Subject: SC22 N2375 - Joint Workshop on Metadata Registration

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 16:36:39 -0500 (EST)

___________________beginning of title page __________________________
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
N2375

January 1997

TITLE:             SC14 Request to Hold a Joint Workshop on the
                   Registration of Metadata

SOURCE:            Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:         N/A

STATUS:            ISO/IEC JTC 1 approved this request at its
                   December 1996 Plenary and encouraged the groups
                   mentioned in the request (including SC22) to
                   participate in the workshop.

CROSS REFERENCE:   SC22 N2365, N2372

DOCUMENT TYPE:     N/A

ACTION:            To SC22 Member Bodies, WG Conveners and HODs for
                   information or action, as appropriate.

Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
William C. Rinehuls
8457 Rushing Creek Court
Springfield, VA 22153  USA
Tel: +1 (703) 912-9680
Fax:  +1 (703) 912-2973
email:  [email-masked]
___________________end of title page, beginning of text ________________

ISO/IEC JTC 1                                                         
Information Technology                                                

ISO/IEC  JTC 1 N 4361                   

DATE:  1996.11.26     

REPLACES                                     

DOC TYPE:
Other document                                                        

TITLE:
SC 14 Request to Hold a Joint Workshop on the Registration of Metadata

SOURCE:
SC 14 Secretariat                                                     

PROJECT:                   

STATUS:
This document is circulated to JTC 1 National Bodies for review and   
consideration at the December 1996 JTC 1 Plenary meeting in Paris.    

ACTION ID:  ACT 

DUE DATE:  1996.12.13

DISTRIBUTION:  P and L Members                                             

MEDIUM:  E

DISKETTE NO.:            

NO. OF PAGES:  6         

Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1, American National Standards Institute, 11 
West 42nd Street, New York, NY  10036; Telephone:  1 212 642 4932;    
Facsimile:  1 212 398 0023; Email:  [email-masked]                 

	JTC 1 - Information Technology 	SC 14 - Data Element Principles
1996-11-08				
Mrs. Lisa Rajchel
JTC 1 Secretariat
11,West 42nd  Street
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mrs. Rajchel,

Subject: SC 14 request to hold a Joint Workshop on the Registration of
Metadata

SC14 requests the approval of JTC1 to hold a JTC1 Joint Workshop on the
Registration of Metadata. If approved by JTC1, it is the intention of SC14
to accept responsibility for the workshop. 

This proposal responds to recommendations of the JTC1 Joint Workshop on
Standards for the Use of Models that Define the Data and Processes of
Information Systems, which was held in Bellevue, Washington, USA, in
September 1996. The resolutions are attached to this document. 

The purpose of this workshop is to address the standardization and
registration of the salient attributes of data, data models and metamodels
in relevant international standards. The same approach and technology
could be extended to standardization and registration of a broad range of
data for a wide variety of applications including the development of
intelligent information services for the GII. A list of the registration
workshop topics to be addressed is included in the Seattle workshop
resolutions contained in the attachment to this document. 

SC14 members believe that the workshop will help to make visible the
utility of SC14 standards for a broad range of uses. It will also help to
coordinate and harmonize similar activities being carried out by several
SDOs, inside and outside the ISO family. Finally, it will help to develop
requirements and expectations for future SC14 work in concert with other
interested SDOs and a broad range of potential users. 

SC14 proposes to hold the JTC1 Joint Workshop on Metadata Standardization
and Registration in the USA during the summer of 1997. SC14 has sufficient
staff and financial support offered to plan, organize and conduct the
Workshop. The workshop will be organized around the topics recommended in
the resolutions above. Some modifications may be made in response to the
availability of speakers and the interests of attendees. It is recognized
and agreed that the JTC1 Guidelines for conducting Workshops must be
observed. 

