Subject: SC22 N2478 - Secretariat Report to JTC 1 on Server-Based Document Distribution

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 18:21:17 -0400 (EDT)

____________________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
N2478

May 1997

TITLE:
SC22 Secretariat Response to JTC 1 on SC22 Plans for Server-Based Document
Distribution

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:
N/A

STATUS:
N/A

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
N/A

ACTION
To SC22 Member Bodies, WG Conveners and HODs for information.

NOTE THAT THIS DOCUMENT WILL BE AN AGENDA ITEM FOR THE AUGUST 1997 SC22
PLENARY.

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 _______________

                                        May 20, 1997

Ms. Lisa Rajchel
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1
American National Standards Institute
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036

        SUBJECT:  SC22 Plans for Server-Based Document Distribution

Dear Lisa:

Reference is made to document JTC 1 N 4575 which requested information  
from the Subcommittee Secretariats concerning their plans for implementing
server-based document distribution.

Following is the SC22 response.

Question:  "Are you prepared now to distribute documents via server?  If  
not, when (month/year) will you be able to do so?"

Response:  SC22 started distributing selected documents via ftp server or  
email in January 1997.  Electronic distribution of draft standard
specifications was suspended when we were advised that ISO/IEC considered  
these specifications to be copyrighted.  When the policy was revised to
permit freer distribution of these specifications, SC22 resumed the
distribution of certain draft standard specifications via ftp server. 
Email distribution of documents that do not include draft standard  
specifications (Summaries of Voting, WG draft agendas, JTC 1 documents,
etc.), has continued uninterrupted since January 1997. 

With the kind assistance of Mr. Keld Simonsen and the Danish Standards  
Association, SC22 will make every effort to implement server-based
document distribution by September 1, 1997.  There are still some details
to be worked out, but they are expected to be resolved during the August  
1997 SC22 Plenary meeting. Since some of the draft standard specifications
for the programming languages cannot now be expressed unambiguously in any
of the approved JTC 1 formats, there will continue to be certain
exceptions to the use of server-based document distribution; however,
these will be kept to a minimum.

Question:  "Are your members (e.g., NB Contacts, Committee Officers, Category A Liaisons) able to
obtain documents via server?"

Response:  Five of the 24 SC22 "P" Members have either explicitly or  
implicitly advised that they will not be prepared to accept email or
server-based distribution by September 1, 1997.  They are: Belgium,  
Bulgaria, China, Romania and the Ukraine.  Further, of the 18 "O"  Member
Bodies of SC22,only four have indicated they will accept server-based  
distribution by September 1, 1997.  The "O" Member Bodies accepting
server-based distribution are:  Iceland, Italy, Korea and Portugal. 
Additionally, the New Zealand "O" Member Body has indicated they do not  
require any SC22 documents.

None of the SC22 Category "A" Liaisons have indicated they will accept  
server-based distribution by September 1, 1997.  The SC22 Category "A"
Liaisons are:  CCE, ECMA and ITU.

All of the Committee Officers are or will be accepting server-based  
document distribution by September 1, 1997.

Please advise if there is any further information you require in this  
regard.

Should you have information on server-based document distribution for  any
of the Member Bodies or other organizations I have indicated as not
receiving such distribution, I would greatly appreciate your advising me
in that regard.

Sincerely

WILLIAM C. RINEHULS
Secretariat, JTC 1/SC22

Attachment:
List of SC22 "P" and "O" Member Bodies

cc:  R. Follett, SC22 Chairman w/o atch

=======================================================================
Attachment

                           SC22 Member Bodies

"P" Members                        
     
Australia                     
Austria                            
Belgium                       
Brazil                             
Canada                        
China                              
Czech Republic                
Denmark                       
Egypt                              
Finland                       
France                             
Germany                       
Ireland                            
Japan                              
Netherlands                        
Norway                        
Romania                       
Russian Federation                 
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States of America

"O" Members

Argentina
Brazil
Cuba
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Isreal
Italy
Republic of Korea
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Singapore
Thailand
Turkey
Yugoslavia

_________________ end of response; beginning of background document  ____
  ISO/IEC JTC 1                                                         
  Information Technology                                                

  ISO/IEC  JTC 1 N 4575                   
  
  DATE:  1997.03.06     
  
  REPLACES                                     
  
  DOC TYPE:
  Other document                                                        
  
  TITLE:
  Request for Information from National Bodies and Subcommittee         
  Secretariats concerning Plans for Server-based Document Distribution  

  SOURCE:
  JTC 1 Secretariat                                                     
  
  PROJECT:                   
  
  STATUS:
  The JTC 1 Ad Hoc requests the JTC 1 Secretariat to circulate JTC 1 N  
  4575 requesting information from NBs and SC Secretariats concerning   
  their plans for moving to server based document distribution.  This   
  information is to be submitted by May 20, 1997.                       
  
