Subject: SC22 N2609 - Revised JTC 1 Technical Directions - PLENARY AGENDA ITEM

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 13:22:54 -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
N2609

TITLE:
Revised JTC 1 Technical Directions, Organizational Structure and Modes of
Operation

DATE ASSIGNED:
1998-05-12

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Information From JTC 1 Secretariat

PROJECT NUMBER:
N/A

STATUS:
Discussion of this document will be an agenda item for the August 1998
JTC 1/SC22 Plenary.

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI or ACT to SC22 Member Bodies, as applicable

DUE DATE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION:
Text

CROSS REFERENCE:
SC22 N2590

DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Def

Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
William C. Rinehuls
8457 Rushing Creek Court
Springfield, VA 22153 USA
Telephone:  +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 5016 
 
DATE: 1997.09.22 
 
REPLACES 
 
DOC TYPE:
Other document (Defined) 
 
TITLE:
Revised JTC 1 Technical Directions, Organizational Structure and Modes
of Operation 
 
SOURCE:
JTC 1 Ottawa Plenary 
 
PROJECT: 
 
STATUS:
Per Ottawa Resolution 17, noting JTC 1's approval of the Technical
Directions, Organizational Structure and Modes of Operation in document 
JTC 1 N 5016, and the establishment of SC 32 Data Management Services and
SC 33 Distributed Application Services as contained therein, JTC 1
disbands the following Subcommittees:
 
SC 14 Data Element Principles
SC 18 Document Processing and Related Communication
SC 21 Open Systems Interconnection, Data Management and Open Distributed
      Processing (following its Plenary in September 1997)
SC 30 Open-edi (following its Plenary in October 1997)
 
All organizations listed above are requested to move towards the new
structure defined in JTC 1 N 5016 as soon as possible. With this in mind,
any Working Group or other subgroup meetings of the above subcommittees
that are approved to occur prior to 1 May 1998 are authorized to take
place as scheduled. Additional organizational meetings or expanded
meetings to address transitional issues may also be scheduled during that
period. The output of these meetings is to be forwarded to the appropriate
technical direction as identified in JTC 1 N 5016.
 
ACTION ID: ACT 
 
DUE DATE: 
 
DISTRIBUTION: P and L Members 
 
MEDIUM: D
 
DISKETTE NO.: 152 
 
NO. OF PAGES: 8 

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] 

					 ISO/IEC JTC 1 N 5016

Title: JTC 1 Technical Directions, Organizational Structure and Modes of 		
       Operation

Source: JTC 1 Reengineering ad hoc, 20 June 1997
 
JTC 1 is committed to successfully providing users and industry with
information technology standards that meet the marketplace in a timely 
manner. To accomplish our goal, JTC 1 must remain the "vendor of choice"
for international IT standardization. The reengineering activity has
considered both organizational structure and modes of operation. Now, it
will require a change in the collective mindset of all participants to
ensure JTC 1's success.
 
While pursuing the goal of a responsive, flexible, and engaged
organization, the ad hoc considered ways in which the SCs could meet the
new challenges with existing procedures. The following items constitute
opportunities for SCs to engage others in the standards development
process. This toolbox demonstrates the many ways SCs can expand their
influence --- from tools as well implemented as formal liaison
relationships to the yet unfolding comments from interested parties at
the WG level.
 
	1) Liaison representatives to have formal relationships
	2) Joint/colocated meetings to encourage dialogue
	3) Document exchange to share information 
	4) Common membership to expand understanding
	5) Formal collaboration such as ITU-T to stay technically engaged
	6) Workshops (as per the JTC 1 directives) to gain consensus
           within JTC 1 
	7) Joint balloting (among SCs) to ensure cohesive technical
           solutions
	8) Designating Rapporteurs to have a one to one relationship for
           cross SC input
	9) Joint electronic working environments to engage more people in
           a timely manner
	10) Develop opportunities for comments on WG drafts by other JTC
            1 WGs and interested parties to make use of a larger,
            consultative base
	11) Fast track process
	12) PAS process
 
The use of these tools is encouraged. Three recommendations to socialize
their use among SCs are offered:
 
	1) Discuss and promote at the SC Chairman's meeting
	2) Have groups document and share their concerns for
           implementation and the possible roadblocks. JTC 1 should
           then work toward eliminating them or correcting misperceptions.
	3) Provide a spot on the JTC 1 web page to gather white papers
           that share the many positive experiences that already exist
           and shorten the learning curve.
 
As a part of JTC 1's reengineering process, we have identified Technical
Directions which we believe are of strategic market relevance. These
Directions identify a synergistic grouping of work, and are based on the
situation today. The list of Directions will be re-aligned as external
circumstances demand. By focusing on these technology directions, JTC 1's
standards will be more efficient, effective and market oriented. We
expect that these Technical Directions will provide a focus for new
technologies as they arise. For example, if market requirements dictate
the a new distributed application service standard needs to be developed,
our Technical Direction in this area would give JTC 1 a ready home for
the standard to be developed.
 
Technical Directions are viewed by JTC 1 as an opportunity to better
convey to "the world" the work in which we are engaged. The Technical
Directions will encourage cross SC collaboration and enable a more
flexible organizational structure. In some cases, identifying a lead
organization for an activity may be required and should be designated.
Technical Directions should offer greater cooperation between JTC 1 and
other standards development bodies (ISO, IEC, ITU) without delaying the
development process. Optimization of resources for travel and
administration will also be realized.
 
The chart which follows depicts the general consensus regarding the
Technical Directions. Transition from today's structure toward Technical
Directions will be applied via three methods.
 
	Method A) members of a Technical Direction will:
			operate as a single SC
			incorporate use of the toolbox both between JTC 1
                        Technical Directions and externally to other
                        organizations
	Method A+) members of a Technical Direction will:
			operate as a single SC
			incorporate use of the toolbox both between JTC 1
                        Technical Directions and externally to other
                        organizations
			take note of special considerations (as defined in the table)
	Method B)	members of a Technical Direction will: 
			operate as separate SCs within a common Technical
                        Direction
			encourage dialogue between the grouped SCs 
		 	use the existing tools for collaboration
			feel free to meet independently
			action the SC chairs to provide joint reports
                        (such as business plans,plenary reports, etc.)
			Note: SCs within a Technical Direction operating
                        under Method B are encouraged to move towards
                        operations under Method A
	Method C)	members of a Technical Direction will: 
			operate as separate SCs within a common Technical
                        Direction
			encourage dialogue between the grouped SCs 
		 	use the existing tools for collaboration
			feel free to meet independently
			action the SC chairs to provide joint reports
                        (such as business plans, plenary reports, etc.)

The organizational structure of the Technical Directions and their
recommended mode of operation are:
 
Data Capture and Identification Systems    SC 17, SC 31
                                           Method: C 

Data Management Services                   SC 30, SC 14, SC 21/WG 3
                                           (pertinent projects)
                                           Method: A

Distributed Application Services           SC 21/ WG 7, SC 18/WG 4, ASN.1
                                           Method: A

Information Interchange Media              SC 11, SC 23 
                                           Method: B

IT Terminology                             SC 1
                                           Method: A+

                        especially make use of Rapporteur function
                        increase links to ITU-T and others
                        (consideration of French comments as in N4738)

Multimedia and Representation              SC 24, SC 29
                                           Method: B

Networking & Interconnects                 SC 6, SC 25, SC 26
                                           Method: B

Office Equipment                           SC 28
                                           Method: A

Programming Languages & Software           SC 22
Interfaces                                 Method: A

Security                                   SC 27
                                           Method: A+
                          expanded role as lead organization for JTC 1
                          security issues
                          (consideration of French comments as in N4746)

Software Engineering                       SC 7
                                           Method: A

User Interfaces                            SC 18/WG 9 
                                           Method: Undecided. 
                          Operate as WG reporting to JTC 1 until 1998
                          plenary pending results of cultural
                          adaptability workshop. 

Document Description Languages             SC 18/WG 8 
                                           Method: Undecided. 
                          Operate as WG reporting to JTC 1 until 1998
                          plenary.

Coded Character Sets                       SC2

Note: this is a tentative technical direction
                          Method:  Undecided.  Maintain current operation
                          until 1998 plenary.

Final decision to be made at 1998 plenary pending results of cultural
adaptability workshop.

Descriptions of Technical Directions

Data Capture and Identification Systems

Coding (data formats, syntax, and structure), interchange and
manipulation of stored digital data, using on demand techniques (optical,
magnetic, electrical and/or RF) for individually and uniquely identifying
items and entities.
 