Sincerely yours,
Bruce E. Bargmeyer					Ronny Elofsson
SC 14 Chairman						SC 14 Secretary

Attachment:

New Workshop Proposal included in the Resolutions of the JTC1 Joint
Workshop on Standards for the Use of Models that Define the Data and
Processes of Information Systems

The following is the text of resolutions to JTC1 from the above named
workshop: 

3. Registration of Metadata

Considering that more and more standardization committees in various
application areas (e.g., IEC SC3B for electronic components, ISO TC29 for
manufacturing data, ISO TC184/SC4 for engineering data, EDI for Electronic
messages) are defining computer readable data element description to
specify the meaning of the data involved in information models or
standards, often called "meta-data".

The use of different structures for these sets of computer readable
descriptions would lead to duplication of work and incompatibility among
standards.

World wide web technologies for accessing text are well developed and in
use. However the world wide web lacks standards for access to structured
meta-data and data.

EDI message structures, their definition and specifications of meaning are
not easily available.

It is the view of the Joint Workshop that a registry for metadata in
standards should be established. The benefits of establishing such a
registry will include:

It will ensure the consistency of metadata in standards, e.g. across IEC
1360, ISO 3584, ISO/IEC 11179, ISO 10728, PCTE, ISO/IEC 13237, ANSI dpANS
X3.285 (Meta-model for management of shareable data), IEEE P1157 (Standard
for Health Care data Interchange MEDIX Joint Working Group with a
meta-model of shareable data);
     it will ensure consistent management among repositories through
content modules;
     it will promote the development of standard metadata; 
     it will provide uniform access to metadata in standards; 
     it will facilitate access to structured data and meta-data via the
world wide web;
     it will facilitate the development of EDI messages and the use of
Internet technologies for the transmission of EDI messages. 

The use of compatible sets of structures for meta-data, and the collection
of all these meta- data within a common registry, will promote the use of
the same meta-data across both the standardization and business
activities. This will reduce duplication of work and increase the
compatibility among all the standards that address electronic data
interchange.

JWS R3.1. The Joint Workshop requests that JTC1 organize a Workshop on
Metadata Registration. 

The purpose of this workshop is to address the development of this
registry of the salient attributes of data models and metamodels in
relevant International standards.

The workshop should address the following topics: 

1. Formulate a template for the submission of such metadata. The template
should be developed considering the content of ISO/IEC 11179, ISO 13584,
ISO/IEC CD 13237 Naming and Thesaurus, and IEC 1360, as well as existing
and proposed Industry Standards for data modeling, including ISO 10303-11
(EXPRESS), EIA CDIF EIA/PN-3071 (Data Definition) and EIA-PN3072 (Data
Modeling). 

2. Develop an IRDS content module to specify the content of the registry. 

3. Recommend the appointment of a registration authority and the source of
funding for such an authority. 

4. Address the development of the registry technology and procedures. 

5. Address the question of comparison and reconciliation of metadata
between standards to ensure consistency.

6.Facilitation of access to structured data and meta-data via the world
wide web.

7.Facilitation of access to the definition of the structure and meaning of
the elements in EDI messages via the world wide web. 

The Joint Workshop further recommends that the responsibility for
organizing and leading this Workshop on Metadata Registration should be
assigned to JTC1/SC14. 

Participation in this workshop shall be open, but because of the
particular relevance of their work, JTC1 should extend an explicit
invitation to the following:

     IEC SC3d
     ISO TC154
     ISO TC184/SC4/WG2
     ISO TC46
     ISO/IEC JTC1 SC14
     ISO/IEC JTC1 SC21/WG3 CSMF RG
     ISO/IEC JTC1 SC21/WG3 IRDS RG
     ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22/WG22
     ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7/WG11. 
     UN/EDIFACT

In addition Invitations should also be extended to ISO TC184/SC4/WG2, IEC
SC3d, UN/EDIFACT, TC154 and TC46 (Information and Documentation) to
participate.

JWS R3.2. JTC1 change their procedures to include registration of the
metadata in standard models as part of the standard publication procedure. 
		
_________________end of document SC22 N2375 ____________________