The WebCGM Working Group is extended until 30 November 2007.
This charter is written in accordance with section 6.2.6 of the W3C Process Document.
Contents:
About this Charter
This defines a charter for a new Working Group to produce a Recommendation for version 2.0 of the WebCGM 1.0 Recommendation . The WebCGM Working Group will be created as a Royalty Free Working Group, and will operate in public mode.
The WebCGM Working Group will start with the existing WebCGM 2.0 submission. This document was created by the CGM Open Member Section and its WebCGM Technical Committee (of the OASIS consortium), and had reached a stage of maturity similar to W3C Last Call. Therefore, the W3C Working Group will take this document to W3C Last Call, then to Candidate Recommendation.
As described by the MOU between W3C and Oasis, concurrent with becoming a Proposed Recommendation, the work will be passed back to OASIS for its completion as OASIS Standard, simultaneously with the completion of a technically identical Recommendation within W3C.
Mission and Scope
The working group will be chartered to develop a W3C Recommendation for WebCGM 2.0, starting with WebCGM 2.0 Submission Computer Graphics Metafile, or CGM, is an ISO standard for tree-structured, binary graphics format that has been adopted especially by the technical industries (defense, aviation, transportation, etc) for technical illustration in electronic documents. WebCGM 1.0 a W3C Recommendation, is a profile of ISO CGM:1999 for the effective application of CGM in Web electronic technical documents. WebCGM 1.0 represented an important interoperability agreement amongst major users and implementors of CGM, and thereby unified diverse approaches to CGM utilization in Web document applications.
Several requirements were identified in the WebCGM 1.0 timeframe that, for reasons of getting WebCGM to awaiting constituencies expeditiously, could not be fully realized in the WebCGM 1.0 specification. Further requirements have been developed since the publication of WebCGM 1.0, and all of these are collected in the WebCGM 2.0 Requirements document.
The principal requirements to be met by WebCGM 2.0 are:
- advanced graphics such as Non-Uniform B-Splines (NURBS) that were deferred from 1.0 for expedience;
- additional intelligent control of such metafile object aspects as behavior, interactivity, etc;
- a standard WebCGM Document Object Model (DOM), to replace emerging proprietary API solutions;
- a standardized XML Companion File (XCF), to allow the externalization of metadata from WebCGM instances.
The completion of work on WebCGM 2.0 will bring further standardization and enable greater interoperability in the technical graphics application sectors that have standardized on WebCGM and closely related technical profiles. In particular, several major product vendors in the area of CGM technical graphics have added proprietary APIs and companion file formats. A standard WebCGM DOM and an extensible XCF should provide greater interoperability and vendor independence for WebCGM 2.0 users.
Present state of the WebCGM 2.0 work:
- detailed requirements document;
- the WebCGM 2.0 submission, believe to largely satisfy those requirements;
- A 2.0 test suite (addendum to 1.0 TS) is in progress , covering the breadth of functionality being added to 2.0;
- several active implementations, largely covering the added 2.0 functionality.
Duration
This group will terminate on 31 May 2007.
Deliverables
The group will:
- create Working Drafts, starting with a Last Call Working Draft;
- assess and ensure, per QA Handbook guidance, that existing (external) Test Suites are correct and of sufficient completeness for required interoperability and implementation reports, contributing new and/or corrected materials as needed;
- produce Implementation Reports addressing the technical, tracking and maintenance items mentioned above,
Technical Items
- WebCGM 2.0 Recommendation
Tracking and Maintenance Items
- The group anticipates drawing on existing externally produced test suites -- WebCGM 1.0 and its WebCGM 2.0 addendum.
- Monitoring of implementations for conformance, interoperability and quality. Publication of Implementation Report(s) (at least one).
- Collect and publish any pending WebCGM 1.0 errata. If required, collect these together and publish a WebCGM 1.0 third release.
- Collect and publish errata for the new WebCGM 2.0.
- The WebCGM WG may produce related usage guidelines as time, expertise, and other resources permit.
