Subject: SC22 N2880 - SC22 Chairman's Report from January 1999 JTC 1 Plenary

From: William Rinehuls <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:23:29 -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
N2880

TITLE:
SC22 Chairman's Report on the ISO/IEC JTC 1 Plenary Meeting and SC22
Chairmen's Forum, January 25-29, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

DATE ASSIGNED:
1999-02-02

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Chairman's Report

PROJECT NUMBER:
N/A

STATUS:
N/A

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI

DUE DATE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION:
Text

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Open

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 report _______________

2 February 1999

To:		SC22 National Bodies and Working Group Conveners

Subject: 	JTC1 Plenary and SC Chairmen's Forum in Rio de Janeiro,
                Brazil, 25-29 January 1999

I would like to report to you on the results of the JTC1 Plenary meeting
and the Subcommittee Chairmen's Forum immediately preceding it in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, during the period 25-29 January 1999.

At the JTC1 Plenary, a number of topics of interest to SC22 were dis- 
cussed, as follows:

*  Agenda items specifically mentioning SC22.

   - JTC1 approved the SC22 request to place ISO/IEC 11404:1996 on the
World Wide Web.  In the past, this request would have been forwarded to
ITTF for approval by ISO and IEC.  However, JTC1 now has the authority to
approve requests for certain types of documents without further approval
by ISO and IEC.  (See below for further information on this authority.)

   - The agenda included a subitem under the Technical Direction on
Cultural and Linguistic Adaptability and User Interfaces (CLAUI) for a
Business Plan from SC22/WG20.  As no separate Business Plan was submitted
by WG20, this prompted a discussion of whether one was required in such a
case.  It was agreed that, in the future, a separate business plan will
not be required from WG20, since WG20 is already covered in the SC22
Business Plan, but that any WG20 issues regarding the CLAUI Technical
Direction should be included in the SC22 Business Plan.  

   I also note that each TD that incorporates more than one subgroup of
JTC1 is required to produce an overall Business Plan for that TD.  No
such Business Plan covering the CLAUI TD was produced for this plenary.
I would certainly think that WG20 should cooperate in the production of
any future CLAUI TD Business Plan when asked to do so.

   - I presented an overview of the Business Plan for the Technical
Direction on Programming Languages and Software Interfaces, which of
course is identical to the SC22 Business Plan.  Each SC Chairman was
given five minutes for a presentation at the plenary.  

*  Document Availability on the WWW.  ISO and IEC approved a two year
extension to the trial period during which draft documents, up to but not
including the DIS stage, could be made freely available in electronic
form, as requested by JTC1 at the last plenary. 

   Keith Brannon (ITTF) reported that ISO has also agreed with a JTC1
request to give JTC1 the authority to approve certain types of documents
for free availability on the World Wide Web.  These document types
include:
   - Standards relating to Metafiles and Reference Models, and Amendments
     and Revisions relating to them;
   - Standards that are merely references (pointers) to other documents,
     e.g., developed outside JTC1;
   - Standards for which authorized identical documents are freely
     available in electronic format elsewhere;
   - Technical Reports type 1, 2 and 3;
   - Technical Corrigenda.

   Mr. Brannon further reported that the IEC had not yet acted on the
request but should do so soon.

*  JTC1 Implementation of Information Technology.  Due to the resignation
of Clyde Camp from this position, JTC1 has appointed a new Implementing
Information Technology Rapporteur, Frank Farance.  Mr. Farance will also
serve as the JTC1 representative to the ISO/IEC/ITU IT Strategies
Implementation Group (ITSIG).  Keld Simonsen will serve as JTC1
representative on several ITSIG project teams.

*  PAS Process.  JTC1 decided that the PAS (Publicly Available
Specifications) process has met with an acceptable degreee of success and
resolved to make it a normal part of JTC1 operations.  A revised PAS
Management Guide (JTC1 N 5746) was approved; we will distribute it as an
SC22 document when received.  The JTC1 Directives will be updated to
reflect the revised PAS Management Guide.  JTC1 also adopted a transition
plan for use of the revised rules.

*  Normative Referencing of Specifications Other than International
Standards.  The two JTC1 documents with guidelines on this subject (JTC1
N 4046 and N 4047, which we distributed as SC22 N 2122 and N 2123 and are
on our Standing Document list) were adopted for a trial period ending
July 1998, after which the applicability and usefulness of these
guidelines was to be evaluated.  In Rio, JTC1 extended the trial period
though the next plenary meeting in November 1999 and took steps to
evaluate the guidelines.  We will be asked to report on our use of the
guidelines and provide comments on their applicability and usefulness.
The SC22 Secretariat will distribute a separate document with this
request after we receive the specific request from JTC1.

*  Cultural and Linguistic Considerations.  As a result of
recommendations from the CLAUI Technical Direction Ad Hoc meeting, the
JTC1 NP form will be modified to ask that any known requirements for
cultural and linguistic adaptability be specified.  A bullet on this
subject will also be added in the JTC1 Directives in the section on
purpose and justification of an NP (clause 6.2.1.6).

*  Metrics of JTC1 Accomplishments.  Regarding the reporting of
accomplishments in our Business Plans, in addition to numerical counts of
documents approved, NBs and SCs are being requested to provide
contributions detailing methods of measuring the effectiveness of JTC1
accomplishments, e.g., press releases, implementations using JTC1
standards.  JTC1 would like contributions to also provide suggestions for
other metrics to indicate JTC1's effectiveness.

*  Strategic Planning Input.  JTC1 requested its NBs and SCs to provide
contributions regarding the future strategic orientation for JTC1.
Topics may include any changes to working methods "however radical or
provocative."

*  JTC1 Organizational Structure.  A number of organizational matters
were addressed as follows:
   - SC1, Vocabulary, was disbanded as there were no responses to the
     call for a Secretariat;
   - The Registration Authority Rapporteur Group was disbanded and
     responsibility assigned to the JTC1 Secretariat;
   - The Global Information Infrastructure Rapporteur Group was disbanded
     as its work program has been completed.
   - JTC1 decided to continue the use of business teams where
     appropriate.	

*  JTC1 Meeting Schedule.  JTC1 decided to schedule plenaries on an
annual basis instead of the current nominal 9-month schedule.  Beginning
in November 1999, plenaries will be held annually in early November.
This should work well with our usual SC22 meeting schedule.  If we meet
by mid-September, there will be adequate time for SC22 input to be
forwarded to JTC1 for consideration at its plenary.

*  JTC1 Web Site.  The JTC1 web site has been substantially reorganized
and has an improved "new look."  Be sure to see it at www.jtc1.org/.  One
feature is a "What's New" hot link.  SCs are asked to provide items that
might be relevant for this feature. If you have any items that you
believe appropriate for this, please send them to the SC22 Secretariat
for forwarding to JTC1.

*  Press Release.  A press release will be issued concerning the
accomplishments of this plenary.  It will be posted to the JTC1 web site.

*  Document Deadline for next JTC1 Plenary in Seoul, Korea.  JTC1
established a firm deadline of October 1 by which documents must be
received by the JTC1 Secretariat in order to be placed on the agenda of
the next JTC1 plenary.  This means that we will have no more than one
week after completion of our SC22 plenary in Berlin for submission of any
items that require JTC1 attention.

*  JTC1 Chairmen's Forum.  Beginning with the next JTC1 plenary in
November 1999, it was decided to discontinue the Chairmen's Forum.
Instead, the focus of the plenary will be modified to permit more
participation by the SC Chairmen to highlight the technical work of JTC1
and encourage more discussion and interaction among SCs and National
Bodies at the plenary.  The agenda will be reordered to address Technical
Directions and SC Chairman reports at the beginning of the plenary.

At the SC Chairmen's Forum immediately preceding this JTC1 plenary, one
item of discussion was the schedule of articles for the ISO Bulletin.
You will recall that I wrote an article, with your help, about SC22 that
was published in the November 1996 issue.  Articles have continued to
appear on JTC1 subjects on a regular basis.  JTC1 is continuing to look
for articles on interesting subjects that demonstrate the important
standardization work undertaken and accomplished within JTC1.  If you
have any suggestions on topics, or would like to contribute an article,
please contact me and I will investigate the subject with JTC1 and ISO.

Another agenda item at the SC Chairmen's Forum was electronic
collaboration.  I reported from the last plenary thatJTC1 is encouraging
all SCs to experiment with electronic collaboration packages and to
report their experiences to the January 1999 JTC1 plenary.  No SCs had
any experiences to report at this time.

Robert H. Follett
Chairman

____________________ end of SC22 N2880 ________________________________