Data Management Services
Enabling technologies for use in all information systems environments
(both local and distributed) covering:
 
Data Management Services for the definition of data structures and
semantics for a complete range of data types, together with services for
storage, access and update of such data and meta-data.
 
Specification of data content and semantics of messages used in
electronic commerce.

Distributed Application Services
Enabling technologies for use in a distributed environment in order to
achieve concrete distributed application services, covering:
 
Specification of application functions independently of the details of
their distribution (through the use of object technology); configuration
and management of those functions across entire enterprises. 
 
Distributed system services functions such as transaction processing,
electronic messaging, directory and systems management; support for
distribution of data management services; and specification of techniques
for messaging in electronic commerce.
 
Information Interchange Media
Physical characteristics of storage media using optical, magnetic or
other technologies and structure of data for storage and interchange,
including algorithms for the loss-less compression of data.
 
IT Terminology
Terminology for Information Technology and related fields, intended to
achieve consistency throughout worldwide markets and users.
 
Multimedia & Representation
Presentation of, interchange of, and interaction with information,
including:
- computer graphics;
- multimedia, including coding of hypermedia and multimedia and coded
  representation of picture and audio information;
- image processing; and
- interactive techniques.

Networking and Interconnects
Functions necessary for establishment and control of information exchange
via networks and physical interfaces. They comprise, for communications,
interfaces and protocols, for transport, network management and selected
application services and the physical infrastructure.
 
Office Equipment
Basic characteristics, performance, test methods and other related
aspects of office equipment and products such as:
 
Printers 
Copying equipment 
Digital scanners 
Facsimile equipment
and systems composed of combinations of office equipment.
 
Programming Languages and Software Interfaces
Programming languages, their environments and systems software
interfaces, including
		- specification techniques,
		- common facilities, and
		- language bindings.
 
Security
Generic frameworks, methods, techniques and mechanisms for Information
and Communication
Technology Security, including :
- open security architecture,
- semantic rules for interchange of various security information,
- interfaces for invoking security functionalities in related API's and
  protocols.
 
Software Engineering
Processes, supporting tools and supporting technologies for the
engineering of software products and systems.
 
User Interfaces
User-system interfaces for input devices such as keyboards, mice,
pointers and pens; rules for systems control by voice recognition,
presentation techniques, dialogues, graphic symbols and icons including
those for people with special needs.
  
Document Description Languages
Document description languages for system-independent and
application-independent modeling and accessing of abstract
information, including:
-- Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)
-- SGML profiles and applications (e.g. HTML)
-- Related processing, software interfaces, and resources.
 
Coded Character Sets
Graphic character sets and their characteristics, associated control
functions, their coded representation for information interchange, and
code extension techniques.

JTC 1 has identified several technical considerations which span multiple
organizations and act as core requirements. These Common Strategic
Characteristics of interoperability, portability, and cultural
adaptability must be considered and promoted within every Technical
Direction. While interoperability and portability have been well considered within JTC 1 (TSG1, SWG-CA, etc.), cultural adaptability has not been as thoroughly pursued. JTC 1 recommended a Workshop be held with the following consideration
s:
	- engage multiple Technical Direction JTC 1 participation
	- develop policies to guide activities (in a like manner to that   
          of interoperability and portability)
	- develop a process to ensure cultural adaptability
	- elaborate or amend the definition of cultural adaptability as
          contained in N4627
	- recommended placement for Coded Character Sets and the
          relationship with User Interface
	- increase the responsiveness of JTC 1 to cultural adaptability
          issues and increase the visibility of JTC 1 in this endeavor
 
It is of paramount importance that the JTC 1 organization remain
flexible. In addition to greater use of the procedures contained in the
Toolbox, new TDs can be initialized using the recently readdressed NP
process.
 
The responsiveness and success of JTC 1 is not dependent on the number of
Technical Directions. Nor is it dependent on the processes in place.
Rather, JTC 1's successes will result from its ability to implement those
processes, using them in creative and flexible ways. The new Technical
Directions, the increased collaboration through aggressive use of the
Toolbox, and the implementation of electronic means for realtime
standards development will combine to enhance the mindset of the JTC 1
organization and the successes we achieve.

________________ end of SC22 N2709 _______________________________