Success criteria
- Production of a stable document defining WebCGM 2.0, at W3C Recommendation status, technically identical and concurrent with the expected WebCGM 2.0 OASIS Standard.
- Availability of multiple, independent, interoperable implementations of WebCGM 2.0.
- Adoption of WebCGM 2.0 as a foundation for cascaded profiles of the specialized technical industry sectors that are currently using WebCGM 1.0 and closely-related CGM technical profiles.
Relationship to other forums
Groups within W3C:
- Hypertext Coordination Group
- The WebCGM WG coordinates its work with other Working Groups primarily through participation in the Hypertext Coordination Group.
- Document Object Model (DOM) IG
- WebCGM 2.0 adds an XML Document Object Model. Feedback from the DOM IG will be welcome.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
- Feedback from the WAI project will be sought, to ensure that WebCGM 2.0 meets industry and legal requirements for accessibility.
- Internationalization Working Group
- Feedback from the I18N WG be sought, to ensure that WebCGM 2.0 is suitable for use in an increasingly international technical industry.
- Web API Working Group
- Feedback from the Web API WG be sought, to ensure that WebCGM 2.0 Document Object Model (DOM), meets W3C's Web application framework for standard APIs.
- QA Interest Group
- The QA Interest Group will be consulted as needed, about questions of specification and test suite quality.
Forums outside W3C:
- Air Transport Association(ATA)
- The ATA has a widely used profile of CGM, which was used as the basis for WebCGM 1.0. The additional capabilities of WebCGM 1.0 and 2.0 mean that the ATA could adopt WebCGM to replace its existing profile. Adoption of WebCGM 2.0, both by itself and as a cascading profile, is therefore desirable.
- ASD
- The Working Group will liaise with the Technical Publication Specification Maintenance Group (TPSMG) of ASD, who maintain the S1000D Standard for technical documentation of military and non military vehicles. .Adoption of WebCGM 2.0, both by itself and as a cascading profile, by ASD is desirable.
- ISO/IEC JTC1 SC24
- The working group will liaise with ISO/IEC JTC1 SC24, the part of ISO dealing with CGM.
Confidentiality
The proceedings of this group will be public.
Editorial Drafts and test suite will be public.
Meetings
The group anticipates at least one face-to-face meeting, to process the feedback of Last Call review, resolve comments, and begin the process of preparing the CR implementation report and advancing to PR. The need for any additional meeting(s) will be assessed, depending on the progress towards Recommendation. Meeting details will be made available on the W3C Member Calendar and from the WG page
Communication Mechanisms
A archived publicly readable mailing list public-webcgm@w3.org will be the primary means of discussion within the group.
Minutes of teleconferences and face-to-face meetings will be made publicly available in a timely manner.
There is a public page on WebCGM, maintained by the Chair.
Phone
Weekly 90-minute phone conferences will be held. Minutes will be taken in rotation by WG participants and mailed to the WG list within 24 hours.
Resources
Working Group participants are expected to contribute 20% of a Full-Time workload. The W3C Team will contribute 10% of a Full-Time workload.
The Chair of the group will be Lofton Henderson (Oasis/CGM Open). The Team Contact will be Thierry Michel (W3C).
Milestones
One or more public Working Drafts will be produced, existence of adequate associated Test Suites will be assured (likely externally, with some WG contribution), and Implementation Reports will be produced, to the schedule shown below:
- Start 4-week Last Call Working Draft Review -- 21 May 2006
- Collect and verify test suite -- 21 May 2006
- Publish test suite -- 15 June 2006
- Process LC comments, resolve, negotiate resolution -- 21 June 2006
- Prepare Implementation Report demonstrating CR exit criteria met -- 15 August 2006
- Begin PR Review (resume processing in OASIS) -- 15 September 2006
- Rec (and OASIS Standard) -- 1 November 2006
- PER of WebCGM 1.0 -- 1 December 2006
- Post-Rec publicity and evangelism - to May 2007
Patent Policy
This Working Group will operate under the W3C Patent Policy (5 February 2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis.