevention. He noted that XML payloads need to be understood as threat models and that XML schema validation is not a security feature. He allowed that hardened schema may be good enough for well-defined communities but argued that such things as wire-speed packet size limit enforcement is also needed.
Blake’s presentation is available at http://xml.gov/presentations/sarvega/xmlattacks.htm
Frank Napoli noted that the regular monthly meeting date for the xmlCoP conflicts with another regularly scheduled event he often needs to attend, and he inquired about prospects for establishing another schedule for xmlCoP meetings in the future. Owen indicated he would be more than willing to consider other dates that may be better for June and beyond. He noted arrangements for the May 18 meeting have been pretty well firmed up. http://xml.gov/agenda/20050518.htm
Among those in physical attendance were:
Owen Ambur, Co-Chair
Rick Ashenwald, ObjectBuilders
Joe Brophy, ObjectBuilders
Blake Dornaee, Sarvega
Steve Hamby, Software AG
Amin Hassam, i411
Robbie Iqbal, ObjectBuilders
Michael Isman, Booz Allen
Alice Marshall, Presto Vivace
Tchad Moore, FSG
Roy Morgan, NIST
KC Morris, NIST
Frank Napoli, LMI
Reed Phillips, retired
Ken Pittman
Ken Sall, Silosmashers
John Weiland, Navy/NMIMC
Paul Wood, BTS
Among those who identified themselves as participating via teleconference was:
Grit Denker, SRI
Please convey any additions or corrections to Owen_Ambur@ios.doi.gov