  ACTION ID:  ACT 
  
  DUE DATE:  1997.05.20
  
  DISTRIBUTION:  P and L Members                                             

  MEDIUM:  D
  
  DISKETTE NO.:  116       
  
  NO. OF PAGES:  3         

  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]                 
  
____________________end of cover; beginning of background text _______
  JTC 1 N 4575
  
  1997-02-27

  Request for Information from National Bodies and Subcommittee Secretariats
  concerning Plans for Server-based Document Distribution
  
  Background:
  
  At its 10-13 December 1996 Plenary meeting in Paris, JTC 1 endorsed the  
  timeline for its implementation of Information Technology with a target
  date of September 1997 for server-based document distribution.  The
  timeline calls for JTC 1 and Subcommittee Secretariats to maintain all
  current documents on line beginning no later than September 1997.
  Diskette distribution will be phased out by December 1997.  Documents
  will only be available by other media, e.g., paper on an exception
  basis.
  
  For additional information, refer to the following documents:
  
  JTC 1 N 4536 - Free Web and Email Services for JTC 1 SCs and WGs
  JTC 1 N 4571 - JTC 1 Policy on Electronic Document Distribution using  
  the World Wide Web
  JTC 1 N 4572 - JTC 1 Web Server Policy
  
  Server-based Document Distribution Scenario:
  
  For a description of the initial Web-based mode of operation for document
  distribution, refer to Attachment to this document.
  
  Status Request of National Bodies and SC Secretariats
  
  For planning purposes, the JTC 1 Ad Hoc on the Strategy for
  Implementation of IT, is requesting answers to the following questions
  related to their plans for server-based document distribution.
  
  National Bodies are requested to answer  Question 1;  SC Secretariats
  are requested to answer Questions 2 and 3.
  
  The Ad Hoc will compile the results and provide them to JTC 1 for an  
  overall status of the implementation.
  
  National Bodies:
  
  1. At the JTC 1 level and for which SCs are you prepared to obtain  
     documents from servers rather than via diskette or paper distribution    
     by September 1997?  If not, indicate when (for JTC 1 and SCs) when  
     (month/year) you will be able to do so.
  
  SC Secretariats:
  
  2. Are you prepared now to distribute documents via server?  If not, when 
     (month/year) will you be able to do so?
     
  3. Are your members (e.g., NB Contacts, Committee Officers, Category A
    Liaisons) able to obtain documents via server:

=========================================================================
Attachment

In this document, a number of statements are made and questions posed
about the World Wide Web based operation (initial phase) of the ISO/IEC
JTC 1 committee and its reporting subcommittees.  These statements and
questions assume a mode of operation of JTC 1 and its SCs which can be
summarized as follows:
  
     a) Distribution of documents from an SC Secretariat* shall be by  
        means of a World Wide Web (WWW) based repository operated either
        by the SC Secretariat or another responsible body appointed by it.
     
     b) The repository as defined in a) may comprise a mixture of directly  
        viewable web-based files (e.g. those in HTML format), documents
        viewable through the linking of other viewing capabilities (e.g.
        PDF files) and files which need to be downloaded before viewing
        (e.g. revisable-form documents such as Word and WordPerfect
        documents).
     
     c) The mixture of document availability as described in b) will vary  
        from SC to SC as a reflection of their own requirements and usage,
        but SCs should bear in mind their collective responsibility to
        minimize the burden of differing mechanisms placed on National
        Bodies for verification and further distribution.
     
     d) The provision of input documents (as NB contributions, responses,
        committee officer documents, etc.) shall continue under existing
        arrangements (e.g. diskette, e-mail with attachments, etc.).  Web- 
        based input mechanisms are permitted where already in place, but
        will be the subject of further proposals for SCs which do not
        currently use such a method.
     
  *For the purposes of this description the term SC Secretariat shall mean  
   the JTC 1 Secretariat and the secretariats of all its reporting SCs
   unless otherwise explicitly approved by JTC 1. 
  
__________________________ end of document SC22 N2478 __________________