Subject: SC22 N2511 - SC22 Chairman's Report on JTC 1 Ad Hoc on IT

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 12:49:26 -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/IEEC JTC 1/SC22
N2511

July 1997

TITLE:
SC22 Chairman's Report on the JTC 1 Ad Hoc on Implementing Information
Technology Meeting Held June 23-26, 1997, in Copenhagen, Denmark

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:
N/A

STATUS:
Note that this report will be discussed further at the August 1997 JTC
1/SC22 Plenary

CROSS REFERENCE:
SC22 N2512, N2513, N2514

DOCUMENT TYPE:
N/A

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

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]

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SC22 Chairman's Report on JTC1 Ad Hoc on IT Meeting

I participated on your behalf at the meeting of the JTC1 Ad Hoc on
Implementing Information Technology that met in Copenhagen, Denmark on
23-26 June 1997. 

The most important output of the meeting is JTC1 N4761, a revised and more
complete version of the JTC1 Policy for Electronic Document Distribution
using the World Wide Web.  (It will be our document SC22 N2512.)  It is
now going out for JTC1 ballot for approval.  I do not expect that the
ballot will result in significant changes.  This document repeats much of
the file formatting information in the diskette-based policy document and
adds requirements specifically relating to web-server based distribution. 
This latest version is in HTML format and can best be viewed on the web;
it is available on the Ad Hoc's web site at www.dkuug.dk/jtc1/impit/ .

As I mentioned in my report of the last Ad Hoc meeting, this document is
very important for SC22.  It should be reviewed carefully by everyone
involved in SC22.  Document distribution using the World Wide Web is set
to begin for JTC1 and its SCs in September, with other forms of
distribution (diskette and paper) to be discontinued by the end of this
year.  There will be exceptions for member bodies that are unable to
access the web.  However, by the beginning of 1998, ALL JTC1 and SC
documents MUST be available in at least one of the approved file formats
on the JTC1 or SC web site respectively.  There will be NO document
distribution on paper or diskette to members who have web access
capability.  (See the JTC1 IT Strategy Timeline in SC22 N2514). 
 
Please note section 4.1 on document formats.  While it recognizes that "in
certain cases, standards documents may be prepared which utilize other
formats to provide content which is both human and machine readable," 
specific JTC1 approval for use of such formats must be sought by the
appropriate SC.  Therefore, we will need to submit a request (with a brief
but convincing justification) for every standard where we are using
development software that is not on the acceptable list.  All affected
conveners need to provide this justification for our plenary so that we
can prepare an appropriate request to JTC1. 

Note also that, if granted, approval does not remove the need to provide a
copy for distribution of the human readable content on the web in one of
the formats on the acceptable list. 

While the specifications in this document are not required at the Working
Group level, they are required for any WG documents forwarded for SC
distribution. 

Please also note that the document access classification list is now
included in Annex D.  This list shows which types of documents must be
password protected and which are permitted to have open access.  These
rules apply to all documents at all levels of JTC1. 

A number of tips and techniques are available in JTC1 N4795 and should be
reviewed by all SC22 participants.  This document is also available at
www.dkuug.dk/jtc1/impit/ .  In addition, the ISO/IEC/ITU Information
Technology Strategies Implementation Group (ITSIG) has drafted a document
on "Guidelines on Access and Distribution of Documents in Electronic
Format."  This document has a lot of good information and is worthy of
your time to review it.  We will distribute it when available. 

The Ad Hoc also published JTC1 N4769 (SC22 N2513), a slight revision to
the JTC1 Policy on Electronic Document Distribution using Diskettes and
E-mail.  There is significant overlap in the information in this document
with the policy document on use of the web described above.  The Ad Hoc
felt that each document should be complete.  Use of this document will
diminish quickly whereas use of the web document will rapidly increase. 
	
We will be discussing this entire subject at our plenary in Ottawa. 

Robert H. Follett
Chairman, JTC1/SC22

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